Q: When did you decide you wanted to act? Was there anyone who really influenced your decision?
KS: I started acting when I was seven year old and have worked pretty much
non-stop since. I alway knew I wanted to be a part of the theatre.
Probably my mothers side of the family. My mother is a singer, actress,
pianist, conductor, director and teacher. So I was exposed very early on to
the business. Even my birth announcements were like a little program saying
"As star is born".... "A howling success".
|
| Kim Stengel |
KS: A couple.... Carlotta because she is fun and very special to a major transition of my career. Also because I remember seeing the show in the original New York previews and going "now that's a role I can do". Also Rosabella, in "The Most Happy Fella' ". She is such a wonderful human role and the show is written for a true actress who can make all the transitions. Plus great songs. I love roles that have real human conflict and great struggles to overcome.
Q: Is there any role that you haven't played, but would really love the opportunity to?
KS: Mother in "Ragtime". For the same reasons mentioned above. She is real and human and has to make a journey internally in order to be able to sing her big song in the second act. If she does not make the transitions internally her song will not sell.
Q: Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?
KS: I can't even guess. This business is so funny. It tells you where to go not
the other way around. You have your desires and wants, but it and the
business tells you your journey. And sometimes it is very diffierent than
where you see yourself.
I can tell you my own wish list. Would love to have some Broadway credits.
To have originated a role on Broadway in a new show. Have some opera credits
under my belt. Go back into straight theatre and do some straight acting.
And possibly some film credits. And you can throw a Tony on that wish list
too. What actress wouldn't.
And if none of that happens, I will be content to still be making a living
doing what I do. This profession is such an honor. I hope I never lose that.
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| As "Carlotta" |
Q: What is your favorite part of the show?
KS: Managers I .... It is the most fun for me. But I think my favorite part of
the show is in the overture when they first pull those shrouds off the stage.
I saw the top of the show a week ago and still get misty at that part.
The other would be in Masquerade when we all run up the stairs, the music
swell and we slowly turn front for the finale to the number.
Q: How do you see Carlotta? What makes her tick?
KS: I do not play her in the tradition way (I don't think). I try to find her as
very real and human. Very flawed. She is an actress who has paid years of
dues to get to the top of her profession. And now that she has that security
is very frightened and threatened that this young upstart, with no talent,
could possible topple her world. She is a woman trying to protect her turf,
so to speak. She is insulted, frightened, hurt. She also knows how to play
the game and manipulate to get what she wants and the respect she needs. And
when the game changes and really becomes about life and death you really see
her vulnerability.
I think the key moment to who Carlotta really is (at least in my show) is ,
oddly enough, in the last half of the Managers scene. It is the moment you
see all her truth and vulnerability. It is where she sees Christine cracking
up, and realizes that all the rules of her wold have changed and this is
really about life and death. And she has to make a clear choice outside of
everything she is, and has been up to that point, in order for them to
survive. It is also the point of her deepest rejections and fears.
I believe if you find that moment as an actress, you can find the rest of her
story. Carlotta is not a "funny" person. In fact she is very serious. It
is her seriousness and hightened sense of drama about her situation that
makes the audience see her as funny. But her moments have to be real.
But I am a method actress first and always.
