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Post by idina4eva on Apr 7, 2004 21:08:31 GMT -5
I can honestly say Michelle is tall. She was taller than my friend who's like 5'8" 5'9"ish. You can't really tell her height cuz she's in the chair the entire show (well, almost), but when you see her up close and personal, she's quite tall.
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Post by defyinggravity530 on Apr 7, 2004 22:11:33 GMT -5
Thanks Nikki, thanks a lot. Yes, the entire cast is tall compared to me...except Kristin that is! And I like it especially how when I took pics with her she bent down even further! Maybe she did it to make me feel even better! But yeah, I'm about 5' 1.75"-5'2" ish. Michelle is taller than me...much taller than me. As is Idina. Or atleast when I took pics with them they appear to be much taller than but I'm not much of a guide since I'm so small.
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Post by ElphieatShiz on Apr 8, 2004 17:29:33 GMT -5
Chris is actually short for a guy, so as a munchkin, he can be thought of as normal I think  He said on Seth's chatterbox that his dressing room is like 3 floors up (?) from the stage and is the furthest to the stage. And yet, he has time to take a shower before the final bow! I thought that was amazing, but he's a guy so it's understandable that he has time for a shower. Just an interesting fact. |
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GreenSkinnedWitch
Sorceress-In-Training
Oh Biq, really? You would do that for me?
Posts: 253
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Post by GreenSkinnedWitch on Apr 9, 2004 15:10:16 GMT -5
Okay, here we go. Here's the first part of Chris's interview...most of it is pretty word for word; there were a few things that I couldn't for the life of me pick out, but here's the majority of it. Oh, and there's a small spoiler at the end, so I've blacked it out.
Christopher Fitzgerald on Seth's Broadway Chatterbox: Part 1
SETH: Anyway, uh, as you're coming, totally excited, I know this is my guest from last week but I had to move him to this week. Um, I first met this gentleman--oh, through Jessica Stone--when I met him I'm like, "he's hilarious, he's going to be in a long running Broadway show" and I was right, he got Amour. But then-- No, but as we begin, I'm telling you, he's ha-larious. So please welcome to the stage, Biq--I mean Boq--Mr. Chris Fitzgerald! Come on up, sister.
CHRIS: Hello.
SETH: Hey, Chris.
CHRIS: Hi.
SETH: Hold on, I want to get comfy. Okay, let's start from the beginning. (clears throat) (silence) April Fools, no talking. Silent laughter! Anyway um, okay first of all, grew up where?
CHRIS: Uh, grew up in Maine, in Portland, Maine. Ever been there? Anyone, ever been there?
SETH: Oh, is that where um, is that where that John Irving book is? Is that in Portland, Maine? What's that, not Hotel New Hampshire, the other one. You know the one I'm talking about, they made a movie of it. Uh, what's the-the John Irving book!
GUY IN AUDIENCE: Cider House Rules.
SETH: Cider House Rules! That in Portland--what did you, fall asleep? (laughs) I'm just trying to get a straight answer! You know nothing.
CHRIS: I don't know! I don't know. But-I--
SETH: Just say yes.
CHRIS: Yes.
SETH: Okay, so grew up in Portland, Maine, um, how did you get obsessed with musical theatre?
CHRIS: Umm, hmm, I, uh well when I was about five years old, my mom--I was kind of a spaz when I was a kid--and uh, my mom put me in clown class.
SETH: They had one in Portland, Maine?
CHRIS: They had one in Portland. There was actually a whole um, community there that was doing like, Vaudeville stuff, and like, they would do these traveling Vaudeville shows.
SETH: Wait, you were born in 1921, wait, what-who's doing Vaudeville, it doesn't make any sense!
CHRIS: I don't know, it was like this whole community all throughout New England, that was doing it at that time, like, kind of like, mm, early to mid-80s.
SETH: That's so bizarre. Okay, keep going.
CHRIS: And so I like learned, I traveled with all these people and learned how to juggle and balance things on my face, and uh, do all sorts of stuff.
SETH: So you went on the road with them performing with them?
CHRIS: Um hmm. There were like clowns, and song and dance people, and it was really weird.
SETH: And what about school?
CHRIS: And I never saw my parents, ever, no--um.
SETH: Wait, did you like go to school, on the weekends?
