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Hangin' with the Company of THE PARISIAN WOMAN on Opening Night!
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Nov 4, 2022
The Parisian Woman, the electrifying new play by 'House of Cards' creator Beau Willimon, directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Clybourne Park), starring Academy Award nominee Uma Thurman in her Broadway debut, opened just last night at Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street).
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Uma Thurman is making her eagerly-awaited Broadway debut in Bo Willimon's new play, The Parisian Woman
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directed by Pam McKinnon. And we caught up with her and the company just minutes after the opening night curtain rang down
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You know what they say, if you're not a Democrat when you're young, you don't have a heart. If you're not a Republican when you're old
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you don't have a brain. Right. It's your Broadway debut. How do you feel
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I'm very happy it's my Broadway debut. I wish I had come here sooner
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I feel, no matter what anyone wants to say about it, for me
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I feel that doing this kind of work on the stage is what made me want to act
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because, of course, like all actors, I started out being a kid who did plays
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and haven't done enough of them in the time of spending a lot of years acting
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And I love working in cinema and I've enjoyed the stuff I've done in television
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but the return to actually walking out and delivering a performance with your whole body
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and your whole self after enormous investigation into the character is a unique thing
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You have this incredible stellar cast you're working with. What's it like sharing the stage with them
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It's a privilege. I mean, it's nothing but a privilege. I feel like they've all given me so many hints
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and it's been so many years since I was really on the stage that I definitely just consider myself
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despite any past experience, a total novice. And they've been a blessing to me
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and I hope they'll be in my life forever. What was your day like today
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There's nothing like the debut, like the whole day leading up. What was your day like today
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You know, in a way, last night, going through the last few days of previews
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not knowing when the critics came, knowing my favorite show and knowing that they all didn't..
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The critics weren't there. Apparently the show that they did see was fine
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but there was a show I wish they'd seen instead. I went through all that
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Last night, to me, was sort of like, oh well I guess it happened And then tonight I just go back to trying to entertain people and share the truth of Bo Willimon and Pam McKinnon with them
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So tonight was kind of like, let me just go do the play I know how to do
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How do you feel tonight? You know, I think we all feel this wonderful mix of incredible excitement and ultra exhaustion at the same time
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I mean part of the thing because it's the holiday season and because of you know the way of Broadway works these days and a
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Launch of a big new play we did 13 performances in the last 10 days
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So it's like something where you know we're done two a day multiple days in a row and it's an amazing energy that you have with it
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But I must tell you we're all like tired It's such an incredible show to watch. I was here the other night. You were all on fire. What's it like sharing the stage together
3:30
Look it's we have a company of actors that love each other So we really not just love each other, we respect each other, we care for each other, we're out there together
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I mean, we're truly scene partners in that way, and we're trying to push each other at the same time, and we're trying to be fired together, like we say
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But it's a really magical experience because we're having fun, I mean, when it comes down to it
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And we're taking risks all of the time, every day. We try and do something new every day, and push each other a little differently
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Because we're safe, we can do that. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. You're doing a play
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A play. A play. It's amazing. On Broadway. The best thing ever
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It must be so great to do this play. It's so beautifully written
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It crackles. I mean, you don't see the twists and turns. I mean, what's it like for you playing this wonderful character in this great play
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It's very grounding, actually. I think I have this great sense of calm when I get to step into Rebecca's shoes
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My heart's beating offstage, but then once I step on and I'm just Rebecca
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there's this great whoosh of calm that happens. It's great. You know, when you were in the rehearsal room, all your other co-stars said the bar was just raised really high, everybody just armed, and they were like, let's just work together and put this incredible play on. It must be really freeing
4:42
It is. And everybody works in a very different way. And we sort of brought out the best in each other. We sort of shook things up, tried a lot of different ways of approaching the scene work, and, you know, it's a great product, I think
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So what was it like being in the rehearsal room with Bo and Pam creating
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they're a great dynamic duo. I love how warm and curious Pam is
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and I love how straightforward and informative Beau's suggestions were in terms of how we were sort of approaching these scenes
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And then as far as the collaboration went, Beau was so great about hearing our take on things
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and really learning from what we were experiencing in the room as opposed to any sort of ideas or preconceived notions that we had So that was really excellent Welcome to Broadway How does it feel today I feel wonderful Opening night the audience were very effervescent
