Texting Hal Prince, Dreaming of Evita & More! What We Learned on #LiveAtFive This Week

Broadway.com #LiveatFive is a daily Facebook Live show in which Broadway.com editors discuss what's going on in the theater community and chat with stage stars. Here's the most surprising, funny and heartwarming lessons we learned from this week's guests.

1. Mamie Parris Wants to Play Evita
School of Rock 's original Patty, Mamie Parris, is back in the hit musical, this time as Rosalie Mullins. The actress was a guest on #LiveAtFive on Monday, January 7 to talk all about returning to the show in a new role. During her time away from Horace Green Prep, Parris starred in Cats as Grizabella. Noticing her history with Andrew Lloyd Webber scores, Parris was asked if she would consider taking on a role in Evita one day. "I love doing original pieces, I love creating a character from scratch so my dream role probably has not yet been written or I haven’t been able to perform it—but absolutely. If there is one in the musical-theater canon that we all love, I would kill [to play Evita]," Parris said. "I would love to just sing it one time in a concert setting...I remember being a teenager in Kansas City, MO and the national tour of Evita coming through and hearing that music and seeing that story live was magnificent. You don’t forget those experiences." While we wait for that dream to come true, be sure to visit School of Rock before it closes on January 20.

2. Clarke Thorell Knew Right Away That Hairspray Would Be a Hit
Clarke Thorell, current cast member of Lincoln Center Theater's My Fair Lady, discussed his impressive résumé when he visited #LiveAtFive on Tuesday, January 8. One of the famous roles he originated is Corny Collins in the original Broadway production of Hairspray. Thorell has nothing but positive memories from his time with the iconic show. "From the moment I picked up those pages in April 2000 to audition for Corny [Collins], I knew," Thorell said. "It was a week-long reading contract and we knew sitting down, walking in that room with that creative team, we just knew. There was no question about the potential of that material and its voice. So we all, through the process of four developmental readings over the course of two years, got to contribute to that. Our voice and stamps still stick to international productions and regional productions in the script and choreography. It was a beautiful ride." And what a beautiful ride it was!

3. Kaley Ann Voorhees Texts with Hal Prince
Kaley Ann Voorhees is currently wowing audiences as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera, and the star has picked up a few friends along the way. Voorhees made history as the youngest woman to play Christine on Broadway when she was just 20 years old going on as an understudy. Now, Voorhees takes on the famous role full-time, but before she headed back to the opera, she celebrated the show's legendary director, Hal Prince, by appearing in his career retrospective Prince of Broadway. When talking about her work with the acclaimed director, Voorhees shared that she and Prince have an adorable relationship. "I'm closest to Hal [Prince] because of the history. Hal is the best," Voorhees said. "He's like a grandfather figure. Every once in a while he'll send me a text with multiple emojis and I'm always gagged that he knows how to use emojis."

.

4. David Cromer Was "Terrified" About The Waverly Gallery.
Tony-winning The Band's Visit director David Cromer is showing off his acting chops again, this time in Kenneth Lonergan's The Waverly Gallery. Cromer visited #LiveAtFive on Thursday, January 10 to talk about switching between directing and acting and shared how scared he was to take on the challenge. "Acting is weird. I like it, and I've always thought at various times I have some skill at it, but I haven’t spent my whole life doing it as aggressively as I pursued directing," Cromer said. "Real actors will tell you that muscles atrophy and it was terrifying trying to be good enough. The only part about it that was unpleasant was the real, very raw terror that I was not going to be able to get through it at anywhere near the level that I needed to. It was exactly challenging enough—I’m not out there doing anything like Elaine [May] and Joan [Allen] are having to do." Don't miss out on seeing The Waverly Gallery before it closes on January 27!

5. Christiani Pitts Is a Grandma Who Does Bikram Yoga
Christiani Pitts can be seen as the iconic Ann Darrow in King Kong eight times a week, but when she's not on monkey duty, she can be seen finding her zen. When Pitts appeared on #LiveAtFive on Friday, January 11, she revealed that acts like a grandma. "My down time has become yoga because it relaxes me to the point where I can fall asleep on the couch," Pitts said. "So I'm a grandma who loves Bikram. Grandma loves a good class."

Be sure to join us every weekday at 5PM for #LiveatFive!