Stephanie J. Block's 'Brain Is Full' as She Readies to Sub for Sutton Foster in Anything Goes

It's a tall order filling Sutton Foster's Tony-winning tap shoes, but Stephanie J. Block is up for the task. The Broadway vet is filling in for the Anything Goes star while Foster films a TV pilot from November 4-22.  As Block prepared to step on to the stage of the Stephen Sondheim Theatre as Reno Sweeney, Broadway.com caught up with her to chat about being a Broadway pinch hitter.

“My brain is full, full, full!” an upbeat Block told Broadway.com on her way to rehearsal, “I’ve learned the show in about eight days. Of course, we couldn’t rehearse like you normally do for a Broadway musical because the show is already up and running," she explained, "It’s four hours here, watch the show, two hours there, watch the show, and it comes down to learning it in like 20-30 hours! I just keep smiling through the whole thing because if I start to get stressed out, there’s just no point. I really am having a good time."

Can she dance, inquiring minds wonder about the actress known more for her pipes than her moves. “I’m doing the show as it’s been choreographed, it’s not modified in any way. I’ve had these tools in my belt for a while, and it’s nice to be able to use them again,” said Block, whose Broadway credits include 9 to 5, Wicked, The Pirate Queen and The Boy from Oz. She actually did modify one element of the choreography. “Ms. Block cannot do the splits!” she exclaimed, “I don’t care how may hours of stretching I do. It’s just not gonna happen.”

While she’s preparing to begin her Anything Goes run on November 4, Block is grateful that she can count on the support of her husband, Broadway vet Sebastian Arcelus, as he also prepares to open new musical The Blue Flower at Second Stage Theatre. “We’re both walking in a bit of a fog, but when you marry another actor they understand the schedule and the slight panic when you’re about to open a show,” she said, “There's a wonderful, silent understanding of married couples in our business.” And if he comes home while she’s running her tap numbers in the living room? “He doesn’t mind a bit!” she says with a laugh, “We ice each other’s knees.”

As for the rumblings that this short stint is preparing Block to take the lead in a national tour of Anything Goes, “I’ve heard all those little rumors, too,” Block coyly confessed.

For now she’s dealing with one new whirlwind at a time. “I’m just focusing on the next three weeks. Your phone rings and the next thing you know, a few months of your life are completely different than you'd planned. So I'm going with the present and right now: that’s three weeks at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.”