Girl Crazy photos + interview
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
As previously mentioned, Becki Newton will make her (professional) musical debut in City Center Encores! production Girl Crazy, where she stars opposite her husband Chris Diamantopoulous among others! The premiere is tonight (it runs Nov. 19-22), and to celebrate this, I’ve added some pictures of the cast as well as a brand new interview (from TheaterMania.com) with Becki! She talks about the musical, Ugly Betty, as well as future projects. Check it out below.
And I also want to wish a Good Luck, Becki! from all your fans!
THEATERMANIA: When we first met two years ago, you were telling me how much you wanted to do a musical. What was your first professional audition?
BECKI NEWTON: This is awesomely embarrassing and I’m going to admit it right now. Do you remember when Sweet Smell of Success opened? Well, clearly I didn’t know what the musical was about, and I didn’t know enough to ask. I was just out of college and I’d just come to New York and I didn’t think you were supposed to know what time period it was from or what the characters are like. So I sang “Mama Will Provide” from Once on This Island, complete with the rap in the beginning. I think I scared everyone and I think that’s why it’s taken me so long to get back on stage.TM: Did you and Chris audition as a tag team for this show?
BN: I sort of tricked him into the audition, because he hasn’t done theater since he was in The Full Monty, on Broadway over five years ago and I’ve always said I wanted to see him on stage again. We have the same agent and she said to me one day, Encores is doing Girl Crazy, and these are the parts, and I have an audition time for you, and do you think Chris would want to do it? And I said, absolutely sign him up, even though I know he wouldn’t say yes on his own in a million years. So I went home that night, after having called the vocal coaches and all those armies of people you have to call when you have a musical theater audition, I said “Chris, you have no choice, you’re going to do this,” and he said ok. I don’t think either of us thought we were actually going to get the parts.TM: How has it been switching from Amanda to Molly?
BN: With Molly, everything comes from a place of logic, and Amanda has no logic, so it’s been really interesting. For Molly, I think if I was Amanda, what would be the worst, most inappropriate thing to do — and then just do the opposite.
















