Kate Baldwin Strikes Gold with Finian's Rainbow

Kate Baldwin is the consummate working actress. From regional productions to concerts to the New York stage, the redhead with the clear-as-a-bell voice has been gainfully employed for the last decade. Her credits include small roles on Broadway in The Full Monty and Wonderful Town as well as an understudy part in Thoroughly Modern Millie, a handful of off-Broadway plays and leads in regional productions of White Christmas, South Pacific, The Pajama Game and The Women. Now she is coming into her own with the transfer of the Encores! presentation of the charming 1947 Burton Lane-E.Y. Harburg musical Finian’s Rainbow to Broadway’s St. James Theatre. Baldwin stars as Irish lass Sharon, a strong-minded woman out of her element down in "Missitucky." We recently dished with the exuberant performer about leading men, finding love and her new solo CD, which comes out on October 20.

This part seems tailor-made for you.
Thank you! I do like Sharon a lot. I love how unusual this show is—it’s a great patchwork of stories. What I like about Sharon are the relationships she has with three distinct men: her father, who is made of spaghetti and who she tries to lasso and bring back to earth; the romantic story with Woody, supported by the most beautiful love song, “Old Devil Moon”; and getting to be a silly goofball with Og, the little leprechaun.

Yes, your three leading men couldn't be more different.
The greatest part of my job that I get to bounce between all three. It's a great evening for me; it keeps me happy.

You have played so many wonderful romantic leads.
I'm so lucky. I'm lucky, and I'm greedy. I’ll get appointments for auditions and be like, "Oooh, I really want to do that.” I just fill up my grocery cart with all of the great young leading ladies.

Are you really greedy? I find that a little hard to believe.
Oh, you've never shared a meal with me!

The woman sitting next to me at Finian’s Rainbow asked me if you’re really Irish.
What a compliment!

Do you have any Irish blood in you?
I do. My grandmother Eileen was one hundred percent Irish. There might be some Irish on the other side of the family, but we don’t know for sure, so I always say I’m a quarter—a quarter and maybe a teaspoon or two more. And yes, I’m a real redhead. Some people have said to me that my hair is more blonde than red, and that makes me so upset because my whole life I’ve been a redhead.

Did you always want to be a performer?
I think so. When I was a little kid, I sang all the time and danced around the living room. I had a fantastic teacher in high school named Barbara Gensler. In fact, I just got the most beautiful bouquet of flowers from her for first preview. She put Uta Hagen’s book in my hands when I was 16, and that opened a whole world for me. She expected us to be very disciplined and rigorous, and we responded by just loving it.

What did you play in high school?
I played Evita my senior year. At that time, I wanted to be an opera singer, so everything was opera.

Even Evita?
Yes, it was crazy. The video of that is ridiculous. But I learned how to walk around in a big dress, and that has come in handy.

What was your first professional job?
I auditioned my senior year of college [at Northwestern University] for a nearby production of Baby. At that moment I was living for Liz Callaway. I asked my musical theater professor if he thought they would see me for the show. He looked at me, this very studious and serious girl who was 22, tall, red hair, kind of a low speaking voice, and he said "No, Kate, I think they're going to go for something cuter." Then he said something that will live with me forever, “They want someone ‘boopier.’” Like Betty Boop.

Oh my goodness. Please let this have a happy ending.
Yes, I got the job. Boopy be damned! Who wants to see Boopy anyway? Unless you're Jen Cody or Kristin Chenoweth, I don't want to see it.

Besides talent, what’s the key to getting cast in a musical?
The New York acting community is filled with lovely people. I don't think you can have a career here if you're not lovely because badness gets around faster than goodness.

You must be very lovely because you work constantly.
I don’t know about that, but I do work a lot. Last year alone I did shows in Boston, Baltimore, Sacramento and San Diego. I had six jobs last year. I move around a lot.

This is your first big leading role on Broadway, your introduction to New York audiences in a way. Is that a strange feeling?
When The New York Times review of Finian's Rainbow at Encores! came out, I think the critic wrote something like, “Kate Baldwin feels like a discovery.” My e-mail inbox and my voicemail inbox were flooded with people who said, "I discovered you years ago! Thank God they're finally catching up." A lot of people have claimed me.