CHRIS: Oh yeah, I'd do it on the weekends, or you know they'd have little classes and all sorts of stuff, it was weird.
SETH: And did you wear awful white paint? Were you that type of clown?
CHRIS: Uh, yes, I did some mime work.
SETH: (laughs) You did not! You're such a liar.
CHRIS: I did! I did mime work.
SETH: (He can't believe it.) You really did?
CHRIS: Sure. You wanna see some?
SETH: You know I do.
CHRIS: Alright...uh, alright.
SETH: Yeah, this is going to be good for the radio, this silence.
CHRIS: (He's doing the miming here) I'm leaning on something. I'm still--now I'm like holding on to something, and now I'm pulling myself up. (The audience claps)
SETH: Oh, okay, we're going to do more miming later, cuz I have an audition story.
CHRIS: I have my white gloves.
SETH: And spats. Okay, so this is not musical theatre though, so you were just doing like, weird performing?
CHRIS: Yeah, I did some of that for awhile, and then I, uh, at the same time, I uh, my father was a member of the Portland Players, which was like, it was amazing. And he uh, I started watching him do--he was in Brigadoon, I remember, he was in um, what else was he in, oh! Uh, the one with the big--uh, Jack Nicholson.
SETH: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!
CHRIS: Yes.
SETH: That's a great musical.
CHRIS: And I remember, and well, I just remember watching him at age 6, like getting zapped in the head with the thing
SETH: Oh my gosh, that's totally scary.
CHRIS: It was terrifying.
SETH: But you weren't like, listening to show albums?
CHRIS: Uh, well I started as I watched him do some stuff, I started to get some show albums, and then, I don't know I started to--and then I did Oliver! that was my first musical.
SETH: (gasp) Me too! Hmm. What was your role?
CHRIS: Uh, one of the little Fagan's boys.
SETH: I was a workhouse boy.
CHRIS: You didn't get to be the Fagan boy?
SETH: I was--I was overweight, I won't talk about it. Literally, they were like, orphan only, you're not--we don't want to see you move. So yeah, I was only in the beginning of Act I, I don't want to discuss it ever again. Okay! So, good gig, okay, and then what? Any good roles? (pause) Was-what? (I think someone in the audience asks something, I can't make it out.) No, it was at Northage Dinner Theatre. Alright fine, we'll discuss it later. Northage, professional? Equity? Anybody? Nobody. Okay, so um, any roles in junior high school?
CHRIS: And then--uh, yeah, and then I did, my next musical was Patrick in Mame.
SETH: Young Patrick--or older Patrick?
CHRIS: Young Patrick, no, Young Patrick. Uh, and then, Winthrop Paroo in Music Man.
SETH: I wanted to play Winthrop so badly when I was a child!
CHRIS: It's a great role. It's a great role.
SETH: I am still mad about it! But I think you look more Irish than I do, the most Hebrew. Okay, so, just saying, okay so when you graduated, did you want to go to theatre school? Or clown college?
CHRIS: Uh, what did I want to do? Um, well, I, well then in high school, I started this acapella group. Called! The Acapella Fellas. (The audience awws) Not bad, huh?
SETH: Sort of a singular plural rhyme, but okay, it's okay. Acapellas, fellas. But okay, go on.
CHRIS: And then, so it was a trio, and we kind of traveled around, with the Vaudeville people, and started singing and kind of like, sketch stuff and we did like a whole karaoke thing.
SETH: And were you writing the arrangements yourself?
CHRIS: Uh huh.
SETH: What, did you ever do bar mitzvahs, something like that kind of sh*t? or like--
CHRIS: Uh, yeah we did a couple of bar mitzvahs, parties..
SETH: Did you ever get heckled for being [word I can't make out]?
CHRIS: Uh no, I can't remember, no..
SETH: At a bar mitzvah, I don't want acapella singers at my bar mitzvah, that'd be so annoying! People actually enjoyed it?
CHRIS: People loved it, we were like, we did doo-wop stuff, and like, funky stuff. (A guy in the audience says something.) Say that again?
GUY IN AUDIENCE: It was Portland.
CHRIS: Yeah, it was Portland!
SETH: Oh, it was Portland. Okay.
CHRIS: There was like, three people.
