04.06.17 • BACKSTAGE.COM RISE UP FROM “HAMILTON” TO “AMÉLIE,” SING LIKE A STAR PHILLIPA WITH THESE TIPS! SOO’S BROADWAY HOW TO MANAGE CAREER SOARS SCHEDULING CONFLICTS—AND KEEP YOUR CASTING DIRECTOR HAPPY 13+ PAGES OF CASTING NOTICES SAG-AFTRA’S NEW APP IS With SAG-AFTRA’s new smartphone app, your union is in your pocket wherever you go. It gives you the power to track residuals, keep tabs on specific projects, read the latest news, add events to your calendar, get your contract questions answered, and learn about deals and discounts available only to members. Apple, the Apple logo and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc. ad_Bkstage_SAapp_RedCarpet_v3-NOglow_R2_FINAL.indd 1 3/13/17 10:04 AM CONTENTS vol. 58, no. 14 | 04.06.17 COVER STORY PAGE 12 NEWS 4 Getting into character with German film THE GIRL WITH star Martina Gedeck 6 This week’s roundup of who’s casting THE GLASS what starring whom 7 How to get cast in an Off-Broadway show Tony nominee Phillipa Soo takes a beloved heroine from flm to stage, proving life goes on after “Hamilton” ADVICE 9 NOTE FROM THE CD Anatomy of a (good) headshot 9 #IGOTCAST Denise Marat 10 SECRET AGENT MAN 3 wishes of a Hollywood agent 11 #IGOTCAST Maximilian Schlossberg FEATURES 3 BACKSTAGE 5 WITH... LaTanya Richardson Jackson 8 MEET THE MAKER Rob Howell, “Groundhog Day” 10 THE ESSENTIALISTS Robert Musnicki, special effects coordinator 11 INSIDE JOB Lisa Roth, Rockabye Baby creator 16 THE 4 SINGING MUSTS Whether belting on Broadway or pursuing pop stardom, here’s how to get started as a singer 32 ASK AN EXPERT Gwyn Gilliss on how to handle scheduling conflicts CASTING 18 New York Tristate 24 California 27 National/Regional Phillipa Soo photographed by Stephanie Diani on Feb. 26 in NYC. Hair by Sam Leonardi for Neutrogena Triple Moisture. Makeup by Julie Harris. On this page: dress by Kate Spade New York. On the cover: blouse by Kate Spade New York. Cover designed by Jessica Balaschak. STEPHANIE DIANI BACKSTAGE.COM 04.06.17 backstage 1 Executive Chairman Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Technology & Vice President, Casting Peter Rappaport Joshua Ellstein Michael Felman Product Officer Luke Crowe James G. Reynolds Chief Marketing Officer Corporate Controller David Grossman Stefanie Nifenecker EDITORIAL ART CASTING PRODUCT TEAM CUSTOMER SERVICE Editor-in-Chief Design Director Managing Casting Editor Lead Product Designer Customer Experience Manager Rawaan Alkhatib Jessica Balaschak Melinda Loewenstein Jeff Lilley Chris Knowles Managing Editor Art Director Supervising Casting Editor Engineering Lead Customer Service Manager Briana Rodriguez Margaret Ruling Veronika Daddona Noemi Millman Richard Burridge Digital Managing Editor Senior Casting Editor Engineer Lead Customer Service Associate PRODUCTION Allie White Elijah Cornell Tom Achtemichuk Danny Camporeale Production Manager Stephanie Chung Associate Editor Mark Stinson Film & TV Casting Editors Full Stack Engineer Anna Szatkowski Benjamin Lindsay Riley Fee Sam Newbold Lisa Hamil Awards Editor Data Engineer ADVERTISING SALES Jack Smart Theater & Performing Zac Wentzell Executive Director Film, Arts Casting Editor Television, & Theater Social Media Manager Anna Paone Kasey Howe Francis Ramos Regional Casting Editor Advertising Sales Director Associate Social Byron Karlevics Stephen Lampshire Media Manager Stephanie Hoffmann Casting Specialist Kaitlyn Mills Senior Copy Editor MARKETING Brandy Colbert Research & Senior Associate, Call Sheet Editor Customer Acquisition Copy Editor Rebecca Welch Ryan Remstad Regan Hofmann Marketing Associate Contributing Writers Gail Cardozo Molly Eichel Marci Liroff Ryan McPhee Casey Mink Diep Tran Backstage was founded in 1960 by Ira Eaker and Allen Zwerdling EDITORIAL OFFICES CASTING DEPARTMENT CUSTOMER SERVICE PERMISSION 45 Main St. [email protected] 917-725-6367 For one-time use of our content, Brooklyn, NY 11201 [email protected] as a full article, excerpt, or [email protected] DISPLAY ADVERTISING production prop, contact [email protected] [email protected] BACKSTAGE, VOL. 58, NO. 14 (ISSN#53635 USPS#39740) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY (except the fourth week of December) by Backstage LLC, 45 Main St., Brooklyn, NY 11201, $3.99 per copy, $99 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY 11256 and additional mailing offices. Printed in USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Backstage, 45 Main St., Ste. 416, Brooklyn, NY 11201.Publication Mail Agreement No. 40031729. ©2017 Backstage LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec- tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Backstage LLC: Peter Rappaport, Executive Chairman; Joshua Ellstein, Chief Executive Officer. 