Tony Award-winning actress Faith Prince is coming to Northwestern University's Cahn Auditorium for a special cabaret concert called Total Faith on Saturday, Dec. 3. She then meets with Northwestern students the next day in collaboration with conductor Alex Rybeck and vocal coach Roz Keins for a private master class called Shooting for the Moon—Broadway and Beyond.
Reached by phone at her home in Sacramento, Calif., Prince explained why she likes to include a full-fledged performance in addition to teaching at master classes.
"I just think it's more personable when you get up and do what you do and then the students see it and I can refer to it and it's all right there in front of them," Prince said.
Prince admits that dedicated students can seek out her work online via clips on YouTube, but she feels it's much better for students to see her approach to performing in person. "I think it makes a huge difference," she said.
To the general public, Prince is probably best known for her TV work on shows like Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime, Huff on Showtime and Spin City on ABC. However, for diehard theater fans, Prince has been one of the theater's more prominent leading ladies since her Broadway debut in the 1989 revue Jerome Robbins' Broadway.
It was during the 1991-92 Broadway season that truly catapulted Prince to theater stardom, literally going from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs within months.
Prince started out the season in the supporting role of lesbian murder victim Lorraine Bixby in the massive flop Nick & Nora, which closed just after nine performances in December 1991 (though Prince received some of the best notices in that critically reviled musical). Prince then was cast as the long-engaged showgirl Miss Adelaide in a smash revival of Guys and Dolls, going on to win a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in June 1992 for her rapturously received performance.
"I think it sort of quantifies the Broadway experience and both [hits and flops] are part of the experience," Prince said when asked about that bumpy 1991-92 season. "You have more things you're working on that don't quite make it. But those are the things that teach you a lot and it's all sort of grist for the mill so that when you do have those things that do hit you know exactly the full intensity of the experience."
Throughout her Broadway career, Prince has proved herself time and time again in many a revival (Bells are Ringing, Noises Off) and as a replacement star (The King and I, The Little Mermaid). When asked if she regrets not having the chance to create as many original roles on Broadway (like her Tony Award-nominated turn in the 2008 musical A Catered Affair) she said, "Putting your own spin on any role is pretty exciting."
Prince recently finished up an engagement touring with Billy Elliot The Musical and is looking forward to filming the second season of Drop Dead Diva. However, in the meantime, she's still plotting out her song list for her Northwestern show.
"Because I'm doing it for students, I have stories about off-Broadway shows and Broadway shows and summer stock—just a myriad of things of trying to put together a special unit just for them," Prince said. "Some songs are from shows I've done and some of the songs relate to the stories—and sometimes both."
Faith Prince performs her concert Total Faith at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at Northwestern University's Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St., Evanston. Tickets are $40, with a limited number of $10 tickets for full-time students. Call 847-491-7282 or visit www.tic.northwestern.edu .
Hollis for the holidays
Another actress honing her song list for a special cabaret concert is multi-award-winning Hollis Resnik. (She recently won both the Jeff and Helen Hayes awards for her turn as the Old Lady in director Mary Zimmerman's take on Candide.)
Currently appearing through Dec. 18 in Theatre at the Center's Chicago-area premiere of Another Night Before Christmas in Munster, Ind., Resnik is also working with music director Doug Peck for A New Year's Eve Concert Celebration in the Cab Room of Stage 773 in Chicago.
"I haven't picked out the program yet—though I do tend to throw in a few holiday things," Resnik said. "I just sort of play it by ear a little bit, I go through my music and pick out what I know will be surefire things for the audience and some things I feel particularly close to at the moment."
Rather than trot out songs she's recently performed in shows (like her acclaimed rendition of "I'm Still Here" in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's recent Follies), Resnik relishes the chance to sing material often doesn't get a chance to sing. And Resnik admits to be slightly averse to creating cabaret shows based around a set theme.
"They tend to be sharing an emotional moment with each song," Resnik said the construction of her cabaret shows. "I tweak things from musicals that maybe I haven't done before."
After Resnik finishes her cabaret concert, she won't be doing much singing for a while since she's been cast in the Court Theatre's upcoming production of Tony Kushner's massive two-part AIDS drama Angels in America.
"I'm already delving into it," Resnik said about memorizing her lines to the same roles played by Meryl Streep in the HBO miniseries. "We have a wonderful cast and I'm very excited."
Hollis Resnik continues in Another Night Before Christmas through Sunday, Dec. 18, at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Rd., Munster, Ind. Performances are 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays with select Thursday evening and Saturday matinee performances. Tickets are $36-$40. Call 219-836-3255 or visit www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com .
Resnik's New Year's Eve Concert Celebration is at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, in the Cab Room of Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont. It concludes the Lampkin Music Group Saturday Cabaret Series. Tickets are $75 (and include champagne and dessert). Call 773-327-5252 or visit www.stage773.com or www.lampkinmusic.com for more information.
