This is a weekly feature on BroadwayLiving.com. It’s
just like the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”. You
know how it goes…someone throws out an actor’s
name and you have to try to connect them to Kevin Bacon
in six steps or less.
I thought it might be fun to do
the same thing with the theater’s luminaries. I
will be trying to connect them to the longest running
show in Broadway
history, The Phantom of the Opera and its
very first “Phantom”, Michael Crawford.
Claire Danes made her Broadway
debut last night as Eliza Doolittle in the Roundabout
Theatre’s revival
of Pygmalion. The native New Yorker
first started studying acting at the age of nine at
the Lee Strasberg Studio. She also attended the
Professional Performing Arts School.
As a young actress, Claire first brought attention
to herself for her portrayal of Angela Chase in the
short-lived, cult favorite, My So Called Life. She
followed that up with strong performances in the ’94
remake of Little Women and Baz Luhrmann’s ’96
take on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.
In 1998 Ms. Danes enrolled at Yale
University (her father’s alma mater) to study psychology. After
two years she dropped out to refocus on her acting
career.
The lithe actress has since appeared in numerous high
profile films, among them: Igby Goes Down (2002), The
Hours (2002), Shopgirl (2005), The
Family Stone (2005) and just recently, Stardust (2007).
But being so new to Broadway, is
she connected to the Phantom? Take a look.
1) Claire Danes is in the
current revival of Pygmalion with
Boyd Gaines
2) Boyd Gaines was in the ’95 revival
of Company with
Robert Westenberg
3) Robert Westenberg did The Secret Garden with Rebecca
Luker
4) Rebecca Luker was the original Princess in “Hannibel”in The
Phantom of the Opera with Michael Crawford.
So that’s the game. Join
me each week as I try to come up with new ways of
connecting Michael
Crawford to the entire theater community.
