This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Ben Rimalower: Broadway Podcast Network presents Giants in the Sky: How Sondheim and Lapine Went Into the Woods with me, Ben Rimalower.

[0:08] Ben Rimalower: Today's guest, Maureen Davis, the original Sleeping Beauty and Stunt Witch.

[0:13] Ben Rimalower: Once upon a time.

[0:17] Ben Rimalower: Maureen Davis created the role of Sleeping Beauty in Into the Woods on Broadway, playing that part, as well as serving as the stunt witch and understudy to Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood for the entire original run.

[0:30] Ben Rimalower: In addition to the American Playhouse broadcast of Into the Woods, she also appeared on television in Neil Gaiman's Amazon Prime series Good Omens.

[0:39] Ben Rimalower: She wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the original rock musical radio play, A Falling Star at Buzzard's Roost.

[0:46] Ben Rimalower: Check out Stagefora New Age.com.

[0:54] Ben Rimalower: Thank you so much for chatting with me.

[0:57] Ben Rimalower: Um, I'd love to ask you, I guess the question that I've sort of started with for everybody, which is do you remember when you first became aware that there was this fairy tale musical by Sondheim and Lapine, Into the Woods? And also, if you could just give me a little background where you were in your life and your career, and you know, were you a Sondheim fan? Did you audition for Sunday in the Park with George? Had you done any of the shows in college? You know, just what was your background on it?

[1:31] Maureen Davis: So many questions. So many questions. So many questions. Um, well, I think when you're in college, you get exposed to Company, and you just, you know, if you're a theater major, you're gonna do and listen to Sondheim, you know. Um, I was, I think I was fifteen, there was this big talent search for Annie the movie. And it was like US wide, and I submitted for it from Toledo, Ohio, and I was actually gonna go to the call, and then I got really sick and I went in the hospital, and my mother had to cancel the audition, and they sent me a t-shirt and they said, "We're so sorry to miss you, and we wish you the best of health." So I was like, Broadway, talk to me.

[2:23] Maureen Davis: Um, I moved to New York with $500 in my pocket. Wow. I sold my entire apartment of all my childhood furniture. I sold everything to my friend Robin, and um, I quit my band, but they were dealing drugs out of the dressing room anyway. Fun. I didn't go to jail. And I was dating law students, so I was good. And my mom worked at the courthouse, but still I go to jail because I didn't do drugs. Wow. So um, I moved to New York to live with my great aunt Sandy, was off off Broadway, was working in the fashion district for the buyers for um, May was it Macy's? I can't remember the company, but they were buyers for big department stores, and I would get like fashion things.

[3:14] Maureen Davis: I would work in the fashion district from nine to five, I would go to rehearsals for off off Broadway, and then I worked in a geisha house. We called it the geisha house. It was a Japanese piano bar, and the Japanese waitresses were actually hostesses. Wow. And they would go home with people from Wall Street, and we would sing karaoke. And I guess Cyndi Lauper did it too. Like there were a bunch of us that did it, and you got paid 15 an hour. And Susie Chan, it was this secret speakeasy, and Susie Chan had evening gowns and shoes for you. So basically, when I got my start in New York, I was getting four or five hours sleep. I was in a theater, I was off off Broadway. I was working, and then I was working again, but I was working singing.

[4:03] Maureen Davis: So I got my big break. I was singing at on Green Street at the Duplex, and I was singing "Somewhere That's Green," and I was yelled at by Sharon McDonald, and she said, "That is my song. No one sings that song. Find another song." And she's Sharon McKnight. And I went, um, um, um, um, okay, you know, so my friend um Bill, we called him Blind Billy Graves or Mittens, because he, you know, when he played, he was like, "Okay, this is what you're gonna do. You're gonna do 'Guilty,' because I used to love singing 'Guilty' by Randy Newman. He said, 'You're gonna do "Think of Me" into "Guilty."' So you're gonna sing your legit stuff, and then I'm gonna transition you right into belting. And I was like, we're gonna show Sharon McKnight.

[4:55] Maureen Davis: So um, there was a guy in the audience, Michael, who was the music director for Little Shop of Horrors in Boston with Caroline Carmelo. And they needed an understudy for Carol Lee, and he said, "You're fantastic. Here's my card," and I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, whatever, whatever." And then I looked him up and I was like, "Oh shit, he really is the music director, and I really could be Caroline's understudy." Okay, go team. Understudied, got the part, Victor Valentine directed it. My friend Kevin um understudied Seymour too, went there, met, got trained by Caroline Carmelo. Wow. To play all three urchins and the understudy, and I was the left branch of the plant.

[5:39] Maureen Davis: So that was my big break getting trained by Caroline Carmelo. She was the dance captain for all of the female roles. That's hilarious. And she wasn't quite famous yet, but she was going to be. She was on her way. She did Little Shop in Boston. And then I think she did A My Name is Alice or City of Angels. She did something else that was a Boston cast. And then all of a sudden she became this Broadway star. And that little shop was a big hit in Boston. Didn't it run for a really long time? It was huge. We were famous. So when I say Little Shop in Boston, that's almost like saying Little Shop in New York. Yeah. Because and Scott Bakula was in the show across the street. And Carolie, I think Carolie and Scott got to work together. Um, but he wasn't even a TV star yet. He was just doing the same thing we were, but we knew he was, you know, we knew that Carolie and Scott was anyway. So yeah, Carolie is the shit. Carol Lee gave me my start.

