Georgia Engel
One of the most pressing questions about your performance in The Drowsy Chaperone is: Where'd you learn to spit-take like that?
Practice! Practice! [Laughs] In rehearsal they had slickers on us for weeks, because at first [the water] was going down on me instead of getting over to Edward [Hibbert]. But now he says I'm getting to be an expert. I can spit it three feet, if I have to!
Have you ever had to do that kind of classic vaudeville stuff before?
No, I never have. And I have to be honest with you, the first time I saw it on the written page, it was singularly unfunny to me. But the thing is, we've been doing it for months now, and it works about 99% of the time! Once in a while you get people who think it's not funny. But all you need are a few people to think it's funny and then the whole thing goes like gangbusters.
The whole '20s style and tone of the show is so consistently correct.
Oh, we have the most wonderful director. [Casey Nicholaw] just has an innate sense for what's theatrically right. It's been such a privilege to work with him.
Did your role change much from L.A. to Broadway?
It's evolved quite a lot. Edward and I have a totally different number. We used to do a ukulele number ["I Remember Love"]. But the funny thing is that, now, when I come out at the end with the ukulele, it gets a way bigger laugh than when I did a whole number with it—and I worked really hard on that number. [Laughs]
But "I Remember Love" is included on Drowsy's new original cast recording as a bonus track, right?
Yes, because it was nice for the songwriters to get that out there and copyrighted. It's a wonderful number that actually works better by itself than within the context of the show, where it was just a little too meandering. What's so interesting is that in the first reading, when we did that number, it was the biggest hit of the show! But once things get put on their feet and physical-ized, it changes how something goes. And that number was too delicate. It couldn't stand being physical-ized. It's a song that needs to sit there and be done simply, like just at a piano. Isn't that funny? I learned a lot from that.
I find it fascinating that you got your start on Broadway playing Minnie Fay to Ethel Merman's Dolly Levi in the original run of Hello, Dolly!
How long did you perform with "The Merm"?
Oh, really?
But you're not originally from Hawaii, are you?
Oh, I miss ELT. It used to be a lovely place for old musicals. Kind of like a showcase version of Encores! or the York's "Musicals in Mufti" series, only with full productions. It was sad when they closed down in 1990.
So, what was Ethel like?
Like Diana Ross. Did she insist that people call her Miss Merman?
No "singing for your supper" for Miss Merman, huh?
Oh dear. So how was it for you, acting with Merman on stage?
Did you learn anything from Ethel Merman that you still draw upon today?
How else has the Big Street changed since you worked in Dolly?
You know, I was thinking about Dolly Levi, and how that would be a
great part for you now. Ever want to play her?
That's where the vacations come in.
So, are you based in L.A.?
Well, speaking of television, you've worked with so many great comedic actors.
Looking at your resume—The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Coach, Everybody Loves Raymond—the scene partners you've had are astonishing.
How about working with Brad Garrett?
Really? Has she seen you in the show yet?
How about Mary Tyler Moore? Obviously, you're still friends.
Well, you'd never know it from watching the show. Finally, speaking of Drowsy, since the Man in Chair tells the audience that he could never find any background information about the fictional actress who played Mrs. Tottendale in The Drowsy Chaperone—other than that she went by the stage name "Ukulele Lil"—I was wondering if you had a whatever-happened-to back story for her?
See Georgia Engel in The Drowsy Chaperone at the Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway. Click for tickets and more information.
Yes, and it's been a thrill for me, especially to create a role.
I know! I loved her.
An entire year. In 1970. Well... not entirely. Phyllis Diller did it for a couple of months until Ethel came in. We were replacing Pearl Bailey's all-black company, who had done it for two years. And then it was a switch back for the last year of its eight-year run. I was so lucky to get that. I turned 21 when I did it. But see, I had played the role before in Hawaii.
I'd actually gotten my Equity card doing Hello, Dolly!. When they went through Hawaii with Carole Cook in an Australian company, they local-jobbed the Minnie Fay. I was so lucky, cause you know today it's so hard for young people to get their Equity cards. But by the time I hit New York, I already had mine!
No, no. Washington, DC. My dad was in the Army and he was stationed in Hawaii when I graduated from high school. I wanted so much to try my wings in New York right away, but my parents insisted that I have a least a year of college. And so I went and enjoyed doing plays and musicals in college, but a guidance counselor helped me get through in three years instead of the usual four. I was out of school at 20, and then I moved to New York. And within two months of being here I was in a show at Equity Library Theater.
And they used to be such a wonderful way for casting directors and producers to come see actors. That's how Hello, Dolly! happened. David Merrick's casting director came and saw me in this old Carol Channing show that we did. I don't remember what it was called. [Laughs] Isn't that awful? It had "Gladiola Girl" in it [Lend an Ear, a 1949 musical revue revived at ELT in 1969]. Anyway, he came and had me audition for Minnie Fay in Hello, Dolly!. And I have to tell you, somebody who's played a role before in front of an audience owns the part much more than when you're just reading it off a page. I was the biggest Minnie Fay they'd ever had up to that point. They'd always had little girls like Sondra Lee and Leland Palmer, so they weren't thrilled to make me costumes—at 5 feet 6 and a half—but I had the right quality for it and was actually the right age for it.
Well, nobody called her Ethel, actually. Everybody called her Miss Merman.
