Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 6 hours ago
At the opening night of 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' on Broadway, Alison Jaye talks about creating her version of Winona Ryder's character from 'Stranger Things.' Plus, she talks about perfecting the stage scream, calling it "vocal gymnastics."
Transcript
00:00What's going through your mind? Are there nerves? Is it excitement? A little bit of both?
00:03I honestly...
00:05Honestly, I feel a large sense of calm that I didn't expect to feel right now.
00:10I feel like we've worked so hard for so many months that now we just get to stand by each other's sides.
00:15Breathe it in and just soak it up, honestly.
00:19I'm so...
00:20I just feel like I can't stop smiling. I feel great.
00:23Well, you're playing...
00:25The young version of Winona Ryder's character in the show.
00:29How much...
00:30How much influence did you take from the show versus wanting to craft and create your own...
00:35I mean, endless. She created a...
00:38It feels like a dictionary.
00:40It's like the exact...
00:40It's the source material, right?
00:42It's exactly where you go to build.
00:45And create from the top, the universe.
00:46That said, I watched so...
00:48I mean, I've watched all of her.
00:50And I feel like even specifically watching her in Heather's felt like a big...
00:55in for me in terms of just energy of Joyce and being in high school and what that...
01:00So I looked at that movie as like my Bible in a way.
01:05And obviously it's a different time period and she's a bit older.
01:07But still, there's endless wealth.
01:10Of knowledge to gain from her massive career.
01:12But there's also so much freedom because...
01:15The show, I look at everything she's done and everything she's given all of us and kind of take the piece...
01:20Does that make sense for me in the show?
01:21And then open a new door to what's possible for her at 7...
01:25And there's so much that's incredible about this show.
01:30But I also wanted to ask, have you had any conversations with her or maybe anyone from the cast?
01:35Beforehand?
01:35I've yet...
01:36I hope it's a yet.
01:37I've yet to speak with her.
01:39But I was...
01:40I was hearing the other day that earlier on in the process when I was beginning to create this character, I would journal a lot.
01:45And kind of write down questions I have for her or like if I was to ask her these questions...
01:50What would she say?
01:51And I feel like maybe telepathy or something up there.
01:55Answered them and helped me feel closer to who she is.
01:59Yeah.
02:00So maybe we'll, fingers crossed, we'll have that chance eventually.
02:03Yes.
02:04This show is also...
02:05So the special effects are insane and there's so much technicality behind it.
02:09What would you say...
02:10What would you say was the most technically challenging scene for you to work through?
02:14You know, it's funny.
02:15Because with the massive amounts of technology, I feel like some of the hardest things to do.
02:20Were the numbers with all like 20 of us, 34 of us, like stage...
02:25So we're managing these large stage pictures.
02:26The first scene, Picture Day, with our revolving stage.
02:29While the...
02:30The tech isn't as heavy there and there's no jump scares there and stuff like that.
02:34Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin...
02:35Have directed that scene within every inch of its life.
02:38So much so that if you were to come back multiple times...
02:40You could focus on a different character and relive like a whole different story in this...
02:45Same stage picture.
02:46So I feel like moments like that, that scene took weeks, months.
02:50I mean for them years to build and they brought it to us from London and I actually worked on the work...
02:55workshop three years ago, so I've watched it evolve throughout the years and that's been, that's been the...
03:00The coolest thing in the world, but yeah.
03:01Also, such a physically demanding role too.
03:03You've got a lot of...
03:05Screams at certain points.
03:07I was very curious to know, how do you produce...
03:10The perfect and healthy stage scream?
03:13It's a great question.
03:14I feel like I'm still trying to...
03:15Find the answer, but our incredible vocal coach Liz Hayes has helped me so...
03:20ground myself in my voice, which has changed a lot of where it comes from and...
03:25And I think for me, with this role being so vocally athletic and demanding...
03:30It requires like a large sense of...
03:35So if my feet are not like on the ground and I don't feel stable, that...
03:40My voice cannot arise.
03:41So I feel like the more I am where my feet are, the voice kind of...
03:45Arises.
03:46Yeah.
03:47I love that you said...
03:48It's almost like vocal gymnastics.
03:49It feels like vocal gymnastics.
03:50It really...
03:50It really does.
03:51And you know, each day feels different depending on the level of tired you are,
03:54depending on what you've eaten, depending...
03:55Depending on your warm-ups.
03:56But I'm big on meditation and warming up and it takes a while.
04:00Yeah.
04:01Well, congratulations and break a leg tonight.
04:04Yeah.
04:05You
Comments

Recommended