www.RobbieRozelle.com

Robbie Rozelle: Welcome to Fynsworth Alley Michelle!

Michelle Nicastro: Thank you.

RR: You were born in DC, correct? What was it like growing up there?

MN: My father was going to medical school in Georgetown, but I wasn’t there that long. My parents moved to New Jersey. I grew up there, then I went away to Northwestern in Chicago, where I studied theatre.

RR: Did you study theatre or musical theatre?

MN: Well, I studied theatre. Actually, I have a degree in communication. I went to school there with… you know its funny, I was watching the movie “Hedwig And The Angry Inch…”

RR: Great movie…

MN: …and I went to school with John Cameron Mitchell! I turned to my husband and said, “I know this is going to sound corny, but I am so proud that I went to school with these people, because I had no idea that was in John Cameron Mitchell.” And it’s just like the thought of anyone even thinking up that idea, it’s unbelievable to me. Bizarre, and unique and interesting… I also went to school with Julia Louis Dreyfus, Gregg Eddleman… it was a really, really nice crowd of people. I had a wonderful experience there, I really did. It was just a tremendous, tremendous college experience for me.

RR: Did you do shows with them?

MN: Yeah, I did… I did.

RR: That’s incredible!

MN: It was fun.

RR: Then you found your way to New York and Broadway?

MN: Interestingly enough, I moved to Los Angeles. I got a job at Anne Taylor. About two weeks later, auditioned for a show called Merlin, and got the lead in it, and got flown to New York. Isn’t it strange? It’s like I moved to LA to get a job on Broadway! You know, my heart was always there, so I think it was meant to be. And I’m so thankful that I did it when I did it, because now I’d probably be going “Oh! But I never did Broadway!” It’s the pinnacle for anybody in musical theatre.

RR: You did the show with Nathan Lane- his first musical, Chita Rivera, Doug Henning and a 13-year-old Christian Slater…

MN: He was like this little boy! He kept trying to come into my dressing room! I saw him at Les Miz in the audience, and he’s waving at me, and I’m like “Oh. My. God. I’m getting too old!” He was a little boy, and there he was… grown up!

RR: Merlin… There was a big controversy about the reviews of Merlin.

MN: There was. Because of the magic, we couldn’t take the show out of town, which we really needed, but we couldn’t do it because the stage was built around the show. We had to have all of our trials in the city in our theatre. We were changing the show every day… I know because I was there every day getting new script pages and songs! One day, I guess, the theatre critics decided “It’s been too long, we’re gonna go in, even if they’re not open.” We begged them not to, but they said “Nope…. It’s too long.” And they came in, three or four of the papers [New York Times and Daily News among them], and just reviewed the show. The show wasn’t really ready to be reviewed. Most of the reviews, from what I recall, were not pleasant. We were sold out, and when the reviews came out, we were half full.

RR: I read Frank Rich’s review, and he said very nice things about you, but not about Doug Henning. Nathan Lane just called Doug a triple threat; he couldn’t sing, dance or act.

MN: Right!

RR: You were his leading lady in the show. Any stories about Doug Henning?

MN: No. He was just sweet as can be. Really and truly. So nice. He and his wife—his wife was in the show as well. He was very much into meditation, and he would always meditate before the show. You know, he was just a very nice person. God rest his soul, he passed from lung cancer.

RR: Did you do an album first, or did you do a track for one of the compilation albums?

MN: I did an album first. I did Toonful. His first album was Liz Callaway—No I think he did a Sondheim…

RR: Unsung Sondheim…

MN: And he did Liz Callaway, and then me. So I was one of the first people on the label!

RR: You also have more albums than anybody on the label…

MN: I have four. Toonful was a really big seller. I think it was because it was one of the first animation compilations, now there’s a lot more of them, but it just took off. When that happened, they asked me to do an additional three [Toonful Too, Reel Imagination and On My Own]. So I signed an exclusive contract with them and kept recording.

