FIVE QUESTIONS WITH SAMANTHA PAULY
Samantha Pauly is best known for originating the role of Katherine Howard in SIX the Musical on Broadway, as well as her portrayal of Eva Peron in Jamie Lloyd’s critically acclaimed West End revival of Evita at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. She also originated the role of Valkyrie in the First National Tour of Jim Steinman’s Bat Out of Hell the Musical.
2019 was a huge year in theatre for you. You portrayed the iconic role of Eva Peron in Evita in your West End debut, and later made your Broadway debut after touring around the US and Canada with Six! What was your favourite experience?
It’s so hard to pick a favorite experience, like you said I’ve been given an abundance of opportunities and blessings over the last year. I think the best thing that happened that included all aspects, was getting the phone call with my offer for Broadway while I was doing Evita.
We were at intermission of a performance and I had a missed call and text from my agent, so I thought I’d give him a call back. He knew I had limited time so he made it super casual to surprise me, but I was in my dressing room with our wig tech who was doing my hair and our dance captain, Amy. Amy pulled out her phone to video tape the whole thing when she realized what the phone call was, and our door was open so pretty much the entire cast heard. To be surrounded by such supportive people, and to celebrate that special moment with them was really wonderful. And to top it off, my husband was visiting London and was seeing our last preview that evening right in the front row. So then I got to go out and finish the show, straight to him, and then give him the news after!
You play Katherine Howard in Six on Broadway. Can you tell us a little bit about your character? What is it like portraying a character who is also a historical figure?
It’s really special to me to get to portray this character and tell her story, especially because her story is one that is still so timely.
Katherine is commonly known for being very promiscuous or “slutty”, which is a word people have actually used to describe her even after seeing the show (insert giant eye roll here). But her history is incredibly heart breaking. She was sexually abused from the time she was about 12 years old until she died.
Henry wanted to marry her when she was only 17 and he was almost 40 years her senior, and he ended up ordering for her to be beheaded because people began blackmailing her about her past. Â What was actually abuse and rape, was seen as infidelity at the time, and for that she was killed.
It’s important for me to tell her story for what it actually is because we still shame and question women in our current climate.
My overall message within the show, specifically with my character, is to believe women. To believe what they’ve gone through, and believe what they say when they say it.
Six is a global sensation. What has the experience of being part of a show with such a large following been like?
It’s really wild, I didn’t think I’d ever be a part of something this huge. I always hoped I’d make it to Broadway, but never in a million years did I imagine or expect that I would be making my Broadway debut originating a principal role in a show that already had so much buzz. I still pinch myself regularly, and I also feel like in the back of my mind I’m just waiting for the rug to get pulled out from under my feet.
What we’ve created here in the US, and what Toby and Lucy have made in the UK and Australia, is something truly special. It’s empowering and exciting, and to be able to say that I get to premiere that here on Broadway is absolutely humbling.
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