[6:36] Maureen Davis: And then so what we would do is on Mondays on dark days, we would take the train to New York, and we just go for auditions to see what our next part was gonna be. Because we didn't know how long the show was gonna run, or maybe there was a better part, or yeah, something. So I crashed the audition for Into the Woods. I didn't even know what it was, and I was like, "Oh come on, man, I'm only in here for one day. I'll show you my boobs." And you know, of course, I had nothing. I was an A Cup then B Cup, there's a big choice between A and B. I'm just gonna say, so anyway, I was funny and silly, and the person let me in, and I ended up, it was the longest audition of my life. It was like they had me sing six songs.

[7:24] Maureen Davis: Wow. They were like, "Okay, now what would Cinderella sing?" I was like, "I don't know. This is okay, okay. You're Red Riding Hood," and they just were looking through my book to see what songs I had. Yeah. "What would somebody in the woods sing?" And I went, "Um, I whistle a happy tune." I have "Whistle a Happy Tune" in my book. So I sang that, and they said, "Now do it as Cinderella and fall. Now do it as Little Red Riding Hood skipping around and the wolf is chasing her. Now do it as Rapunzel, terrifying." And I was and I got out of the audition, and somebody behind me went, "What? Did you get the part at least?" It was such a long audition, and like they were interested.

[8:05] Maureen Davis: So then, you know, you go back to Boston, you don't hear anything, and then um the show closed, and Little Shop closed, and I moved back to New York, and I am like working temp, and I'm just starving. I'm living wherever I'm living. I had so many sublets in New York, it wasn't even funny. I'm pouring some tea, and so I get that we had beepers, we had pagers, right? We didn't have to be a little bit more. There was no cell phone, yeah. Yeah, but I was still young, damn it. So I get back to New York and I get this pager, and I call my agent Louie, Louie from the Belt L Agency, and I called Louie and he goes, "Um, why is Into the Woods calling to see you? I didn't get you that audition," and I said, "Oh, I crashed something at the equity building. What's going on?" And he said, "Um, you have a callback direct to call back for to be Bernadette Peters' stunt witch and to understudy Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella."

[9:13] Maureen Davis: Wow. And it's this day, and it's on 8th Street, and just please go get it because this is come on. So, all right, so here's this on 8th Street down in the village. Yeah, it was at the that it's the street where it's the studio where everybody rehearses once you're in a Broadway show. You, there's this rehearsal hall down on 8th Street. Wow. So 8th Street, 8th Avenue, 8th, no, it's 8th Street, yeah. So um I went to my, I had no money, and I went and I was wearing my favorite vintage dress because I've always been a vintage girl, is wearing this vintage dress and these canary yellow can can boots. Wow, like ankle boots, but they're I mean, I've always been I'm I'm a fan of can can boots, I freaking love them because you dance in them and they support your ankles and then it's your shoes. I always choose can can boots.

[10:05] Maureen Davis: So um, I run to the temp agency and I go, "Does anybody have five dollars? I have to go to this Broadway audition." And so the manager, the temp agent comes out and she goes, "I think she gave me 10. I don't know if she gave me five or ten. She goes, here's the money, get the part, get me front row seats." Sweetest lady in the world. So I run and I catch the train, and I'm waiting for the train, you know. You know, I'm I'm in the turnstile, and an announcement comes over that the train is not coming, and I'm like, "Oh shit," and I'm like, "Okay," and I'm not thinking. I'm just like panicking. I've got to get there. And I actually jumped back over the turnstile instead of walking around. In one of the stars and caught a bus. And then the bus broke down and had a flat tire. And I'm still 10 blocks away, 10 New York blocks.

[11:01] Maureen Davis: Yeah. And I'm like, "Oh shit, I'm really late." And so I, because I'm dramatic, or I was in my 20s. And I ran to the exhaust pipe so I would smell like gas. Because you know, buses stay on. And I grabbed, I put my hand underneath the tire to get some grease, and I put grease on me. Don't don't, why would I do that? If a bus breaks down, you're not, it's not a bus accident. So I'm just thinking drama. And I ran 10 city blocks to go audition for Joanna Merlin. And the room was full of girls with wigs or long curly curly curly hair and big white red cupie doll lips to look like Bernadette. And I'm a greasy mess. I smell like gas. My hair is in a ponytail. I've got canary boots on and a white retro dress. I'm a total freak.

[12:00] Maureen Davis: And she goes, What? And I said, I'm Wayne Davis. The train broke down. The bus broke down. I just ran 10 city blocks. I fell, you have to see me. She's like, I can't. We're already into the last five people. And I said, No, no, you don't understand. I had to borrow money to get the subway to get the train. And then everything broke. You have to see me, please. And she was like, okay, you can't make that up. I know you can't make that up. She goes, go in the bathroom. You got five minutes. Clean up. Compose yourself. Get yourself I'm gonna get you in. So she got me in, and you know, I freshened up and I did it. And they did the same thing to me. They're they improv danced me and they said, Okay, now you're sleeping beauty, now you're Red Riding Hood, now you're whatever.

And then they said, Okay, just stand there. And the makeup artist came up to my face and he held up a picture of Bernadette Peters and he measured my eyes and he measured my chin. And then they said, Thank you. And I thanked Joanna, and I'm like in tears going, Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I'm the only one who hasn't tried to look like Bernadette Peters. Yeah. I'm just me. And halfway walking home, because I have no money left. Yeah. I must have been saving the change so that I could get a dollar slice of pizza or some wonton soup. Right. You know, you have to eat, and I had no money, so I had no food money or anything. And the pager goes off and it's Louie. And I'm like, no way. And so I call him on a payphone, and he goes, You got the part.

