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In the second of Variety’s Broadway edition of Actors on Actors, Audra McDonald and Jake Gyllenhaal sat down to discuss their respective turns this season as Mama Rose in Gypsy and Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello. Throughout the conversation, the duo spoke about their vocal warm-ups and the importance of training the voice, even for plays.
“I was not disciplined enough to do vocal warm-ups when I was doing plays,” McDonald admitted. “When I did Ohio State Murders, I wasn’t warming up like I should, and I was speaking with a very different voice,” she explained.
In the interview, McDonald also shared that Gypsy is the most difficult project she has ever done, due to the intensity of Mama Rose. “After Gypsy, I’m going to lie down for a year…This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.”
The topic later turned to Stephen Sondheim, with whom they both share a history. McDonald praised Gyllenhaal’s performance as George in the 2017 revival of Sunday in the Park with George. “[Sondheim] is almost in its own language, in the way that Shakespeare is. It’s athletic and poetic,” said McDonald, adding that she has a difficult time even talking about the musical without weeping.
“[Sondheim] is asking something from you as a playwright even before the music. [Sunday in the Park with George] was more about practice [and] understanding the subtleties of decision and why it was made,” said Gyllenhaal.
Othello is currently playing a strictly limited engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theater through Sunday, June 8 only. McDonald is currently starring in Gypsy at the Majestic Theatre.
The annual Actors on Actors series, which arrives during awards season, selects two stars from major films (and now Broadway shows) for in-depth interviews diving into their experience on their respective projects, career discussion, awards talk, and more.
