Hello Beautiful People,
Susan Egan. Oh goodness, what can I possibly say about Sus? She’s by far one of the most generous, kind, and talented people I have ever met. When I met her, I was feeling a myriad of emotions, mainly a large sense of frustration with the education system and the place of arts education in our classrooms. Susan gave me renewed sense of faith in the mission The Write Teacher(s), and in my own career. I think of her as my fairy theater godmother, and she is without a doubt one of the smartest individuals in the entertainment industry. To say that her career is successful is something of an understatement, and yet she maintains a beautiful blend of humility, class, and wisdom. I am absolutely elated to share this Q&A with all of you, and forever honored by her support of The Write Teacher(s), and artists everywhere.
Ladies & Gents, meet the one and only, Susan Egan…
TWT: You are the definition of a triple threat, and have hit the trifecta of stage, film, and television. What advice would you give to aspiring actors and singers, especially those who are still in high school?
SE: The world is totally different now than when I started out. The more you can put into your bag of tricks the better. The truth is, there was no YouTube – there was the Internet, but people weren’t emailing each other yet. I didn’t even have an email address when I got Beauty and the Beast, (1992) – there was no broadwayworld.com – none of this new media existed. Young performers now have these outlets; they can go directly to their audience in a way that didn’t exist. My path to an audience was a casting director, and a director, and a producer. Now you can do that all on your own, put it on YouTube, and get hired as a writer by Jimmy Kimmel. It’s a whole different can of worms. You should throw the spaghetti far and wide, and see where it sticks. And you should try it all, until you find your niche. I think a perfect example of this is a friend of mine, Nick Pitera. Growing up, he loved animation and he loved singing, but he didn’t know which one he wanted to pursue. He ended up studying animation as far as his education was concerned, while also putting videos of himself singing on YouTube, and they went viral, to the point where major people were contacting him. Now he’s working for Pixar, while still being a highly sought after singer. Both dreams hit! If I had to do it all over again, I’d be writing my own screenplays and shooting them, and still going to the auditions with the casting directors. I think you should do it all simultaneously.
TWT: Of all the roles you’ve played, is there one in particular that is most memorable?
SE: A director very wisely once told me that you’re cast in the perfect role at the perfect moment in your life. Beauty and the Beast of course changed my whole world, I was the new girl in this village called New York, and then I was cast as the new girl from a village in provincial France. And that was thrilling; I was in this crazy city as an observer, and Belle was in this enchanted castle as an observer, and so I could pull a lot of my own life into it. Ten years later I’m playing Sally Bowles, which is a much meatier role, and I loved Sam Mendes, and Rob Marshall and the entire cast was amazing. At that moment, I was a young single actress in a big city, as was Sally. Every role makes sense at the time, and for that I love them all. I appreciate what Beauty and the Beast did for me, but the role that left me most sated at the end of each show, and took every last ounce of me was probably Sally Bowles. I never have a favorite, but there’s always a lesson to be learned in the role that you’re cast in at the moment. I feel like there are no accidents.
TWT: Just for fun, what sound do you hate?
SE: I hate it when people chew with their mouths open.
TWT: Just for fun, what sound do you love?
SE: Laughter. Giggles. My girls laughing, that’s the best sound.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
TWT: Just for fun, what books are permanently on your bookshelf?
SE: I am a voracious reader. I’m a real nerd – I also read everything from fiction to quantum physics. John Irving’s book, In One Person, is a recent read that I enjoyed, and I find it has really affected me. I don’t think anyone has written about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in New York as amazingly as John Irving. It sounds like such a downer, but it’s not, it’s a celebration of unique people, which is what he writes about. Between the years ’84 to ’94 more men died from AIDS in NYC than in the Vietnam War, and you don’t really think of that. This was happening just as I was coming to New York City, and so many of my early memories as an actress in NY are coming to the theater and seeing Tommy Tunes in tears, which was shocking, but he had lost another friend to AIDS. Those are my memories of the time, but this book gave me a much deeper understanding. It’s an amazing book. Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West, Dorothy Wickenden – it’s a story about two society women at the turn of the century who decide to become teachers out west. The Intention Experiment, by Lynn McTaggart. – it’s great. The Painted Girls, by Cathy Marie Buchanan – historical fiction about three sisters who are studying ballet in France in the 1800s, and one of them becomes the muse of Degas. Fun read. I also just read Life of Pi, I loved it. I tear through books quite quickly, and then hand them to the next person I see, saying you have to read this.
TWT: You’re an accomplished actress, singer, wife, and mother. How do you juggle it all and still keep your sanity?
SE: You’re assuming that I’ve kept my sanity! [Laughter] I’m really lucky. I have help doing it all, I moved to Orange County because my sister-in-law lives down here, and she is a tremendous help, and my husband has a good job, so I can pick and choose jobs. We also have a nanny that helps when I’m working, and will stay with the girls when I have to travel. I also don’t work as much; I do a couple of concerts a month, which is ideal. I’m stay-at-home mom 85% of the time. My kids keep my ego from getting too big, they keep me centered, and it’s also fun to do what I do, and explore my creative side, and I’m hoping that it’s a good example for the girls as well.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
TWT: Just for fun, what musical theater character is least like your personality?
SE: Mrs. Lovett. I don’t think I’d make meat pies. But it’s really the essence of she’s doing everything for this guy, and he’s leading her down this horrible path, and I just want to say to her, you don’t need him! Stop cooking people already, just stop it. He’s not a good influence.
TWT: You were nominated for the Tony for your role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, a role that you originated. Is Belle your favorite Disney princess? If not, who is?