SETH: Okay, I hear ya. OK, so then what, where'd you go to school?
CHRIS: Uh, and then I went to Rowland's College in Florida.
SETH: You went all the way down? For what? What--why?
CHRIS: Cuz I had spent all my life in Portland, Maine.
SETH: Oh, so you wanted to get as far away as possible.
CHRIS: And I got go, and wear shorts and flip flops.
SETH: And were you a theatre major?
CHRIS: And uh, I majored in theatre, yup. And I got a nice scholarship to go there, which was cool.
SETH: Delicious. Any good roles?
CHRIS: And that's one of the things that I--that was that thing--
SETH: Was that your audition tape?
CHRIS: Well, that was to get the scholarship to go.
SETH: (To audience) Okay, we're going to see how amazing he was later, auditioning for college, suffice it to say, he should not have gotten a scholarship. (Everyone laughs) Okay. Ah, any good roles in college?
CHRIS: Um, let me think--I was uh, oh, I played Candide. That was my first musical. And it wasn't until college that I got back into musical theatre as something that I enjoyed.
SETH: Good.
CHRIS: And I kind of loved musicals but, once I got to college I kind of like--and got this role, it kind of reintroduced me to that.
SETH: And did you have nice teachers that were supportive, or teachers like, you'll never make it in this business?
CHRIS: Uh, no they were great. It was really a great experience. It was, it was like this theatre uh, that you kind of--it was like a professional season, and you know, it was a beautiful theatre called the Annie Russell Theatre, and we would do like five shows a year and it was kind like, always--and for the scholarship they gave me I kind of always had to be a part of it.
SETH: That's great.
CHRIS: So it was kind of like a job, but it enabled me to go to school, and it was really fun.
SETH: So you spent all four years, you didn't leave early?
CHRIS: No.
SETH: Brava. Okay then so did you move right to New York City?
CHRIS: No!
SETH: (Disappointed) Oh.
CHRIS: Then!
SETH: Did you go on tour again?
CHRIS: No! Then! I went to ACT in San Francisco.
SETH: Ahh! Very classy theatre training schools. American Conservatory Theatre.
CHRIS: Yes. And then I shift my focus to Ibsen and Strindberg and all that stuff.
SETH: (Impatient kind of grunt) Yeacchh! Okay, not interested in that kind of acting. Um, this much interest. Um--
CHRIS: Still they had a musical theatre class, which was really fun too.
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GreenSkinnedWitch
Sorceress-In-Training
Oh Biq, really? You would do that for me?
Posts: 253
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Post by GreenSkinnedWitch on Apr 9, 2004 15:13:49 GMT -5
SETH: And did any famous people go in your class, did anyone move onto something big that I should know about? CHRIS: Uh.....nooo... SETH: No. You're the only one that actually had any talent. Okay. CHRIS: We have like a theatre here and a company called the Rude Mechanicals that do-- SETH: The Rue McClanahans? What's it called?! CHRIS: The Rude Mechanicals. SETH: Oh! Haha, I think mine is funnier. Okay, so hold on, what did you, you spent two years at ACT? CHRIS: Two years, and I got my masters degree from there. SETH: Did they help you, at all? CHRIS: Uhhh...well, not really. SETH: The training I guess is good, but it's not like-- CHRIS: It was good, it kind of shift my focus away, I-I got to like just really study, and kind of, also explore other aspects of acting and stuff, so. SETH: And like what was the acting technique, was it Mizner as we say? CHRIS: Uh. (laughs) There a bit--there was a touch of Mizner, there was all sorts of different.. SETH: Mizner, huh? Okay, so you graduate, and then what, did you please god move to New York, or did you LA to make it in film and TV? CHRIS: No, I came to New York. SETH: Excellent. CHRIS: I came to New York. I was working also at the time, throughout all this, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Started as an apprentice in uh, '93. SETH: And what does that mean, like building sets? CHRIS: Building sets, picking up cigarette butts, and stuff, and then playing little parts in different shows. SETH: Who was the bitchiest star you had to deal with? CHRIS: (Pause) Olympia Dukakis. SETH: What?! CHRIS: No, but she wasn't, she wasn't bitchy but she was like, she was in the show--she was the star of the show I was in. SETH: No but she doesn't seem like she's--what about Gwyneth? CHRIS: She wasn't up there at that point-- Actually, she was! She was up there at that point with her mom doing a play, and I remember all the other apprentice guys were like, "Who's