No, but everybody just did. Though I have a funny story about that. You know, we did the play for a whole year and my mom and dad lived in a beautiful place called the Admiral's Mansion on Governor's Island, where my dad was stationed. Six months after I came to New York, there was a change of command and my father was moved here and became the Coast Guard commander for the whole East Coast. And so, since they were in this beautiful home, my mom said, "Why don't you invite Miss Merman over for Christmas Eve?" I absolutely refused. I knew she would say no. But my mom pestered me so much that I finally did ask, and Miss Merman accepted! She brought two men friends with her. And so, there she was in our house, all decorated for Christmas, and my grandmother embarrassed me so bad—though she didn't mean to. The only moment in the whole night when Miss Merman got a little stiff was when my grandmother said, "Hey, Ethel! How 'bout a song?!" And Ethel said, "I only sing for money." [Laughs]
No!
Oh, I loved her, I loved her. But actually, by the time I came down the pike, her reputation was more formidable than she was. I do remember that there was a man [in Hello, Dolly!] who was playing Horace Vandergelder and doing some terrible upstaging, and she was furious with him. But we found out later that he might've been doing those things because he was ill. Cause why would you twirl a baton in the middle of a scene that was focused on Miss Merman? It was such a suicidal thing to do! Jack Goode was his name and he really was such a nice man that I think there was some problem due to his illness, and people just didn't realize it. But anyway, Miss Merman was gonna haul him up on charges with Equity, but he died before that could happen.
Well, when I first started working with her, you know, she was from the old school, where she didn't feel she had to look at people to work with them. And I had a scene where Minnie Fay would do this little dance at the end of the "Waltz" number—and it's a very special moment for Minnie Fay and Dolly—and for the first few months she always looked me in the forehead. But then she got to like me and she began to look me in the eyes. And I remember thinking that that was the highest compliment.
Well, it's a very primitive thing, a different—and, I guess, old-fashioned—work ethic. And I learned the same thing from Sandy Duncan back in 1985 when I stood by for her in My One and Only. Broadway's changed a lot since I was here for any length of time, but now actors have vacations! We never had a vacation back then. There wasn't such a thing. You just worked until the show closed. And Sandy Duncan told me right off, "Georgia, I will never be out unless I'm dead." And Miss Merman was kind of the same way; a whole year, she never missed a day. So, evidently I'll get a vacation some time this year. But I'm not used to it.
Did you notice how when you came to the theater the other night that the sidewalks are just wall-to-wall people? [Laughs.] There's no place to walk anymore, with all the tourists and the street entertainers and the art sellers. I don't remember any of that. I mean, I like it. I think it's pleasant for the tourists, but that's very different for me.
Oh, you know... because I loved Minnie Fay so much when I was a youngster I never thought of myself as a Dolly. But now that you say it, it might be fun! Right now my mind isn't on anything like that at all, cause I'm having the most fun being in something brand new. I mean, my whole life—in Dolly and My One and Only and all the various shows I've done around the country—I've always tried to bring my own individuality to it. But there's a certain stamp of the people who originated the role. And so it's really thrilling to be doing a role that nobody else did before me. There's a special joy in that. And I'll keep doing it as long as I can keep my stamina.
[Laughs] Well, I'm trying to save that time, just in case a [TV] pilot or something comes down the road that I might need to do.
No, no! New York is my legal address, and has been since Hello, Dolly! I've been in the same apartment all these years! [Laughs] I think that's a misconception [that Engel lives in L.A.] because I do so much television. But since The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I've had no regular job in television. I've just bipped in and bipped out—they've always just flown me out when they needed me.
Oh, yes, I've been blessed. I really have.
I know. Like two years ago I had a little scene with Ray Romano and, honestly, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. It was so much fun. It was like we were playing badminton and neither of us would let the birdie fall. It would just waft back and forth.
Oh, I adore him. Those big soulful eyes! I was so disappointed when the [Everybody Loves Raymond] spin-off didn't happen. It was going to be Brad and Monica Horan and Fred Willard and me and Chris Elliott. But you know, you have to trust that things work out the way they do for a reason. Cause if I had gotten the spin-off, I wouldn't have been able to do The Drowsy Chaperone.
She's still one of my best friends!
She saw it in Los Angeles. Mary [Tyler Moore] is trying to get her to come do the Broadway Barks benefit [July 8]. I'm so hoping that Betty gets a [Emmy] nomination for her role on Boston Legal this year. She's so funny on that.
Oh, she just came to see the show last week! The Marriott Marquis Hotel had a very, very beautiful party for us between shows on a Wednesday. She and [her husband, Dr.] Robert [Levine] were there, and we had a wonderful visit. I told Robert that I was concerned about my stamina, doing eight shows a week. And he said, "Oh, you're just playing into game form." I had no idea what that meant. He said, "Well, ball players can practice and practice and do all those exercises and stuff, but it's not until they're doing game after game that they're really in condition for it." He said, "So, you're still getting into game form!" And I said, "Oh, I hope you're right, cause I was having some trouble getting up in the morning." [Laughs.]
Actually, they made us do exercises [during the early rehearsals before the show opened in L.A.]. I'm very uncomfortable doing the kind of improvisational stuff that dear Casey made us do. So, I would always say as little as possible. [Laughs] I mean, the other actors went into such long, complicated and drawn-out histories, and I was just totally intimidated by it. So I guess I kept her kind of mysterious. And I think they just played with that, cause they couldn't find out much about her from me!