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Back in January 1998, when Lea Michele opened on Broadway as The Little Girl in Ragtime, she was an adorably tiny 11-year-old with huge eyes and thick bangs, already a stage pro from her run as Young Cosette in Les Miserables. Ten years later, she's still tiny (high-heeled black boots worn over skinny jeans add a bit of height), but Michele is now a full-grown Broadway leading lady. As every fan of Spring Awakening knows, the 21-year-old actress has been part of the show's development since 1999, long before anyone dreamed that a musical based on Frank Wedekind's 100-year-old play about adolescents discovering their sexuality would ever make it to Broadway, much less win eight Tony Awards and become a mainstream hit. As Wendla, the innocent young heroine who drives the action, Michele gives a heartbreaking performance that's totally in sync with her stage lover, Jonathan Groff. Michele and Groff just signed six-month extensions, so it seemed like a good time to check in with this talented actress, who chatted between shows in her uncluttered black-and-white dressing room about Spring Awakening, the Tonys and her career, with an oblique mention of her longtime boyfriend, Altar Boyz alum Landon Beard, who's now touring part-time with Frankie Valli.
Spring Awakening fans are thrilled that you and Jonathan Groff re-signed with the show through May. Was it a difficult decision?
No, it definitely wasn't. For the first time, I really feel like I'm settled here. We were so crazed from when we opened, straight into the Tonys and into the summer, which was packed after having won Best Musical, so when decision time came around in September, I was like, "I'm not ready to leave. No way." I'm thrilled that Jonathan Groff is staying too.
Did you talk it over in advance with Jonathan and John Gallagher?
We did. We kind of knew that John was going to move on sooner than we would. He has so much going on with his band, and he was scheduled to do an off-Broadway play [Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger] that got postponed, but he was ready to go. That was difficult for us, but at least I still have my Jonathan Groff here with me!
You and Jonathan have such a strong bond. Did you feel close right away?
Yeah. I had worked with two other Melchiors in the workshop process, and the minute I met Jonathan at the final audition for the Atlantic production, I felt an instant connection. But never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that we would be as close as we are. He's more than my best friend, he's my soul mate, and I thank Spring Awakening for bringing him into my life.
We sit in our dressing rooms after the show, and we're like, "I'm not ready to go home, let's lie down!" And we're sitting there on the floor saying, "Do you think [Mary Poppins stars] Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee do this?" [Laughs.] We honestly can't get enough of each other. I think what we do onstage forced a connection, and I don't know what any future Wendla and Melchiors are going to do if they don't love, love, love each other. It's so intimate. I think we got lucky. Everyone in this cast got lucky.
Speaking of the cast, how about that Spring Awakening Gap billboard in Times Square?!
I almost peed my pants the first time I saw it [laughs]. Jonathan and I were in a cab together. He was on the phone, I was looking out the window and I just started screaming, "Get off the phone! Look at the BUILDING!" I go by there as much as I can, because I look at it and think back to when I first met everyone, and our first few days of rehearsal—we could never have imagined then that we'd be on a huge billboard in Times Square.
How has such a big, young cast avoided feeling competitive?
It's a miracle. In all honesty, I haven't ever heard that word in the past two years. When I was younger, in Les Miz and Ragtime and even Fiddler on the Roof, for sure you experience competition with people you work with. It's a very competitive business. But everyone here is so diverse. Not only would I never be up for the same parts as certain people in this show, we are all so supportive of one another. These people will be my family for the rest of my life. These girls will be at my wedding. It's no joke! No matter what anyone had done before, this show is the beginning of our careers, and I can't wait to see where it takes everyone.
What's it like now that original cast members have started to leave?
We welcome new people with open arms, but a new person means one of your old friends leaving, and that's incredibly hard. The first one we lost was Gideon Glick [now in Speech & Debate], and that night I thought that my insides were being torn out. The day John Gallagher left, when Lauren Pritchard walked offstage after she did her scene with him, she literally fell to the floor on her hands and knees. I specifically asked my family be in the audience on John's last night because that was the only thing that kept me from stopping and saying, "I can't finish this." It was one of the hardest things I've ever done.
Our Photo Op of John during the curtain call was so sweet. He got very emotional.
He was blown away by the audience response. We all were. I could cry thinking about it now. The final performance was on a Sunday, and people started waiting outside at 8 AM on Saturday. After the show Saturday night, I went to dinner with my boyfriend and two friends; we left the restaurant at 1:30 in the morning and it was snowing outside. We walked by our theater, and there were 60 kids pitching a tent. I went over and they showed me their names on the list for student tickets for the next day. They were all there at the performance; after everything John did, the response was extraordinary. At the end of the show, we stood back and gave him his own bow, which we don't normally do, and they applauded for a good five minutes. Later, I went to the end of the autograph line and saw the group of 60 kids and I said, "Who has been here since Saturday?" They all raised their hands, and just I lost it and started crying. I said. "I thank you with all of my heart because never in my life, when I started this show in 1999, did I think that people would be so wonderful to us."
