Pretty Woman Star Jillian Mueller on Playing Iconic '80s Film Roles on Stage, Real Housewives Lip-Syncs & More
(Photos: Emilio Madrid-Kuser for Broadway.com)
After a year of understudying Samantha Barks in Pretty Woman on Broadway, Jillian Mueller is taking over the role of Vivian Ward full-time. "It's nice because I already know the undertaking," the actress says. “Being the understudy, every time I did get to go on, it always made sense to me." Mueller and Brennin Hunt, new to the cast as Edward, both began their leading turns July 22. Now, she says, she is excited to tackle the role eight times a week. "I really enjoy the responsibility," she says. "And I thrive on that pressure a little bit." Mueller sat down with Broadway.com to talk about making her Broadway debut as a tween, her habit of playing iconic movie characters from the '80s, and how her Real Housewives obsession led to an appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
Extreme Dress-Up
Growing up in the New Jersey suburb of Marlboro (“Like the cigarettes,” she says with a pretend puff) Mueller’s parents might have predicted she would go on to wear costumes for a living. “My thing was dress up,” she says, “I would go to kindergarten, pre-K and I always wear a costume. My parents had to always pack a change of clothes because I would probably get in trouble for not wearing real clothes at school, but I wanted to wear my Ariel dress.” One costume quickly morphed into several when she began reenacting her favorite movies in her living room. “I would pick a part to play and literally do quick changes with the film," she remembers. "So, I was always into this. This was always what I wanted to do.”
Broadway Beginnings
Since her family’s home was close to New York City, Mueller “badgered” her parents into letting her go into the city to audition for Broadway shows and national tours—anything that had a kid role. “I didn’t care about school,” she says. “I didn't care about having those normal experiences like going to prom or things like that. I wanted to like go to a Broadway opening.” When she was just 12 years old, she made her Broadway debut in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. “Getting to make your Broadway debut when you're a kid,” she says, “I feel like it's extra magical.”
Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman
Mueller describes being a kid on Broadway as “delicate,” since some child actors become burned out and don’t go on to pursue performing as an adult career. “You have to make that transition, which can be very, very hard,” she says. After playing in the ensemble of the John Stamos/Gina Gershon revival of Bye, Bye, Birdie, she found herself in that very transition. “Everybody tells you before you're 18, 'You're not going to really work because they're going to hire people that are 18-plus to play teenager parts,'” she explains. “I didn't want to believe it.” With the blind ambition of a 15-year-old, Mueller set off on a mission to audition for anything and everything, no matter what her age. “I started going to all these open Equity calls for everything,” she remembers. “I would put my eyeliner on. I'd be like, 'Well, as long as I look like I'm 18, no one needs to know.'” The audition spree, which she thinks of as her college training, paid off when she booked the tour of American Idiot at 16. She now admits they probably didn’t know her age when they cast her.
Not That Mueller and Not That Mueller, Either
The new leading lady’s surname has been in the news recently, and while she has no relation to the former FBI director, she has more than once been mistaken for one of the Broadway Muellers—as in Jessie and Abby. She tells the story of her first time auditioning for Pretty Woman director Jerry Mitchell five years ago. “I'm telling you, he's never even heard this. I don't think he remembers this,” she laughs. “I walked in and Jerry was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it's so nice to meet one of the other sisters!’” Mueller says she had no idea what was happening, before she realized his mistake. “I don't know if I should correct people because I'm like, ‘Well, if it gets me the job, sure! I'm related!’” Oh, and by the way, it's muh-ler.
Real Housewives, Big Brother... and Tommy Bracco
During long days at the Nederlander Theatre, sometimes Pretty Woman cast members have to find ways of entertaining themselves. "You literally start to lose your mind," Mueller jokes. "We're all together all the time, and the end of the day, we're a bunch of weird theater kids, so we just put on shows and do little projects." For Mueller—as well as co-stars Ellyn Marie Marsh, Lauren Lim and Tommy Bracco—that means lip-syncing to reality TV soundbites like fights from the Real Housewives. As a self-described "junkie" for anything that appears on Bravo, she was thrilled when Watch What Happens Live found videos of their lip-syncs on Instagram [see below] and invited them to appear as guest bartenders on the Andy Cohen show. And that's not the cast's only brush with reality TV. Bracco, who originated the role of bellhop Giulio, currently appears on CBS's Big Brother. And yes, his company does have watch parties: "We watch the live feeds all the time backstage."
Ladies in the '80s
If there's a niche for leading actresses in musicals inspired by '80s rom-coms, Mueller might just have a monopoly on it. When she was just 20, she lead the national tour of Flashdance as Alex. The next year, she went out on the Dirty Dancing tour as (who else?) Baby. She says translating those beloved female film characters to the stage helped her prepare to play Vivian. "I did two '80s movies on stage, so the idea of that was not foreign to me," she explains. "I also have done this enough where you know what people are sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for. You know those lines." But the most iconic moments from those movies—like Pretty Woman's "Big mistake, big. Huge."—can't be replicated, so Mueller is careful to avoid immitation. "People have a certain expectation, but I feel confident now at this point that, no matter what, it's always going to be your own," she explains. "You can never be a cut-out of somebody else, so don't try."
