There are few stories more familiar than "The Wizard of Oz." Maybe that's what makes it such a good show for the Fox Theatre to book for Thanksgiving weekend. We chatted with Kate Bristol, who just joined the cast as Dorothy, about her new role in "Oz."
I was reading some of your tweets yesterday, and it looks like you're still in college? I am! I'm studying musical theater at Pace University, but I'm trying to minor in literature, or something of the like.
This is your professional stage debut. Tell me about the other work you've done. It is. I've done work through my childhood and adolescence in Texas, so some regional theaters and mostly community theaters, and then I went to college, and I've done some college shows. It was after a particularly trying year of college that I auditioned for this show, thinking, "Oh, I'll just give it a shot," and then I booked it! It was a really pleasant surprise.
How will you balance a tour with attending college? A lot of people have asked me this, and I think I'm a little crazy. I worked it out with my academic professors for this semester that I will finish the semester online while on the tour bus. And next semester, I will take it completely online. What that basically means is that, during the day or when we're at the hotel or changing cities on the bus, I'm gonna be doing research, and I'll have books with me, and I'm gonna be e-mailing in papers while we're being transported to the next city. It's a little crazy. ... It's a little frazzling, but it's actually really fun.
How many hours are you taking? I'm taking 14 hours this semster. Most of those are dance and musical-theater classes. I only have two academic classes, and so for my musical-theater classes, I'm writing journals about my performing experience and the process of which I develop the character, and it's kind of like work study. I'm working in what I'm being trained in. It's actually highly educational.
You've also done some voiceover work? I have! I am a voiceover actress for FUNimation. They record animes in the English voices, and they do that in Texas. I started doing that job when I was 13, and I grew up working in voiceover. That's what I consider my home acting job, I suppose. Whenever I'm in Texas, I'll go and work a couple of hours. I love voice acting.
Do you also love anime, or does that just come with the job? I wasn't an anime fan until I started the job, but now I see all the work that goes into it, so I am an appreciative anime fan.
What's your schedule been like lately? I wake up about 6:30. And I take an hour-and-a-half-long commute to the rehearsal studio. We get there about 9:30 to 10, and we start a full run-through of the show. After that, we work on all the specific scenes that need tuning, whether it's an acting thing or a dance thing. It is a full, full working day until 6 o'clock. It's busy, and it's awesome!
Have you always been a fan of "The Wizard of Oz"? Oh, I have. I grew up on "The Wizard of Oz." How it started was, my mom used to be a costumer, just as a hobby, for local community theater, so when the local elementary school did a production of "The Wizard of Oz," she helped make the costumes. That's how I started watching the movie, and then I was hooked, of course. I was absolutely enthralled by it. I completely grew up watching it.
Is there any pressure that comes with performing such a familiar role? That's the thing: It's such an iconic role, and everyone knows the characteristics and everyhing. I approach the role of Dorothy as my own. I decided that I was going to act it and react to the situations as I would. Because of the script and the speech, it ends up that the Judy Garland aura of Dorothy kind of ends up coming out anyway. People tell me that I share many of the characteristics of Judy Garland in that film. I'm a little more spastic, but I try to combat that.
Is the script pretty much like the movie? It is. It was adapted from the film, but it's got a lot more things. Not that it's been modernized in any way — we're true to the time period.
What's your favorite part of the show? My favorite part in the show, I think, is the poppy scene. You know, when Dorothy and her friends are almost to the Emerald City, and they fall into a poppy field that the witch has enchanted, and it makes them fall asleep? In that scene, the poppies are dancers, and they are so beautiful. It's mind boggling. And there's this transformation where they transform into snowflakes onstage. Wonderful effects and costumes, and it's so cool. Meanwhile, I'm just asleep in the middle of them, getting to absorb it all.
What are some of your other favorite shows? My favorite musical of all time is "Parade" by Jason Robert Brown. Completely not the genre of "The Wizard of Oz" whatsoever — it's really dark. It's a very brooding, dark show, but I really love stuff like that. Like Sondheim — anything by Sondheim. It's all very musically complicated and thoughtful. That's usually the kind of shows I really like.
What shows would you love to be in next? Oh, anything! I haven't thought about this — I've been so wrapped up in this. I'm gonna go back to school, you know. I might do whatever show they have at school and continue to audition outside the city. So whatever comes up, I guess.
When you're not studying or working, what do you like to do? What am I going to do? I'm going to read books! That's my favorite activity. I'm kind of a nerd.
What's on your iPod? I'm listening to Of Montreal and Janelle Monae. Not a lot of theater, come to think of it, which is kind of unusual because I love musical theater. I don't have any theater on my iPod! I have really weird indie bands.
By Gabe Hartwig • ©2010 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, STLtoday.com • Published 11.24.10
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