Remembering Jan Maxwell- An Intimate Conversation from 2011

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge, where I sit with some of Broadway's best and brightest, chatting it up

This time it's one of the theater's most sought-after actresses, Jan Maxwell, who is currently co-starring in the hit revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's musical masterpiece, Follies

Join me here at the Marquis Theater as Jan and I chat about everything Follies, working with Sondheim and her addiction to nuts

Take you back to the beginning of how Follies came about for you. Well, I was doing wings about a year ago at second stage

and my agents gave me a call, and they said, you have been offered Phyllis in Follies

And I said, oh, is that a good thing? Because they said it was in D.C., and I said, well, I don't want to go out of town

I don't think I want to do it. And they said, please just look it up, Google it

And we're going to send you the script and the score, and please give it a listen and a read

So I did. and, you know, it's just hard when a good musical comes along and a wonderful role

it's hard to say no. And when you see the smart and wonderful lyrics and music of Stephen Sondheim, you know

and I see a song like, could I leave you, it's just really, it's kind of impossible for me to say no

And I knew that Will would have my son, who's 15, would have a great education down there when he came on weekends

And so we, I talked it over with my family and we decided that, yeah, it would be a great idea

Because your family makes all the decisions. You take these projects to them, don't you? Oh, yeah

I mean, it's, you know, it's a three-way decision. And so we just decided it would be a great thing and great opportunity for Will to come down there because, you know, there's so many museums and so much for a 15-year-old to do down there

And they treated us very well, gave us lovely accommodations. And so we were just, we were happy

If you ever have a chance to work at the Kennedy Center, do it. It's a great place to work

This is around for the boys downstairs, stalling as long as we dare

Which dress from my wardrobe of two? One of them was borrowed and the other was blue

This is my favorite musical? I got to see the original in 1971

So what do you love about follies? role of Phyllis? Well, I love that it's not this happy, happy, tie it up in a bow kind of

musical. I like that it's about relationships. I like that it's a bit Chicovian and that all

of these people are on stage and they're not getting what they want. They're in love with the

wrong person. I love that it's real. I love that the music, the songs come out of the scene

rather than a lot of what we're seeing is just, you know, jukebox musicals where they have the

songs already and they write the script around the songs. So I love that about it. I love that it's

it's a musical we don't see anymore, you know, or the type of musical we don't. It's smart

it's real, and it's just a joy to do, and it's about women. I really love that, too. So I

can't really find a bad thing about it. I know it's a little odd for the audience because

as we go into different realm, halfway through it. So it's a little what's going on, but I think, you know

when I come out the stage door at night and I see people waiting there

they've had such an incredible experience. And I'm talking, you know, a lot of the people

I have to say that wait after the show are young, you know, like you were when you first saw it

And I think for people that I know that saw it back in 71

it was a huge, event in their life. We have many, many fans who come that love follies, who can dissect it

backwards and forwards and have my head spinning sometimes with what they talk about. But it seems

to be also an incredible experience for this new generation who sees it. And I've had friends

that come back there in other shows, and they said, oh, God, I just envy you. I envy it. You get to

sing those songs and dance those dances and say those words. And I

And I'm very grateful. It's a wonderful job. What is it like for an actress singing Sondheim

Well, you know, Steve was in my dressing room on opening night and I said thank you

for writing for actors. You know, thank you for such wonderful lyrics and so smart

And he said, well, when he was young, Arthur Lawrence took him to the actor's studio

and made him sit there and see how actors really worked and how we

We do bring in a part of ourselves, and we do bring in our every day, and we do bring in personal things into roles

And Steve said, I really learned how an actor works, where they come from

And he said it was the best lesson I could have as a writer. Yeah

You know, when you first signed on for Follies, you wrote a note to Warren Carlis, your choreographer

What did the note say? Give me money. No. It said, I am not a dancer, but I do work hard, and I am willing to do whatever it, whatever you want

I will come in early, I will stay late. I will start rehearsals early. And I will rehearse during performances

