Julie White
What can be said about Diane, the fast-talking, scary-smart—make that just plain scary—agent of a closeted client in Douglas Carter Beane's comedy The Little Dog Laughed? As played by Julie White with a perpetual smile that doesn't necessarily indicate happiness, Diane displays an irresistible combination of ruthlessness and ambition expressed in lethal one-liners, many of them unprintable. White commands the stage, and not just because she looks so good in costumes designed by Jeff Mahshie of Chaiken. Fueled by the critical acclaim White's performance received during the play's Second Stage run last winter, The Little Dog Laughed has made the jump to Broadway's Cort Theatre, and the 45-year-old star is keeping a down-to-earth attitude about strapping on her character's stilettos again. In real life, White, who was raised in Austin, Texas, is as funny as Diane but in a modest, down-home way. As she points out, her 20-year career has included plenty of well-reviewed off-Broadway plays Bad Dates, Spike Heels, Fiction, Dinner with Friends, Barbra's Wedding, so she didn't pin great hopes on a Broadway transfer of The Little Dog Laughed. Away from the stage, White has kept busy in scene-stealing TV roles Amanda in two episodes of Desperate Housewives, Nadine in Grace Under Fire, Mitzi Dalton Huntley in Six Feet Under, and she has four films coming up The Astronaut Farmer, Michael Clayton, The Nanny Diaries, Transformers. But for now, she's happily bringing a larger-than-life character to Broadway.
When you read this play, did you realize that the part of Diane would be such a high-profile break for you?
Oh heavens no! I just thought it would be terribly fun to play such a magical, evil character. I actually read it in stages. First I did the luncheon scene [in which Diane and her client meet with an unseen playwright to pitch a film deal] at the Tribeca Theater Festival with Josh Hamilton. When Douglas said he was expanding the play, I thought, "How? That scene is so stylized." But when I saw the script and read, "She appears in a gorgeous ball gown and speaks directly to the audience," I said, "Oh boy!"
All of your Jeff Mahshie costumes are fantastic.
I look like a bitter evil genius, don't I? And you know, most of it is just the clothes Jeff designs for Chaiken. He updated everything with this season's stuff [for Broadway], and he plans to keep updating as we go so that Diane is never less than perfectly current.
He dresses a lot of people. Actually I think that skirt I wear at the beginning has been to the Golden Globes. I'm not sure who wore it. It's an enormous Halston skirt from the '80s. We call it Shamu because it's so big and so hard to get into. We leave it in a change booth right beside the stage so I don't have to walk anywhere in it.
Before we move on, we must note your wardrobe of stilettos. I love the fact that one pair has red soles.
They're all Christian Louboutin. With that red sole, it's like I'm a devil, isn't it? Like I'm walking on flames [laughs]. I spent the whole summer in those weird rubber shoes called Crocs. My sister sent me some, and I was like, "Oh my god, this is like heaven on my feet!" But I had to take off my Crocs and put those heels back on. They hurt, but somehow they work for Diane.
Back to the play: Did Douglas Carter Beane write it for you after you did that one scene?
No, he had a totally different type of person in mind. He had said he couldn't believe it would work to turn over this character to a nice Southern lady. And I was like, "Honey! Nice Southern ladies are the most evil people ever!" We know how to be pleasant while we're screwing you to the wall.
People might be surprised to know that you have a fairly strong Southern accent in real life.
When I'm talking to my mother, it's just ridiculous; we're like crackers out in the field. [laughs] I can get rid of it when I'm onstage, but I don't know why I have to when I'm off. The older you get, the more you realize that you are who you are.
What was your reaction when people started talking about a Broadway transfer?
My reaction was, "Yeah, sure, that's really going to happen." Because you get so used to people telling you, "It's gonna move, it's gonna move," but it's extremely hard to get a show to move. I did kind of feel like it was a good show for Broadway because it's like a ride for smart people. When I first come out, it feels like when you sit on a roller coaster and the bar comes down and you think, "Okay, here goes." Of course, it's sort of risqué; it's not the same kind of Broadway show as Beauty and the Beast.
It moved on the strength of your performance, just as Grey Gardens did for Christine Ebersole.
I wouldn't say that. That would be tooting my own horn. I think it's the strength of the whole play.
But now you can look forward to Tony recognition…
Two words for you, honey: Angela Lansbury [referring to Lansbury's forthcoming return to Broadway at age 81 in Terrence McNally's Deuce].
