An Interview with Christiane Noll
By: Maya Cantu May. 09, 2006
Noll has received some stellar reviews for her performance as Laura, but let's not overstate the similarities. The singer/actress, who has been known to jump off a plane or two in between starring in musicals, is a performer who does not like to set too many limits on herself. The versatile Noll has performed in numerous genres in a wide variety of roles, ranging from the bewildered fiancee of a two-faced scientist to the loopy daughter of a toilet tycoon to an infamous ax murderess.
There's not anything so grisly in A Fine and Private Place, but the musical certainly confronts issues of mortality. In the show, a man named Rebeck (Joseph Kolinski) frequents the graveyard and offers spiritual guidance--as well as time-passing chess matches--to souls who have not been able to make peace with their earthly lives.
Noll says of the musical, "It's a story about love, self discovery and the importance of living fully and bravely and then letting go. It is a sweet piece that makes people laugh and cry and question who is really living. I've enjoyed working on it." She calls director Gabriel Barre (who also plays a fast food-craving raven) "phenomenal...the whole cast is tremendous." She is similarly enthusiastic about the York Theatre Company. " They give life to new shows that deserve an audience. They produce pieces, like A Fine And Private Place, that might not necessary have an open ended run but that are wonderful works and should be seen!"
Noll has worked so steadily over the last decade that it's a little hard to believe that she has only been on Broadway twice--in 1999's It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and 1997's Jekyll & Hyde, the lushly-scored Frank Wildhorn/Leslie Bricusse musical in which she played Emma Carew, the loving--and very worried--fiancee of the personality-shifting title character. "I am so grateful for that show -- it gave me my introduction to the New York theatre community. It made me interesting enough to people to allow me to do all of the things that I have done since," she says.
Her association with the musical, with its many "Jekkie" fans, is something she takes pride in--and something for which she's remembered. "It's funny because whether I am doing a concert in Ohio or a show in San Francisco or NY people still stop me and say that they saw me in J&H. It seems like a lifetime ago for me. But, I have met a lot of wonderful people as a result of that show -- on the stage and in the audience. There are fans of the show who have become friends that I will always have." Noll says that she recently had lunch with Robert Cuccioli, who played Jekyll and Hyde and who is now starring Off-Broadway in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. "He and I had lunch and a giggle a few weeks ago, talking about how someone just recently posed a question to his website asking why Hyde kills Lucy if he really loves her? Ten years after the pre-Broadway tour, they should probably ask Leslie Bricusse or Frank Wildhorn!"
Noll's fans from her Jekyll & Hyde days might have been a little pleasantly surprised to watch the actress--who had been so earnestly touching in the Wildhorn show--transform into crackpot ingenue Hope Cladwell in the national tour of Urinetown three years ago. "Hope was a hoot. What a creative team!," she says, referring to Mark Hollmann, Greg Kotis, John Rando, and John Carrafa, among others. "They all participated in mounting our production and were determined to build the show around us, learning from the Broadway cast but not imposing anything on our performances. I think the results were really great! The connection to the audience was really thrilling. It's very intoxicating when you learn how to make an audience laugh with some continuity." Noll, who won raves for her performance, was also pleased that she was allowed to sing some optional high notes throughout the score.
Noll possesses a sweet, supple voice that can easily float from belty steel to coloratura silk--so it's not surprising that she has experience with operetta. To date, she has starred in two of them--both with music by Sigmund Romberg. She played innkeeper's daughter Kathie in The Student Prince at Paper Mill Playhouse and 18th century New Orleans belle Marianne in The New Moon at Encores! She also portrayed Valencienne in The National Opera's production of The Merry Widow--with none other than the legendary Placido Domingo. "What a memory that will always be!," reminisces Noll, who is the daughter of an opera singer and a conductor.
Operetta--with its heavy-breathing heroines and stout-hearted men--is often mocked today for its excesses, but Noll insists that the genre can appeal to a modern audience. "Most people were shocked at how much they truly enjoyed The New Moon at Encores! Heroic, romantic, exciting music sung and acted with great passion --- what's not to love! The music of composers like Lehar and Romberg is glorious. I love the innocence and the unadulterated romance of operettas. I have been fortunate that the few that I have had the pleasure of working on were directed by people who were not afraid of them, but truly understood the honesty of their appeal. Gary Griffin and Robert Johanson allowed the works to speak for themselves rather than commenting on them or trying to make something of them," she says, noting the gratifying results of such an approach.
