|
Claire Danes tackles Eliza Doolittle
2007-09-20
The last time Claire Danes appeared in a play, it turned into a train wreck. Muzi.com News 10050755-0 (muzi.com)The role was way out of her range, she adopted an atrocious accent and she overacted so badly that she recently hid under a couch while watching the results on video. Muzi.com News 10050755-1 (muzi.com) Then again, she was 8. Muzi.com News 10050755-2 (muzi.com) As she prepares for a Broadway run of "Pygmalion," Danes still cringes at that debut -- in a grade school production of "Manhattan Is Missing," a gentle story about a vanished cat. Muzi.com News 10050755-3 (muzi.com) "I played the father, the patriarch. I don't know why because it wasn't a single-sex school or anything. There were boys available. And I was British for some reason. I don't know why. I don't know if this was a personal choice or if this was in the text," she says. Muzi.com News 10050755-4 (muzi.com) "I slapped every kind of affectation and prop on me imaginable. ... I had a bowler hat and a mustache and a pipe. And I kept stomping my feet and putting my hands on my hips. I had like four gestures." Muzi.com News 10050755-5 (muzi.com) Twenty years later, Danes has managed to put her performance in perspective: If subtlety wasn't her strong suit, at least the enthusiasm was there. "I was horrible. I mean that -- horrible," she says. "But I clearly was having a great time and really had no problem being stared at by the entire school." Muzi.com News 10050755-6 (muzi.com) Did she learn anything else -- like how to handle a live audience when she makes her professional theatrical debut next month as Eliza Doolittle? Muzi.com News 10050755-7 (muzi.com) "I can take it down a notch -- or like 17," she says with a smile, still slightly embarrassed at the memory. Muzi.com News 10050755-8 (muzi.com) During an interview at a cafe near her Midtown rehearsal space, Danes sips peppermint tea and shreds a sugar packet absentmindedly. She has arrived in jeans, without fuss or entourage. She is weary -- long days, unfamiliar stage directions and learning to bellow George Bernard Shaw dialogue are taking their toll on an actress more known for her ability to project subtle emotion on screen. Muzi.com News 10050755-9 (muzi.com) "I'm sort of always tired now. My brain is saturated," she says, her hand raking through strands of blond hair. "When we do make progress, it's really intoxicating. But it comes in fits and spurts." Muzi.com News 10050755-10 (muzi.com) There's also the stress of a leading part. "Pygmalion" co-stars Jefferson Mays as her Henry Higgins, but Danes is clearly the draw -- it's her, alone, except for a butterfly, on the show's advertising. Muzi.com News 10050755-11 (muzi.com) "It's more fun than I expected. I was kind of dreading it. I was sort of like willing myself to do it, daring myself to do it," she says. "So far, I haven't completely collapsed or been fired -- I was prepared for that even though my big fat face is on the poster." Muzi.com News 10050755-12 (muzi.com) Director David Grindley, who also helmed "Journey's End" starring Danes' boyfriend Hugh Dancy, says she's in no danger of getting a pink slip. He's impressed by her willingness to learn. Muzi.com News 10050755-13 (muzi.com) "At the end of the day, Claire is a tremendous actress. If you're working with talent, yes they may be a novice in one media or another, but they very soon find their feet, as Claire has done," Grindley says. Muzi.com News 10050755-14 (muzi.com) Danes, after all, made the TV-to-film transition seamlessly, going from TV's "My So-Called Life" to varied roles in such movies as "Little Women," "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet," "U Turn" and "The Mod Squad." Muzi.com News 10050755-15 (muzi.com) After a brief stint at Yale University, Danes dropped out of school and returned in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," "Igby Goes Down," "The Hours" and "The Family Stone." This summer, she had roles in "Stardust" and "Evening." Muzi.com News 10050755-16 (muzi.com) Danes' road to Broadway started, oddly enough, on screen. In 2004, she starred opposite Billy Crudup in "Stage