Caroline O'Connor on Leaving Anastasia for London's The Rink and the Legacy of Chita Rivera in the Role

Caroline O’Connor was born in the north of England to Irish parents, grew up in Australia, and works regularly in the U.S., including most recently on Broadway in Anastasia. She is returning to the London stage to star as Anna, opposite Gemma Sutton as Angel, in the Southwark Playhouse revival of The Rink, the Kander and Ebb musical from 1984 written by Anastasia scribe Terrence McNally and previewing from May 25. Broadway.com caught the effervescent performer early one recent evening to catch up on a career that spans continents.

Were you familiar with The Rink prior to this revival?
I was! Back in the 1980s I was the walking cover for the part of Angel, the daughter, when this musical first premiered in London at the Cambridge Theatre. I did one show a week [for then co-star Diane Langton], and now more than two decades later I’ve gone back to the piece.

Did you remember much about it?
Do you know, I do remember quite a lot about it: I had been plucked out of obscurity to come and do that job. The show had been on in Leicester without me and I remember going to an understudy call for it in London and meeting John [Kander] and Fred [Ebb] and Terrence [McNally], and John thought I was going to have a conniption because I was such a huge fan. Recently, I’ve been working with Terrence on Broadway in Anastasia, so I feel as if my life has come full circle.

Did you cross paths at the time with any of the Broadway cast?
Actually, there was one night where they decided to do a fundraiser at the Cambridge Theatre, and they brought over Jason Alexander from New York to play Lenny. I remember hearing him sing “Marry Me,” and then many years later I saw him at Joe Allen and said, “I don’t know if you remember coming to London to do The Rink." That was long before he played George on Seinfeld.

Was it a hard to leave a glitzy Broadway gig to come do an off-West End production?
And in a theater where there are no understudies [laughs]: the budget doesn’t cover something like that. But the fact is, this is the most incredible role! Someone said to me, “Why would you come all the way from New York to do this,” and it’s because of the part. I’ve done Mama Rose and Funny Girl both twice, and this is bigger. There are 95 pages for Anna to learn, and she doesn’t leave the stage until the intermission.

Still, wasn’t it a tough decision?
I really did agonize. I felt very loved at Anastasia and very supported, and I had a wonderful role where I got to do some great stuff, so part of me thought, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” It was a tough decision, and I did keep [choreographer] Fabian Aloise and [producer] Jack Maple waiting. But I’m going on to do The Boy from Oz and Candide in Australia after this, so I thought, “This is a sign”—there was the wonderful offer of this role with other work to follow, and I felt as if it was time for me to leave the nest.

Did you seek advice from the Tony-winning originator of your part, Chita Rivera, who first played Anna opposite Liza Minnelli as Angel?
I’ve played a few roles that Chita has played, including Velma in Chicago, and she is the epitome of the professional triple threat. On this one, we got to do a “handing over of the baton” moment at 54 Below in New York that you can find on YouTube, and it’s simply wonderful to have that as a souvenir and a memory of that moment.

How do you think this musical will land in 2018?
I think people coming to see the show will be able to look at the characters more as who they are, rather than watching two superstars [Minnelli and Rivera] and kind of being distracted by that fact. Fingers crossed you will really relate to these two women.

What can you tell us about your Angel, Gemma Sutton?
If I had a daughter, this would be my daughter: she would look like this, she would be like this. There’s a lot of arguing in this show—it’s a very emotional piece—so what’s great is that we get on so well. It would be difficult to play a role like this if we didn’t gel.

Does the world seem very small as you career between continents?
I’m so lucky in that I’ve got an English passport and am an Australian citizen and also have an American green card: that allows me to work in all three territories. Unusually, too, for actors who travel like this I also am able to have a personal life. I have an incredibly understanding husband [Barrie Shaw] who was born in England and is a musician and loves the adventures that we have. We’ve been together for 32 years and married for 22.

Do you ever make it a proviso of the work that Barrie be involved in whatever you are doing, so that you can be together?
Sometimes I do. Barrie is actually doing Boy from Oz, but he’s not doing The Rink: he’s in semi-retirement which means he’s going to do whatever he wants to do and is also able to say, “You know what, I’m going to sit that one out.”

Don’t you sometimes yearn just to be in one place?
I have a stepdaughter and a little three-year-old grandchild, and it’s lovely to have that in our lives for our old age. But I always joke that if I were in one place, I might get sickening whereas if I go away and come back, they can then say, “Oh my God, she’s back!” My whole career has been about not wanting to be a big fish in a small sea. When I first moved to England, it was to see if I was any good. I didn’t care if I was the lead or not, I just wanted to see if I could live and work elsewhere. I gave myself two years here and stayed for 14. My first show [in the U.K.] was Me and My Girl and then Cabaret and then A Chorus Line.

How did New York then factor into the mix?
I was lucky enough to be taken over there to do Chicago, which was just the best thing that could ever happen to me: I said to myself that if I were going to do this job, I might as well do it with the best there are in the world. Since then I’ve been to New York to do A Christmas Story and Anastasia and my cabaret shows – and stuff elsewhere around the country. People say to me, “How have you made this [career] work?” But the truth is when I’m not working, I feel lost. I love to work, and when I’m not, I feel as if I am missing a limb.

Is there one thing for you that links all three continents?
I’ve got the weather of all those places on my phone!