Emma Williams
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Desperately Seeking Susan may not be what the London theater world thinks of as a keeper, but the musical’s fast fade from the West End doesn’t mitigate the hard work done by co-stars Emma Williams and Kelly Price, who inherited roles originated in the 1985 Susan Seidelman movie by Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. For Williams, who turns 25 next May, the musical at the Novello Theatre (through December 15) has been a chance for the erstwhile star of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to transform her image. Black-clad grit and raunchiness substitute for the, well, truly scrumptious appeal of this Yorkshire-born performer, who was playing Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street at the tender age of 13 in her hometown of Halifax, eight hours north of London. Brought up by a mother who was a teacher (now semi-retired) and a father who’s an engineer, Williams never trained as an actress; instead, she spent her time voraciously gathering up linguistic skills. Never before have I come upon a theater person who offers up a command of Latin—in Williams’ case, offering a quick translation for the first Harry Potter novel while affirming “the amazing teaching agent” that the novel in Latin clearly is. When not working across all three media and moving her home from southeast London to the southwest, Williams is continuing her education via a humanities course, with creative writing and literacy thrown in. She’s also going from strength to strength in role after role—even though this interview was conducted before the news of Susan’s premature closing was announced.
You’re way too young, of course, to have seen the movie the first time around.
[Laughs.] I was literally a year old when it came out. But that may be OK, since our show is very different. Just the tying together of this cult film and a cult band in Blondie is so strange that it works. You get themes of female empowerment like you get with Wicked but with something else added to the mix. I think we’re getting the girls who’ve done Wicked and have come out the other side; ours is the show for the girls that have a slightly cooler, rockier edge. Desperately Seeking Susan shows that musical theater doesn’t have to be high-kicking and fancy; it can also be cool: rocky and edgy and punky.
Do you feel as if you have to give your version of Madonna?
No, this Susan is my own interpretation. I stayed away from the film purposefully for the last year and a half to make sure we didn’t do an impersonation of her. I think of the character as kind of Debbie Harry meets Shirley Manson meets Courtney Love, with just an element of Madonna. She’s one of these strong, feisty women who don’t give a damn what people think and really aren’t afraid to tell you. They don’t have an issue with how society wants them to behave, and so in that respect, she’s been very liberating. I’ve said this before, but ever since I took on the role, I find myself thinking: “What would Susan do? How would she behave?” [Laughs.] It’s made me more relaxed.
No more goody two-shoes for you.
Absolutely not [laughs]. This job has done away with the authoritarian-type thing that’s within me, where I think, “I’m a good girl.” Or “I’m a nice girl.” Maybe.
Emma Williams and Jonathan Wrather in Desperately Seeking Susan
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The movie is one specter hanging over you, but then there’s the Blondie music.
Yes. It’s funny because they rang me initially and said, “Can you sing a Blondie song?” and I thought, “I don’t think I know any Blondie songs,” so I sang Alanis Morissette. But then I went out and got an album and sat there playing their greatest hits and singing along to every track. I didn’t know all these songs were Blondie! They go from rock to ballads to ska and reggae, disco and rap; that’s what works so well.
Not to mention showcasing a vocal range you haven’t gotten to display before.
My first big song in the show, which most people will know, is “Call Me,” and I also get to do “Rapture,” while Kelly does “Heart of Glass,” which is fabulous. This is a big vocal work-out, definitely: it’s great to get to sing so much and in so many different styles.
True, especially when you think that you were almost the alternate Maria in The Sound of Music, until Connie Fisher decided that she wanted to do all eight shows.
I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. And you know I’d been involved with the workshops for Susan, so when the guys heard what had happened on The Sound of Music, they sent me an e-mail saying, “I hope you’re OK; hopefully, your departure from that show is our gain.” The thing is, these things happen, and it’s just nice to be back in the West End. I haven’t been here, actually, since Bat Boy, and that was three years ago come January.
What has been your connection to The Sound of Music since you ended up not doing it?
Well, of course I’ve seen the production, and I have friends in it. But I didn’t go to opening night; that would just have been weird. Come to think of it, I’ve only been to one opening night—that’s to say, press night—despite having lived in London six years, and that was Fiddler On the Roof because my best friend Al—Alexandra Silber—is playing Hodel.
Oh, she’s terrific.
She is absolutely wonderful and has one of the purest sopranos in the world. We were set up on a girlfriend blind date by a musical director we had we both worked with, Dane Preece, who said to me, “Al’s like you, fairly independent, doesn’t have tons of close girlfriends; I think you’d get on well.” So we decided we’d go for a coffee for half-an-hour, and five hours later we were still there chatting. She’s a dream and just stunning on stage.
And she’s American, which makes me wonder: Would you like to work on Broadway?
I’d love to. I love the work ethic on Broadway. In all honesty, I think possibly they work a bit harder than we do because their union is so much better. They get docked if they’re late. We don’t get docked, and that approach can make actors lazy. We will take the mick, given the opportunity [laughs], because we’re like that.