Beauty," portraying an early actress of the English stage. Muzi.com News 10050755-17 (muzi.com) "I had my debut there, but I was playing to a hired audience full of extras who had to give standing ovations on cue," she says, "which is the way to do it, I'm telling you." Muzi.com News 10050755-18 (muzi.com) Danes and Crudup were soon dating -- in the process igniting a tabloid frenzy since Crudup had left a very pregnant Mary-Louise Parker -- and Danes got another dose of theater while watching Crudup tackle "The Pillowman" on Broadway. Muzi.com News 10050755-19 (muzi.com) "It was really fascinating to see him go through that process from such a close vantage point. And then Hugh, my next boyfriend -- it's really, really very funny to be talking about theater through boyfriends -- was doing 'Journey's End' and I guess I just wanted to play, too. I wanted to have a go at it." Muzi.com News 10050755-20 (muzi.com) She's already gotten a taste of a live audience. Danes, a student of dance since age 4, has appeared in two modern dance pieces choreographed by Tamar Rogoff -- a solo performance in 2005 and a duet earlier this year. Muzi.com News 10050755-21 (muzi.com) "When I was in my dressing room, full of Adrenalin and anticipation and weird superstitious ticks, I was imagining everybody else in the theater district in their respective dressing rooms, getting buzzy and crazy at once," she says. "I guess I took refuge in that." Muzi.com News 10050755-22 (muzi.com) Between "Pygmalion" rehearsals, she's reading a Shaw biography, doing yoga and absorbing all the advice she's gotten about stage success from fellow actors. Muzi.com News 10050755-23 (muzi.com) "It's sort of like being pregnant," she says. "As soon as I mentioned that I was doing a play, everybody had advice and opinions and horror stories and secret potions. It was very amusing." Muzi.com News 10050755-24 (muzi.com) One thing Danes didn't have to worry about was Audrey Hepburn. She has the rare distinction of never having seen the film musical "My Fair Lady," which was inspired by Shaw's play. Muzi.com News 10050755-25 (muzi.com) "It's nice to just have that freedom to make my own choices," she says. Muzi.com News 10050755-26 (muzi.com) Her Doolittle begins "Pygmalion" as a raw, street hustling flower girl with a thick Cockney accent -- "I veer into Australian pretty easily," Danes warns -- and emerges at the end a sophisticated lady. Muzi.com News 10050755-27 (muzi.com) "Everybody loves a good makeover story," Danes explains. Muzi.com News 10050755-28 (muzi.com) Danes, surprisingly, hasn't needed much of that herself. She's managed to keep a relatively low-profile during her career, largely avoiding the pitfalls of fame and the gossip pages, except perhaps when she selects boyfriends. She often slips through Manhattan unrecognized. Muzi.com News 10050755-29 (muzi.com) "That's been really nice, actually. Hopefully, I can maintain that. I don't mean to be coy but...," she begins to say. Then, as if on cue, a server at the cafe comes out from behind the display case and approaches her table. Muzi.com News 10050755-30 (muzi.com) "Excuse me, sorry to bother you. Is your name Claire?" she asks. Muzi.com News 10050755-31 (muzi.com) "Yeah," Danes says. Muzi.com News 10050755-32 (muzi.com) "Are you Claire Danes?" the woman asks. Muzi.com News 10050755-33 (muzi.com) "Uh-huh," Danes says, uncomfortably. Muzi.com News 10050755-34 (muzi.com) The server whirls and turns to her co-workers. "It is her!" she screams. Muzi.com News 10050755-35 (muzi.com) "Perfect timing, huh?" Danes says with a laugh. Muzi.com News 10050755-36 (muzi.com) After the server triumphantly returns to her station, Danes tries to take another crack at her relationship to the paparazzi and fame. Muzi.com News 10050755-37 (muzi.com) "I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't have any interest in me," she says. "But I'm appreciative that I've been allowed to continue doing it for as long as I have and be as experimental as I've been and work on so many different scales. I've felt pretty uninhibited in that respect." Muzi.com News 10050755-38 (muzi.com) ___ Muzi.com News 10050755-39 (muzi.com)
| 