2 backstage 04.06.17 BACKSTAGE.COM BACKSTAGE 5 WITH... LaTanya Richardson Jackson By Briana Rodriguez What has your role on ‘Grey’s card doing [Gore Vidal’s] “The Best Anatomy’ added to your acting Man” in my senior year of college. skills? I’m always in awe at how fast television is and how quickly you’re What advice would you give your called upon to be 100 percent invested younger self? I always encourage in a character with the lines.... In young actors: Keep your instrument addition to being in an environment strong, internally and physically, that was just so strong with good because you’re gonna need it, actors, writing, and directors, I learned especially as you mature. And learn a a speedier way to access character. I lot of synonyms because sometimes had to still try to stay truthful to how words leave you. [Laughs] You need we’re allowed to mine the character in synonyms so you can just jump in a play, but we don’t have the benefit there and throw another word in there of that when working in television, so that will fit! it was necessary for me to work in a speedier fashion. How do you typically prepare for an audition? I hate auditioning. Have you ever used Backstage in the It’s one of the harder things for me, past? Oh, everybody did! That used to because I’m such a “find a way to be the required [reading]. There was make the [character] have so much no internet, no Google. I came to New verisimilitude, so much believability York in 1974, when I graduated from that you don’t know it’s acting” college. And you had to use Backstage [type of actor]. When it comes to an because all of the auditions were listed audition, you don’t have time for all there. Most people didn’t come with that. Learn the lines and try to figure agents, so you got to see a lot of what out where you meet it, where you was auditioning, and when and where. can relate, how closely you can get Just before heading to ADR Backstage made sure you knew the to where this character is, and just major places. jump in. Go! The more simple you can her guest spot on “Grey’s be, the better. The less baggage you Anatomy,” the inimitable How did you get your Equity can take to an audition, the better. stage and screen actor and SAG-AFTRA cards? It used A lot of times, we cloud it with our to just be a SAG card, and then directing—we’re not the director. You LaTanya Richardson Jackson you got an AFTRA card. I got my need to leave enough open space to jumped on the phone with AFTRA card doing a commercial in be clear about what it is: a working Backstage to chat about her Atlanta. I got my SAG card doing a design of the character. So if there beer commercial from 100 years are adjustments to be made, they advice for younger actors, her ago; it was one of the first national can see you make them and see audition prep process, and commercials with a family in it that that you’re not die-hard [in your how she joined the unions. was black and normal, and I played interpretation of] the part, but you the daughter. And I got my Equity have to bring a point a view. • “ACTORS, YOU END UP INTERNALIZING THIS NEGATIVE [REJECTION]. IT’S NOT YOURS TO INTERNALIZE OR TAKE. IT NEVER WAS YOURS. IT’S THEIRS.” ILLUSTRATION: NATHAN ARIZONA/PHOTO: HELGA ESTEB/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM HELGA ARIZONA/PHOTO: NATHAN ILLUSTRATION: BACKSTAGE.COM 04.06.17 backstage 3 Follow us backstagecast Like us facebook.com/backstage Follow us @backstagecast NEWS Follow us @backstage HAVE YOU BEEN CAST in a project through a Backstage casting notice? Share your story with us and you might be featured in an UPDATE | upcoming issue! Just tweet @Backstage using the hashtag #IGotCast and we’ll be in touch to hear your success story! out about it and be patient with the decisions that you take.” Be prepared to spend time with your lines. “I pick the scene and I learn the lines, and I learn them and I speak them 200 times. I go to the day [of filming] with the lines, and I always have them with me. Even the most boring lines [become] like a mantra or like a prayer that you know, and that you always go over and over again. And then pictures come up, imagination starts to work. And there are things coming up that you would never be able to find out with your rational brain. All of this kind of imaginary work is so very important, and you cannot do it just by looking at the scene, in my opinion.