Blair Ross
Currently: Making her Broadway debut as fading diva Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street, having headlined the first national tour of the revival.
Hometown: Ridgewood, New Jersey. Despite the fact that Ross had no actors in the family, she knew what she wanted to do as soon as she began performing in plays in junior high. However her folks were not about to send her to some performing arts school. “When I went to college my father said: ‘Please, child, I beg of you, don't major in theater. You'll never get a job. Major in something substantial.' So I thought, ‘What can I find where I am positive I'll never get work?' So I majored in Art History.”
With Plenty of Money Behind You: Ross has worked with some theater giants including Cy Coleman, but it wasn't until she got this role on the 42nd Street tour that she really felt the pressure of holding together a big-budget production. “Everyone thinks, ‘It's not that tough a role because she doesn't dance.' But you sing more than anyone else and you really have to drive that first act. It is surprisingly tiring. [Previous Dorothy Brock] Shirley Jones had a perfectly good excuse. She was like, 'I'm 70. I'm worn out. I'm going home to pet my Oscar.' And I said: ‘Shirley, I am 44 and I am worn out!'”
Go Into You Dance: Ross believes that, while her character doesn't really dance, it is Brock that actually allows the tappers to do their thing: “I consider myself the vaudeville Shecky Greene break in 42nd Street. I'll go out there and do a scene and sing so the kids can get their breath and then come back tapping.”
Hear My Train a Comin': Ross was already off the tour, hanging out with her sister and nieces in a cabin upstate, when she got the big Broadway call. “[Director] Mark Bramble recommended they hire me,” she explains. “So I was kind of hopeful and a little nervous. We went to Woodstock to buy hippie T-shirts and stuff, just to get my mind off it. We came back from our hippie day at Woodstock, stinking of patchouli, and I walked over to my answering machine and the offer was there. I was so excited.”
I Only Have Eyes For You? Ross sees Brock as not bitchy by nature, but testy because of her crumbling career. Also, in her mind, Brock and Julian Marsh the director that she clashes with have a steamy past, which is certainly not helping matters. “It's something Pat Sullivan and I toyed around with on the road. We worked as if these people were former paramours and it was just disastrous. So that is another place where the anger can come through and also some affection. [Broadway's Julian] Patrick Cassidy, God bless him, just took that ball and ran with it. And it was a huge adjustment for him having just played the role with his mother!”
Feline Waltz: Ross brings some special additions to the Broadway production: her cats, which alternate performances in the show. “When we were on the tour, as a joke, I said to Mark Bramble, ‘I think Dorothy Brock needs a cat in ‘Getting Out of Town.' The next day he says, ‘I've been thinking about the cat. Do you think he could do it?' So the older cat, who is 18 now, had to audition. He had a callback and then he was cast.” Surprisingly Ross isn't the first Dorothy Brock to try to incorporate a pet into the show. “Christine Ebersole wanted to use her Chihuahua, but Chihuahua hit the stage and screamed, so the Chihuahua was canned. He couldn't hack it. My cats--audition, call back and they nail it.”
Dames: This production of 42nd Street gives Dorothy Brock more to do than the original one, because, as Ross says, it was “tailored it as a star vehicle for Christine Ebersole.” And Dodger Stage Holdings, the producers, have tried to get many Hollywood divas to do the role. “The one who I thought would be so fantastic was Cher. I kept telling the Dodgers to try to get Cher. In an interview they said to her, ‘So, Cher, what is next for you?' And she was like, ‘I don't know.... maybe Broadway.' I was like, ‘HELLO?!?' She would have been a blast. But I don't think they can ever get to her people.”
Lullaby of Broadway: “It could not be a better circumstance for my Broadway debut. I have come so close, so many times before, and [it's great] to finally hit this milestone in a role that I really love in a show I adore. My first night on Broadway I was not all nervous and sweaty. I couldn't wait to hit that stage. At 44, I really appreciate it. You know a lot of times folks will make their Broadway debuts at like 22 and then they can say, ‘Oh, yeah. I did a Broadway show.' They might take it for granted. I sure don't take it for granted. I consider myself the luckiest person. I just love going to work.”