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[0:00] Jackson Klein: The Ensemblist is brought to you in part by our Patreon members, including Phoebe Stewart, Christian Ranke, Cat Hicks, Stephen Bell, Patrick Brady, Emily Clenn, Cheryl Hodges-Selden, Ty Williams, Christopher Gurr, Joey Soji, Linda Lee, and Cullen Elijah. You can join them in supporting The Ensemblist for as little as $5 a month. Find out how at patreon.com slash the Ensemblist. You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Jackson Klein. In October 2017, The Ensemblist launched its fourth full season, Broadway at Every Stage. In this series, co-creators Mo Brady and Nika Graf Lanzarone sat down with six seasoned Broadway actors to dive into their decades-long careers.

They discussed getting started in theater, the ups and downs of show business, and the longevity of their careers. Over the next six weeks, we'll be sharing some of the best moments from this series. First up is Adinah Alexander. Adinah made her Broadway debut in Parade in 1998, two decades after moving to New York City. She's since performed in the original casts of Urban Cowboy, Wicked, The Wedding Singer, and most recently, Kinky Boots. From piano bars to Off-Broadway's The No-Frills Review, from megaflops to megahits, Adinah told us all about her extraordinary career. Here's her conversation.

[1:54] Adinah Alexander: Hi, I'm Adinah Alexander, and I live in Hell's Kitchen. I graduated from SUNY Binghamton in 1978, and I had a degree in theater, which was basically useless. And honestly, I walked out of that school, I didn't even know what backstage was. So I just found my way. And at the time, there was no non-union work. You had to be in the union. Now, if I was advising somebody, I'd say, wait, because there's so much non-union work. But if you weren't in a 212 area code, and you weren't in the union, you didn't exist. At the time, you could buy your way into the union. So my parent union was sad because I did extra work on a movie, and that got me into the union. And there were no such thing as EPAs. In fact, I've never even been to an EPA.

I had a group of friends, and we would get together at the Applejack Diner at like four in the morning, and then go sign up on like a long yellow form in the hallway somewhere and just pray that our names would get taken. So that's actually how I got the No Frills Review. Random story, when I was auditioning for the No Frills Review, I was working in a piano bar. And I walked into the room on the last day of the callbacks, and I said, oh, I see a stool over there. Can I sit on the stool? So feel free to smoke and drink while I sit on the stool and sing my song for you. And it turns out that the opening number was called Stools, and you can't do a review without stools. So I just happened to randomly just talk my way into the job.

Martin Charnin, he auditioned tons and tons and tons of people, and it got down to 10 people. It was sketch comedy reviews, and we did what if somebody else wrote very famous musicals. If Stephen Sondheim had written Annie, so it was like, attend the tale of an orphan girl. Her eyes were oars and her hair did curl. And then I was with Justin Ross, if Noel Coward had written Fiddler. And it was Tevye, darling. And Sasha Charnin was in it, Bob Stillman, Justin Ross, Sarah Knapp. And out of that, I got my agent, who was my agent for 22 years. During the No Frills Review, it was a short show. I would get on the subway, go up to Brandy's, work until four o'clock in the morning, do two shows on Saturday, two shows on Sunday, and then work till four o'clock in the morning that night.

But I was young. I remember my first big paycheck was $262.50 a week. But the thing is, I paid $125 a month for my apartment on 11th and University. So it was a really different time. I was lucky enough to have some friends who were Broadway people who said, just say yes to whoever says, will you come and do this thing for me? It was before readings were a thing. Will you come and do this showcase? Just say yes, because you're going to develop a network of people. It was great advice for me, because I was able to say yes to so many things. And out of that, made so many connections with people who were just starting out, like Stephen Remus. And how many years later, we ran into each other again.

And that's how Wicked came to be. Also, when I first started out, somebody recommended me to be a chick singer in a band, which turned out to be really great for my career, because I literally walked into somebody's living room, sang a couple songs. Three days later, I was learning 60 songs in the car, going up to the Concord to sing with the band for the first time in my life. And then I went on the road for like two years with a band. It was the 80s. I had a bleach blonde mullet, and I wore a lot of spandex. And I learned how to sing pop, which I think has given me the career that I've had as an aging actress. You know, I played Janis Joplin off Broadway, and I've done a lot of rock and pop stuff that came out of learning how to sing like that.

And then when I came back, I thought, okay, I don't know if I really want to do this. So I got a regular job. And then one day, I just thought, I've never really given it a serious shot. I did a rock and roll science fiction musical called Rockbound. I just fell into working. So I've never been out of work except for like one seven month period, but I didn't know what was coming next. But I was always doing something. And in between, I was singing and working in the piano bar.

[5:41] Adinah Alexander: Search for signs of intelligent life in the universe. I had to come up with six characters. I ended up booking this job. And actually, Kathy Fitzgerald has done it also. So she said, this will be the hardest thing you'll ever do in your life. But you will learn more about yourself from anything. And it was very true. You're on stage for almost three hours, just by yourself, not a prop, nothing. And you play like 17 different characters. So it was an incredible, exhausting experience. So one day, I start as the bag lady. And I'm walking onto the stage. And I'm talking, I'm mumbling to myself. And the usher goes, excuse me, sir, you can't go up there. And I'm just talking. I mean, it's like, sir, sir, you can't go on stage.