SE: Nobody’s ever asked me that! I like Belle a lot. I liked bringing a sense of humor to the character. Because the play is an hour longer than the movie, we get to do things onstage that they didn’t get to do on film, like showing a mischievous side. I think she’s really bright, I think she’s really funny. If I’m looking at the movies, I love Rapunzel from Tangled – she is the essence of girls, an emotional creature who turns on a dime and I love that about her. I like Pocahontas, but she needs a sense of humor. I also like Tiana, but she needs to loosen up, she gets better by the end, which is actually the lesson she learns. I like that things aren’t given to her, and that she has to work for them – THAT is something I think we need to help our kids understand.
TWT: You spent an entire year as the Interim Artistic Director of the Orange County High School of the Arts. Public education today is something of a battlefield. What advice would you offer to arts educators who constantly have to justify their subject’s importance?
SE: I’m really angry at [people down in] Washington, but it would surprise you maybe on which side I fall. I’m angry at the sequester cuts, I do nothing but read about this. I read everything – the liberal papers and the conservative ones. I read everything. I’ve come to the conclusion that I just want them to butt out, I want them to get out of the way. I want them to let people do what they do. Our current government thinks that the general population is stupid and that they are smarter, and that they will entitle us so that we keep voting for them. These entitlements look like they’re helping people, but I actually think that they’re enslaving people, creating policies that look politically correct but are actually stripping people of their freedom. Spinning situations to look like you are helping people doesn’t help anyone. If you really want to help people, then doctors should be writing the health laws. Teachers should be behind the education laws. In California, something like only thirty percent of incoming freshman in the L.A. school district graduate. What we need are more teachers like you and your team, the really smart teachers are getting frustrated and going to other jobs. A great leader knows how to delegate. A great colonel in the army doesn’t have his thumbprint on the soldiers in the trenches. He works with the next tier down. There’s a chain of command. What we have now is that the head of the country is dictating what the person in the trenches is doing. And this person is so out of touch that there’s absolutely no way that they can make these blanket statements about how to run your classroom and engage and reach your kids, your students. If you want to change the world, you do it in your classroom. If you have to justify what you do for your supervisors and you loose that battle, then you will pick it up somewhere else as a freelance teacher. In the past, I’ve been involved in something here in California called Summer at the Center here in Orange County. It’s a camp for kids who have failed in the foster program. They have three weeks with this amazing mentor/teacher who leads it, and this is a group of real bad inner city gang members – girls who have been raped from the time they were five – their souls have shut down. Their lives have been war. But they do this musical review, and by the end of the three weeks they are singing Disney tunes, and writing their own raps, and there is a light behind their eyes again. It reminds me of the healing power of art. To teachers I say: Your morale stays up as long as you stay as local as possible. Look at your classroom, your kids, and look at the difference your making in your lives. If you focus on them, you will help them, and they will talk about it, and that’s exponential growth. Things like this website create a community that gets, understands, and advocates for artistic support. Talk to people who the arts resonate with, and don’t worry about everyone else. Keep teaching. If you stay steady, and keep doing what you’re doing, the world will conspire to support it. There’s a limited amount of space in your life and if you fill that space with people that don’t get it, then you’re not allowing room for people who do get it. Stop worrying about the old paradigm of teaching – you are the solution, you are the answer to what needs to change.
TWT: In today’s economy, arts programs are being cut. What reasons would you give a politician for preserving the arts?
SE: You don’t ask the politicians. There’s no money, and they’re never going to fund you. We need to stop asking the government for money. The government is not the solution. I believe private industry is! Publications like Music Express from Hal Leonard Publishers helps schools have resources for a music program for very little money – we’re talking $30 per year! For the whole school! See? All the money is going to come from the private sector. You saw it on Broadway fifteen years ago with the American Airlines Theater opening on 42nd street. Do you know how many articles were written about that? “Broadway is going to die because it’s gone corporate!” My response was that Broadway’s going to be SAVED because it’s gone corporate. Just look at what Disney has done for 42nd Street. These theaters that squatters were living in when I first moved to New York are now doing shows and bringing in revenue. My point is that you can’t expect the government to help you. But other people will. Art is humanity, art is food, and you can’t live without food. What has made me sad in the past is art being taken out of the classroom – kids only know to look for things they are exposed to. BUT the internet has changed access channels! YOU are providing access in a different way, in a different capacity. So, it’s only natural that the funding for that comes from a different place – find the brands that are arts oriented or want to reach your audience, because the government is broke.
TWT: Who is/was your greatest teacher?
SE: Ralph Opacic started a program in my high school that is now the Orange County School of the Arts. I never would’ve been on this path had I not been in that 150 person choir my freshman year of school. He has turned out some pretty amazing people, Matthew Morrison, Krysta Rodriguez, Lindsay Mendez, Stephanie J. Block – and that’s just the theater department. And then I was lucky to work with some incredible people who taught me how to behave …Tommy Tune, Gary Beech, Beth Fowler. And then I look at the people who always remembered their roots, Carol Burnett. I went to college on a Carol Burnett scholarship, and then years later we’re playing the only two women in a play at the Taper. She has earned the right to be a diva, but she’s not. The one’s who are the divas, the difficult ones, they’re actually very unhappy people. Paul Newman, Audrey Hepburn, they gave back so much more than they’ve ever received. I love Oprah Winfrey, she has her own opinions, she’s her own woman, and she’s doing great things, her way, with a great message. She remembers her childhood, she remembers her problems – she’s always empowering people to be the best person that he or she can be. Be your best self. Even the Dali Lama likes that idea, no?
Thank you, Sus!
Live, Love, Learn,