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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to Creating Characters from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. Welcome, I'm Mo Brady.

[0:22] Mo Brady: From Nellie Forbush to Evan Hansen, the librettos of Broadway musicals have been filled with complex characters for almost a century. And while those roles were originated and revived by astonishing actors, much of what made those characters so fascinating is on the page, meaning written into the script itself. That's what makes the work of our guests for this miniseries so remarkable. They've taken small supporting parts and turned them into fully realized characters, ones that feel just as developed and grounded as their leading counterparts. And what makes them even more spectacular is that they're often doing this for multiple characters within the same show. Jill Abramovitz is currently slaying Beetlejuice audiences in her dual roles of Maxine Dean and Juno.

She's so incredible in the show that we here at The Ensemblist bestowed her with our first ever Season Standout Award. We asked this veteran of Broadway's Cinderella and 9 to 5 into the studio to talk about how she developed those roles into some of the funniest moments in what is already a very funny show. Here's our conversation.

[1:35] Jill Abramovitz: Hi.

[1:36] Mo Brady: Hi. Would you introduce yourself and tell us what neighborhood of New York City you live in?

[1:39] Jill Abramovitz: Oh, what a great way to start. I'm Jill Abramovitz and I live in Harlem. And who are all of the characters that you play?

[1:46] Jill Abramovitz: Okay, so let's say unnamed character at the funeral. I'm in the choir, the Beetle choir. And I play Maxine Dean. And I play the neighbor lady. And I play Juno.

[1:59] Mo Brady: So when was the first time that you heard about Beetlejuice?

[2:02] Jill Abramovitz: Oh, I was doing the Fiddler revival. And I got an email from my agent saying I had an offer to be in the 29 hour reading of Beetlejuice. I think it was December, the very end of the year.

[2:14] Mo Brady: What was the offer? Just ensemble?

[2:16] Jill Abramovitz: It was just ensemble. I didn't do any of the things that I do in the show now.

[2:20] Mo Brady: Oh.

[2:20] Jill Abramovitz: Yes, I was in the ensemble. But at that point, the show was so early in its development. And there were all sorts of different characters. I mean, John Lennon was in the show at one point, I think he was in The Netherworld. Dead Mom was a real character. So things were still evolving and changing. And I really didn't do much of what I did now.

[2:41] Mo Brady: When in the process were Juno and Maxine becoming a part of your roles?

[2:48] Jill Abramovitz: Well, first things first, I have to give a massive shout out to the love and legend Carol Shelley, who was the original Juno.

[2:56] Mo Brady: Oh, yes.

[2:56] Jill Abramovitz: And she is no longer with us. She was Juno from the beginning. And a lot of my performances, Juno is based on her and inspired by her. So there would be a reading like every six months or so.

[3:09] Mo Brady: Okay.

[3:10] Jill Abramovitz: And each time Maxine was a little weirder, like some iteration of something that she is now, but not quite what she is now. There was one where she didn't say anything, and she just sort of stood there and had a weird laugh.

[3:23] Mo Brady: Were these additions happening in between readings and workshops? Or was it the kind of thing where you would leave rehearsal one day and you'd get new pages?

[3:28] Jill Abramovitz: Oh, that's a great question. No, I think they were happening in between. We'd come back for another workshop, and I'd go, oh, Maxine got different lines. Or Neighbor Lady is now a thing. And then Juno happened because prior to when Carol passed away, she wasn't going to be coming with us to Washington, DC. And I got a call from Alex Timbers. And he told me that they'd like to let me take a crack at the role in DC. And that was very exciting.

[3:59] Mo Brady: So when you got into rehearsals for the pre-Broadway tryout in DC, what did your roles look like?

[4:07] Jill Abramovitz: Well, first, at that point, Juno was still named Eileen Shoggath. She was Mrs. Shoggath.

[4:13] Mo Brady: OK.

[4:13] Jill Abramovitz: I think because at the time when they first started writing it, the film Juno was still in the ether. And I think they didn't want to use the name. So I don't know where they got Eileen Shoggath. Anthony King and Scott Brown geniuses coming up with a really fabulous name like that. But I think they realized enough time had passed that we could go back to using Juno. So my track basically looked like what it is now. But Juno was different. She had a different name. Maxine was far dirtier and grosser and more off color. They made fun of Maxie Dean's first wife.