RR: You are also on a bunch of the compilation albums as well… The Burt Bacharach album, which you sing “Alfie” on…

MN: Isn’t that a great song?

RR: And, you have a hidden track on On My Own. You sing “Disneyland.” I think that’s so funny because all of your other albums have Disney songs on them.

MN: You’re right! You’re right!

RR: Was that recorded the same time as On My Own?

MN: It was. Actually, it’s Jodi Benson’s track that she had recorded for another one of Bruce’s albums [Unsung Musicals]. I filled in for her one night at a benefit doing that song. It was two days before the show and they called me in to fill in for her, and gosh! Talk about flying by the seat of your pants! Learning the lyrics… I hate that, I really hate that. And then it just kind of stuck. I like the song, Bruce liked me doing the song, and then I ended up doing it for him a number of times.

RR: It’s a beautiful track.

MN: Isn’t it a great song?

RR: It is. The whole score. I really think it needs a recording.

MN: That would be a great idea!

RR: Liz Callaway was in that…

MN: Liz did the actual show, but I was offered the workshop. And then, in Smile, they offered me… they didn’t tell me what part it was going to be, but it was the girl who packs the suitcase for her talent. I don’t remember. I think that was it. But they weren’t sure what part, because they were going to do a workshop of it. But that was it, and then I ended up singing one of the songs from it. When I sing it, girls are always asking me “Can I have your sheet music to that?” because nobody knows it!

RR: When I first saw A Class Act, I was begging Lonny Price for music to that…

MN: Oh really? I should go see it.

RR: That’s right! It’s playing there! Go see it! You also did a little film called When Harry Met Sally. What was that experience like?

MN: It was great! Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan. I played his first girlfriend in the movie, and her best friend…

RR: That was before Meg Ryan was MEG RYAN.

MN: Yeah, she was emerging as Meg Ryan. That movie probably made her Meg Ryan! It was great. They flew me to Chicago, they actually gave me time off from Les Miz to do it, and I loved it! I had no idea it was going to be a huge hit. I just knew that Rob Reiner was a great director, and Billy Crystal was great, and so I was like “This is gonna be great!” I had no idea it would be the huge hit that it was!

RR: You’ve also done some television… I typed your name into the web, and like 5000 websites for soap operas and Xena came up.

MN: Are you kidding? I have to type my name in! I did Days Of Our Lives…

RR: And Santa Barbara. And you were a singing voice for a character on Xena.

MN: They did a musical version of Xena. And Jeff Calhoun directed it.

RR: From Grease!

MN: Yup, from Grease! When I was in college, Jeff Calhoun and I went to college together…

RR: With everybody else in the world…

MN: Right! He was my boyfriend at the time. So he called and said, “Can you send me a voice tape? Because these people aren’t singers. Do you mind if I can use your voice?” And I said, “Sure.”

RR: So you did singing voice for that. But you did speaking voice for The Swan Princess. And bizarrely, Liz Callaway did your singing. What’s that about?

MN: You know, it was just one of those things that happen. I mean at the time, I was just devastated. Not that I think she’s bad, because I think she’s tremendous. It has nothing to do with that. I auditioned for it, and it was going really well, and as far as I knew, I was the person they were going to use. Then I got a call saying, “You know what? They just think her voice sounds more like a princess than your voice.” And I was thinking, “Do I do it?” You know, I was just so hurt. It was always my dream to do an animated movie, and to finally get one and then not be doing the singing was just very strange. But I thought why cut off my nose to spite my face? It’s still gonna be a huge—what I thought to be a huge hit at the time. I was pregnant, and I thought what else am I going to be doing? So I wound up doing it. I’m so glad I did, because they did two sequels, and I did do the singing for those.

RR: So you finally got to do an animated musical.

MN: I FINALLY got to do an animated musical! I did a club act, I talked about how I didn’t get to audition for Little Mermaid, and I got close for Beauty and the Beast, and then I got closer for Pocahontas. I finally got one, and I didn’t get to do the singing.

