Christie Whelan - Q & A

Christie Whelan-Browne is appearing as Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne from October 27, 2012 to January 6, 2013.

We spoke with Christie (pictured left with Hugh Sheridan) during the show's run.

What were rehearsals like for Forum, working not just with Geoffrey Rush, but a whole crowd of great comedians?

“Simon Phillips described it as throwing us all in a sandpit and letting us play for a couple of weeks, which was exactly what happened, and it was amazing and genius and crazy all at the same time. Simon really gave a lot of freedom because everyone is so naturally funny, just to see what was going to happen if you let everyone play. To watch that happen was really exciting, and I learnt a lot watching these comics at work.”

Do you have any favourite moments from that process that stand out?

“Geoffrey in general to watch, and to watch his mind tick over and see what he creates, especially physically. He is like no other in what he can bring to the floor. He’s quite extraordinary, because he trained in mime, so he pulls off things physically that you can’t even imagine anyone else doing.

“And Gerry Connelly has become my new favourite person to watch. I’ve never seen such an eccentric, interesting performer. You just never know what you’re going to get, and there’s something so exciting about watching him.”

Has anything rubbed off on you working with this group?

“Probably just learning how to play a bit more, which is what the people I’m working with do so well. They play until they find something. I generally don’t play a lot, so I’ve found an ability to let loose a bit more and have fun trying different things and seeing what happens.”

Is there any particular moment of your performance that’s come out of that playing?

“I don’t get to do it as much as anyone else, because my character is more set in stone. But there’s a moment with Geoffrey – we do a number together called ‘Pretty Little Picture’ and we tend to play a lot in that number and feel free.”

What are your thoughts on your character?

“She’s very sweet and beautiful, but without a brain, so there’s not a lot to play with.”

How do you find as a modern woman playing that kind of role?

“Sadly, I find it easy to play that kind of role. I’ve played quite a few blondes that are brainless and it’s becoming second nature, which is scary. There’s the same sort of stereotypical feel with all blondes in musical theatre. I do look forward to playing someone who’s smart one day.”

What are the joys of working in the show?

“It’s a great piece. Simon and Geoffrey consider it to be one of the funniest comedy scripts, which they did for (The Importance of Being) Earnest as well. So they have educated me on this kind of humour and this era, and slapstick. It’s been a huge learning curve of a different kind of comedy. I’ve loved working in the cast, watching such talented comedians, and working with my husband, which is a thrill and a joy. I just wish I could do it all the time.”

Getting away from the show for a moment, can you share something about the experience of performing the National Anthem at this year’s Melbourne Cup?

“Definitely it’s the most terrifying experience of my life. That pressure of 70 million people watching world-wide, or maybe more. There’s something very daunting about having no room for error with that many people watching. It’s a lot of pressure. But now I can just enjoy knowing I did it, and show the YouTube video to my kids one day and feel very happy about it.

“I was proud to get through it. I was afraid that I was going to get out of time because my heart was beating harder than the music. It was quite surreal, but my parents just happened to be sitting nearby in the Grandstand, and my husband and my manager were just there. I just kind of kept looking to them as though it was just something between us, to keep my focus off the thousands of people who were also gathered around, so I think I just tried to get through every moment.

“Every one had said to me, ‘Don’t forget the words to the anthem.’ I thought, there’s no way I’m going to forget them, I’ve sung the anthem since I was in primary school, and yet the words just continued to flow in and out of my head the whole time. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and there’s no comparison to performing on stage every night, where if a muck-up happens you deal with it and it’s forgotten, or only 500 people saw it, so you can get over it, but on a day like that there’s no room for anything, and that’s a lot of pressure for anyone.”

Singing the Anthem at the Melbourne Cup probably ranks with singing it at the AFL Grand Final.

“I think so, and the thing about those gigs is that the sound is so tricky. At the Cup it was bouncing around and around off three walls, and that can be the scariest thing of all – knowing what sound you’re hearing. I think it’s the same for the Grand Final, singing in a dome like that. The things that we do!

You mentioned the joy of working with your husband in Forum (Christy married fellow performer Rohan Browne in March 2012). How difficult is the touring aspect of your career and being in different shows?

“It’s all about making it work. There’s a huge part of both of us that doesn’t want to tour apart, but in the end it’s the reality. I want Rohan to have every success and him for me, so if that means being apart we will make those sacrifices, and we’ll also find ways to make it work for us as well.

“After five years we’ve managed to work out a strategic plan. Rohan and I have done a lot apart. For the first three or four years of our relationship he was on tours around the country, and we made it work. You set three weeks as being the most time that you’ll be apart, and you try to stick to that as much as you can, and when you get to work together you realize how lucky you are.

