Article from TRIBUNE-REVIEW THEATER
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Tuesday, May 15, 2001
'Cinderella' makes dreams come true for 19-year-old
lead
By Alice T. Carter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW THEATER CRITIC
Unlike her Cinderella character, Jamie-Lynn Sigler
doesn't have to wish upon a star.
"Playing Cinderella is like a dream come true," the
19-year-old writes in her responses to e-mail interview
questions. "It may sound cheesy, but there is a part in
the show where Eartha (Kitt, who plays her Fairy
Godmother) turns to me and says, `Look around
Cinderella, your wish has been granted,' and every night
I always cry because I look out into the audience and
realize that my dreams have really come true!"
Since March 4, Sigler has been playing the title role in
the national touring production of "Cinderella." The
Rogers and Hammerstein classic opens at Heinz Hall
today as the final presentation of the 2000-01 Mellon Pittsburgh Broadway Series.
"I mean, what girl wouldn't want to play this character?" she writes. "I love playing her
because she has the same outlook on life that I do. We are both optimistic no matter what,
and both believe that everything happens for a reason and in time. We just have to wait our
turn."
Like Cinderella, Sigler's turn has finally come, and in a big way.
If the name Jamie-Lynn Sigler is unfamiliar, you probably know her HBO persona.
She plays Tony Soprano's daughter Meadow on the immensely popular series "The
Sopranos." As Meadow, she received the 1999 and 2000 Hollywood Reporter Young Star
Award for Best Young Actress/Performance in a Drama TV Series and shared a Screen
Actors Guild Award with the rest of the cast of "The Sopranos" for Outstanding Performance
by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
After a decade of performing in more than two dozen regional theater productions - including
five turns in the title role of "Annie" - and a 39-state tour as Young Mary and Janey in "It's a
Wonderful Life," Sigler has became an overnight success.
In addition to signing on to perform 23 weeks on the road with "Cinderella," Sigler has been
putting together her first CD, titled "From Here to Heaven."
During a recent tour stop at Madison Square Garden in
Manhattan, Sigler spent much of her free time recording songs
for the CD that's due out later this summer.
New York Post theater critic Clive Barnes called her "beautiful
and charming" but not likely to surpass Julie Andrews, who
originated the part in the 1956 CBS original. Associated Press
writer Mark Evans thought she offered little range as either an
actress or singer.
But veteran actor Everett Quinton, who plays the Stepmother in
"Cinderella," has a different opinion.
Quinton remembers when Sigler took over the role, joining the
cast without the benefit of rehearsing with the company. "She
was a little raw, but I thought this must have been what it was
like to act with a young Helen Hayes," Quinton says during a
phone interview.
"It's amazing what this kid can do onstage," he says. "This kid is gonna be big."
Despite her big breakthrough on HBO, Sigler hasn't lost taste for performing onstage.
"I am having the time of my life on this tour. I grew up doing theater, and it is my first love,"
says Sigler, who started her acting career at age 9 in a production of "The Sound of Music"
near her native Long Island home. "There is nothing like having an audience right there with
you."
Male actor beat out females for role of Stepmother
Feminists long have argued that the best man for a job is often a woman.
Conversely, actor Everett Quinton is proving that, on occasion, the best woman for a role can
be a man.
Quinton, 49, plays the Stepmother in the national touring production of "Cinderella" that
begins a one-week run today at Heinz Hall as the final presentation of the 2000-01 Mellon
Pittsburgh Broadway Series.
"I competed with 50 women for this. You could tell who was there for that role.
We were all in black," he says during a telephone interview."
As a long-time performer with - and later producer for - The Ridiculous
Theatrical Company in New York City, Quinton is best known for portraying
female characters such as Lady Enid in "The Mystery of Irma Vep" or the Nurse
in "Medea."
"I do have a lot of comfort when I play women," he says. "There's that part of the
soul that gets touched."
But he also performs on stage as a man. His most recent male roles include Dr. Chausable in
"The Importance of Being Earnest" at the McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, N.J., and
Dr. Caius in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.
No matter the sex or character he plays, Quinton tackles the part with the same dedication
and seriousness of purpose.
"I feel fortunate to have this role but I'm not going to approach it as a specialty act. I love
getting on stage and acting the daylights out of the role," he says. "When ("Cinderella" director
Gabriel) Barre gave me the role, he said he gave it to me because I would create a person,
not a character."
Charles Ludlam's The Ridiculous Theatrical Company earned its reputation for its pun-filled,
whimsical, adaptations of classic plays, novels and movies that sought to disarm what Ludlam
called "the silent war waged against anyone who's different." Gender-bending, cross-dressing
interpretations of "Camille," or "Medea" were its forte.
"Drag has often been reduced to a nightclub thing," Quinton says. "The Ridiculous elevated it
to the legitimate stage. What I got from The Ridiculous is that you don't approach it as doing a
drag role. You approach (the Stepmother role) as an opportunity to do an amazing character
who is vicious and dark."
What Quinton likes about the role of the Stepmother is that she isn't your typical female part.
"I think it's great to have a woman who's a ne'er do well. We believe that women are not
capable of despotry, but women have the right to be despots," he says.
But to portray a character successfully, Quinton knows he can't play her as a self-centered or
evil despot. "When I approach this gal, I don't approach her as a bad thing," he says.
Instead, he explains, you have to understand what makes her behave the way she does. "I had
to find something in me that I related to," he says. With the Stepmother, "It's the fear of not
having enough. ... The money she has I could live on for the rest of my life. But this is an
example of nothing ever being enough for her. The world has to keep on giving."
Despite his seriousness, Quinton says, the Stepmother was a fun role to get. "I get thrilled
when I think of myself in line with Ilka Chase, Jo Van Fleet and Bernadette Peters. These
women didn't hold back."
Alice T. Carter can be reached at (412) 320-7808 or acarter@tribweb.com.