that doggy girl?" SETH: Yeah. Cuz it was just so like, "I am beautiful." I guess if you say you are, alright. Ah, you know what I mean? It's like, I guess you are. Where was I? CHRIS: But we played--I played like in this play with Olympia, uh, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. SETH: Oh, I heard of that. CHRIS: By Tennessee Williams. SETH: So you had to play opposite her? CHRIS: No, I played one of the Italian speaking servants. And me--and my friend Pete and I were like the two little servants in the show that kind of moved the set, and did all sorts of things, and-and on opening night, it was Michael Ritchie who was the producer who's now leaving, it's his first season. They uh, she was having trouble with this costume change, into a kimono that she had to get in, and so, I uh, so David Schweitzer the director, came to my friend Pete and myself and was like (kind of slowly & slurrish), "Could you--Pete, Fitz--Olympia's having trouble with her"--he talks this way--"she's having trouble with her kimono, could you kind of come up with some stuff, to fill..you know...the-the scene? Just come up with some stuff." So we were like, "Oh, okay." This is a--this is a--this is a half, this is a half hour! And the scene consisted of setting up a table for her to eat dinner at with uh, Mary Louise.. SETH: Parker? CHRIS: Uh, Wilson. Mary--is that her name?
CHRIS: So we, so we-we uh, we came up with a little bit where we set the table and we knew like one word in Italian, it was awful. And so we did this one little switch, and then uh, and then uh we kind of got together and we're like "Okay we'll do that." So it gets to the moment and we kind of go out, and we-we do our little moment, waiting for Olympia. This is me and my friend, full house, opening night of the first season. And she doesn't come out. And so we kind of do our little moment, say our one line in Italian. And then there was this great moment of, looking at each other. And so then I--what did I fall back on? Vaudeville! Picked up a fish, balanced a fish on my chin, started juggling like eggs, sang uh "Caro mio ben.." the only aria I knew from when I was like 11, it was awful! And then so, the audience starts to kind of laugh, and like, we're just like, you know throwing things across the stage at each other. Finally Olympia comes, and every cheers and the evening goes on. But! The addendum to that story is, the review in the New York Times came out the next day, and it panned the show, and then it said, "Even down to the servants' cover of Olympia Dukakis's costume change.."
SETH: They knew it was a cover??
CHRIS: "...it was both inadequate and embarrassing."
SETH: Were you so excited, like "We're mentioned, we're mentioned!..oohhhh."
CHRIS: I think I still have a copy of it, it's like, one of my favorite reviews. "Inadequate and embarrassing." (laughs)
SETH: Well, balancing a fish on your face is kind of pushing it.
CHRIS: I thought it was [something I can't pick out].
SETH: Cut. Okay, so now how did you move to New York? Who did you live with, how'd you get the money, blah blah blah.
CHRIS: Uh, I moved here with my friend Dave Fitzgerald. No relation.
SETH: Really? 2 Fitzes?
CHRIS: It was cool. And uh, just started auditioning and, you know. |
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GreenSkinnedWitch
Sorceress-In-Training
Oh Biq, really? You would do that for me?
Posts: 253
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Post by GreenSkinnedWitch on Apr 9, 2004 15:16:05 GMT -5
SETH: Did you try out for any big Broadway shows?
CHRIS: Uh, one of the first big Broadway directors I auditioned for was uh, James Lapine, actually.
SETH: Oh, he's always friendly. And, cut! Just a lot of this.
CHRIS: Totally! That was my reaction.
SETH: When he's in a good mood. Wait, so that was the reaction, just silence and glaring?
CHRIS: He--uh, it was for the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
SETH: That reading they were doing?
CHRIS: Yes. Oh, no, the one they did in Germany. And so, uh, Jay Binder took me, like, he like saw me sing at something, and was like, "I'm going to get you this part" and we worked on it, and like worked privately on it and like it was like the big presentation to James and I walk in the room and James is in the back in the corner eating soup. And I was like, you know, "hello." You know? And uh, he was like, "Can you uh--*mumbles*" I was like, "I'm sorry?" He's like, "The SONG. The song." So I was like, okay, I was like (sings) ahh, and you know, the end note, like, "Out thereeeeeeee"
SETH: Yeah. It goes to high G.
