Quotes

[on Alan Menken] I credit him with resurrecting the movie musical. Everybody sort of thinks it happened a couple years ago with Chicago (2002) but no, no, no. I think it happened quite a few years ago with a little movie called The Little Mermaid (1989).

If I had to choose between any of the Broadway composers and lyricists to whom I am the most grateful, hands down, my answer would have to be Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. I have done more Rodgers and Hammerstein shows than any all of the other composers combined. They helped me pay my rent for the first ten years of my career.

I was cast as Meg when I was still playing Belle on Broadway in the production of Beauty and the Beast and those characters are so opposite, Belle is so kindhearted, generous, saves her father's life. Meg is jaded and sarcastic.

[on how her friends reacted to hearing her as the voice of Megara in the movie Hercules] When the movie came out, my friends who saw the movie said, 'It's the first time you played a character where we recognized you in the role,' Belle was when I was acting, Meg is right where I live.

[on how her character Megara always had something good to say] She was great. What I loved about Meg was that she always had the perfect comeback and the perfect moment in real life, I wish I could think of those things in the moment, but Meg always had the perfect line.

[on comparing doing voice work for a movie like Hercules and doing live performances for a Broadway show] A dream come true. A Broadway show is an amazing thing, but it dissipates into the ethers at 10:30 when the show is over. But to be part of a Disney animated feature is to be part of something that's instantly timeless that my kids will see, their kids will see...It will last long after me.

[on how Disney originally didn't want her to voice Megara] They didn't want me to audition for it because I think they really thought that I was like Belle, but Meg is actually where my voice naturally sits.

[on describing her character Megara] Who I think was a little ahead of her time...she's a little 'hashtag Me Too', and a strong woman who doesn't need the guy and ties her own sandals and everything.

[on if she has a particular favorite media to work with] No. I don't really have a favorite. I knew musical theatre would be my foot in the door in the industry, because it was something that came really naturally to me. But it's a bit of a smaller world, and I have a unique take on it, and I knew a lot of people aren't going to hire me because I make ingenues very funny and a little off-center. I'm not your typical ingenue, I'm generally quirky. But I knew the people that liked that would get it and hire me. I still think I got Belle because I made them laugh, and I don't think they knew Belle could be funny. I mean, I just think I had a different take on it that didn't betray what people think of as Belle, it just added another dimension to her. And I think it's because the ingenue roles never really interested me when I was growing up listening to musical theatre. You know, I would fast forward through those songs; I couldn't wait to get to Miss Adelaide! Sarah Brown was boring, but then I grew up looking like Sarah Brown. To make it interesting for me, I really make them off-the-wall, and I started working a lot with that, from the moment I was sixteen. I figured out for myself that's what I can do that's different and unique. Not a lot of people do that, and that's what gave me the clue. I knew I would go to New York, I knew I would work in New York, and that would be my foot in the door in the industry. And then from there I could do other things, and that's precisely what happened.

[on comparing the work schedule of a Broadway musical to a TV sitcom] Oh my God! Television, especially sitcom television, is a very cushy job, which is sort of what I needed right now. I love musicals, and I love doing theatre, but it is exhausting. And when you do it in any sort of long run, it's impossible to do anything else – not just career-wise, I mean in your life. I pretty much would just do the show and sleep, do the show and sleep, do the show and sleep... You have one day off a week and you're just trying to catch up on errands and things; it's really not a rest day. With television sitcoms, you work maybe six hours a day Monday through Friday. I've never really had evenings and weekends, so it was really, really weird. I would be okay on Saturday, and then about half-way through Saturday I would realize 'Oh my God, I still have all day tomorrow!' So, I would have one day to catch up and one day to rest. So, I'm not exhausted. The thing is too, ironically, that television will move my theatre career forward. If I become a little bit more of a TV name, I have a little bit more of a value in theatre because maybe I'll sell a few more tickets. So then I would have a bigger choice of calling my own shots. I've gotten about as far as you can go in theatre without being a star name. I mean, I've been really lucky that Cabaret wanted me. I got the job and producers wanted me even though I don't have marquee value, they went and put my name on the marquee.

