Alexandra Silber is getting ready to live out her Broadway dreams in her upcoming Feinstein's/54 Below show I Wish: The Roles That Could Have Been. In the second installment of Silber's concert, Broadway stars will flock to the venue to sing songs from roles that have passed them by for one reason or another. To celebrate the concert's return, Silber stopped by Broadway.com's #LiveatFive to talk all about her own dream role, her love for Angela Lansbury and returning to a favorite character. "This show literally was born out of a tweet," Silber said to Beth Stevens. "I said that somebody needs to do a concert where I get to do this, and I listed all of the things I thought people should do. 54 Below was like, 'call us,' and here we are. All actors have a role that you always wanted or one that you got really really close to doing. It's wonderful to think that this is enough of a party and celebration that it touches people's hearts and funny bones."
"For me, the epitome of the [54 Below] show is Little Red," she said about the role in Into the Woods. "It's a very serious answer as to why I love this role. My dad passed away when I was 18 and although she's a child, Little Red is a character that goes through an extraordinary amount of adversity and trauma and comes out stronger. I identify with her on so many levels. I also love Captain Hook. He has the greatest lyric in all of musical theater singing, 'Mrs. Hook's little baby boy.' It's so fun and campy."
While Silber's dreams consist of Neverland and the Woods, she is known for her time in Anatevka playing Tzeitel in the 2015 revival of Fiddler on the Roof and Hodel in the West End's Fiddler on the Roof. Playing the roles of Tevye's daughters impacted Silber more than she could have ever imagined. "I wasn't done with Hodel," Silber said. "She really haunted me. I wanted to know about a strong 18-year-old girl that gets on this train to Siberia to pursue love and her life purpose, so I went to Siberia. I wrote a book called After Anatevka, a novel based on Fiddler on the Roof and it is about what happens to Hodel and Perchik in Siberia."
Although Silber will be spending her days leading up to Halloween preparing to hit the 54 Below stage, she still has plenty of time to figure out how to play homage to her favorite actor. "I enjoy always dressing up as an Angela Lansbury character," she said. "She's 94, I celebrate her birthday every year with a concert. Before I did the concerts, I would just have a birthday party in my home. Celebrate your favorites!"
See Silber in Feinstein's/54 Below's I Wish on October 27!
Watch the full #LiveatFive episode tomorrow!