Noll has also played roles that demand a little more acting range than do operetta characters. In 2001, she starred in Goodspeed's production of the Christopher McGovern-Amy Powers musical Lizzie Borden, about the woman who was accused of slaughtering her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892. Noll found the role challenging, but more than rose to the occasion; both she and the sold-out show were critical hits. "It was terrifying and yummy how easy it was for me to find her. I revisited her for some recording purposes a year or so after the show and BOOM -- there she was -- my eyes got kind of funny. We began rehearsals in October and I remember the director, Bill Castellino (I have been blessed with some wonderful directors) came up to me, held my hand and said 'Ok, it's time to go there. I'm here for you.' I recall my response was something like, 'All righty, see you after Thanksgiving!'"
Last year, Noll played a very different role--cigarette girl Vanna Vane in the Broadway-bound musical The Mambo Kings, which after opening to less-than-positive reviews in San Francisco, closed on the road. Noll instantly related to her character, who is the love interest of Cuban guitarist Cesar--"You know how there are those secondary characters that the audience just falls in love with? Well, that was Vanna! You don't get those opportunities very often." She also has fond memories of the show: " Ahh, The Mambo Kings! A moment of silence please...It was a great ride for me. I wish more people had seen it but with all the producers and directors that were paraded around us out in San Francisco, trying to save it, I guess it was the best audition I could have ever given." She also raves about the choreography of Sergio Trujillo-- "Amazing! The dancers, the musicians! Passion that would make me weep every night!"
Noll displays the same kind of commitment in her work as a cabaret and concert artist: "I do quite a bit of Symphony Pops concert work. I love it. You get to sing the best that the Broadway stage has to offer with a 70 piece orchestra! All of that sound--wow! And I love getting to cut up and be silly with the audience between songs. There is an direct energy between the audience and the performer that is undeniable," enthuses the actress, who also performs in more intimate venues and whose solo CDs include "Live at the West Bank Cafe" and "The Ira Gershwin Album." She was more than happy to dedicate a whole album to the lyricist whose fame is sometimes overshadowed by his composer brother. "His catalog is an embarrassment of riches. He wrote with George, Kurt Weill...Who else? Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Harry Warren, Burton Lane, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans. George wrote incredible music but Ira is the reason we still sing the songs!"
Audiences are currently able to catch Noll in concert; the performer is booked throughout the summer with different symphony orchestras around the country, and advises fans to check her website for details (as her schedule sometimes changes).
Concerts and shows aren't her only future plans; she's also planning a waltz down the aisle after the concert tour. "I'm off to get married and move into a new house! My fiance is Jamie LaVerdiere. Right now he is in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, but will be a part of the new Schonberg/ Boublil musical The Pirate Queen. Swashing and Buckling!," laughs Noll, for whom the title of her album "A Broadway Love Story" has proved prophetic. "They have 2 weeks of fight camp; I can't wait! They leave for their Chicago try out right after we get married. I guess the honeymoon will be spent teching the show in Chicago! Ahh, show business!"
Noll--who lists rock climbing and scuba diving, as well as parachuting off airplanes, among her past daredevil experiences--says that she is able to see the parallels between performing and other journeys into the unknown. "Conquering a mountain. The beauty of nature -- soaring like a bird -- Becoming part of something bigger than yourself -- whether that be in the air, the water, the forest or on a stage, I guess! Thrilling!"
A Fine and Private Place plays at the York Theatre Company through May 21st; visit www.yorktheatre.org for more information. To learn more about Noll (and upcoming concert appearances), visit www.christianenoll.com.
Photo Credits
1) Christiane Noll, Photo by Deborah Lopez
2) Noll and Robert Cuccioli in Jekyll & Hyde, Photo by Carol Rosegg
3) Noll and Charlie Pollock in the national tour of Urinetown, Photo by Kevin Berne
4) Esai Morales and Noll in The Mambo Kings, Photo by Joan Marcus
5) Christiane Noll, Photo by Matthew Sullivan
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