00:00Hi, I'm Mira Sorvino, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:07Oscar winner Mira Sorvino is making her Broadway debut,
00:11taking on the role of Roxy Hart in the long-running hit musical, Chicago.
00:15We caught up with her last week to hear all about it and more.
00:19This is a Life Minute with Mira Sorvino.
00:22I've not had this much fun doing anything with maybe the exception of Frommie and Michelle.
00:27Like, this is the most fun I could have.
00:31Getting to learn all the choreography, all the songs, create my version of Roxy,
00:36my take on the character, and get to perform it with these high-level professionals
00:40who are so respected and beloved.
00:42This is truly a dream come true, and I'm pinching myself every minute.
00:46I had always wanted to do Broadway, and I had been offered a show a long time ago,
00:51and then the dates changed, and I couldn't do it because of my schedule,
00:55and I have always regretted that.
00:56But Broadway doesn't come along that often,
00:58especially if you're mostly known as a film and television actor.
01:01So this move is a move from the heart.
01:05Dancing the Cha-Cha with her partner Gleb Savchenko, it's Mira Sorvino.
01:10After I got kicked off Dancing with the Stars, I got really sad
01:14because I loved dancing so much, and it was making me so happy
01:17to be able to be dancing as a daily calling and performing it live.
01:21Then I said to myself, wait a second, don't let this get you down.
01:24That show would have been over in a few weeks anyway.
01:26Why don't you go to jazz classes?
01:28Because I'd never studied jazz dancing.
01:30I'd only done ballet and social dance like salsa and waltz
01:33and a little bit of flamenco and hustle and different things for movies.
01:38So I was like, okay, let's go to jazz class.
01:40Let's learn how to dance so maybe in a few years you could do Broadway.
01:42And that was two years ago, and I took classes every week whenever I was home,
01:46like several times a week with some incredible dancers in L.A.,
01:50and when I'd come to New York, I'd go to Steps and pick up whatever classes I could.
01:53Then I was talking to my agents, and I was like,
01:56I would really like to do Broadway.
01:57Is there some way that I could do Chicago?
01:59And they were like, well, I don't know.
02:00We haven't had any clients.
02:01But, well, okay, we'll get you a meeting with the wonderful casting director, Duncan.
02:05And we had this love fest talk in April.
02:09And then I went back to California, and they had me do these work sessions,
02:13one with Greg Butler, their L.A. dance person,
02:16and one with Eric Vitro, their singing coach.
02:18And I passed them.
02:20And then I came to New York, and I met our wonderful producer, Barry,
02:23and they made me the offer.
02:24And I took my daughter to see the show that night,
02:27and she was blown away that I was going to do it.
02:29And I am so excited.
02:30Like, my family calls me, and I'm like, I'm so happy.
02:33I had the best day.
02:34And they're like, wow, you sound really happy.
02:36And, like, my friend the other night, she's like, how is it?
02:39Is it hard?
02:39And I was like, well, it's hard, yeah, but it's so much fun.
02:42And she's like, no one in New York says they're happy and they're having fun.
02:46You know, so this is really joyful for me.
02:49The beauty part of this is that no two Roxies are the same.
02:53People make it their own.
02:54I've tried not to look at other people's Roxies online
02:57because I just wanted to find who I felt she was inside
03:00and build her from the ground up for me.
03:02I did see two different Roxies in the stage production already,
03:05and they were both fantastic and totally different from each other
03:08and totally different from the way I'm playing it.
03:10So that's really cool.
03:11So I'm like, okay, I've got my own Roxie.
03:13She's my own real living, breathing person, and that's how I'm doing her.
03:17My early origins were in theater, certainly all throughout my youth,
03:21amateur theatricals and professional production of The Nutcracker Suite
03:24and every school play possible.
03:26You know, and I did some plays, some musicals,
03:28like I was Aldonza Dulcinea and Man of La Mancha at Harvard.
03:31And when I got out, I did a cabaret called Night of Nilsson,
03:34which was at Don't Tell Mamas.
03:36It was like a tribute to the songs of Harry Nilsson along with some other singers.
03:41You know, the typical New York actress life, like waitressing, you know, modeling, acting.
03:47And then I just started winnowing it down, and I was like,
03:49I just have to focus on acting, have to cut out everything else, go for broke.
03:53I, you know, doubled down on my acting classes with Wynne Hanman, whom I loved so much.
03:57And then I started working, and I started working in film, and film took over fast.
04:01And then I just started working back-to-back in film.
04:04And so I ended up not really living in New York much anymore.
04:08That sort of takes you away from Broadway.
04:10You know, basic acting is all the same as living truthfully under imaginary circumstances, right?
04:15That's Stanislavski.
