Chicago actress enjoys Tony attention
By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, June 13, 2008
Rondi Reed, left, stars in "August: Osage County."
Tony season has turned Rondi Reed into a giddy schoolgirl.
As a nominee for "August: Osage County," she has attended countless lunches, press events and photo ops with some of Broadway's biggest stars. "It's the coolest thing," she says. "I become like I'm 12 years old."
Competition? "I don't see it at all," she says. "They told us it was like being in a graduating class...and they're right. We're the Tony Class of 2008."
Admittedly, Reed almost missed the opportunity. "I turned down the role four times. I was doing 'Wicked' (in Chicago)...and I hadn't even read it."
Tracy Letts, the playwright (and one of Reed's friends), persisted. He had written the role for her and knew she could do the humor and the pathos. "He needed someone who could be fearless, unafraid, big and brassy" as the aunt with a secret.
When Reed finally read the script, she told him she liked the twist at the end but "Wicked's" hold was just too great. "I'm a closet musical theater girl. I have been all my life," she explains. "I have not been blessed with a beautiful voice, but when I was cast as Madame Morrible, it was a chance to have that musical theater experience."
As luck would have it, Reed was placed on "creative hiatus" (a way for "Wicked" producers to shake things up in a show) and given a chance to do "August: Osage County" at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. Since it's such a sprawling play, she didn't think it'd outlive its regional run. ("It's too big, it's too long and nobody will do it," she told her fellow castmates. "I was the big detractor.") Then, the buzz started and producers decided to move the entire production to New York. Reed's "Wicked" producers understood and gave her the time off.
Now, one year later, the veteran Chicago actress is preparing to go back to that big musical.
"Tony day is my last day in this show," she says of "August: Osage County." "I'll miss this, but I've really been able to have the best of two worlds" -- a $10 million musical production and a Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
The Tony nomination? It's just the cherry on that double scoop of ice cream.
A win? "Actors are very superstitious that way," she says. "I grew up in Dixon, Ill., Ronald Reagan's home town, and you don't brag about yourself. But I have every single friend and friend of a friend doing little voodoo things for me." She laughs. "I'm split over writing a speech. They gave us a workshop about it at a lunch and told us we have one minute and 50 seconds to get up there and say something." A webcam backstage will enable winners to continue their thank yous. So, Reed says, "you know you should prepare something because you don't want to get up there and make a fool out of yourself."
Fashion? "That's a whole other ball game," she says. "Some go hardcore and hire a stylist. Others go off on their own. It's nowhere near Oscar level. Broadway is a hometown thing. It's very near and dear to them. It's a part of their economy."
Reed knows because she's recognized just about everywhere in New York. "I've been in Chicago for more than 30 years and I don't get that there. Here, people are stopping me on the subway and in Central Park. It's just nuts."
While Reed attended the Tonys as a performer several years ago ("I was the third Dust Bowl woman from the left in 'Grapes of Wrath'"), she didn't get to enjoy the hoopla. Producers bused the performers to and from the ceremony. The cast celebrated at the play's theater.
Now, she's in the thick of things and, yes, excited for Sunday night.
"Warren Beatty and Annette Bening came to the show and said he was going to direct the movie version," she says of "August: Osage County." "He was going to use the entire cast." Later, Beatty said he'd like to be a consultant on the film version. "We're all painfully aware that we won't be in any film of this. But this is very much a theatrical beast...the theater can give it a lot of stuff that would be lost on film."
Could a movie duplicate the Broadway experience? Reed's not sure. Still, she's not exactly the best person to ask.
"Something I think is going to be ho-hum takes off like gangbusters. I had a movie audition once for a film about baseball players in a cornfield. I didn't think it would be anything. The film turned out to be 'Field of Dreams.' So what did I know?"
As a nominee for "August: Osage County," she has attended countless lunches, press events and photo ops with some of Broadway's biggest stars. "It's the coolest thing," she says. "I become like I'm 12 years old."
Competition? "I don't see it at all," she says. "They told us it was like being in a graduating class...and they're right. We're the Tony Class of 2008."
Admittedly, Reed almost missed the opportunity. "I turned down the role four times. I was doing 'Wicked' (in Chicago)...and I hadn't even read it."
Tracy Letts, the playwright (and one of Reed's friends), persisted. He had written the role for her and knew she could do the humor and the pathos. "He needed someone who could be fearless, unafraid, big and brassy" as the aunt with a secret.
When Reed finally read the script, she told him she liked the twist at the end but "Wicked's" hold was just too great. "I'm a closet musical theater girl. I have been all my life," she explains. "I have not been blessed with a beautiful voice, but when I was cast as Madame Morrible, it was a chance to have that musical theater experience."
As luck would have it, Reed was placed on "creative hiatus" (a way for "Wicked" producers to shake things up in a show) and given a chance to do "August: Osage County" at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. Since it's such a sprawling play, she didn't think it'd outlive its regional run. ("It's too big, it's too long and nobody will do it," she told her fellow castmates. "I was the big detractor.") Then, the buzz started and producers decided to move the entire production to New York. Reed's "Wicked" producers understood and gave her the time off.
Now, one year later, the veteran Chicago actress is preparing to go back to that big musical.
"Tony day is my last day in this show," she says of "August: Osage County." "I'll miss this, but I've really been able to have the best of two worlds" -- a $10 million musical production and a Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
The Tony nomination? It's just the cherry on that double scoop of ice cream.
A win? "Actors are very superstitious that way," she says. "I grew up in Dixon, Ill., Ronald Reagan's home town, and you don't brag about yourself. But I have every single friend and friend of a friend doing little voodoo things for me." She laughs. "I'm split over writing a speech. They gave us a workshop about it at a lunch and told us we have one minute and 50 seconds to get up there and say something." A webcam backstage will enable winners to continue their thank yous. So, Reed says, "you know you should prepare something because you don't want to get up there and make a fool out of yourself."
Fashion? "That's a whole other ball game," she says. "Some go hardcore and hire a stylist. Others go off on their own. It's nowhere near Oscar level. Broadway is a hometown thing. It's very near and dear to them. It's a part of their economy."
Reed knows because she's recognized just about everywhere in New York. "I've been in Chicago for more than 30 years and I don't get that there. Here, people are stopping me on the subway and in Central Park. It's just nuts."
While Reed attended the Tonys as a performer several years ago ("I was the third Dust Bowl woman from the left in 'Grapes of Wrath'"), she didn't get to enjoy the hoopla. Producers bused the performers to and from the ceremony. The cast celebrated at the play's theater.
Now, she's in the thick of things and, yes, excited for Sunday night.
"Warren Beatty and Annette Bening came to the show and said he was going to direct the movie version," she says of "August: Osage County." "He was going to use the entire cast." Later, Beatty said he'd like to be a consultant on the film version. "We're all painfully aware that we won't be in any film of this. But this is very much a theatrical beast...the theater can give it a lot of stuff that would be lost on film."
Could a movie duplicate the Broadway experience? Reed's not sure. Still, she's not exactly the best person to ask.
"Something I think is going to be ho-hum takes off like gangbusters. I had a movie audition once for a film about baseball players in a cornfield. I didn't think it would be anything. The film turned out to be 'Field of Dreams.' So what did I know?"
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