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It was a champagne kind of audience in terms of the feeling. And we just, we had a good time
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And I'm in very good company. Bo Williman's beautiful writing, Pam McKinnon's gorgeous directing
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Huma Thurman, Josh Lucas, Philip, I can name everybody, but really, Blair Brown
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It was just a lovely company and I'm very proud and pleased to be here, especially at the Hudson, which is a special place
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It has a gorgeous vibe about it, full of love, it seems to me, and we had a lovely time
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To play your character must be really great to play him. Yeah, no, yes, absolutely
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And with Pam's help and my fellow actors, we've gone and explored areas that have enabled the journey to be a rich pursuit and a rich practice
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And it seems like audiences are engaging in the way that one would wish them to
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So here we are. Another opening. Is it your opening? I know. Another opening. Another show. How did it feel? What was today like for you
6:40
It was actually, well, first it was very busy because I needed things to buy chocolates from French chocolates
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It's a show called La Parisienne, right? The French woman. And this isn't a good time to go to Rockefeller Center
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Have you noticed? Because of that tree. So I was way up in the east side getting bags of chocolates
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I was actually exhausted by the time I came to theater. I was so glad just to do the play and stop with all the falderall for opening night
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But it was a wonderful night. Opening night houses are the best because it's family and friends
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The review people have come and gone. They'll do what they do. And now we get to enjoy this play that we actually, we five, adore
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We adore. You're all so beautiful together. What's it like sparring and sharing the stage with each other
7:21
We love doing it. And everybody, the bar keeps going up and up
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We're very open and honest with each other, which is really interesting from the word go
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And I think a lot of that came from Uma of just saying, hey, guys, I haven't really done this
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So how does this work? And so we all kind of disarm in that way
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And Pam McKinnon is the director. She's that sort of person, too. So we disarmed
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It is opening night. The Parisian Woman. How do you feel tonight, Pam? I feel really excited to share this play. This is a play that takes people out of their living rooms and brings big catharsis into the world
7:55
It is funny. It is about intrigue and sex. And I just feel really proud of the acting company
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I feel really gratified that my mom laughed and gasped sitting next to me tonight
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I feel, yeah, really excited to share the play. So I was going to ask you what are openings like for you You had a whole pile of Broadway openings What do they mean to you They can be a little nerve I mean there definitely is There a lot of stress There a lot of you know and we all tired
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You know, we've been working together really hard through tech, through previews. But there is something really gratifying about now sending it out into the world
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It is opening night. Broadway debut? It's surreal in all the best ways
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I mean, I never imagined that I would have a play on Broadway. When you first start out in the theater, you're just happy if, like, 20 people showed for a reading in a basement
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And to be here in the oldest Broadway theater in this beautiful house that's been renovated
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my mom and dad on one side, my girlfriend on the other, and this great house to write, this incredible cast, it's just, it's, yeah, it's, I mean
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cliche to say it, but it is a dream come true. Your debuts are really special
9:07
Your Broadway debuts, it's nothing like it. It will never happen again. What was today like for you leading up to tonight
9:13
Well, most of today was spent preparing my gifts for the cast and stage management and the director and the producers
9:18
So before I was a serious writer, I was a painter. So I was up at the Columbia print shop today making etchings and printing them on the press to give to the cast and everyone else today
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So that was my way of distracting myself from not allowing the butterflies in my stomach to completely paralyze me
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It's like creating art. Yeah, yes. Well, look, I mean, there's a lot of ways to stay sane
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And one of them is to try to create art, you know, that can also lead to its own form of insanity
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But today it's saved my ass. It's such a beautiful play. How did you come about to write it
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Well, the Flea Feater, which did my first production ever, Lower Ninth, a number of years ago
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they presented me with a play by Henri Beck, a 19th century French play called La Parisienne
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and they thought it would make for a good contemporary adaptation. I'd never heard of Henri Beck, I'd never read the play, but as soon as I did
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I was really taken by this French farce, this sort of chamber play that was beginning to bridge into naturalism
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So it was this odd sort of duck that existed towards the end of the 19th century
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as you were going from French farce into the naturalism of Chekhov and Ibsen and so on
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And I thought, hey, this would be a lot of fun. Let's do it. And I thought, you know, we'd do it at the Flea or a small theater
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which we ended up doing later at South Coast. I also was, like, terribly afraid of trying to write a comedy
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That's not my, like, thing, you know. And I was like, oh, well, if I can steal shamelessly from Henri Beck
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then that gets me halfway there. And shamelessly steal, I did. When you took your bow tonight, do you remember what you were thinking
10:56
I was trying to stay on the stage as long as I could
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