What's Up, Kacie Sheik? The Hair Cutie on Aretha, Big Bro Duncan and Julie & Julia's Lobster Dinner

As the original cast of Hair enters the home stretch of its Broadway run, it seemed like a good time to check in with Kacie Sheik, who brings a giddy charm to the role of free-spirited hippie chick Jeanie and her exuberant song “Air.” Having spotted Sheik enjoying Amy Adams’ cooking in the hit movie Julie & Julia, we were curious about life on the set and her magical musical run, which began with the Central Park Hair concerts back in the summer of 2007. Sheik gave us the scoop on everything she's been up to.

When you were cast in the 2007 Central Park concerts of Hair, did you ever imagine you’d be doing the show in 2010?
Wow, the 2007 concert seems forever ago, and yet so much of it is fresh in my mind—in all of our minds. We always reference the concert, and our summer in Central Park in 2008, at talk-backs with theater students. We have amazing memories, and pictures. Everyone's hair was so much shorter! We literally thought we were memorizing all of these lyrics and chants for just three incredible nights under the sky. I don't think any of us thought we'd still be singing our hearts out on Broadway at the end of 2009. It's been an incredible year.

What’s the most memorable moment of your Broadway run?
Honestly, there have been too many dream-come-true moments to pinpoint just one. It’s corny, but true. First preview? Opening night? Tony nominations? Tony Awards? Album recording? Grammy nomination? An actual vinyl album!? Hugging my mom onstage opening night after the dance party was a huge, personally special moment. Then there are real-life moments I'll never forget, like the March on Washington D.C.—singing in front of the Capitol, taking a picture with my friends in front of the White House while we were standing up for something we believe in [marriage equality] and don't understand why it’s a problem.

What’s the nuttiest thing that’s happened during the end-of-show “Let the Sun Shine In” dance party?
Oooh! Crazy dancing men taking their shirts off. Yes! This has happened a few times, and some of our cast members run right up and take their shirts off as well. Just a bunch of dudes dancing on a Broadway stage like they were at a rave!

Any fun celeb encounters?
We can see the audience exceptionally well, so when a celebrity is there, we know right away, and they are usually close to the aisles. When it's your turn to run past Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson or Tom Brokaw chanting something, you almost forget your lyrics, let me tell you. I think my #1 encounter was the Queen of Soul. After she saw the show, Aretha Franklin invited us all to the fancy hotel she was staying at. We ate and drank with Aretha Franklin, feeling extremely nervous and in disbelief. When I was about to leave, I thanked her for everything, and she said, "I like your hat." OMG!

We just wrote about your brother Duncan’s new show [Whisper House]. Have you ever worked together? What have you learned about the music industry from him?
Duncan is probably the most played artist on my iPod every night before the show. We have yet to collaborate, but someday soon, I'm sure. He's a huge inspiration to me, and our brother Peter and I like to sing harmonies, a little too loud, when we go see him in concert. Everything Duncan has taught me about the music industry I continue to learn, understand, deal with, ignore, regret I ignored, and then laugh about with him later.

Give us some dish on Julie & Julia, which has just come out on DVD. How did you get cast?
"Really?" That was the audition line on the “sides” from my agent. So I go to Nora Ephron’s office and say “Really?” on tape for her assistant. Easy. Then there was an actual callback with Nora Ephron. She had me, like, add a line of someone else's to the one-word-audition. She was so super-sweet. I said my "Really?" and she responded, "Perfect." I always say the most awkward things in auditions, and I shouted back at Nora Ephron something like, "Ha ha, you're craaaazy." How could my "Really?" be perfect?! The next week, I got the good news: two or three days, on set with Amy Adams in two different dinner table scenes, playing "Julie's brother's girlfriend Annette"! In the final script, I did get to say "Really?" and "Why not?" Annette was obviously very inquisitive and interested in Julie's adventures.

What was it like to shoot those dinner scenes? Did you have to eat for the cameras?
Yes, the first scene, inside Julie's apartment, was lobster all day and night. It was delicious, but as you can imagine, after a few new lobsters are put in front of you for each new take, from each new angle, over each person's shoulder....wowza, that's a lotta lobster! And Nora wanted to hear everything—the chewing, the eating sounds, the silverware on the plates. She was very interested in hearing the enjoyment of the deliciousness.

Was Amy Adams [Julie] nice—and was she aware of your work in Hair?
She was the sweetest. She would sing show tunes between takes, and she came to see Hair in Central Park when she was filming Night at the Museum up the street with Ben Stiller. Hopefully we'll get to see her on Broadway in some new amazing musical one of these years!

Is the Tribe excited about the prospect of doing Hair in London?
Absolutely. I mean, what an amazing opportunity. We'll seeeee.... I would die to see [the Queen musical] We Will Rock You over there, if it's still playing. I did the show in Vegas in 2005, and I imagine it to be a religious experience in London.