Tell me about your most memorable fan encounters. I saw the clip on YouTube where the fan was…
…proposing to me? [Laughs.] That was pretty intense. We have a few people who have seen our show more than 250 times; they're here almost every day. They go back and forth between onstage seats and front row. Last night was the coldest of the year, and when I came out the stage door, there were more people than there had ever been. They literally took up half of 49th Street.
How about the most fun celebrity encounter?
Oh my gosh, Sarah Jessica Parker came. I'm a huge Idina Menzel fan, and she came twice—once with Taye [Diggs] and once with her father. Steven Spielberg came. I'm still waiting for Alanis Morrisette, and I know Jonathan Groff wants to meet Jennifer Garner. She's been a little busy with her daughter and doing Cyrano! If she comes, I think he will cry, if not have a heart attack. He is so obsessed with her it's disgusting [laughs].
I have to ask you about the Tonys. [Jonathan Groff was nominated in the lead actor category, and John Gallagher Jr. won the featured actor award.] Who decided that you would be considered in the lead actress category rather than featured actress?
The Tony committee, I assume.
The producers can petition the committee on how they want their actors to be considered. You weren't consulted about that?
All I remember saying was, "I'll take whatever they want to give me." And when I got put into consideration for lead, I was just blown away. That's incredible. It was a big year for me no matter what, and when it's the right time for [Tony recognition], it will happen.
I feel pretty darn sure you would have gotten nominated this year if they had moved you to featured!
Well, woulda, coulda, shoulda. What are you going to do? Everything happens for a reason. I don't think there's anything anyone could have done. John Gallagher sings more in this show and does more, if not just as much, as I do, so right there I think that says I should have been featured. But the fact that I am the leading girl in this show, to be put up with Jonathan Groff was a huge honor and I'm content with that. It's okay—I'll be the Susan Lucci of Broadway [laughs].
…whose father had had a heart attack the night before! Her mother couldn't take her to the audition because she had to be at the hospital with her husband.
Did you even have a headshot?
No. I sang a cappella "Angel of Music" from Phantom because it was the only Broadway show I had ever seen; my mother had bought me the CD. I sang both Meg and Christine's [lyrics], both characters. And I got the part [of Young Cosette].
Did you feel at home immediately onstage?
Oh yes. You can watch interviews of me as a little kid saying, "This is what you will see me doing for the rest of my life."
How did being a child actor affect your family life?
My mother totally gave up her career. She was a nurse, and she gave it up for me. I think being an only child is one reason my parents were able to give so much of their time in helping me in this business. The one thing you will hear from anyone who ever worked with me—and I truly believe it's what helped me get so many jobs as a young kid—is that I have the coolest, most easygoing parents. Let me tell you, there were some crazy, crazy, crazy mothers out there. My parents would say, "This [audition] is not a big deal," whereas other parents would look at their children and say, "You need to get this job."
Did your mother move with you to Toronto during the development of Ragtime?
Yes, she left my dad at home with our dog and our two cats for an entire year. My parents met when they were about 14 years old and they had never been apart. But my mom, having known nothing about this business, knew who Audra McDonald was and knew who Brian Stokes Mitchell was, and she realized that [Ragtime] was the best education I could ever get. Going to Canada and working with Peter Friedman, Marin Mazzie, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald was a master class. I owe so much to those four people.
And you're still close to them, right?
Oh yeah, Peter's daughter is finally coming to see the show in January. Peter has been numerous times and saw every workshop; he was the only person I let come and see the workshop of Spring Awakening when I was 14. I did not let my parents come and see it until we did the last workshop at Lincoln Center. They were fine with that; by that time I was 18 and I figured I would feel comfortable letting them see me do what I do in this show.
You stopped working for a while when you were in high school. Were you able to have a "normal" life?
Oh, totally. I went to Tenafly High School [in New Jersey], and I was on the debate team. Freshman, sophomore and junior year, I was a full-time student. I did the workshops of Spring Awakening, but that didn't get in the way of my schooling. It wasn't until my senior year that I got Fiddler on the Roof. I had just been accepted at NYU, and at that point I chose not to go to college and to continue on in the business.
You had been a professional in a world of adults. When you went back to school, did you ever look at your classmates and think, "You don't have a clue"?
I pretty much did look at them and say, "Y'all don't have a clue." [Laughs.] At eight years old I was making a living and working hard and some of the people I grew up with just didn't get it. I would get sick of hearing, "Oh, how's the play? Do you perform every night in the play?" And I'm like, "It's a musical, not a play, and yes, I do eight shows a week." But I'm so glad to have had that [high school] experience. I still keep in touch with a few close friends who are supportive of my career.