Wow. And then I called my mom in Ohio and I said, and I'm crying. I'm like, Mom, I'm gonna be on Broadway, and you know how much I idolize Bernadette Peters. I'm gonna be her stunt witch. And my mom is like, well, of course you're gonna be on Broadway. You worked for it, you earned it. You were always gonna be on Broadway. It just it was just a matter of when. And so that's how I got into Into the Woods.

[14:11] Ben Rimalower: So how much time did you then have before rehearsal started?

[14:16] Maureen Davis: Um, well, we had um like maybe I don't know if it was a few weeks or a month. We we we had a few weeks because there were costume fittings, like they went directly into costume fittings even before rehearsals. And what's interesting is for the witch, we had a special costume that had like bags and belly rolls and stuff. They created as if somebody really blobby was wearing a toga with lots of ropey belts around it. They created these bumpy lumpy things and they used bird seed, and we had a neck piece that would hold it up because it was kind of heavy, and it created the walk for the witch. So Bernadette and I had identical costumes, and they had to measure me and make sure I was the same size, and they sprayed her perfume Calyx that you could only get at Macy's or Bloomingdale's. They sprayed her perfume, Calyx over both costumes, so I would get the feel for being Bernadette.

They wanted me to smell like Bernadette and be Bernadette and just absorb the Bernadette-ness, and we had all this bird seed, and we had to and they took film of us walking in these costumes and getting used to the weight of them. Eventually, Bernadette complained, or maybe she was having back problems or something, and they took the bird seed out and they put cotton in, and they're like, Okay, okay. You guys know you we developed the walk and everything. It was great to be artsy fartsy, but okay, we get it.

[15:55] Ben Rimalower: That was like after the show opened or during rehearsals that they made that show.

[16:00] Maureen Davis: No, no, no. That was after the show opened. That was after the show opened. Wow. It sh we may have. Let me think. We may have even had birdseed all the way through Brunedette, but then when Nancy Dusot and Betsy Jocelyn and Ellen Foley came in, they changed their costumes a little bit.

[16:16] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. So were you not the um uh the witch, um the stunt witch for Felicia Rashad?

[16:25] Maureen Davis: I was not because I could not appear in blackface. Right, of course. So for people that don't understand exactly what the stunt witch does, maybe I can try to save correct me if I'm my understanding is right. So in the transformation scene before the actual moment of transformation, when there's some activity going on elsewhere on the stage, she sneaks behind the woman playing the witch sneaks behind a tree so she can exit, and then the stunt witch comes back on in a costume that um is like with the big wig and the hood and the cape and everything where like not a lot of your face is showing, and then she's pre-recorded her lines during that scene for you to sort of lip sync or kind of like fake with your bot.

[17:12] Maureen Davis: Yes and no, no, I had the exact same makeup as Bernadette. We had boils and warts and nose. I had to look like the witch. Yeah so you couldn't lift it with a hood. They had to see the facial expressions, yeah. And so we wore identical makeup, and I even have a book with the I saved the makeup with the boils, and she would tell me I'm wearing the boil on the left side because it was irritating my face on the right side. Right. I would have to come see her every night to make sure our makeup matched. Our makeup was designed and it was sketched out, and we would follow that sketch. We didn't have a makeup person doing it. We had to do our own age makeup. Yeah. And um, who's the the big makeup guy in New York?

The guy that like makes custom makes makeup. Ben is it was it Ben Nye? Is it Ben Nye? He made this color called BP Whatever, which is Bernadette Peters. So it was like Bernadette Peters 26. Yeah. That was the makeup that I had to wear, and it matched me in Bernadette and I have the same skin color. So it matched us. So we had to wear that color, and they gave us, they gave us the eye pencils and the shadows to create the makeup. So yes, yes. The um her voice was recorded, but I had to lip sync, of course, and I had to be acting.

[18:37] Maureen Davis: So what would happen is um she would do this walk while they were feeding the animal. Here is the hair, and here is the cape, and here is the you know, where the music goes doom doom do do do do do do do do you know and how cow swallows. We would do this walk where it's just like walk, walk, walk and look. Walk, walk, walk and look. So Bernadette would do the walk and look, and then I came up on a trapdoor. The trap door had no railings, and we had to go ten feet up. There were this is the coolest part. There were stage hands that were like six foot five and seven feet tall. They were very, very tall. Wow. And they would hold their hands up to make sure we didn't fall. Wow. Also, we had the big cape on, and you had to make sure that the cape didn't get caught in the trapdoor. Yeah. So they would tuck us in. So you would come up on this kind of treacherous trapdoor.

[19:39] Maureen Davis: Oh my god. So the magic trick was choreographed by Charles Reynolds. And Charles Reynolds choreographed the magic show on Broadband. So he was the premier magician and magic choreographer. He choreographed the show. So we had all those moving trees. All those moving trees. They do this anymore. They've like figured out their way. But we we were the originals. Man. So they choreographed all these trees. So the trees are moving mysteriously, and you're watching the action of the actors over here. And then Bernadette walks behind a tree where the trapdoor is, bumps into me, and I continue her walk, and I drink the potion, and I say, Wrong ingredients, forget about a child. And Joanna and Chip chase me around the stage. Well, Bernadette is getting her glamour make her getting her glamour makeup put on. She's ripping off warts and she's powdering and she's becoming beautiful.