I will do anything I have to try to get this under my belt

And unfortunately, he took me at my word, because I did start early, I did stay late

and you know it was just not being a non-dancer it was it was kind of daunting but then also

you know just as I was having fun I had a couple of injuries so that put me back a spell and it's

just been the last couple weeks where I've actually enjoyed doing it because there was some

you know when I would come to work I go oh my god at the end of the night I'm going to be an excruciating

pain. So somewhere that dog brain or whatever you have, it just goes, no, no, no. I would just

dread coming to the end of the number because I knew that there was this one move that was going

to rip my hamstrings. So I got through opening and then we changed the choreography just

slightly and it worked and my hamstrings are healing and it's absolute joy to do now

Yeah, because you really dance in this show. specifically in Lucy and Jessie

Yeah, and it's fun, you know. The tap didn't hurt me at all, but Lucy and Jesse

which more jazz, there was just this one move that I was doing that was tearing it

So then I switched legs and I tore that one, so it just became this physical therapy nightmare

But it's all better now and I'm, you know, I really, I really love doing it now

And without the fear of being careful and my subtext being, ow, ow, how

it joyous You know as I gotten to know many of the company members of Follies I want to know who was the biggest prankster in the company and what are some of the pranks that have happened here at Follies Who put you up to this

See, I knew I'd get the answer. Who put you up to this? Nobody did. Yes, you did

No, no, no, but I just figured, you know what? It has to be you. It is me

It is me. I'm pretty bad. Off, off stage. Yeah, I'm pretty bad

In the dressing room, in the hallways? Oh, yeah. Something you can tell us? I have done some not so professional things, but a curtain call

One time I had hair on my bag for curtain call. And the audience, not the audience, the audience didn't see it

So I bowed and I just backed up, but the rest of the cast kind of cracked up. And, you know, one time I had a huge cockroach coming out of the back of my gown

I have a whole cabinet in the dressing room full of, you know, there's a rubber

chicken over there. There's, you know, there's terrible, terrible things that I do, but just

backstage, not on stage. You like the den mother here at Folly, because I know you, well, you're

very close to the youngsters. I know the youngsters from the cast come to your dressing room. A lot. See? Have they asked you for career advice or have you given them advice

Yeah, they do. I mean, you know, some of them, you know, I tease them. I say, you're more jaded than I

am. My God. But, yeah, they do. You know, a few specifically, yes. And, and, you know, a few specifically, yes

And others, you know, just joke around with them because, you know, they have come here with a lot already

They come from great schools. They have great agents. They are in their Broadway debut, you know, in their 20s

And that's nothing I saw. I wasn't on Broadway until I was 33. So, you know, it's fascinating to see a new generation

But I'm also heartened to – there was a girl who came to the show, and she waited for me for 45 minutes

after the show and I felt so bad that I didn't go out. I'd gone out a different way that night

And she wrote me this postcard and Cliff, Samuels, told me the backstory of this woman who

she was on this TV show, so you think you can dance, so you think you can dance

And she was going on tour the next day. And she waited, and then she wrote me this postcard

And then I guess she has some kind of a blog where she wrote that the bus for her to go on tour pulled up in front of the marquee

And she was telling her castmates about me. And she said, I just had to go buy a postcard and write a note about how much you inspired me

And I was so moved by that. And I was so, you know, there's a new generation out there that I'm so heartened to see that are in it for the right reasons

A lot of times you'll see younger kids who want to be famous

And that's disheartening because I go, you know, it's such a rewarding life if you do it for the right reasons

Because otherwise, it's just going to be chaos and vanity and bitterness

But if you really are doing plays that you want to do and you're really doing theater that you want to do

and you're really associating with artists that you want to associate with

and this is not all the time, but for the most part of it, if you're doing it for the right reasons

it'll be an incredibly rewarding life. Is that why you move so well between Broadway off and off off

What is it that makes you say yes to a project? I don't know. Something has to tickle me or something has to move me

Sometimes I'll read a play and maybe one line will just grab me

and I'll say, well, let's build something around that. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's as simple as, you know

chitty, chitty, bang, it cracked. me up, the character cracked me up because when I read it I thought, Quailudes

You know, and I do plays from new playwrights because I really feel that we have to get

new playwrights and we have to have new material, especially on Broadway. We have to nurture

our playwrights in this country. So sometimes I'll just do that if I can afford to. I mean

you know, it's not a ladder system and I don't have that much money. but if I can do something on Broadway and then do something off Broadway

you know, they can pay, one can pay for the other, and I can do something I probably, you know, want to do