RR: So funny—they used all of our singers. Judy Kuhn in Pocahontas, Paige O’Hara in Beauty.

MN: You’re kidding!

RR: I’m shocked that you’ve never done Beauty and the Beast.

MN: You know, I was up for it, out here. But they brought Susan Egan in.

RR: Are you still involved with Masada?

MN: That is still ongoing. I’ve been working on Masada for so long. It’s a Les Miz-ish version of the story of Masada. The Jewish people who lived up on the mountain and built a city there. I did so many recordings for them, and they finally brought it to New York a year and a half ago. Barry Brown, to the best of my knowledge, has picked it up. I just got a letter from them; they’re rewriting the book and the lyrics, and then they’re going to mount it.

RR: Are you coming with it? Because it’s been twenty years since New York has seen you.

MN: I would like to say I will, but who knows. They have no obligation to hire me, although as far as I know, I’m still involved. You know, who knows? Because I’m sure when it gets down to the final say, they’re going to want to have auditions and see who’s out there, which they should. Robbie, I love New York, and it’s not that I haven’t had opportunities to come back, but it just has to be for the right thing. The right project.

RR: Well, we certainly miss you.

MN: Well thank you! You don’t know how nice that is to hear! I’m just… there hasn’t been that much. There’s nothing out here.

RR: You did do Les Miz out there. And you also did A Little Night Music with Marcia Mitzmen Gaven. You played Anne. Was that your first Sondheim show?

MN: It was my first Sondheim show. It was wonderful working with Gordon Davidson. I think very highly of him. It was a top-notch, prestigious thing to do. I found it a little difficult being an ingénue in Sondheim. I don’t really… it was hard. I found it a little struggle. I like to give somebody a little bit more brains than that. And I don’t know if that necessarily works for the way he writes them. You know what I’m saying? Maybe I would have been better off being vapid.

RR: I was surprised when I read you played that role because I don’t think of you as a soprano. I think of you as a belter.

MN: It was such a departure for me when I did Les Miz, because I got to belt, and I was always cast as ingénue, ingénue, ingénue… that’s why Les Miz is so dear to me. Because for the first time, somebody got me.

RR: How long were you with Les Miz?

MN: Over a year. A year and a half. I did the entire run.

RR: How did that come about?

MN: My agent at the time told me it was coming, and he said “You really should go and get the… I guess at the time it was a record album. So I went out and got it and I heard the music and my jaw dropped. And I thought it was so stunningly beautiful and I had to be a part of it. I got an audition, and I got the role. You know, it’s so rare in your life that you want something so badly and it happens. It was really an exquisite role and an exquisite show. To be honest with you, it’s kind of ruined me since, because the role is so deep, it’s just great. Maybe that’s why it was hard to go from Les Miz to Night Music, because the show is deep, but Anne is…. You know what I’m saying?

RR: You’ve done a bunch of the S.T.A.G.E. benefits.

MN: Mm-hmm… and they are some of the hardest things to do! We all hate them! You should hear us behind there! Because it’s so nerve-wracking… you get a song, you just learn it, so it’s not something you’ve lived with, and there you are, in front of all these people, Up with the person in front of you and after you, who are all good. It’s very nerve-wracking. We are all making jokes, “Who’s going to go get breakfast?” because they go on for hours and hours. The Gershwin lasted for four hours!

RR: They sound great on CD! You’ve done everything but written a book. Theatre, TV, Recording, Concerts… is there anything you prefer doing?

MN: Well, I love theatre, and I love recording. You can get lost in the music, it doesn’t matter what you look like when you go in there. I find it really rewarding. And I like the process of getting the arrangement together, and finally getting to hear what it sounds like from just the piano version of it. I find it very rewarding.

RR: Well, when are you going to record another album?

MN: I don’t know! I don’t know. It’s up to if anyone else wants to do one, at this point.

RR: Well, I, for one, would love another album of you. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, Michelle.

MN: Thank you.

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