[20:40] Ben Rimalower: Oh, that's you know what I mean. I'm just realizing what I misunderstood. It's not that you are covered up between the hair and the hood. It's that she at the beginning of that scene is wearing like a dumbed down version of her original.

[20:55] Maureen Davis: She's already started undoing it so that she has less to do. She may have, but but not necessarily because she had the wart and then she still had to have the wart and the nose and the eyebrows. Right. For the most part, it was the the makeup consisted of the wart, the nose and the eyebrows, and then big bags under the eyes. Yeah. And there's really no way of getting around that. Yeah. She had to have her face up in the light. And the only way of getting around that is um by just maybe loosening the warts and stuff, maybe having the glamour makeup underneath, maybe lightening up the eyes a little. Yeah. And she had a little bit of time to do that, but you really couldn't change the makeup. That was the beauty of the magic trick.

And she had three dressers. Right. Dressing, you know, you threw it off. The the the costume that we wore was really like one piece. And it had a neck, it it it clasped around the neck, and it was velcroed in the back. And so she just had to throw it down.

[21:55] Maureen Davis: Yeah. And she was beautiful Bernadette, and they put a gown on her, and they're whipping her nose and her wart off. And I don't I don't know if she did her own hair or if she wore a wig for the when she became the beautiful witch.

[22:09] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[22:09] Maureen Davis: It looked like her own hair to me.

[22:13] Ben Rimalower: Well, it might have been a wig because remember, when we're wearing wigs, we have pink curls.

[22:20] Maureen Davis: Yeah. So they wouldn't have to had time. She had to have been wearing a wig.

[22:24] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[22:24] Maureen Davis: That looked like her own hair. I swallowed the wrong way. So um, so yeah, so I continue. I swallowed the potion. And then uh I pulled this from a lady in a tower, and um, she goes, You what? I don't you understand? I couldn't I cannot have touched the ingredients. And that's when I start my walk and I start looking for Bernadette. Is she up there? Is she up there? Is she up yet? And whenever she gets up there, I'm ready to just go forget about a child again. This is not gonna happen. You know, and it it's um the transformation where Bernadette comes back out happens where the narrator says the silky hair of the corn give it to the cow.

[23:13] Maureen Davis: So as soon as he goes the silky hair of the corn that's when the turmoil starts and the trees are moving and you're feeding the cow and everybody's acting really bigly and I went behind the tree and I just stand there and Bernadette comes out and they don't I don't even think they started the hydraulics for me until the you know because we don't want that sound or anything. I'm just sitting there very very still and she goes ta-da you know um so wait so was it a different moment of transition from night to night depending on how fast she got up the hydraulics like where were you kind of like that's so interesting I I wouldn't have realized that well here's the thing Paul Geminiani had to just go ba-da-da-da-da-da-da.

[24:03] Maureen Davis: He had to keep that going and that's the beauty of having a live orchestra. He could keep that going as long as we needed it.

[24:09] Maureen Davis: Yeah, and that's all he did. He just vamped until that transformation happened and you just kind of, and as soon as you see the next cape walk out because I never walked around the tree. I did not walk around the tree until I saw her.

[24:28] Maureen Davis: Yeah, and so it was pretty fascinating.

[24:32] Maureen Davis: And one time, one night, the recording broke down.

[24:37] Maureen Davis: And it was a night that I was also Red Riding Hood.

[24:45] Maureen Davis: Oh.

[24:45] Maureen Davis: So I was doing the Stunt Witch and Red Riding Hood because Gene Louisa Kelly was already on for the vacationing Rapunzel for Pamela.

[24:54] Maureen Davis: So Gene Louisa was the other Red Riding Hood cover.

[24:57] Maureen Davis: So I had to cover the stunt witch and Red Riding Hood.

[25:01] Maureen Davis: And the recording broke down.

[25:03] Maureen Davis: And I was able to do an impression of Bernadette Peters.

[25:07] Maureen Davis: I practiced doing an impression of Bernadette Peters.

[25:10] Maureen Davis: And they had me mic'd.

[25:12] Maureen Davis: They always had me mic'd as the stunt witch.

[25:14] Maureen Davis: And I had to say the lines and then do the transformation and then run off stage and become Red Riding Hood.

[25:24] Maureen Davis: Like basically I had a minute while Bernadette was doing her transformation to become Red Riding Hood because I think there was a second midnight gone or something.

[25:33] Maureen Davis: And then I could come back out with the sword with Jack and say, "Ah, stay away from my granny made me this cake out of a wolf that we killed."

[25:41] Maureen Davis: And like the hair and makeup people were like, "Brava Diva, brava diva."

[25:46] Maureen Davis: Because I just surrendered to them.

[25:48] Maureen Davis: I think when you have things like that, you have to trust your stage managers and your hair and makeup people.

[25:55] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[25:56] Maureen Davis: Get you on stage.

[25:57] Maureen Davis: So that was like crazy.

[25:59] Maureen Davis: And somebody, it was somebody like really dumb came up.

[26:02] Maureen Davis: I'm sorry, I thought it was dumb, said, "How did you know the lines to do for Bernadette?"

[26:07] Maureen Davis: And I went, "Uh, because I lip sync them anyway."

[26:11] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[26:12] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[26:13] Maureen Davis: Well because you have to know the lines to lip sync that, right?