And moved by. Now, I want to talk about defining moments where a yes or no changes everything in one's life

20 years ago you were going to pack your bags, throw in the towel, and move to Seattle

And it's amazing looking at you now that you were going to do that then. What happened and what made you stay

Well, I, you know, I was here for a very long time. I think I came when I was about 24. And I just, I think I was 32, 33 when I decided, you know, I've given it enough time. I've got to get out of here because I'm not working and I want to work. So I thought I might move to Seattle because I loved it. My husband was from there and I loved working there in the 80s. And then miraculously I got an audition

for City of Angels. And the funny thing was, it was the last month I was going to be here

and the actress fund had paid my rent. They had paid my electric bill. And I said, I just have to wait tables for six months and then just go

just save my money. And I've told this story so many times, but I got a Chinese fortune cookie that said

when winter comes, heavens will rain success upon you. And so I put that, you know, stupidly put that in my month-at-a-glance calendar

And that was, and I had an audition in early December for City of Angels to be a cover

And then on the 21st of December, which is the winter solstice, I got the call

For City of Angels? For City of Angels, my first Broadway show. And I was 33, and it was, you know, it was fairly miraculous

And I had the greatest time. It's a great musical, too. That's a fun, fun musical

And your first Broadway show, a musical. See, everyone thinks you're this actress that then did musicals

Right. But you started doing musicals. Do you prefer one to the other? Are you happier when you're in one or a plays versus musicals

No, I'm happiest when I'm complaining. So when I'm in a musical, I'm like, God, you know, especially this one, I'm going, you know, after this

I'm going back to acting. This is hard. And but if I'm in a musical, I want to do a play

If I'm going to play, I want to do a musical. So I've decided that I'm just best complain

Favorite roles that you do? What are some of your favorites? I think that, you know, of course, there are always $2.50 a week jobs, your favorite roles

I think Galacteia in scenes from execution, Howard Barger's scenes from execution

I also loved doing Marguerite and Camille. This was all with Potomac Theater Project

I loved doing Victory last summer, although it was a hellish schedule because I was rehearsing Follies during the day

and it was about a three-hour play at night. and I love doing it but it was funny because in the play you know I I slowly get dirtier and dirtier my hair gets radier and radier and they put this goop that smelled like lavender in my hair And I was so tired and so rushed through the whole two weeks that we were doing it

And I remember at night afterwards, I come out with this grime on me and say hi to everybody

and then go down to the subway. And it would be 95 degrees down there, and I would be going, Jan, take a cap

You smell, this stuff smelled like lavender. It was, you know, I was sweating

I was going, treat yourself these two weeks. Just take a cab. But it was, there were some days during that run that I was so exhausted

I had no idea how I was going to get through the show. But you just do

Creatively you can. You can. I mean, somehow you just, you get on the ride

And with Barker, he's one of my favorite playwrights, the words are so

his text is so dense. It's almost like modern Shakespeare and it just really can invigorate you

You did lend me a tenor. That must have been so much fun. That was fun. It was fun. It was fun because

they gave me this huge dressing room up on the top floor and my son would come in the middle

because I had an hour and a half off. Pitch! Maria! You got a girl

I got to no one! You got a girl so good life! Maria! Three weeks, not. Not once

I'm sorry! I've got a stomach I'm dancer. Oh, I'm going to be a nun

I'll join the church. At least sometimes they have some fun. I sing in the hems

I pluck the chickens. My wife is crazy. She's crazy. Oh, I'm crazy

I hate friends. I'm a crazy. I hate haunted. I'm a crazy

I've got an empty bed. I'm a crazy. Maria. I am a sick command

You just, that was a... That was something that I was just, it was just a fluke and I was just going to do it

And it just was such icing on the cake that year because I had done Royal Family

and I just loved doing that show. That's my favorite play on Broadway that I've ever done, favorite role

And Doug Hughes, such a wonderful director. I mean, it's such a close company. And you work with Rosemary Harris

Yes, yes. So it was just a delicious, a delicious time. And then Lenny Me a Tenor was just going to be

this, you know, fun little blurb, and it just turned out to be just a glorious experience

And you somehow still give the show. I know it says in the contract that you stopped for acts of