CHRIS: I literally had tears, I was like "theeeeeeerrrreee." And he's like, "*chews* Can you do *mumbles*" "Sorry?" "The SCENE. Can you do the scene." I was like, ah, so I did the scene I'm like, you know, the hunchback, and you know, "Let me ring the bells." (Impersonating James) "You *mumbles*" "Sorry?" "You can go. It's over. Leave!" I was like, 'kay..
SETH: Wait, did he hate you, or Jay Binder? That was my question, was he getting back Jay for forcing you, or did he hate you for sucking?
CHRIS: Well what's good is then I auditioned for him for Amour, I don't know, last, 2 years? Last year? and it was the first time I'd seen him since. And he was so pleasant, so nice, and uh, I auditioned for the little workshop and then..
SETH: Did you remind him?
CHRIS: It took-it took me some time; he's actually a really great guy and uh, I definitely reminded him.
SETH: And what was his comeback?
CHRIS: "I wasn't like that." He was like, "I was--I'm-I'm always nice."
SETH: (pause) Anyhoo. Okay, so, you did not get Hunchback, keep going, you didn't try out for like Les Mis or anything while you were in town?
CHRIS: Uh, no, no I didn't.
SETH: So what was your first big gig? How did you get your Equity card? Williamstown?
CHRIS: Uh, I got my Equity card through Williamstown. But my first gig in New York was The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Public theatre, directed by Jerry Zaks.
SETH: Um hmm. What was that like? Was it funny, was it supposed to be a funny show?
CHRIS: Uh, it was--it's a great play.
SETH: And did he do his best to set the comedy up? (laughter) I mean, how did he uh--? Oh come on! It's just like--let me hear it. Let me hear the amazing touches he added. Besides faster and play to the front.
CHRIS: That was--I mean that was to about the extent of it. You know. It was interesting because we had people who had actually done the show in England, that were actually Irish, in the show. And so there was kind of an American--there were a couple of American actors, then there were real Irish actors who had done the show, were friends of the playwright, Martin McDonagh, and so their relationship with Jerry Zaks was very, uh..
SETH: Antagonistic?
CHRIS: Not antagonistic, but definitely had, there was some differences of an approach.
SETH: Did you have to do an Irish accent?
CHRIS: Aye.
SETH: Were they like, were they like, "It sucks, mate" or were they like--were they like..?
CHRIS: (Laughing) "It sucks mate"??
SETH: Yeah, "Your accent sucks." I don't know, how do they say it in Ireland? Did they bust you for it?
CHRIS: Uh, no, they helped me a little bit. You know. It was my first time--now that I've done so many--because of Fitzgerald, I think when I do--I've done so many Irish plays now I think because when I walk in they see my name and so they figure..
SETH: "He must be amaaazing at it." Didn't you do Beauty Queen of Leenane?
CHRIS: And then I did that, yes.
SETH: And did you do--where'd you do it, in Chicago?
CHRIS: Yup. Steppenwolf.
SETH: And were you the person who's supposed to have the message, but then you don't bring it, is that your character?
CHRIS: Uh-uh. An 'important piece of information.'
SETH: It was a crazy downer show every night. That show was so depressing. Did you guys see it? It's such a downer with that brain coming out and the burning-- I didn't write it! That's the show. Wasn't it a downer?
CHRIS: Sometimes. It is. I've actually found that, now, I've had enough experience doing kind of, plays that are--and last year I did Observe the Suns of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme which was, not very nice, which we did at Lincoln Center, and uh that was a play about 8 young Irish nationalists who basically meet in World War I and at the end of the play is us all going over the-the trench in Somme--in the Battle of the Somme in France, and all dying at the very end. It was like...it was a--it's a beautiful play, it was happening all the time that the war was starting, but it was really--it was so depressing, to like, every night kind of like, end a little different with Wicked, actually, and uh.
SETH: Well yeah, well it doesn't really end, well it kind of ends up uplifting for you, I guess, even though your heart's been destroyed.
CHRIS: Yeah.
SETH: It's not quite as depressing.
CHRIS: Being tin's not so bad.
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take pity on me! Some one please!