Were you always a good girl? You never rebelled and said, "I've been working for years; now let me play"?
No, I never really had that period, but I wouldn't categorize myself as a "good girl." That sounds so boring [laughs]. My parents kept me from going crazy. This business is hard; it's filled with so much rejection, and they helped me keep things in perspective and took a lot of the pressure off.
Are you living on your own now?
Yes, I have my own apartment in the city, and I love it. Some of my friends are in the business and some aren't. It's a great balance. My girlfriends are the best support system in the world.
I've never heard you talk much about Landon Beard, your actor boyfriend. The two of you have been together for more than a year.
[Smiling] I feel very lucky to have such a great boyfriend who's so wonderful.
You don't have any pictures of Landon in your dressing room!
No, I have pictures of me with Jonathan and John. This is where I do my work. But he's just a phone call away if I need to talk to him, and I also have a photo album over here with pictures of family and friends. He always comes in and says, "You put another picture of Jonathan up!" [Laughs.] But in here, work is what I need to focus on, and I think he gets it.
As stage actors, you understand each other's schedule. [At that very moment, Michele's pink PDA/telephone rings; it's Beard on the line.]
[Into phone] We were just talking about you! She asked me why I don't have any pictures of you in my room. [Pause.] He says that he asks the same question all the time. Okay, I'll call you later. [She hangs up.] Yes, I really appreciate having friends and a boyfriend who get what it's like to be in this business.
I know, isn't that crazy?
They must have asked you…
No, they didn't! [Laughs.] At that time I was so busy with Spring Awakening, but the fact that so many rumors were happening was incredible. Who knows? I love Wicked.
I believed the rumors, because you and [current Glinda] Annaleigh Ashford are so well matched in age.
Wasn't she in Legally Blonde? She's wonderful. I just did a workshop with [current Elphaba] Stephanie Block's new husband Sebastian [Arcelus], and I finally got to meet her. I'm a huge fan of hers. Wicked is one of my favorite shows, and the character [Elphaba] is fantastic. The fact that I have so many fans who say, "We would love to see you do [Wicked] Lea, and we hope that you get the opportunity" is awesome. If it's meant to be, it will be.
It's hard to say whether playing Elphaba would be a step up for you, after opening your own hit show.
Oh, I would do it to show people that I can. I don't think of this business as steps up or steps down. For me as an actor, even if I were going into a show where I had one 10-minute scene, if I felt that I was learning and growing, I would sit backstage for the rest of the show just to come on for that 10 minutes. If there's something I want to do, I don't care how it looks to anyone else.
In a previous Broadway.com interview, you mentioned loving West Side Story, and now Arthur Laurents says he's going to direct a revival. Has there been any talk about that?
Just with myself and my prayers [laughs]. Maybe my mom will get lucky and I'll be able to do that one for her. She's a huge fan of West Side Story. See, my father always wanted me to play Eponine [in Les Miserables]. When I was eight years old, I said, "Dad, if I ever get to play Eponine, I'm going to write in my bio "a heart full of love for my dad." I didn't end up doing that [Michele dropped out of the current Broadway revival to stay with Spring Awakening] but I put it in my bio for Spring Awakening to both of my parents. Les Miz is so close to my heart; I sing "On My Own" any chance I get. I'm actually going to be performing at Feinstein's at the Regency [on February 25] so you'll hear stuff from Les Miz.
What a fantastic opportunity! Who is going to be your musical director?
I'm talking to a few people right now. I can't wait. I've picked some really good stuff. I think we'll do classic Broadway standards. I'll be singing about 14 songs.
And you're doing the upcoming concerts of Paul Scott Goodman's new musical Alive in the World, right?
I'm in rehearsals for that now. It's going to be at the Zipper Theater on the 13th and 14th of January, directed by Kurt Deutsch of Sh-K-Boom Records, who's married to the fantastic Sherie Rene Scott, and starring Greg Naughton, Toby Lightman, Adam Pascal, Melissa Errico, Daniel Reichard and myself. There's no script; the characters come alive through the songs, and it's about life post 9/11, a subject that hasn't really been dealt with on the stage. I'm a high school student and sing about how 9/11 affected me. I can't wait to work with Adam, but I'm afraid I'm going to be staring at him the whole time. It's a fantastic rock score, and you get to see a different side of my voice than you do with Spring Awakening.
You obviously don't mind playing younger.
No, I don't mind playing younger if I feel that it's a challenge. I mean, Wendla is young, but by no means is this an easy role.
No joke, honey!
And this character [in Alive in the World] is very much like Wendla. She chooses to make some choices with her life that are intense, so that's exciting for me. Age doesn't matter as long as you feel like you're growing as an actor.
See Lea Michele in Spring Awakening at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
