"Home Is Where The Heart Is"
Interview with Katie Rose Clarke, Steven Jamail and Nikole Vallins
Home is always a definitive characteristic of the place you grew up, where you currently live, what triggers a sense of calm, comfort or most importantly, what hopefully makes you happy. Some call it a house. Others call it a city, a time or a place. For Broadway star Katie Rose Clarke (The Light in the Piazza, WICKED- The Musical) and musical director Steven Jamail (VOTE!-The Musical), their home on Wednesday November 13th will be 54 Below- the award-winning New York City cabaret and restaurant that has been host to many performers including Ben Vereen, Patti LuPone, Sierra Boggess, Aaron Tveit and countless additional current and classic persona of the Great White Way.
I had the honor of sitting down to speak with Katie and Steven as they prepare for what is to be a night of songs and stories that will invite the audience back to their roots with rock, pop, folk and original pieces. Do not expect to hear usual standards that have been sung time and time again. This brilliant, and at times hilarious pair, having both grown up in the same small town in Texas and now residing in New York City, are bringing fresh and new material to an awaiting audience that is sure to feel at home at this exciting show.
Interested in reading a bit of our conversation? See Below:
Katie, I know many New Yorkers know you from your fantastic performances, but not you as a person! Give us a bit of backstory as to who you are.
Katie: I grew up in the small town of Friendswood, Texas, the same hometown as Steven! We both went to the same high school, did community theater together (Bye Bye Birdie)!
Steven: When I tell you we are from a very specific small town in Texas, there are no words to describe it! (Chuckles)
Steven: It's finny how small it is because when we run into someone from the same hometown, we directly go into saying all the same cheers and songs…it's ridiculous.
Katie: Did you know Steven and I were in the same marching band?!
Steven: I was in the drum major and Katie was a cheerleader so we go a lllllllllll the way back. How funny is that!
Katie: All the Friday Night Lights; all the band performances. That is where we are coming from.
Katie: I know, right! The best part is we reconnected after I was in Houston studying at Sam Houston State University and had moved to New York City to begin my first Broadway musical, The Light in the Piazza, just shy of graduating college. I started singing some of his music and he is just a brilliant composer and we've been kind of been of inseparable ever since. This year we even started writing together. He has been teaching me so much! I am very fledgling and he's very patient.
Steven: She's actually a really brilliant pop song writer. It's kind of ridiculous.
Katie: Ha, yeah, well, only in the eyes of those that love me. (Laughing). But really, it's been an amazing journey.
It must have been amazing to book your first Broadway musical while still in college, but difficult to juggle finals and graduating and the move to New York City?
Katie: It was crazy. I was in the middle of finals and setting to graduate on time that December. I had just turned twenty one and began to learn a lot about this industry through trial and error and have been given a lot of grace to make mistakes (even in front of an audience) all to be able to accomplish my dream. I think one of the most important things that helped during this time was the support of my mom. We are very close and she came with me when I moved to New York to help get set up, and even help cook dinners! I was studying and finishing finals online and at the same time, in rehearsals for the show, so having her there to support (and even help cook dinner!) was immensely helpful. It's also kind of crazy- I opened the show December ninth, and graduated December seventeenth- all at the same time. I joke now that I did not graduate by walking across the Sam Houston State stage, I walked across the Lincoln Center stage! And from there, I had to figure out agents really fast, the lay of the city, an apartment, etc. Total shot out of a cannon! But it was amazing because once I finished the show in New York, I went for six months on the National Tour of the same show, came back to New York and got inaugurated into "WICKED-land" and have been there for quite awhile.
Tell me about your time with WICKED. Having been a part of this show for so many years and going back to it time and again, did you return so many times because it was a comfort, or was it because the role of "Glinda" is just that fantastic to play?
Katie: WICKED taught me so much both as an actress and about myself. I have been with the show since the end of 2008- wow! There is always so much to learn in the role of "Glinda" no matter how many times you go on and I think that is one of the greatest parts to playing such an iconic part. As an actress in this business, I think loyalty from a show is so rare and an honor to have that type of a relationship with that kind of a show. So much that if they needed someone to fill in, I was always happy to do so as it's never been lost to me knowing how big of a show WICKED is, but more importantly, how important it is having the shows' trust and that sense of family.
Tell me about the fans! Have you built lots of memories from the audiences that would come up to you after you performed as "Glinda"?
Katie: It's been amazing having been able to build a fan base from my time at WICKED. People that come to the show are loving and supportive. The stage door was always amazing. People pick your brain about the character, have questions, want pictures and tank you all for bringing the character to life and it is just so rewarding. It is not the reason why we do it (we do it as it is our job as a performer), but, to know that what you put out there means something to somebody is truly an honor.
What has been the most memorable moment for you as a performer on Broadway?
Katie: Definitely when we did the live recording of The Light in the Piazza. It was both the most memorable, and most terrifying! (Laughs)
And what about the funniest?
Katie: Oooooh, the bubble and wig incident in WICKED. (Laughing). I was mid-air in the mechanical bubble at the opening of the show while on tour and it flew off, along with the crown and landed on stage. I think there's an article somewhere out there about it. (Laughing)
Hahaha, I will! So, let's move on to the show at 54 Below! Yo hare premiering an entire new set of songs- what will the audience be seeing?
Katie: This concert is really special because I really feel that WICKED has been a huge part of my life and now I have the opportunity to break out from it and explore new music and songs. I have never performed a single song that we are doing on Wednesday! (Laughing) It is all songs that mean something to Steven and I. We have such similar backgrounds and we're bringing our roots across in the concert.
Steven, what is it like working with one of your long-time friends that has turned into a full-fledged Broadway star?
Steven: It's really crazy, but also one of the most joyful things I have done. I keep telling her she is my musical soulmate. We literally created the setlist by instinct and gut and I can say that 54 Below has never heard a setlist like this….never (Both Laughing). But working with Katie on this has really felt like home in the best incarnations of that word and I hope the audience feels that too when they come to the show on Wednesday.
I also had the opportunity to ask Nikole Vallins, producer of this concert why she is excited to produce this exciting new show- here is her response:
Nikole: Funnily enough, I met Katie back in 2003, but it took Mr. Steven Jamail to reunite us years later. Katie is one of those rare people in this business who doesn't eat, sleep and breathe this business. She loves it, but it does not define her and I love working with people like that. She has been really lucky in her career and has not stopped working. Now, she is ready for the next level and wants to show the industry another side to her. Stripping down Katie and singing the songs that inspired her and continue to do so is what is happening on that stage. My one request was not to sing any Musical Theater and she listened. Oh, and to embrace Social Media!
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As you can tell, Katie and Steven have their work cut out for them this coming Wednesday evening. But as they shared above, they have the passion, fire and excitement to transport the patrons, friends, and audience at 54 Below and make them feel as though they are at home with the Broadway star and her rising musical counterpart. On with the show!
Tickets are available by visiting TicketWeb.com or by calling 888-468-7619. 54 Below is located at 254 W. 54th St, Cellar - New York, NY 10019
9:30 PM EST (8:45 PM DOORS)
Tickets are $25.00 - $35.00
There Is An Additional $25 Food & Beverage Minimum Not Included
(Special thanks to Katie Rose Clarke, Steven Jamail and Nikole Vallins for their time and gracious sharing.)
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