[4:44] Mo Brady: And these changes that were happening to the character, were those happening through the preview process?

[4:49] Jill Abramovitz: They were happening through the preview process. It was new pages all the time, every day. You'd go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning and go like, oh, I hope I still get to keep that line or, you know, oh, my gosh, I got a great new line. That was a constantly shifting process.

[5:05] Mo Brady: Did you feel like you were in much conversation with the writers?

[5:09] Jill Abramovitz: Yes, they were fantastically receptive. And I always knew I could go to Alex and the writers and pitch something or push for something or give them feedback. Like, for example, in between D.C. and New York, we had a reading and there was a great line for Juno where she's introducing the netherworld. And she said something like, fun fact, it smells like coconut, which I really loved, but I also really missed. Also, no liquids, drink it or throw it out. And I pushed for that.

[5:41] Mo Brady: So tell us about Juno. Who is Juno?

[5:45] Jill Abramovitz: Oh, my gosh. Well, she's the goddess demon of the netherworld. She's got a business to run and she's got rules to follow. I suppose she would seem heartless to some, but she is a stickler for the rules and keeping the world order or underworld order, as it were. And she is somehow somewhere. She must be from Long Island.

[6:10] Mo Brady: Was that something that you brought in or is that something that Carol brought in?

[6:12] Jill Abramovitz: That was something Carol brought in. And it just was so inherent. I couldn't imagine doing her without that accent.

[6:20] Mo Brady: So then alternatively, who is Maxine Dean?

[6:23] Jill Abramovitz: OK, so Maxine, it's so interesting. I mean, she definitely is a trophy wife. But the thing that I think is interesting about Maxine, Maxine, is that I think they really love and respect each other. Like, I don't think it's just like I don't think she's just arm candy to him. I think they really love and respect each other. I mean, Danny and I have had many conversations. We believe that Maxine probably worked for Maxie at some point. The relationship evolved into this wife, but she really took a while. She used to be sort of in my head. She was like a Studio 54 jumpsuit wearing, like almost offshoot of Liza Minnelli. And then we saw the sketches, William's sketches and the wig and the makeup.

And in fact, in William's sketches, he gave her those gigantic lips. And so that informed so much of her physicality and how she could move in those dresses. He was always very concerned that I want to make sure you do everything you can do, because always in all the readings, I always had her sort of with her legs up and oozing around and crawling over things. And she still does that, but she's got a little bit more a feigned elegance because she's wearing this floor length dress and that affects how she moves and how she operates. But I think for me, the moment she snapped in is when I realized that she had to have a specific voice. And she's got this sort of low oily is how I describe it. It's kind of a gross voice. And for me, that made her like snap into existence that like, oh, it's really gross. Give us a line in Maxine's. Oh, tiramisu. It's really icky and far back in her throat.

[8:22] Jill Abramovitz: It feels like between you and William Ivey Long, the costume designer, and the book writers, it's all and Alex, it's, it's not like there's a distinct journey that these characters go on. They're being developed by everyone simultaneously. Right? I almost think of it as like concentric circles that are happening and blobbing out on one side first and then in the other and then becoming a bigger circle. It's it was a constant conversation. Like it's not a flow chart. It didn't start with the writers and then go to Alex. It's such a collaborative atmosphere.

[8:52] Mo Brady: So Beetlejuice is a comedy. Yes. And your two large standout roles are comedic roles. So the audience getting the audience feedback must have been a big part of the development and the solidification of those roles.

[9:00] Jill Abramovitz: Oh, 1000%. I mean, just in terms of like, you get that instant response, like, okay, that's getting a laugh. That's consistently getting a laugh. And that is consistently not getting a laugh. Coming backstage and like, Oh my God, I'm going to

[9:20] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[9:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[10:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[10:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[11:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[11:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[12:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[12:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[13:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[13:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[14:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[14:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[15:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[15:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[16:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[16:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[17:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[17:34] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

[18:04] The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network: The Ensemblist & Broadway Podcast Network is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and hosts it on behalf of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.