[26:17] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[26:18] Maureen Davis: So okay.

[26:19] Maureen Davis: Um, uh, that's crazy that that happened.

[26:21] Maureen Davis: I want to get more into stuff like that and to your understudying.

[26:25] Maureen Davis: Um, but just going back a little bit to the beginning, so were you there for the very first rehearsal of the show?

[26:31] Maureen Davis: Um, or was that like later in the process when they cast you?

[26:35] Maureen Davis: No, I was there for the first rehearsal because I had to be Sleeping Beauty in the finale.

[26:41] Maureen Davis: Right.

[26:41] Maureen Davis: So they knew that finale.

[26:44] Maureen Davis: So they knew from the very beginning that the way this was going to be accomplished was with a stunt witch.

[26:51] Ben Rimalower: But were the particulars of that stuff that was then worked out during rehearsal, or was that all already figured out from the first day?

[27:01] Maureen Davis: It was already figured out from the first day.

[27:03] Maureen Davis: I don't know what they did at the Old Globe.

[27:05] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[27:05] Maureen Davis: And they may have had it, they may have had it choreographed at the Old Globe.

[27:08] Maureen Davis: So that's not information I'm privy to.

[27:10] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[27:10] Maureen Davis: All I know is that I met Charles Reynolds, and he's a famous magician.

[27:16] Maureen Davis: And said he did Doug, what's that?

[27:19] Maureen Davis: What was that guy's name?

[27:20] Maureen Davis: Doug Henning.

[27:22] Maureen Davis: Doug Henning, he did Doug Henning's magic show.

[27:24] Maureen Davis: And I think he may have worked on a production of Pippin because there are a lot of magic tricks.

[27:29] Ben Rimalower: Right.

[27:29] Maureen Davis: So the guy.

[27:31] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[27:32] Maureen Davis: And they made me sign a contract.

[27:35] Maureen Davis: They made me sign a contract that I would not reveal my identity or what I did in the show.

[27:40] Ben Rimalower: Wow.

[27:40] Maureen Davis: So was that a secret for a long time?

[27:43] Maureen Davis: It was a secret for the whole run of the show.

[27:45] Ben Rimalower: Wow.

[27:46] Maureen Davis: And then, and I also got hazard pay.

[27:48] Maureen Davis: I got special insurance pay because of the trapdoors without the things because of the quick changes and everything.

[27:55] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[27:55] Maureen Davis: Um, as well as you should.

[27:57] Maureen Davis: And so, um, and so then you were Sleeping Beauty in the final sequence.

[28:03] Maureen Davis: Um, was that, uh, I mean I guess you had a really different life than Jean Louisa Kelly because you had a lot to deal with each night before that, whereas she would have just been able to relax for two hours.

[28:17] Maureen Davis: She didn't do Snow White, she just did Snow White.

[28:19] Maureen Davis: But you know, Jean's a great actress, and she was always studying her lines for Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, you know.

[28:27] Maureen Davis: Um, she was very young, she was just getting her start out, you know, and um it was way before she did Mr. Holland's Opus and Fantastic Doctor TV show.

[28:38] Maureen Davis: In fact, when the movie came out, Jean and I had a reunion and we went to see the movie with Meryl Streep together.

[28:44] Ben Rimalower: Um yes, yeah.

[28:47] Maureen Davis: She, I, she actually I spoke to her and she said the same thing about you.

[28:51] Maureen Davis: Um essentially.

[28:52] Maureen Davis: She's so sweet.

[28:53] Maureen Davis: So sweet.

[28:55] Maureen Davis: Um but so, uh, so you covered Little Red Riding Hood.

[29:00] Ben Rimalower: Was did you cover any other roles?

[29:03] Maureen Davis: Rapunzel and Cinderella.

[29:05] Maureen Davis: And Rapunzel and Cinderella.

[29:06] Ben Rimalower: Did you go on for all of them?

[29:08] Maureen Davis: I did not go on as Cinderella, but I did go on as Rapunzel.

[29:12] Maureen Davis: Um, so you got to use that soprano and that belt that you had.

[29:16] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[29:17] Maureen Davis: Yeah, I did. I got to go on um Rapunzel for a two-week vacation for Rapunzel and two-week vacation for Red Riding Hood.

[29:24] Maureen Davis: In fact, I mean Danielle and I are pals, and um Danielle like hurt her foot or broke her ankle or something, and I had to go on for her while Jean was on.

[29:38] Maureen Davis: That was when Jean was on as Rapunzel.

[29:41] Maureen Davis: I had to go on as Red Riding Hood because um Danielle hurt her foot.

[29:46] Maureen Davis: And Danielle has since corrected me.

[29:47] Maureen Davis: I said something about her breaking her ankle, and she was like, "I didn't break my ankle."

[29:52] Maureen Davis: So I would like look, I could probably look it up and see what Danielle told me to correct it too.

[29:57] Maureen Davis: Let's just say she got hurt, yeah to go on whatever.

[30:05] Maureen Davis: And then, and you when whenever you did those roles you still had to do the stunt witch as well.

[30:05] Maureen Davis: Um, I don't think I had time to do the stunt witch and Rapunzel.

[30:22] Maureen Davis: I could do the stunt witch in Red Riding Hood.

[30:24] Maureen Davis: Eventually um Mary Ann Kane who was a stage manager was trained to do the witch double.

[30:22] Maureen Davis: She was trained, that's yeah because what happens if you're sick, yeah so at well I did I wasn't allowed to be sick.

