Company Star Katrina Lenk on Working with Patti LuPone, Her Role on Tommy and More

Not unlike many New Yorkers, Katrina Lenk's life pre-quarantine was filled with places to go and people to see. Bells ringing, doors chiming, tech rehearsals running, stagedoor takeout arriving—things were busy for the Tony winner who was just over a week into preview performances as the leading lady in the Broadway revival of Company. "We were used to not knowing what day it was," the she joked to Broadway.com's Paul Wontorek on #LiveatFive: Home Edition. "We were in that hectic tech and previews time, where you get up in the morning, you go to the theater all day, and you don't get home until after midnight."

Ever since the Broadway shutdown was announced on March 12, the cast has been meeting weekly on Zoom for rehearsals. Though Great White Way performances are currently scheduled to remain closed through June 7, the cast is eager to get back to Tony-winning director Marianne Elliott's fresh take on Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical.

The new production follows Bobbie, not Bobby—musical theater's most available bachelor is now a woman celebrating her 35th birthday complete with cake, cocktails and questions from friends about her single status. "She's definitely a modern woman in New York. Both Marianne Elliott and Stephen Sondheim were very open to shifting things slightly to make them feel more modern and more appropriate," Lenk said. "I have to give a shout-out to Rosalie Craig." [Craig portrayed Bobbie in the London production of Company and received a 2019 Olivier Award nomination.] Though they have yet to meet, Lenk expressed feeling as if she already knows her: "When you share a role with someone, you feel like you have a connection to them. I would love to meet her one day. There are big shoes to share there."

Lenk is also sharing her Company experience with Broadway legend Patti LuPone; the two-time Tony winner won the 2019 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Lenk first met LuPone while appearing in The Band's Visit. "She knows [composer] David Yazbek, of course. I met her briefly backstage and fell in love with her instantly. I've never gotten a chance to work with her before. It's everything you could imagine. It's not about Patti, it's about what's best for the story. She's a theater woman."

Now that she is spending time inside, Lenk has been busying herself with reading and working on music. Theater fans who miss her can currently catch her on CBS' drama series Tommy ("I play a sports agent named Kiley Mills, who gets to know Tommy, if you know what I mean.") or if they bingewatch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime. She can be spotted as a pizza-slinging fortune teller in seasons one and two. "I didn't get to do anything with Tony Shalhoub, but I would see him when I was on set," she said of her fellow Band's Visit Tony winner, who has an Emmy for his performance as the title character's father. "It's a cast of really wonderful, generous people. All of the costumes that we tried on were legitimately from the '50s. It was really fun."

A performer as in-demand as Lenk is trying to make the best of the extra time she has. "Not doing too much, that's something we don't often get to do. You gotta make the best of the situation, right?" Lenk is excited for Broadway to reopen. "I do really look forward to theater coming back," she said. "I'm looking forward to the time when people can come together as a group and have a shared experience in person. That's what I'm looking forward to the most: eye contact." We'll drink to that!

Watch Lenk talk about Company and more in the full episode below!