04:16But you have to do it with enough energy and volume, even though you're miked,
04:22that the audience is really taking in every moment.
04:25On film, you can be tiny.
04:27You can just not say anything, but your eyes tell the story, because the camera's in on your eyes.
04:32That is not Broadway.
04:33Like, you know, you have to be forward-facing most of the time.
04:37You're singing out.
04:38You're not really singing to the characters most of the time.
04:41But you still have to have that same inner life.
04:43It's just on adrenaline.
04:44You know, it's just like you've just taken an adrenaline shot.
04:47And then the audience, I believe, whenever I'm performing in front of a live audience,
04:51brings that to a whole other level.
04:53Because you feed off of their live energy in the room, and you're kind of vibing back and forth with them.
04:59And, you know, you're also, your rhythm is changed by them laughing, you know,
05:02and just sort of riding that wave of reality heightened.
05:07It's heightened reality, but it's like downhill skiing.
05:10Once you have children, like, being a mother is actually your first priority in life.
05:15Nothing should be more important than your children to you if you're going to have them.
05:18You want to give your best to your family.
05:21But as a professional person, you also have to give your all in your jobs.
05:26So it's, you know, I've turned down a lot of work that would have taken me away from them long term.
05:31Like, I turned down several television series when they were small that would have made me a very wealthy woman.
05:36But I was like, I don't want to miss all their moments, you know.
05:39They weren't even in school yet.
05:40And I was like, I can't be away on a 22-episode thing.
05:43You make your exchanges when you can, you know.
05:46And now is, like, even this, leaving to do this, because we live in California now.
05:51I used to be bi-coastal until 2014.
05:53Then we had to let our apartment go because our kids were in school in California.
05:55And it was like, why am I having two homes?
05:58But I have to leave them for three months, three and a half months.
06:01And I was so sad.
06:03I was so sad because my life is so full with, like, you know, especially over the summer,
06:08the two college kids were back home.
06:09So we had four kids in the house.
06:10It was, like, very busy and, you know, full-time mom and all the things that go with that.
06:14And now I'm here, and I'm living a little bit selfishly.
06:18You know, I'm living for me.
06:20Like, this is my dream.
06:21But they're all being very supportive.
06:22But, like, it's like, I feel like I'm a young actress again, like, walking all over the city,
06:27going to my appointments, doing my dance classes, you know.
06:30And it's weird.
06:32It's, like, the singular focus that I can put on this show that it requires.
06:35I don't know if I could do it as well if they were here, honestly,
06:37because I'd be distractive and I wouldn't be putting all of my off time into the show.
06:42So it's all working out, but it's interesting.
06:44You have to be able to do both.
06:46But as a mother or a father, it's always a challenge, I think.
06:50My dad was in shows, and we would go see them.
06:52You know, I didn't see that championship season for which he was nominated for the Tony,
06:55but I saw Wheelbarrow Closers and Marlon Brando sat right here.
07:00I saw him in the Kennedy Center doing The Baker's Wife with Patti LuPone,
07:05whom I've worked with twice since then, which has been so much fun.
07:08There was a moment when I was doing Quiz Show, which was my third movie,
07:14where I thought I was going to be fired.
07:16It was the first day, and Robert Redford was directing,
07:19and it was a big deal for me to get this supporting role.
07:21And I was coming from independent film where they did, like, three takes, two takes.
07:26You're using short ends in cans.
07:27And he was doing 20 takes from each angle.
07:31And I saw him whispering in the back, talking to the casting director,
07:35and I was like, oh, my gosh, they're going to call the other girl.
07:37Like, I'm going to be fired.
07:38We've sent home.
07:39Tomorrow I'm not going to show up to work.
07:41And I called my dad, like, in tears.
07:43I'm like, I don't think he's happy with my work.
07:44He's doing so many takes.
07:45I must not be giving him what he wants.
07:47And he said, Mira, at a certain point, you just have to say, just say,
07:51****.
07:53He said, you have to go out there and make a big artistic leap.
07:57You cannot be afraid to soar.
08:00If you do not give yourself the license to fail, you will never fly.
08:04You will only play safe, palatable performances.
08:09But you need to take a big artistic leap.
08:11Make your choices.
08:12Do your work.
08:13Make that big artistic leap.
08:15And what's the worst that could happen?
08:16You could get fired.
08:17Everyone gets fired at some point.
08:18But this is the way, you know, trust in your own artistic.
08:21Go in there and take a big swing at it and just say, ****.
08:24It was great advice for any artist, I think.
08:27For any artist, athlete, anybody in a sort of thing that requires that personal,
08:33where you have to have the courage of your convictions.
08:35It's an important life lesson for anyone.
08:38To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV,
08:41on iTunes and all streaming podcast platforms.
08:44To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV,
Comments