Tell me about how you talked [Shubert chairman] Gerry Schoenfeld into booking The Little Dog Laughed into the Cort Theatre.
[Producers] Roy Gabay and Carole Rothman asked me if I would mind going up there and just giving it a whirl because they were making no progress in the channels they normally go through. They thought that if they could put a face to the show, it would help him make up his mind. I said, "I've got to at least try because it would make such a great story if it worked!"
The fact that you invoked wanting your mother to be able to see the show is perfect.
Well, you know, when your mom is named Sue Jane, it works wonders [laughs]. Anybody with two names is especially poignant. She still hasn't seen it; she's not going to come for the opening because it's such a madhouse, but I think she is going to come right around Christmas.
What will she think about some of your eye-popping lines?
Oh, she'll be thrilled. It's terribly fun to have these shocking things to say and just throw off the lines. I've always, always loved theater that moves, you know? I feel like smart people think fast and talk fast. And Diane is so fast; what makes it thrilling onstage is that I'm not spoon-feeding you. I'm zipping along, and sometimes Diane is three or four steps ahead of her poor hapless client and that poor playwright that she totally screws. You're not always sure what she's doing, but she's doing something.
Your scenes with Tom Everett Scott are especially zippy.
He's a great client for me, isn't he? [laughs] He manages to love me [as Diane]; we really have the relationship that I speak of. Tom is such a good-natured person. I met him 10 years ago when he came on Grace Under Fire as the child Grace had given up for adoption years ago in high school. He did about 10 episodes and we became good friends. I met the girl who was then his girlfriend and is now his wife. He has two kids now, and he's just really good folks. And I like that he's so tall.
You look good together.
We do! It's like the pictures of Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. They've set up that studio together, and she is wearing a white suit that is similar to my white suit and he's wearing a black suit. I looked at them and thought, "Ooh, I hope Tom Scott and I look that good together!" [laughs] All those millions become her.
Is it odd to have to barge in on the nude scene between Tom and Johnny Galecki?
No, but they have to make sure I make my entrance on time because if I don't come in, they're screwed. I feel a responsibility to be there for them to get them out of that scene at the appropriate moment.
Oh my god, that was the worst. The. Worst. People on the street were shouting, "She's here, she's here!" My heart started beating seven million beats a second. I was about to burst into tears and I kept saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." It took half of that first monologue for my hands to quit shaking.
I can hardly imagine having to jump in and do your first speech after something like that.
Well, only in the theater! Since then, I can't tell you how many performers have come up to me and said, "Okay, you've had the matinee nightmare…" Everybody has this terrible fear of getting it wrong—or they've shown up late and their understudy is on [laughs].
Are people still razzing you about it?
I'm getting shit from everybody [laughs]. People waiting at the stage door say, "How are those sheets working out for you?" "How's that mattress pad?" But, you know, since the Times published something that said I bought a Jonathan Adler bedding ensemble, I keep thinking, "Where is my free Jonathan Adler stuff? Where's the vase? Where are the lamps?" [laughs] He must not have read it.
Are you a fan of Entourage? I would bet on Diane against Ari.
No, I have not seen it, but I know that [Jeremy] Piven is doing some kind of great agent part. I've said this before, but to me, my part is like a classic commedia part—the crafty servant who is wiser than her master.
Wow, that's a highbrow interpretation.
Actually it's the lowest brow. They did commedia dell arte out in the streets in the 15th century in Italy and the crafty servant was a stock character. An agent is the perfect crafty servant.
The fact that you've done a one-woman show must have been helpful with this part.
I couldn't have done Diane without have done Bad Dates, the show Theresa Rebeck wrote for me. I did Bad Dates in a little theater and then moved it to the Huntington in Boston, which was 1,000 seats. That was daunting. I said, "I'm going to have to tell an intimate story to 1,000 people for an hour and a half? And stand around in my underwear?" But it worked. A lot of actors who see "She speaks directly to the audience" in a script clam up, but I'm very comfortable with that, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Theresa.
When did you realize you had a gift for comedy?
Well, I come from a funny family, a bunch of jokers. My grandmother was hilarious and very dry—if you could make Grandma Ruby laugh, you'd done your job. You know that Southern laughter-through-tears thing? That was our favorite emotion. In life, there's hardly ever a time when you can't find something that will crack you up.
