By Andrew Gans
25 Sep 2009

Kerry Butler

News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.

KERRY BUTLER
Xanadu Tony nominee Kerry Butler, who possesses a clear-as-a-bell, rangy belt, is back on Broadway in the crowd-pleasing, Tony-nominated musical Rock of Ages at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Butler, whose Broadway resume also boasts the original cast of the Tony-winning Hairspray as well as roles in Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, Blood Brothers and Les Misérables, has stepped into the role of good-girl-turned-stripper Sherrie, the part originated in this production by Amy Spanger. The role gives new mom Butler the chance to reunite with her Xanadu co-star, James Carpinello, who was inured during Xanadu previews and now plays the role of Stacee Jaxx in Rock. Butler also has the chance to rock out on such tunes as "Harden My Heart," "Don't Stop Believin'" and "I Want to Know What Love Is." It's been a busy few months for the much-in-demand singing actress, who was also part of the out-of-town tryout of the new Jack O'Brien-Jerry Mitchell-Marc Shaiman-Scott Wittman-Terrence McNally musical Catch Me If You Can, which debuted at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in August. Earlier this week I had the pleasure of chatting with the good-humored Butler, who spoke about her work in both Rock of Ages and Catch Me If You Can; that brief interview follows.

Question: How did the role in Rock of Ages come about for you?
Kerry Butler: Well, I was doing Catch Me If You Can . . . I had thought maybe it was going to go [to Broadway] shortly after we were there. No one knew what was going to happen with Catch Me If You Can, and then I guess they figured out it wasn't going to happen right away. So, I [was asked if I would] be interested in doing Rock of Ages. I said I would think about it, because I really wanted to work with James [Carpinello] again since it was cut short when we did Xanadu. James was like, "You have to do it!" He was really pushing me to do it all along and, I think, pushing them to have me do it. [Laughs.] So then I came back [to New York], and I went to see the show again. I wasn't even sure whether I could do it. I had gone to see it, and I remembered it being really dance-heavy, so I was nervous. I went to see it again and I thought, "Okay, I can do this!" Then we just started negotiating, and the people there are just so nice. My agents and managers [said], "This is like nothing you've ever done before." It's more rock than anything I've done and, you know, [the character] becomes a stripper. [Laughs.] All of those costumes — I'm usually more the good girl. I have done the bad girl in a bunch of things but not really on Broadway.

Question: What was the rehearsal process like?
Butler: It is fast. It's really fast. Adam Hunter, who is the stage manager, and Robert [Tatad], who is assistant choreographer, and Kelly Divine, they put me in. They were basically playing all of the different parts! I didn't work with the cast that much, although Constantine [Maroulis] did come in and they even brought the director in — Kristin [Hanggi] — to work with me and Constantine, so that was really great toward the end. And, James always volunteered to work with me and a bunch of the cast. I did get to work with [everybody] at least one day before my put-in, which was really nice. I remember being in shows and thinking, "Oh, I have to go to this put-in." Oh gosh, I'd better be nicer about it [now]! This is only the second time I've ever been a replacement in a show. It's so hard. You don't know what anybody's gonna give you onstage, and you don't get the lighting and the actual orchestra until you're actually onstage that night. My first night on, after my first entrance, I was just standing there. They had said to me there was going to be a blackout, and I'm waiting for the blackout to happen. It wasn't a real blackout, it was kind of a half-blackout. I was standing there for a really long time and I'm [thinking], "I guess I'd better get offstage now." [Laughs.] It's just so weird.

Question: It's amazing that you don't really get to do the show until you're actually in the show. It sounds a bit nightmarish.
Butler: The only thing that made me calmer about the show was just thinking that maybe the audience is drunk, and they won't notice any mistakes I make! [Laughs.]

Question: You're doing six performances a week [rather than eight]. How did that come about?
Butler: Well, I was just away for the whole summer, and I have a daughter. I just thought, for my family's sake, it was really hard going back and forth with my daughter and my husband, and they would have killed me if I had gone back into another show right after doing [Catch Me If You Can ]. So I negotiated for [six performances a week] so I would have some family time. My daughter is starting school, so I would never get to see her really [if I did eight shows a week].

Question: That's great. It seems like a much better schedule for a working mom. How was your first night on in the show after that first blackout?
Butler: It went better than I thought. It was pretty fun. I wasn't nervous, which was really good. I've done three shows now, and I already feel like I'm getting much more into the swing of it. I did make some mistakes, but I didn't make any big mistakes. After that first night, it has gone pretty smoothly, but I have never been so tired in my life doing a show [after that first performance]. My entire body hurt, my voice hurt. I was almost crying. I was thinking, "I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this all the time." But I realized that everyone loses weight [to be in the cast] because it's so scary to be onstage in those costumes. So I had not been eating and working out like crazy [prior to the first performance]. I realized that I didn't eat enough before the show, and that was the main reason why I was so tired. I almost couldn't get through the dance number at the end of the show because I was so exhausted. So then the next day, I ate some carbohydrates before the show, and I did much better. [Laughs.] It's all a learning process!

Question: How are you finding singing the rock songs?
Butler: I love it. The only one . . . [I'm still] trying to figure out is "I Hate Myself For Loving You" because that's when I'm doing the most physical stuff. I'm just trying to figure out how to place that [song] and be able to do a lap dance [at the same time]. [Laughs.] All the other stuff fits really well in my voice. I really love getting to wail on those songs. And, Constantine is amazing, so just to get to sing with him when we're both singing in each other's faces is kind of fun.

Question: How would you describe Sherrie?
Butler: I think of her as super innocent. She does have an appreciation for rock music, but I think that that probably is because her old brother played rock music, and she wanted to be like him and be cool like him. I am making her a little bit nerdy. [Laughs.] So then she doesn't really know how to be a stripper at all, so when she's doing it, she's petrified and not so good at it in the beginning. And then throughout the show she does become hardened and does become a different person. By the end she still has that hard side, but she's able to see the world in a broader view and still be able to hold onto that sweetness that she had in the beginning.

Question: Do you have a favorite moment in the show yet for her?
Butler: I am still so much going from moment to moment in my head. I'm like, "Okay after this number I'm going offstage and I'm taking off this…" You know? [Laughs.] I can't think of a favorite moment yet. Maybe my favorite moment is when it's over, because I've gotten through it! [Laughs.] I'm still definitely just trying to get through it.

Question: How have the audiences been?
Butler: Unbelievable. My favorite audience, actually, is Saturday matinees because I'm more of a purist. That's more like a normal [Broadway] audience where they still laugh a lot and clap and scream. All of the audiences go crazy. The cast will be like, "Oh, this isn't a good audience." I say, "I'll take this audience any day!" [Laughs.] I kind of like when they're not that crazy. Continued...

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