What’s it like having the composers, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, around for this Broadway revival?
I feel my heart swell up when I see them. It’s such a beautiful score. And when I’ve done a number and they’ve really enjoyed it, obviously I feel pretty good. Have you guys made any changes or updates? I’ve tried! [Laughs.] I didn’t know who [1950s nightclub singer] Abbe Lane was—it’s one of my lyrics in “Spanish Rose.” I kept saying, “No one knows who Abbe Lane is.” But we couldn’t think of a better one to fit the rhyme. At some point Lee says, “Oh let’s just rewrite the whole song.” He had all these different verses, but the original verses were so much stronger. So we had to keep the whole thing intact. The truth is, once you change one thing, it becomes like the thread that starts to unravel everything. Where do you stop? I think Bobby [Longbottom], the director, really wanted to keep it very much a time capsule. Did you know early on that you wanted to be an actress? Before high school, I went to San Francisco to study at the American Conservatory Theater. I lied about my age and