And I'm thinking, wow, the usher doesn't even know that I'm me. This is fabulous. I've really transformed myself. Whistle Down the Wind was the pre-Broadway tryout. So it was supposed to be my Broadway debut. Ironically, I also booked to be Nell Carter's cover in Annie. So I chose the new Andrew Lloyd Webber Hal Prince musical because I thought, well, this is just going to be a shoo-in. And so I gave up Annie. And then the night that we closed, they brought us all out on stage and they told us we weren't going. And by the time I left that theater, I was drunk. And I went up to the producer and I said, I could have been in Annie. The next morning was Dave Clemens and Tim Schue and all these people.

We got on the bus and they had made gin and tonics for everybody. We got into the city. We went right by, it was the Hirschfeld, but it was the Martin Beck then. And the plastics were already up for Whistle Down the Wind. And we were like screaming out the window and whistle down the drain and whatever. So that was supposed to be my first Broadway show. I wrote a letter to Hal Prince and I told him that instead of going to my high school prom, I had gone to see Candide in 1974 and that it was a dream to work with him. And even though I didn't make my debut with him, it was such a dream. And he wrote me back. He said, don't worry, I'm doing a new show. It's called Parade and you're going to be in it.

It was an incredible experience since I was part of that process for like four and a half years. And we went to Toronto and then Broadway. And then I did the tour. Hal, he's just the most elegant, wonderful man you'd ever want to work with. He's a great storyteller and a man of his word. When he announced on the Tonys that they were doing the tour, I had gone on as Mrs. Fagan with that rehearsal and Jessica Mulaski had to go on for Carolee, like the Tuesday after we opened. I wrote him a letter and I said, you're doing the tour and I want to play Mrs. Fagan. He wrote me back and said, okay, that was it. I'd never been an ensemble in my life until I got Whistle Down the Wind. And I looked around and I saw an ensemble of people who created roles I've admired my whole life.

I mean, Hal put together an ensemble of principal actors. And I was 40 when I got my first Broadway show. I said, never say never to anything because you don't ever know what it's going to bring. The Parade process was really personal and really beautiful and very emotional for everybody and just really proud to be a part of a show like that. And I think it was ahead of its time in a lot of ways. It was so dark, it felt important. 2003, I ended up being on the worst top 10 list and the best top 10 list in the same season because I did Urban Cowboy. They'd auditioned me several times and I didn't get it. And I was supposed to go off and do another production of Dirty Blonde. And my agent called and said, they want to see you again for Urban Cowboy. So I went in and I just thought to myself, what didn't I do last time? So I sang something completely different.

[9:00] Mo Brady: Welcome back to The Ensemblist. I’m Mo Brady.

[9:02] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: And I’m Nikka Graff Lanzarone.

[9:04] Mo Brady: Today, we’re kicking off our series Broadway at Every Stage, where we sit down with seasoned Broadway actors to discuss their incredible careers.

[9:10] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: Our first guest is Adinah Alexander, who made her Broadway debut in Parade in 1998.

[9:16] Mo Brady: Adinah has since performed in the original casts of Urban Cowboy, Wicked, The Wedding Singer, and most recently, Kinky Boots.

[9:24] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: She’s had an extraordinary journey through the theatre world, from piano bars to Off-Broadway’s The No Frills Revue.

[9:32] Mo Brady: We’re excited to share her story with you today.

[9:34] Adinah Alexander: Thank you for having me! I’m thrilled to be here.

[9:38] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: Let’s start at the beginning. What brought you to New York City?

[9:42] Adinah Alexander: I moved to New York City when I was 18, right after high school. I knew I wanted to be in the theatre, and I just took the leap.

[9:50] Mo Brady: That’s a big move! What was your first impression of the city?

[9:54] Adinah Alexander: It was overwhelming, but also exhilarating. There’s just so much energy and creativity everywhere.

[10:02] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: Did you have any specific goals when you first arrived?

[10:06] Adinah Alexander: I wanted to perform on Broadway, of course! But I also wanted to learn as much as I could about the industry.

[10:14] Mo Brady: And you’ve certainly done that! Can you tell us about your experience in Parade?

[10:18] Adinah Alexander: Parade was my Broadway debut, and it was such a special experience. I was so nervous, but the cast was incredibly supportive.

[10:26] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: What was it like to be part of such a powerful story?

[10:30] Adinah Alexander: It was amazing. The material was so rich, and being part of a show that tackled such important themes was really fulfilling.

[10:38] Mo Brady: After Parade, you went on to be in some pretty iconic shows. How did those experiences shape your career?

[10:44] Adinah Alexander: Each show taught me something different. Urban Cowboy was a blast, and Wicked was a game changer for me.

[10:54] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: Wicked has such a huge following. What was it like to be part of that phenomenon?

[10:58] Adinah Alexander: It was surreal! The fans are so passionate, and being part of something that means so much to so many people is really special.

[11:06] Mo Brady: You’ve also been in shows that didn’t quite hit the mark. How do you handle those experiences?

[11:12] Adinah Alexander: It’s tough, but I try to focus on what I learned from each experience. Every show has its own journey, and sometimes things just don’t work out.

[11:22] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: That’s such a healthy perspective. What advice would you give to young performers starting out?

[11:26] Adinah Alexander: Stay true to yourself and keep pushing forward. The industry can be tough, but perseverance is key.

[11:34] Mo Brady: Great advice! What’s next for you in your career?

[11:38] Adinah Alexander: I’m excited to see where the next opportunities take me. I’m always looking for new challenges and ways to grow as an artist.

[11:46] Nikka Graff Lanzarone: We can’t wait to see what you do next! Thank you so much for joining us today, Adinah.

[11:50] Adinah Alexander: Thank you for having me! It’s been a pleasure.

[11:54] Mo Brady: And thank you to our listeners for tuning in to The Ensemblist. We’ll see you next time!