What are the special joys of working on the same show with Rohan, even though you’re not working directly opposite him?

“I think it’s having that support there all the time, and knowing that a hug is just ten steps away rather than in another state, or at home. You’ve just got each others’ backs. Even though everyone in the cast is so supportive, to have someone that close to you sharing in such a joyful, but also high pressure and stressful environment, is like a dream come true. Rohan is very fun and funny, and he’s got a great energy about him, so to have him at work, not just for me, but for everyone, is a great joy. He’s someone you want in your cast because he’s just a beautiful soul.”

And he’s playing one of the Proteans.

He is, and these Proteans are so great together. They run around playing about 40 characters. They’re non-stop – they’re the only people in the show apart from Geoffrey that work up a sweat. The show was very lucky to get three very established performers Rohan, Brent Hill and Troy Sussman. They really bring something so special to the show.

Do you have something lined up next?

“A holiday is next cab off the rank, but next year is all still up in the air at the moment, which is kind of nice. It used to be a real worry – ‘What’s next? What’s next?’ – but I feel kind of not knowing, and just waiting and seeing.”

Forum stars Geoffrey Rush as Pseudolus, Mitchell Butel (Hysterium), Shane Bourne (Senex), Magda Szubanski (Domina), Gerry Connelly (Marcus Lycus), Adam Murphy (Miles Gloriosus), Bob Hornery (Erronius), Hugh Sheridan (Hero) and Christie Whelan (Philia).

Images: Performance images from the medi call by Lucy Graham. Cover image for November / December 2012 edition by Jeff Busby.

Check out our video below of Christie and Hugh Sheridan singing 'Lovely' at the media preview.

Meet the Cast of Forum

Our Q & A with Christie Whelan from early in 2012

Musical Theatre Triple Threat Christie Whelan (Drowsy Chaperone, Sugar, Xanadu) stepped directly from the Melbourne Theatre Company’s sell-out hit production of The Importance of Being Earnest into a return tour of Britney Spears The Cabaret during Janiuary and February 29012. Christie spoke to Neil Litchfield about the challenges of going ‘legit’ and playing a troubled pop diva.

You’ve gone legit with The Importance of Being Earnest. How was the experience?

“It was my first legitimate play and I was very nervous. I hadn’t really thought about it because Geoffrey (Rush) and Simon (Phillips) just said to me, we want you in the show, and you’ll be great. And I just said, OK, cool, if you say it’ll be great, it will be great. Then it rolled around, and I was looking at all the dialogue, and it really made me unsettled. I’m not really a nervy person, but for the first few days I was really nervous.

“But after a few days I settled in. I just think that Simon is the best director ever, and he really guided me, along with the rest of the cast. Jane Menelaus, who played the part 23 years ago, is in the cast. That was like having my own personal mentor on the road with me, and she really helped me. Geoffrey is very generous with his advice, and I just got there through the help of everyone around me. But it was definitely daunting.

“The fact is that The Importance of Being Earnest is just so perfectly written and that is what Simon kept reiterating. Everything is there for a reason, so there was just a lot of pressure to bring this amazing dialogue to life.”

After all those nerves at the outset, how has the reality of Earnest been?

“It’s great fun, and settling in to it you find something new every night. That’s the thing about a play – you’re always discovering – things are always changing. I’ve learnt a lot. I keep joking that working with these people has saved me three years at Drama school. It has been one of those experiences that I’ll look back on in 20 years as one of the most amazing acting experiences.”

You are returning to Britney Spears The Cabaret. Obviously that presents a whole different set of challenges.

“I remember saying in an interview a year ago, when I was doing Britney, that it made me really nervous too, because I was doing a show on my own, and not having a cast to back me up.  But I watched a DVD of it the other night, and thought, I’m really looking forward to doing it again.

“I did love doing the show. Even though you are really exposed – you’re out there on your lonesome.”

You’ve already performed this show for several seasons. What have you discovered about as Britney as you’ve gone along?

“It’s probably changed with every season.  In terms of Britney as a person, I did my research on the way she speaks, her accent, and the way she speaks candidly in an interview right at the beginning. But in terms of the show, it’s a very emotional show. It’s my take on her and the way that she delivers all of these stories we’ve heard about her in the press, and she delivers them very candidly and openly, and from her point of view. I guess I just try and find a very human side of her which nobody really gets to see.”

What are some of those things you’ve discovered?

“At the end of the day she’s a person, and I think that’s the thing that’s most easily forgotten. She’s become this person that we see in photos and stories, and she had a breakdown, and she shaved her head and she flashed herself when she got out of a car – these are the sort of things that we see, and you forget that there’s a human being, there’s a mother, and just a girl – she started out as a really young girl. Those are the main things that I want people to walk away from the show remembering.”