[30:37] Maureen Davis: I got bronchitis, I got bronchitis horribly during once we opened, it was like two months in and James Lapine came to me personally and said, "You can't be sick, we need you.

[30:37] Maureen Davis: I will, he made a false promise he said, "Listen when we recast Rapunzel I will put you at the top of the list because I know that Pamela's, you know, may not be here for the whole run of the show like Pamela had something else to do and he said, "Listen, I will absolutely consider you if you please, please don't take any sick days.

[31:09] Maureen Davis: You can't, you're the best at this job we've trained you, it's a magic trick you can't just have anyone do it."

[31:16] Maureen Davis: Yeah, I was like okay James Lapine is begging me, cool and then the Rapunzel replacements came up do you remember who got Marin Maisie?

[31:16] Maureen Davis: Yeah, Marin, and she was just starting her career and it was Maren, and I was like, "Oh, I can't hate her.

[31:37] Maureen Davis: She's too nice."

[31:37] Maureen Davis: And then she became Marin Maisie and I quit Broadway altogether for rock and roll.

[31:44] Ben Rimalower: So look at how great that was.

[31:49] Maureen Davis: Look how great that turned out.

[31:49] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[31:49] Maureen Davis: Absolutely.

[31:49] Maureen Davis: Wait, so did you stay with the show for the whole run?

[31:54] Maureen Davis: And um, can you tell me anything?

[31:57] Maureen Davis: It seems to me like there was a little bit of chaos when they filmed it and they had so many of those original cast members come back just for, I think, am I understanding correctly that some of them came back for the whole week, some of them came back for only part of the week?

[32:14] Maureen Davis: No, they filmed it while we were with the original cast.

[32:17] Maureen Davis: We were still the original cast when they filmed it.

[32:19] Ben Rimalower: I don't remember that.

[32:20] Maureen Davis: No, that's not true.

[32:21] Maureen Davis: It definitely was in 1989 after many of them had left.

[32:26] Maureen Davis: Um, Joanna and Bernadette.

[32:29] Ben Rimalower: Really?

[32:29] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[32:30] Maureen Davis: I don't remember that.

[32:31] Maureen Davis: I don't remember that because I was just doing my job.

[32:33] Ben Rimalower: Well, I'm glad to hear it wasn't chaotic for you.

[32:35] Maureen Davis: That's good.

[32:36] Maureen Davis: It wasn't because I was still doing my witch double in Sleeping Beauty.

[32:40] Maureen Davis: I got the credits rolled over my face, so that's cool.

[32:42] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[32:43] Maureen Davis: Um, and Bernadette and I had to really rehearse that witch double thing because they wanted to have Bernadette close-ups.

[32:51] Maureen Davis: So when you look at the transurvation that we did for Bravo, then you see sometimes it's me, sometimes it's Bernadette, but the makeup was so good you really can't tell.

[33:01] Ben Rimalower: Oh, that's so interesting.

[33:03] Maureen Davis: They edited in things, but yeah, I'll have to ask Kay about that.

[33:12] Maureen Davis: It was, as far as I remember, it was really chill.

[33:18] Maureen Davis: We came, we, it was catered, we ate, we laughed, we acted, and we worked.

[33:26] Maureen Davis: And there was a lot of downtime because when you're filming, they're always setting up shots, right? So I don't remember anything chaotic about it, but I could be wrong. Did Kay say it was chaotic?

[33:26] Ben Rimalower: Did Kay say it was chaotic?

[33:26] Ben Rimalower: You just interviewed Kay.

[33:26] Maureen Davis: I don't remember people flying in.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: I don't remember any of that.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: No, chaotic was my word, but Kay is one of the people that would have thought it was the most chaotic because she had already, um, she had taken over the baker's wife and so for the, but for the filmed performances she was her original role of Florinda and Joanna Gleason was the baker's wife and as I understand it like, uh, Joanna came back, Bernadette came back, uh, Danielle came back.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: I forget who the other ones were that had already left that came back, Pam, um, and they, um, uh, but they didn't all come back the exact same.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: I mean obviously the film performances were the same cast, but the, but that some of them were there several more than the ones that were filmed, uh, but some were just the ones that were filmed so it was like, uh, it was one day of filming.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: It was one day of filming.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: Was it only one performance that was filmed?

[35:05] Maureen Davis: It was, it was not, uh, we did a performance that was filmed but then there were a bunch of close-ups and stuff.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: I right, yeah, I, it was one day of filming.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: I think it was on a dark day.

[35:05] Maureen Davis: I just, I remember that we were just in the theater and we were just going about our business because I remember being able to walk out into the audience and watch it during the close-ups and pickup shots and everything.

[35:04] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[35:04] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[35:08] Maureen Davis: Um, I don't remember any of this.

[35:08] Maureen Davis: Honestly, I really don't.

[35:10] Maureen Davis: I don't remember any of it.

[35:12] Maureen Davis: Yes, I don't remember like when I don't remember when Danielle left.

[35:16] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[35:17] Maureen Davis: Danielle wasn't there the whole run of the show.

[35:20] Maureen Davis: Heather took over for a little bit.

[35:22] Maureen Davis: Oh, because Cindy and Cindy was an understudy.

[35:25] Maureen Davis: I mean.

[35:27] Maureen Davis: No, Danielle was there the whole time because Cindy, Cindy Rob, Cindy took, Cindy was there.