Are you having any pinch-me moments now that you’re at the St. James Theatre?
Oh my God, I got so many notes the first days of tech during “Glocca Morra” because I was just frozen, I was standing on that stage and thinking of all the people who had sung there. It's deep, it's history, and I love having that experience. I love thinking about who else had my dressing room and who else clattered down those steps, running for their entrance the way I do. It my childhood dream and it’s come true.

In addition to starring in Finian’s Rainbow, you are also co-starring in Cheyenne Jackson’s video blog for us.
I love it.

You two seem like really great friends.
We really have grown very close since Encores! We overlapped for a little bit [as understudies in Thoroughly Modern Millie]. I remember when he was hired, and I left shortly after that. We never went on together, but we rehearsed together. I remember looking at him and thinking, “Aw, jeez. He’s really handsome,” and then talking to him and realizing how sweet and open and lovely he is. He is one of the most generous people you’ll ever meet.

So your onstage chemistry is working offstage too?
We like each other a lot. We’re the exact same age and we have the exact same pop culture references. We get each other’s jokes right away. That helps with our relationship and chemistry and stuff. Oh, and he’s nice and tall. I am so happy about that.

I have to ask you about your husband [actor Graham Rowat].
Yeah, speaking of tall!

Did it start as a showmance?
It did, but neither of us wanted it to be a showmance. We were like, “Oh, this is so typical!”

How did you meet?
We met about six years ago in Washington, D.C., where we were doing a production of 1776. I remember walking into rehearsal and seeing this six foot four man with this mane of curly hair. He was super funny and he had this huge baritone voice. And I thought, “Wow.” But he was Canadian and very polite, so he stayed away from me.

How frustrating.
Yes, and I really liked him! The geekiest part is that we would do our show, go home and then instant message with each other. He’s a huge computer guy-techno-freak, so I guess that was easier. But he was even funny and charming over IM. By the end of the run, I enlisted some help. He’s the only guy I ever pursued, and it worked. We got married in 2005.

Is it true that you got married and started rehearsal together the very next day?
Yes! He proposed to me in July of 2005 and we knew we were both cast in White Christmas, which was supposed to begin rehearsals in October. We thought, “Why wait?” We planned the wedding in three months, got married in the West Village in a gorgeous flower shop and started rehearsal the next day.

Have you worked together since then?
We did White Christmas three times and always together, and we’ve done concerts together.

Do you have a show you’d like to do together in New York?
In my heart of hearts, I’d like to do Kiss Me, Kate with him. I think we’d be great. And not just 'cause my name is Kate.

What’s your favorite track on your album, Let’s See What Happens?
It vacillates from day to day, but if you want a huge big band sound, “Come Back to Me” is always good for that. I’m also quite partial to the last track, “The World Is in My Arms,” because it’s just me and Rob Berman, who’s a genius. After playing around with it, we came up with a beautiful, spare arrangement that to me sounds like it could be a contemporary pop song. That was my goal for doing the CD in the first place. I wanted people who are in love with shows like Wicked or Next to Normal to have a way into these old master songwriters, Burton Lane and Yip Harburg. I want to shine a light on songs that people probably don’t know. Let’s face it, they are lessons in obscurity.

How nice that Hal Prince did the liner notes!
Isn’t that amazing? It’s really special. I first met Hal when Graham, my husband, was in LoveMusik at Manhattan Theatre Club. We were introduced at the closing night party by the supremely gracious Donna Murphy and Michael Cerveris. I immediately got shy around him.

You didn’t tell him you did Evita in high school, did you?
No! I still haven’t told him that! Oh my God.

Have you worked together?
Hal has a project called Paradise Found. He’s been working on it a long time. I got involved in the fall of 2007 and have been doing readings and workshops ever since. It stars Mandy Patinkin, Shuler Hensley, Judy Kaye, Emily Skinner and me. It has a home. It’s going to have a production. So that’s how we know each other.

Hal wrote in the liner notes that there are no touchups to your photograph on the album cover.
Yeah, that's true. It’s a magic dress.

Does it give you magic skin?
[Laughs] No, that’s SPF 65.

See Kate Baldwin in Finian's Rainbow at the St. James Theatre.