October 10, 1997
pg. 18
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From Xena to Rizzo
Lawless takes a bow on her Grease! opening night.
Lucy Lawless, aka Xena: Warrior Princess, is currently bringing crowds into the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where she is starring in the long-running hit musical Grease! Lawless follows in the footsteps of many celebrity Rizzos, including Rosie O'Donnell, Brooke Shields, Joely Fisher, and Mackenzie Phillips. In fact, her appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, where she sang "I'm an Ole' Cow Hand," caught the attention of casting directors from producer Barry and Fran Weissler's office.
"They made me an offer, and I jumped at it," says Lawless. Why did she opt for much less lucrative work on Broadway rather than a movie during her hiatus from Xena? "This is not for the money," Lawless says with a smile. "A good reason is to broaden my career base. But the actual truth is that I wanted to sing again. I haven't sung since I was a teenager, and that was just for the love of it. Anyway, I feel a change coming into my life. I just wanted to take this risk and do it. It's a great role for me. Rizzo is a tough, hard woman with a heart."
Lucy continues as Rizzo through October 19, when she travels back to New Zealand to begin work on the new season of Xena. On October 20, she will be replaced by Linda Blair, best known for her performance in The Exorcist.
"From Xena to Rizzo" is a sidebar to the article "Totally Tube-ular" about TV actors doing theater. Here is a relevant excerpt from "Totally Tube-ular":
On Broadway, the challenge is to command the stage while still creating a believable performance. "When I first started doing Chicago, I felt like I was was being so big," says the energetic Henner [Marilu Henner from Taxi]. "People said, 'No, no, you have to fill that stage.' On film, I felt that one adjustment I had to make as an actress was always to make things smaller: Don't roll your eyes so much, don't move your head, definitely keep those hands a little more still. And being on stage, I get to be as big as I want to be."
Henner, a Windy City native who got her Equity card with a national tour of Grease in 1972, felt Chicago and the role of Roxie were a perfect fit. "It's like this was written for someone like me," she smiles, "being from Chicago, and a red-headed chorine. When Roxie says 'All my life I wanted to be a dancer in vaudeville,' for me it could be, 'a dancer on Broadway.' "
Many TV actors share that sentiment, and in certain productions, their name value sells the show. Most notable is the shrewdly cast Broadway reincarnation of Grease! at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, which has successfully parlayed star wattage into ticket sales. Lucy Lawless, TV's Xena: Warrior Princess, is currently playing Rizzo, and her strong persona is perfect for the toughest girl at Rydell High. (See sidebar.)
In fact, Grease! typifies one type of modern Broadway production, appealing to well-known TV actors and singers looking for a juicy musical role. (Famous alums include Rosie O'Donnell, Sally Struthers, Brooke Shields, and Joe Piscopo.) "You reach out for what you need at the time, you make sure your star can sing and dance and act, and you [end up with] someone who's attractive to the public," explains Barry Weissler, producer of both Grease! and Chicago. "They've all benefited from our marketing campaign, we present them in a very special way, and that helps them reach out into other fields."
Yet some TV stars need to be eased into performing live, Weissler notes. "The most difficult people to make a connection [with the audience] are television actors, because they work for that little camera. And they aren't used to relating fully as we are in the theater. [TV work] is much more inward. We have to build them up, heighten them, get them to reach the back wall, relate to their fellow actors, and connect to the audience. They're not used to that as much in television."
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