[35:32] Maureen Davis: Cindy and I shared a dressing room, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty.

[35:36] Maureen Davis: Heather and I shared a dressing room, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty.

[35:38] Maureen Davis: Oh, Luann Poncy.

[35:40] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[35:40] Maureen Davis: Luann Ponce took over for Danielle.

[35:42] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[35:43] Maureen Davis: But I don't remember how long she was there.

[35:44] Maureen Davis: I know Danielle was there a long time.

[35:46] Maureen Davis: Yeah.

[35:47] Maureen Davis: Um.

[35:48] Maureen Davis: Yeah, now things are coming back to me, but I, you know, I wasn't involved in any drama or chaos.

[35:57] Maureen Davis: I just I was I watched it because I love watching films and stuff. And as far as I remember, there wasn't anything icky. No, I I certainly wasn't saying there was anything icky. No, I just was curious if you know the sort of traffic patterns and you know, just the sort of stress of that week. Uh I've never heard anything icky. There was no stress. It was all very well produced. It was all very well produced, and and we knew I'm sure if if they're filming for Bravo, I'm sure that people would understand Bernadette and Joanna who won the Tony. Of course you're gonna want that. I mean, I love Kay to death, and pro that probably broke Kay's heart. But Kay would go on to be in City of Angels. K McClellan is like fucking fantastic, you know.

[36:43] Maureen Davis: Yeah, no, I'm I'm I wasn't suggesting anybody had like uh like you know hurt feelings about the roles or anything. I just was literally talking about everyone doing their jobs with different people coming in for three days, some people for five days, some people just for the filming, etcetera. Uh that's that's that's the beauty of being a good actor though. Yeah. Being w when you're a good actor, you're acting with the character and you're acting and reacting with that person and you're you're doing your job and you're reacting to what is given to you. You you don't just do everything the same way because what if that actor doesn't give what if Kay doesn't give me what Joanna gave me? I've gotta react to Kay. And so you're gonna get whatever you get is gonna be good and it's gonna be honest because only good actors were in that show.

[37:34] Ben Rimalower: Do you have any um specific memories of just doing it with the different actors in the cast over the course of the run? You mentioned Nancy Dusot and Ellen Foley, Luann.

[37:46] Maureen Davis: Um Betsy was silly. Oh my god, I love Betsy Johnson. She was so funny. She was so funny. She could just go cross-eyed at you at any moment and you're like, Don't make me laugh. I hate you. So Betsy was great. K was my best friend in the show. I loved Kay. K when I K and I would have boy talks. She would help me with my dating problems. Um Kay, when I saw that I have to go back and listen to your interview with Kay because I I am such a big Kay fan. Oh my god, I'm such a very um uh and Lauren Mitchell, Lauren was like a model.

[38:25] Maureen Davis: Yeah, and everything. Terry Burrell, Terry Burrell, oh my god, statuesque, funny Terry Bar Barrett Burrell can play any part in any show in any costume. She is like one of the most gifted people and most honest and sweet and real menshy people I've ever met. We had a birthday party for it. So all the understudy, all the constage covers. So we weren't necessarily understudies because we had um we had uh oh god who was Rapunzel's Prince. He went on to do beauty in the show. Chuck Wagner. Chuck was on our floor, so we had the fourth floor. So the fourth floor were the swings and the understudies, and but for some reason, I think Chuck was on our floor.

[39:10] Maureen Davis: And when Terry had her birthday, I think it was Kay and I who did this. I think it might have been Kay and me. We um we got lingerie and we put it all the way up the stairs to the fourth floor, like from the third to the fourth floor. We decorated it in dirty lingerie for Terry for her birthday. Oh my god. And we would also um people were always trying to get me to go up on the roof where the big boot was. I was like, no, I'm afraid of heights, I can't do that. And then that boot got, you know, became the thing. Um there was um, I don't know, there was this kind of magical camaraderie, and we all just like really supported each other.

[39:54] Maureen Davis: Um, when somebody had to go on, we're like, okay, go get him, you know. Um I remember the first time I met Steven Sondheim, I tripped over him in the balcony. I was watching rehearsal, and he was napping, and I tripped over him and I went, Oh, Mr. Sondheim, I'm your sleeping beauty, and he went, I'm sure you are. And I was just like, Oh my god, this is crazy. And we got to go to his house for dinner. He made this dinner, and he had this big puzzle room. I mean, he had the he had a cast party at his house. You know, um, date Dick Cavot was hilarious.

[40:37] Maureen Davis: Um, sometimes the hydraulics wouldn't work. We had a lot of magic tricks. We had the tower, we had the um trapdoors, and when things had to be shut down, Dick would come out and do Dick Cabot in front of the curtain. He'd go, any questions, any answers? Anyone care for a mint? And he would tap dance between shows, between matinee and evening. He would have his meal, and then he would go on stage and tap dance. Wow. It was it was crazy. Um we would eat at Kodama, which was a Japanese restaurant. I don't know if he's still there. Still there on 45th and 8.

[41:15] Maureen Davis: You know who was really sweet? The narrator, Tom Aldrich. Tom was like this cool uncle to me. I loved him so much. And we would go for tapioca or rice pudding. And or I think I did. I think he might have been vegan, and he would like tell me not to have dairy. And I'd go, and I just there were different people in the cast that you could kind of talk to. And Jeff Bloom and Kranz, who's still acting and fantastic. Did you have you gotten to talk to Jeff?

[41:49] Ben Rimalower: Oh yes.

