by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
WHAT: Sweet Charity
WHEN: January 23rd - 28th
WHERE: Times-Union Center
INFO / TICKETS: 904-632-3373 or www.artistseries.fccj.org.
Molly Ringwald, the 80’s teen queen best known for films like Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club, is all grown up and is back in the spotlight, this time in the Broadway musical Sweet Charity. The Tony-winning production will make a stop in the River City next week. I got a chance to speak with Ms. Ringwald about the show, living out of a suitcase and her plans for the future:
You’ve been on tour for four months now. How have you adjusted to life on the road?
It’s challenging. It’s adventurous. There’s a lot of packing and unpacking. I think I’ve gotten much better at it. When I first started out what I thought was essential turns out that it’s not really essential. I’m down to one suitcase now as opposed to three. [Laughs]
You’re traveling with your three-year-old daughter. How is she handling life on tour?
She’s great. She loves it. For her it’s just hotels and airplanes and she loves both. She doesn’t, of course, have to do any of the packing or unpacking [laughs] so she’s having a great time.
For those who may not already know, what is Sweet Charity about?
Sweet Charity is about a woman that I play named Charity Hope Valentine. She’s a dancehall hostess, which means that she dances with men for money in a dancehall called the Fan-Dango Ballroom in New York City… She really doesn’t like her life as a dancehall hostess, she really wants to do something better, so she kind of goes out, leaves the dancehall and tries to find something better. And it’s kind of like her adventures in the city. She meets this movie star and spends the night with him and finds somebody else and falls in love. It’s about her life, everything from her point of view.
The musical has been around in one form or another for about 40 years. Has this latest revival been updated at all?
Well, it still takes place in the 60’s. I think it has a little bit more of a modern sensibility about it. It really does seem modern to me, it doesn’t really seem that dated, you know? It’s just really charming and the music is just so great.
Are you anything like Charity Hope Valentine?
No, not really. She’s very wide-eyed and a little bit naïve… I guess she has her own sort of street smarts but she gets knocked around a lot and she just remains incredibly upbeat and optimistic about it all. I think I’m a little bit more lucid. I’m certainly more educated than she is. [Laughs] But yeah, she’s very different. She’s a lot of fun to play, but she’s very different than me.
You played Sally Bowles in Cabaret before coming onto Sweet Charity. How do the two roles compare?
Well, their both these incredibly iconic characters, but they’re actually polar opposites. Where Charity is really naïve and kind of guileless, I think Sally is very cunning, and where Charity ends up a survivor, Sally kind of self destructs at the end. So, they’re really completely two opposite ends of the spectrum. But they’re both very charismatic. I think that’s the similarity because all of this stuff happens around them and they kind of create havoc wherever they go.
For you, what’s the most difficult part of doing a musical?
I think probably for me it’s just the stamina. It takes a lot of energy both physical and mental energy, and so by the end of the week, we have eight performances a week, I think by the end of the week it’s pretty hard to find that energy reserve to keep going.
Do you think you’ll encourage your daughter to follow in your footsteps?
No, I really want her to do what she wants to do. I don’t think I want her to act as a child, but if she wants to take it up when she’s older then that’s totally up to her and I’ll support her in whatever she wants to do. But, I want her to get a good education, go to college and hopefully, if she wants to do it, she’ll take it up later
Has she seen any of your movies yet?
She’s seen me on television and she’s seen me on stage but she doesn’t really put it together yet because she’s just three-years-old. She turns around all the time and sees the poster for Sweet Charity and we’ll turn on the television and there I’ll be, so for her she just thinks it’s normal. She doesn’t think it’s anything extraordinary. It’s normal for her.
There was some talk of a sequel to Sixteen Candles back in 2005. Is it still something you’re considering?
It’s something that I’m thinking about and I’m interested in and I think it would be great, but there’s no definite plans right now.
I also read a while back that you had a novel in the works. What’s the status of that?
That’s kind of on hold right now because I can’t really do anything while I’m doing this.
Once the Sweet Charity tour is over, what are your plans?
Vacation. I’m going to take a long vacation and then look at what I want to do after that.
Sweet Charity will be performed at the Times-Union Center January 23 - 28. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 904-632-3373 or visit www.artistseries.fccj.org.
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