Did you family support the idea of you coming to New York to study acting at Fordham?
Shockingly, yes. Were we all so stupid that we actually thought this was a good idea? [laughs] My dad's a dentist, and he kind of wanted me to learn how to work in a dental lab, making false teeth and building dental bridges because it was something I could fall back on. And I said, "Yeah, Dad, but if I had to fall back on that, I would kill myself."
Well, it all worked out, and you didn't have to work in a dental lab or do the Southern girl thing of getting a teaching certificate.
The business has been very, very good to me. One thing has led to another, and TV has bought me the ability to come back and do theater. When I was out there doing the first year of Grace Under Fire, I found it tough sledding. My friend [playwright] Herb Gardner said to me, "Julie, you're buying your talent back. Take that money and save it because when you own your talent, you won't have to do anything for money." Wasn't that great advice? When you first make some money, there's a tendency to go and spend it. I always think of M.C. Hammer blowing $30 million. How could he let himself go bankrupt? It's been really nice that I can afford to come back and do all the off-Broadway theater that I've done.
Why have you been so loyal to the theater?
You know, I'm just a ding-dang-dinosaur [laughs]. The place where I am better than any other is the fabulous dying art form of the theater. So I figure, if that's where your talents lie, go there. In the movies, there's always somebody prettier. I don't know that I'm any better than anybody else on film or television, but I know that I'm real good onstage. And I feel so grateful to get this chance. You can't believe how many stars have to align for you to get to do something that's A good, B that people like and C that you're good in. This one is all gravy for me.
Was it hard to turn down a long story arc on Desperate Housewives to do the play?
It's kind of hard because 20 million people a week watch that and I'll do the play for 8,000 a week. Desperate Housewives was kind enough to put my character on ice. Maybe it will work out later, and they'll bring the character back. But it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to get to open a Broadway show and see your big old head on the posters; it's such a tiny group of people who get to do this extraordinary thing, so I'm going to enjoy this experience. I took Herb's advice about owning my talent. I don't have to do this play, I get to do it.
I found that it was almost impossible to go back and forth while my daughter [now a college sophomore] was still at home, but I've kicked her out of the nest. Get out! [laughs] It worked out evenly: She was born here and we were in New York until kindergarten. We went from first through ninth grade in Los Angeles, and then she did 10, 11 and 12 at the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn. She wears a little necklace that has an apple and an outline of the state of California.
It sounds like you achieved the perfect bi-coastal balance.
I felt like we needed to get her out of California for the formative high school years. It's easy to get a skewed vision of the values of the world when you go to high school with the Olsen twins—literally. And I was so star-struck, I was always like [whispers], "Wait! Which one is that?" Alex would say [assumes a bored tone], "Mother, it's Mary-Kate." Those girls had such style.
I read somewhere that you don't work out, which is hard to believe since those costumes hug you like a glove.
No, I have never had a workout regimen. I get embarrassed at the whole gym thing. One time I went and got on a Stairmaster in a hotel, and I was so sore the next day that I couldn't walk up or down an actual flight of stairs. I'm a vigorous housekeeper. I like for my rug to have the vacuum cleaner marks on it.
Cleaning house can't be your only secret to staying in shape!
I don't eat too much. I love to eat, but I don't do it as a hobby. I eat a big meal at about noon and then a little meal when I get home after the show. And I have started to do some arm exercises so I don't get what we used to call "music teacher arms." You know when your choir director would lift up her arms and she had those weird things dangling down? I don't want that.
Well, something's working!
My sister's in-laws just came up from Dallas; her sister-in-law is this year's best dressed of Dallas and her mother-in-law is in the Dallas best-dressed hall of fame. They were so cute coming backstage in their Blackglamas. They met Jeff Mahshie and told him that they loved my clothes. But my favorite thing the mother-in-law said was [about Johnny Galecki's nude scene]: "My goodness, I've seen more of that young man than I've seen of my husband." I said, "But you've been married to him for 40 years!" And she said, "I know, but we always have the lights off or I just close my eyes. [laughs] And you know what? I believe her!
What on earth did she think of the play?
She loved it. I had thought our play might only be appropriate for the younger audience. But maybe, for the older ladies, it's a chance to see something they haven't seen in 40 years!
See Julie White in The Little Dog Laughed at the Cort Theatre.
