Allie Brodsky
Allie Brodsky’s favorite things tend to come in threes: deltas (she lives in her sorority, Tridelt); sports (the former athlete played soccer, basketball and softball); and she’s been swine flu-free for the past three days.
The sophomore theater/musical theater major was one of seven cast members in Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George to get swine flu, less than two weeks before tonight’s opening night at Shanley Pavillion. The Tenafly, New Jersey native took a break from Hell Week to talk to NU Intel about the show, the swine, and stalking Sutton Foster.
So tell me about what happened with swine flu!
I started feeling really sick last Thursday morning, and I called the doctor because I had a temperature. …And he told me I had swine flu. But it actually went by really fast—it was like three days of awfulness, and now my fever’s been gone for 72 hours and I’m not contagious anymore. So I’m ready to go!
What’s one thing people should know about Sunday in the Park with George that they don’t already know?
The show is kind of complex. The first act takes place in the 1880s and the second act takes place in 1984. The first act takes place on the Island from “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat. The second act is about Seurat’s great-grandson, who is an artist.
What’s your favorite play or musical?
I have a bunch but my favorite musical—I’ve been in it, and I guess that’s one of the reasons it’s my favorite—is RENT. It just struck something really deep within me, and whenever I think of a perfect production or perfect experience, that’s what I think of. But I also love Les Misérables and I hope to be in that show one day. Plays are hard—I love plays like Noises Off but I do prefer musicals.
Drama, comedy, or musical theater?
I love musical theater and comedy. I have yet to really love acting in a serious drama, but I want to when I’m at Northwestern. I think it’s a great experience to do, but right now the places where I feel most comfortable acting are in comedy and in musical theater.
Broadway: Yea or nay?
Yea! That’s my ultimate goal. I love Broadway.
What’s the most embarrassing theater-y task you’ve ever had to do?
I guess it was when I was in RENT. I played the character Maureen who does this routine that’s this theatrical performance called “Over the Moon.” It’s a really crazy thing. I just totally let myself go and I was very vulnerable on stage. It was when just the cast was watching so there were no audience members, and it required a lot of laughter for me to keep going because it’s kind of embarrassing. So it wasn’t until two days before the first performance that I actually felt good about it and people were moo-ing with me. So that was probably the most embarrassing, but after I started doing it, it wasn’t that bad.
David Mamet or Tony Kushner?
I’m not really familiar with either of them. I know Tony Kushner did Angels in America, which we had to read for a class last year and it was amazing. He also did an adaptation of The Illusion which I worked on last year, which was a TI show. I’d have to say Kushner because I don’t really know any Mamet plays.
Which famous person’s career would you like to have?
It’s hard because I ultimately want to be on stage and not in movies, but there are a lot of movie actors and actresses I admire. I feel like the obvious answer would be Johnny Depp just because he’s so versatile and really dives into his characters. Same with Angelina Jolie.
For stage acting, I really have always admired Sutton Foster. She was in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and that’s one of my favorite shows. She’s always been my role model—for theater, I just think she’s an incredible performer. When I started following her in the seventh grade, my mom promised we could go see Millie. I came home from camp that summer and we were ready to get tickets, but it closed so I wasn’t able to see her. So then the following winter we wanted to see Little Women, which she was in, so we went to the performance and on the door it said that she was sick so she wasn’t going to be in the performance. Then I went to go see Drowsy Chaperone with a bunch of my friends and it was actually her wedding that weekend, so she wasn’t there. Finally, I went to see Young Frankenstein, which she was in, and I saw her and I cried. I also got to see her in Shrek which was also so her. I love her.