[41:51] Maureen Davis: Jeff is amazing. Jeff, um, Jeff would listen to my demos. I was writing pop and rock demos, and Jeff was one of one of my coolest critics. He would listen to the music I wrote. Oh wow. Yeah, he's a good writer too. He's such a good writer. I've sent him a I I think I sent him. I have some radio plays up. I had I had this band called Marine and the Mercury Five and a band called The Flutterbys. And they've always been, you know, being a lead singer in a band is kind of like being a character in a show too.

[42:24] Maureen Davis: And so I wrote the show and I workshopped it with Casey Clanton who played Janice Joplin on Broadway. In a night with Janet. She played Janice Joplin for 15 years. Wow. And we met out here in LA doing rock shows. And she helped me produce it at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. And now it's up online. Um a Falling Star at Buzzards Roost. And it also stars Dave Foley from Kids in the Hall. Oh, cool. Say the title of it again.

[42:45] Maureen Davis: A Falling Star at Buzzard's Roost. Oh, cool. And it's kind of a roots rockabilly musical with time travel and just silly stories. And Gary Anthony Williams is in it. He plays Uncle Ruckus in Boondocks. He was also on Reno 911. And um I actually we'll we'll talk, we could talk after the call, but I wanted to talk to you about podcasts on Broadway.com. So I saw that you do that.

[43:23] Maureen Davis: So we have it as a radio show um with full distribution on all of the podcast networks. You can hear it on Spotify or Apple or Amazon or whatever. And um we're trying to get investors now to stage it for a PBS recording, and then it'll be on PBS and then we'll syndicate it on PBS. Oh cool. Um, but it's it's amazing to me, um, you know, with lockdown and COVID, we started becoming I guess you can use the word attuned to listening to podcasts and radio theater.

[44:02] Maureen Davis: Yeah. And using our imaginations more. And um, I have rediscovered the beauty of radio theater. And um, there's like radio Andy, there's you know, there are things where people are doing scripts. What's good for some people like me who don't like memorizing lines is you don't have to memorize lines, but then you also can break the fourth wall because you're reading and you can get silly, and then there's the Foley guy in the corner who's doing the sound effects, yeah.

[44:35] Maureen Davis: And it's just so cool. I just I love the art of radio theater, and I love um bringing new scripts to life quickly, and you get to see what works and what doesn't work because if it's a musical, if the lyrics and the music and the words work, then you go to stage it. If it doesn't, you haven't spent all that money yet. Yeah. Um but it's uh it's a really beautiful art form, and there's also a website called Open Door Playhouse, and she specializes in radio plays.

[45:01] Maureen Davis: And I just think I think in the era of the podcast and in the era of re-imagination, um, we have a great opportunity to bring this lost art form back. Yeah, yeah. Well, good for you. That sounds really interesting. Um, and uh this has all been so interesting. Thank you so much for chatting with me, Maureen.

[45:22] Maureen Davis: And um having me. Now I want to go call Kay and say, what was this chaos during Bravo? What did I miss? It wasn't Bravo, it was it was PBS, it was uh American Playhouse, by the way.

[45:33] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, but it was it ended up on Bravo too.

[45:36] Maureen Davis: Oh, cool. Um it was at least that's what my that's what my checks said.

[45:41] Ben Rimalower: Well, maybe maybe it's been a long time, it's probably been sold at different times, you know.

[45:46] Maureen Davis: Oh my god, now it's on Netflix too.

[45:48] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[45:48] Maureen Davis: So I'm so happy that you're doing this. Thank you for supporting us on time.

[45:54] Ben Rimalower: Oh yeah, thank you. For this show, um, did you get to talk to anybody who worked with Cleo Lane?

[46:00] Maureen Davis: Yes.

[46:01] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I talked to a lot of people from the tour and to Cleo's daughter.

[46:05] Maureen Davis: Oh my god, Cleo Lane's one of my idols. I mean, besides Bernadette, oh my god, Cleo Lane is the witch.

[46:12] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[46:14] Maureen Davis: So good. Um, have you have there been any other like people that you really had fun talking to that?

[46:20] Ben Rimalower: Everyone.

[46:20] Maureen Davis: It's just been incredible.

[46:23] Ben Rimalower: Oh, I'm so glad.

[46:25] Maureen Davis: Um, yeah, and uh you know, and I think Kim and Bob were the were the the big romance. I mean, they kept that a secret from us too.

[46:33] Ben Rimalower: Oh, that's funny, yeah.

[46:35] Maureen Davis: Yeah, I spoke to them, yeah.

[46:37] Maureen Davis: It's it really I must say it was life-changing, and you know, even the stories um stay with you and the songs stay with you as things happen in your life. My mother dies and no one is alone. And it's just into the woods is that kind of musical that really can apply to your life.

[47:04] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[47:05] Maureen Davis: And there there really is something for everyone, whether happy or sad.

[47:10] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[47:11] Maureen Davis: And when I found out you were doing this, I was just so excited to talk to you and I was so happy that yeah that you can you know, honor Mr. Sunheim this way.

[47:21] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[47:23] Maureen Davis: Well, thank you for helping me honor him and um thank you for all your work being a part of it.

[47:32] Ben Rimalower: Thank you for listening to Giants in the Sky, how Sondheim and Le Pine went into the woods on the Broadway Podcast Network. Look out for episode 52 with Robert Sean Leonard, Jack, and the Playwrights Horizons workshop.