God, but I don't remember that I ever did. No, not I, nor you're not going to be one. You are going

to marry him now. Tonight, tomorrow, and I am going to be there with you and stand beside you

and cry for happiness and wish to God it was me. And all the characters are so incredibly wonderful

I feel like, you know, I have this very, very large supporting role because I get to work with every single person

that everybody comes to me with their problems. And I love that part of the character

And there's so many quirky different things about all sorts of different characters in it

So it's lovely. And Julie, I have to say that I feel so close to Julie

It's almost scary, just as far as, you know, wanting somebody to come

just a millionaire to come and save me. Have a favorite dream role you want to play

and do you have a favorite musical dream role you want to play? Oh, I don't know

You know, it's so bizarre because so many people have done all the big roles and done them very well

Yeah, I mean, I guess I would like to do things that have passed me by

you know, probably Blanche. I would like to do Martha. I would like to, you know, I would really like to do

new plays. Yeah. But, you know, of course, everything's been done so much

You know, streetcar's been done. His Frang of Virginia Woolf's been done. Gypsy's been done

You know, there's so many things out there. You'd be a great mama Rose

Would you tackle her? Would you want to? Oh, yeah. I don't think anyone would let me, but I would love to tackle her

And I would, you know, yeah, I'd like to do Amanda. I'd like to do, you know, any Tennessee Williams

Just, there's a ton of things. but I really would love to originate a role too

I think that's probably the most artistically satisfying thing is to do something that's never been done before

and do a role that you can create. You work with Richard Chamberlain in the same. Yeah

Another musical early on. Yeah. Fun time? Oh, my God. We're fast friends, very, very good friends

He came to the first preview of Follies in D.C. And we've gone back and forth

I went to his birthday, a huge birthday party a few years ago

on Maui and you know for just my son and I went we just glorious time and

he really is a wonderful wonderful human being and always is searching to

to improve and learn and and it's just he lives his life right he's really a great

guy because you also did King and I with him I did King and I with him yes at the in

Honolulu which was which was wonderful and yet another education for my son you

know to stay there for five weeks so I want to ask you about food And the reason I ask you, my partner Preston wishes there was just a pill you could take at dinner time

Pop a pill and move on. That's exactly what I think. So what do you do when you're doing a show, eight shows a week, how do you deal with food and where does food fit in

And what are you addicted to? Well, I went vegetarian a couple years ago

I went gluten-free this year and I also did a New Year's resolution, which was no candy, no desserts, which I have horribly fallen off the wagon this month

But Halloween, I can't help it, it's my favorite holiday. But I, you know, I wish it wasn't such a pain in the butt, you know, food and food preparation and food

My husband actually does most of the cooking in our house because I'm hopeless

You know, I'm hopeless in the kitchen. But my son just laughs at me

I just, I try to look for nutritious things. I try to look for things that will get me through the show

What are those things? You must need so much stamina to get through the show. I do a lot of nuts, and I do a lot of seeds, and I do a lot of fruit

But I just had a physical, and they said, you know, that my blood sugar was up, and that I have to cut the sugars out

I'm going, how do I cut the sugars out? I think it's fruit. I think I'm doing too much fruit

So, yeah, I am peanuts. I'm kind of addicted to peanuts and almonds and pumpkin seeds

And, you know, it sounds so, well, yawn. It sounds boring, but I do a lot of rice and beans and things like that

And just proteins, different proteins. Because this is such a hard show because your big numbers are towards the second end of the show

Yeah, I have a heavy back act. I mean, second act. Yeah. I have a heavy back act too

Beautiful back, beautiful back. But, I mean, could I leave you? The emotional journey you take us on is so large

Is it hard to get there sometimes or is it built into the song, the way it's written

It written very very well You know when you have something that written well you don have to plan ahead You just go into it Plus I have the whole first act you know to interact with Ben So it really for me the show starts and it truly a ride that you go on You step on it and

the first act is a little tricky because there are many times where I'm off stage for a long period of time and different songs are going on. So you have to keep that story alive

But by the time we get to the second act and could I leave you

I've been fairly been through the ringer of being verbal abuse from Ben

And when he gets to the point in that scene where he says to me, you know, the only thing

