Toronto Star
July 16 2010
Love, loss and leopard-print coatsAndrea Martin on her acquired wisdom
since Godspell and SCTV
By Richard Ouzounian
Theatre Critic Andrea Martin cheerfully admits that the major item of
apparel she’s been associated with in her career is the fetching
leopard print ensemble sported by Edith Prickley on SCTV.
Consequently, you might not think she’d be ideal casting for the show
about women’s relationships with their clothing, called Love, Loss and
What I Wore, now playing at the Panasonic Theatre.
`I hate shopping,’ she sighs from her apartment in Manhattan. `I don’t
even particularly like clothes. I tend to wear the same things over
and over again. And I keep them forever. I’ve still got all my
costumes from SCTV.’
So what drew her to this Michael Rubinoff and Daryl Roth production of
a show that’s been packing the house in Manhattan since last fall?
`It’s the writing by Nora and Delia Ephron,’ she says. `It’s a
beautiful piece. Quite moving and very funny at the same time. My
favourite kind of theatre.’
Her co-stars, Louise Pitre, Mary Walsh, Paula Brancati and Sharron
Matthews are also a vital part of the equation.
`I love theatre,’ says Martin. `It’s where I’ve always been happiest.’
Born to an Armenian family in Portland, Me., on Jan. 15, 1947, Martin
admits that her heritage was never a major part of her growing up.
`My parents’ main goal was to assimilate. I didn’t learn anything
about being Armenian, except for the food.’
Her grandfather, who had immigrated to America in the early years of
the 20th century, was originally named Papazian, but changed it to
Martin once he settled in the new world.
`It wasn’t until 1991,’ admits Martin, `when I started writing my
one-woman show that I went to Armenia and connected with my roots. I
learned all about the Holocaust and the starvation and the massacres.
What a sad culture.
`No wonder my parents never discussed it. They did everything they
could to make sure we had a place in America and were happy there.
They didn’t see the point of looking back at the past.’
But like many other children of hard-working parents (the family owned
a restaurant called Martin’s), Martin found herself making her own
entertainment.
`I had a fantasy life up in the attic. I did shows in my head there
all the time.’
She found a role model when she was 11.
`My mom and dad had a condominium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and we saw
Chita Rivera perform there. She was ethnic and dazzling and had a
larger-than-life personality. I wanted to be just like her.’
Her parents helped her turn her dreams into reality by enrolling her
in the Portland Children’s Theatre. She made her professional debut at
13 at the Kennebunkport Playhouse, as Liat in South Pacific.
`That was it: from that moment on I knew this would be my journey.’
After her studies at Boston’s Emerson College, she drove down to New
York with a friend and walked into her first audition for the role of
Lucy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
The production was to be mounted in Toronto, Martin got the role and
she headed off to Canada.
`Honestly, the minute my feet touched the ground, I felt I belonged
and I haven’t changed my mind in all these years.’
While working on the show, she became involved with cast member Derek
McGrath and `once I was in New York again, I found myself spending all
my unemployment money flying back to see him, so I thought I might as
well move there.’
And the next thing she knew, she was in the now-legendary production
of Godspell, with Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Eugene
Levy and many others.
Did she know back then what a charmed group they would turn out to be?
`Absolutely not,’ is her adamant response. `When you’re young, your
focus isn’t on the future, it’s on getting a job right now and being
happy with likeminded people. That’s what Godspell was.’
It also brought her to SCTV, the wacky comedy series where she created
an unforgettable gallery of characters like bossy station manager
Edith Prickley, ditzy new-age adviser Libby Wolfson, confused
sexologist Cheryl Kinsey and the incomprehensible janitor Perini
Scleroso.
Martin feels the secret to the work back then was `that we all had
courage. We weren’t afraid to go out on a limb and try the craziest
stuff that popped into our heads. When you get older you get wiser,
sure, but sometimes you get a little bit too safe as well. We were all
kind of mad then and it was wonderful.’
During this crazy period, Martin even spent a year at the Stratford
Festival during the heady Robin Phillips days, playing Sybil opposite
Brian Bedford and Maggie Smith in Private Lives. (`I was straight man
to those two. What an education that was!’) She eventually married
screenwriter Bob Dolman, moved to California and had two kids: Jack
(born 1981) and Joe (born 1983).
`To be honest,’ she admits, `that wasn’t the happiest time of my life.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the kids and I loved being a mom, but at
heart I’m a theatre person and Los Angeles isn’t about theatre at
all.’
By the time the ’90s rolled around, the marriage had broken up and
Martin was aching for the footlights again, so she moved back to New
York and landed a role in the musical version of My Favorite Year.
Although the show was a flop, Martin dazzled the critics and won a
Tony Award, launching her again in fine style.
Since then, she’s returned to the Great White Way frequently, earning
three more Tony nominations for her roles in Candide, Oklahoma! and
Young Frankenstein, and also earning huge acclaim for her serious turn
in 2009’s Exit the King opposite Geoffrey Rush.
Looking back on her career, she says, `I’ve had regrets about parts
I’ve turned down over the years. Maybe I was frightened. Maybe I
wasn’t ambitious enough.’ She then recites a list of roles onstage and
screen that were all huge successes for the people who played them.
`See what I mean? But don’t list what they were. I think that’s a
lousy thing to do to the people who got the parts.
`Besides, I don’t want to cry over spilt milk. I’m enormously grateful.’
After her run in Love, Loss and What I Wore, Martin takes to the road
with a revised version of her award-winning 1996 show Nude, Nude,
Totally Nude!
This reincarnation, called Final Days: Everything Must Go!, will
include two local dates on its schedule: Huntsville Aug. 27-28 and
Richmond Hill on Oct. 2.
`You know what I’ve learned?’ she concludes. `It doesn’t ultimately
make any goddamn difference over your whole career whether you say yes
or no to any one project, so from now on, I’m on the yes train!’
FIVE FAVE COMEDIC INFLUENCES
ANDY KAUFMAN – Unpredictable, outrageous, comedy that just poured out
of his soul. I think his Foreign Man was the frontrunner for Perini
Sclerosi.
PHYLLIS DILLER – Edith Prickley owes everything to this wacky,
over-the-top woman who wasn’t afraid of doing or saying anything.
TOPIO GIGIO – Remember that crazy little mouse on the Ed Sullivan
show? I have always loved childlike humour, smart comedy for children
of all ages.
MADELINE KAHN – She was an amazing woman. She could make you cry in a
film like Paper Moon and then be so silly in those Mel Brooks movies.
DOROTHY LOUDON – She was so brilliant as Miss Hannigan in Annie. So
physically over the top and yet believable in everything she did.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/theatre/article/836752–love-loss-and-leopard-print-coats