Jill Paice

Currently: Playing Laura Fairlie, the lovely half-sister of Maria Friedman's Marian Holcombe, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White.

Hometown: Dayton, Ohio. Despite her Midwest upbringing, Paice has an ever so slight British accent from spending so much time in London when she was performing The Woman in White there.

Serious Decisions: Paice become involved with musical theater at a very young age. She even had a part in a community production of Oklahoma! when she was in the third grade. Paice made the decision to pursue acting as a career when she was in high school. "I think I started getting serious about it toward the end of high school," she says. "I ended up going to Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland and majoring in musical theater."

Old Hand: After performing in college musicals, Paice landed a national tour of Les Miserables, the role of Sophie in the Las Vegas production of Mamma Mia! and a role Weird Romance at the York Theatre. The Woman in White marks her Broadway debut, and she couldn't be more calm about it. "I think having done the show in London for a year is a great way to come to New York," Paice exclaims. And whil others might find their first Broadway opening night to be a nerve-wracking affair, Paice handled it like an old pro. "I was very comfortable and settled," she says. "I wasn't shaking; I wasn't nervous. I was very relaxed, so I could enjoy the excitement of making my Broadway debut."

Thrills and Chills: The mysterious plot of the musical takes Paice's character, Laura, on a journey through love, greed and secrets. The show is an adaptation of the popular Victorian novel by Wilkie Collins. "For the modern reader, it's just a classic mystery," Paice explains. "Our translation on stage isn't exact to the book, but it still uses that same element of keeping the audience and keeping the reader on their toes and not knowing what's going to happen next."

Pixel Perfect: The Woman in White not only offers up plenty of plot twists and turns, it also has unique scenery, which is made up almost entirely of video projections. The cast is too close to see the images on the screens behind them. "If we are far enough away from it [while on stage], we can see what it is," Paice says. "But if we're too close, it just looks like pixels." It doesn't matter to us. It's for the audiences viewing pleasure." While performing the part in London, Paice was able to see more than just pixels. "I was able to sneak out into the house and watch part of the second act," Paice laughs. "We had a fourth balcony that we didn't sell because it was too high up." Did she like what she saw? "It's just inspirational to watch the show and to remember what the audience is seeing with the projections. They are pretty spectacular!"

A Band of Actors: While still in previews, the company received some difficult news. Star Maria Friedman, a British acting sensation making her Broadway debut, had to take time off to undergo surgery for stage one breast cancer. "It was pretty devastating," Paice says of receiving the news. "[The producers] got all of us together. They got everyone together: the cast, the crew, some people from the front of the house and some of the orchestra. She didn't tell us. Her sister [producer Sonia Friedman], and [producer] Bob Boyett broke the news." After surgery, Friedman rallied back to join Paice and the rest of the cast onstage for opening night. "We banded together. There was a sense of camaraderie that we're going to get through this, and we're going to get Maria through this."

Univited Guests: Paice explains that the computer projections take some getting used to and aren't perfect. "I think when you are dealing with any sort of computer, things can go wrong, so there have been nights where a piece of our set is missing," Paice says. While she claims that there were more technical difficulties in London than on Broadway, there have been a few tiny bloopers at the Marquis Theatre. "Just last night, the trees flew into the wedding," she laughs.