[on why she got the role of Sally Bowles for the Cabaret Broadway musical when in the past the part would be given to a bigger name actress] I think they had a luxury on Broadway that the show was a hit, so they didn't need to sell tickets with a name. And Sam Mendes wanted me.

[on if she was instructed to sing off key for the role of Sally Bowles] No, they never did ask me that. I started doing the show that way. I didn't want to sound good – I wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, because I consider myself an actress first. An actor who learned to sing. I can hit the notes, but I don't have a particularly interesting or unique voice, I don't think. I think it's my acting that makes me unique. So I was reveling in the opportunity to play somebody a little more complicated, a little more earthy and dirty and all of that. But also Sally's never been trained. So I went in trying to be Janis Joplin eight shows a week, and I got in trouble because you can't really do that and sing eight shows a week and have your voice stand up to it. What's interesting is that once I realized I needed to get through the show eight times a week and not ruin my voice, I made the choice to sing correctly but try to sound untrained. I got rid of some of my vibrato. My choice was to never be off-pitch, but don't sound 'professional.' The moment I started singing 'correctly' and stop trying to sound horrible, the musical director was relieved. He loved that. He loved that I could sing. The way he said it was that the other women didn't have a choice – they sang the best they could. And they sounded terrific, by the way; Natasha sounded great. She didn't sound trained, and that was totally right for the role. She never sang down. She was trying as hard as she could. I didn't end up having that 'studio sound' that I can do, but I also didn't try and sound horrible either. And I think that was probably the best choice.

[on the decision making factors when she was being part of the Broadway musical production of Putting It Together] I never really thought about not doing Putting It Together – that's why I took the job in the first place. I was so excited to be working with Stephen Sondheim and Carol Burnett and Eric Schaeffer, three wonderfully creative people. It was a dream come true. I loved it. I also got to be a sexy vamp. I got to be the best of all the worlds: I got to be the sweet ingenue, the sexy thing... the way we made that work with the character is that was her game. She would play that because men liked it. But then when she was alone, or when she was with Carol's character, it would come out that she was very manipulative and greedy. I loved doing it and I had every intention of doing New York. But Cameron Mackintosh made it really hard. He really low-balled the actors as far as salaries. And from day one, although Carol was never this way, Steve Sondheim was never this way, Eric Schaeffer was never this way... but Cameron... his negotiating tactic is to make you feel like you're nothing. And it's a game, and I don't like it. I don't like games at all. Just tell me what you're going to pay me and I'll either say yes or no. Disney's not that difficult. So, to protect myself, I kept auditioning for things. All kinds of things. I was up for a TV show, I was up for a pilot and I couldn't even get Cameron on the phone! And I told him that if he would just tell me I had a job, I wouldn't go in for any of these auditions. That's how much I wanted to do it. It certainly wasn't the money or notoriety. So I kept on auditioning, and Cabaret was one of those things and I got it. And then Cameron got very angry, saying I was reneging on a deal, but I didn't have a deal. Interestingly, he faxed me a contract the day I got Cabaret. So then it became a matter of Cameron saying 'we don't need you' versus Todd Haimes at the Roundabout saying 'we really like you, please come work for us,' so of course. It was also a matter of Putting It Together was a revue, and Sally was going to break down walls for me in New York. I'm more Sally than I am probably any other character that I've ever played. I'm not a drug addict, and I'm not stupid, but I'm human. And Sally's more human than anything I've ever played. She's flawed, and she's interesting, and really that show is a play that happens to have music. And I'd rather show up and do that eight times a week. And everyone thought I was crazy because it was already running and I wasn't originating it, so I wouldn't be eligible for Tonys. But I learned in 1994 that none of that matters. You can't live results. You live the process, and the process is you've got to show up every day for work, and which would you rather show up for?