I want is divorce and there's nothing in my life, there's no one, you know

And I feel like it's almost a verbal slap and it's, it just brings her to some

clarity where she can go into could I leave you. And it just, it builds so naturally and so beautifully

that I really don't plan anything. In fact, sometimes I don't even remember

what happened afterwards because I just get into it pretty deeply. And we go right into the cacophony and then into Love Land

I love that. What do you call that? The cacophony? With all the onions in your eyes

I love that moment in the show. It's my favorite moment in the show. But it's so bizarre because we start to see our former selves

and we start to interact with them and we start to berate them for our life now

And then it just stops. And complete set change, complete. And Loveland comes into it

And that goes into even another realm for me. So there's almost three realms for me

where I'm at this reunion that is ostensibly about me and then Ben takes me to some other place where it's where she goes into could I

leave you and then Loveland is this this folly that the four leads have each one has a folly

and I and that's a wonderful that's a wonderful I love doing that too the song in that

talking about two different sides of my personality and trying to get them to come together

and just believing in myself and being myself. I think your engagement story is the best engagement story

Would you tell it? Sure. We were miraculously in the same Broadway show

We were doing dancing at Lunisa in 1992. And we had been together for, well, on and off for a long time, about nine years, I guess

And we, it was, and he had asked me to marry him after knowing me for six months or something

and I have a little fear of commitment. So I was going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

when I see the rock, when I see the rock, when I see the rock. And I never thought that would come to fruition, so I was safe

And so the final night of Dancing at Lunisa, we were all on stage

And, you know, it's a beautiful Brian Freel play. And so we're all at the curtain call

and with all my sisters up there, and Rob was playing Jerry Evans

and at the end there's this long monologue. And we just sit there and sway at the end through this long monologue

And then we got up to bow for the curtain call, and Rob grabbed my hand because he was next to me in the curtain call

and he started shoving something in my hand. And I was so upset

I thought, what juvenile game is this? He's passing, you know, I talk about being juvenile

but yes, he's past the peanut. What is it? You know, what

And he's really pushing. hard into my hand. And so I looked at him with anger and gritted teeth and I said, I've got it

And so then, you know, so then we bowed and we bowed again and, you know, standing over

everybody was, you know, it was the last night. And I thought, why is he ruining this last

moment? Why? And then, so I turned to go offstage and I looked down and there was a diamond ring

So I started to cry and everybody was backstage. It's okay, Chan. It's okay, Jan. I said

No, it's not the play. I said, you know, Rob just gave me a ring

So then I went back out, and his best friend was out in the audience. And I said to him, why did you press so hard

He said, I was so scared you're going to throw it in the audience. And so, yeah, so that's..

And then we were at the after party, and Brian Freel called, and he said, he said, Robert, did she say yes

And he said, oh, my God, I didn't wait for the answer. but we'd been together for so long

And then our schedules were so busy. We didn't even get married until a couple years later

And the scary part of that was, you know, when we had Will, we had my son

And when he was about three or four years old, Rob's dad died a year before we got married

And I said to my son one time, I said, oh, you would have loved his dad

He was such a great guy. And he said, oh, I met him

And so we're like back away from the child, back away from him. So much, and I said, when did you meet him

I met him at your wedding. I said, he was already passed away at our wedding

He goes, no, because he pointed to you. And he said, those two people are going to be your parents

So I've been afraid of my child ever since. Woody the proudest of

Well, I think you know. It's my son. He's a, don't make me cry

He's a good guy. He's really a good guy. And I just, I just

love hanging out with him and he's yeah he's pretty much the my you know my light he's my he's

also you know he's you know an eye-rolling teenager he does he does a sarcastic play-by-play of

everything he hates about me when I come in you know my very existence is very annoying to him

sometimes but my sister and her partner were just here this last weekend and I was so I was so

proud of him you know he were sitting in the living room when he was really he was there he was

present he wasn't in his room and, you know, being sullen, he was telling family stories

and I was just looking at it when I was just going, my God, it's not for me, but this kid turned out

See? Really, really, he's really good guy. A 15-year-old grown-up. Listen, I want to thank everybody

If you haven't come down to see Follies, come to the Marquis Theater to see one of the greatest musicals ever written

and to see this woman give one of the best performances you're ever going to see in the musical theater

Thank you. for nights of waiting for the boys downstairs