Are you a Britney fan?

“I’ve always been a fan. I had all of her albums, and my cat is named Britney after her. It was never going to be a piss-take, which I’m sure that people thought it would be when the show first came out. Both Dean (Bryant), the writer, and I are big fans.”

You mentioned being nervous about going solo on stage as Britney, but now you are now looking forward to it. How has that shift come about?

“When I did it in Sydney, the venue allowed people to drink during the performance, which created a vibe where drinks were being made and passed around. But this show carries a through line, telling a story. It was distracting, and very hard to get people’s focus back. And you’ve got no-one to bounce off – you’re there on your own.

“There was a restaurant right next to the room where we were doing it in Sydney. One night there was a birthday party in there and about 20 people started singing Happy Birthday at the top of their voices while I was trying to get through this monologue. All those things just made it so difficult.

“Then when we came to Melbourne and we did it at Chapel (Off Chapel) it was a venue where people knew they were coming to see a show, and they just sat there and listened, and I got to tell the story without worrying about all those distractions. Now I think we’ve found where the show sits in terms of venue and audience and that makes me feel much more comfortable.”

How Christie Broke into Showbusiness.

“I started out doing musicals at my high school, St Helena Secondary College, from years 7 – 12. We rehearsed for three months, we had rehearsal camp, and it was a really big deal. We had fantastic costumes, and it was a huge training ground for me. In year 12 I was choreographing and playing a part. It was the first time I realised this was something that came naturally to me. It is the only thing that was born in me, and I don’t know how because I didn’t come from a family of performers, but it always felt natural.

“I went to dancing for two years because my best friend did, and I wanted to do everything she did. But my family was basketball all the way and I had to choose between one or the other, and I went back to basketball. But my dance teacher Bev Palmer was one of the best in Melbourne, so I got two years of really solid training, which has stayed with me.

“Then in year 12 one of my friends told me about a local amateur theatre that was doing Les Mis, and that I should come along and audition. I ended up doing the show, and a couple of shows with Catchment Players. Then an agent came along and saw me playing Roxie in Chicago, and asked if I wanted to be represented.

“It was one of those crazy things that came out of nowhere. I was totally clueless about the industry, and I don’t know how all this would have come about if he hadn’t come along and said do you want an agent. It’s been about six years since then. I would never have thought that performing could be a career. It was something that other people got to do, but it was never something that I would get to do.”

Originally published in the January / February 2012 print edition of Stage Whispers.

Stage Whispers has previousy spoken to musical theatre triple threat Christie Whelan on several occasions, most recently during The Production Company's July 2011 season of Anything Goes.

CW: The role of Erma is a small supporting one, she sings one number 'Buddy Beware' and has a few little scenes. It was a real change of pace from my last few shows and honestly it has been very nice!!! I have enjoyed having a little break from the pressure I felt in Xanadu or Britney or Sugar to help really drive the story along, here I just get to just pop in and out and have a BALL! She really is a great role, a dirty gangsters moll (typecast?).

SW: When you spoke to us about your previous appearance with The Production Company in Sugar, you talked about how much you enjoyed working with the company. How has the experience been this time around?

CW: Same applies! They are a WONDERFUL company. Giving so much love, support and opportunity. I have LOVED working with this cast. MAN they are amazing. Getting to work with Rohan (fiance, Rohan Browne) again has been PERFECT! Andy (Hallsworth) and Dean (Bryant) have been amazing as Co-Directors. I have honestly had the best time on stage and off.

SW: This role has come around after the early closure of Xanadu and the cancellation of the tour. Can you tell us about some of the joys and disappointments of that experience?

CW: Well, I take mostly positives away from the experience. The show taught me about my physical strengths I had that I never knew I had. Learning to skate was a huge challenge that I eventually enjoyed (after a few weeks of frustration!!!). I LOVED the show. I loved singing the songs. I think the hardest part about it was that I had my FIRST year of solid work booked. I was going straight into (The Importance of Being) Earnest from Xanadu and I was feeling so happy about that. After 6 years in the industry I had ONE FULL YEAR of work booked. That might sound strange but the constant search for work can sometimes be the most tiring thing about this business. Always keeping one eye on the job, one eye on what’s next. So I thought for once I might have a bit of a break from that. But in the end I have come out and shot 2 different TV shows, played this role of Erma, I am about to do some more TV work and things have just kind of worked out (luckily). Earnest is going to be a major highlight and I am just so excited. It is the only show I have ever been a part of which has been sold out a year in advance! No pressure!

Christie previously spoke to Stage Whispers while she was appearing in Xanadu in Melbourne earlier in 2011.