Laura Michelle Kelly

Laura Michelle Kelly

Laura Michelle Kelly might seem eternally wedded to the musical theater, whether as the Olivier Award-winning star of Mary Poppins or as Hodel in her one Broadway stint to date in the David Leveaux-directed Fiddler On the Roof. Or, perhaps, hanging 15 feet above the stage as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings, the show from which she has segued to her current, very much non-musical task at the Old Vic Theatre in Speed-the-Plow. Inheriting the role originated two decades ago on Broadway by Madonna, the 26-year-old Englishwoman from the Isle of Wight holds her own opposite two Hollywood heavy hitters in Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum. Kelly took time one recent afternoon to chat to Broadway.com about shifting from song and dance to the straight theater, being a woman in David Mamet's male-centered world, and the prospect of phoning the Material Girl to ask her for advice.

So, after a year all told with The Lord of the Rings, you're on your first non-musical. Does that feel strange?
I love musicals. I like flying; I miss it. I love being in the air; I miss being upside down. Musicals have been my life for nine years and are still going to continue to be in my life. But it's great always to try new things, to stretch myself as an actress. I had the pleasure last year of being in a movie [Tim Burton's film of Sweeney Todd, in which Kelly played the Beggar Woman] and it's nice to try new things but at the same time going back to The Lord of the Rings afterwards was fun. It's nice to see what doors open, really.

Speed-the-Plow stars Jeff Goldblum, Laura Michelle Kelly and Kevin Spacey

Still, you have to admit that you landed a role in the high-profile production of any young actress' dreams.
I do have to pinch myself. This is a great play with a fantastic second act and the thought process and challenges you have to go through are good. I love a good challenge; that's what excites me—being able to stretch and improve myself all the time. Also, I do think I'm figuring out about myself. I'm always a little bit blasé about things when I get them, and then I realize halfway through: I was intimidated during rehearsals, but Kevin and Jeff make me feel so comfortable; they're such nice guys. And Matthew [Warchus, who directed The Lord of the Rings] is an amazing director. The whole team is nice but it's only eight or nine people—a very different type of job compared to Lord of the Rings.

And as Karen, you have to insert yourself into what could just be a boys' night out.
I think that's quite a challenge, and they're two such likable guys anyway. So the challenge has been, one, not to be afraid and, two, to make sure that I just do the best I can in the job and try and hold my own on stage. I work hard on that. I love it, now that we've had the press in and that we've opened, it's so much nicer, and it's all still changing, still evolving.

Karen, of course, prompts ceaseless debate as to whether or not she really is merely the guileless office temp that she first seems. What are your thoughts on that?
I don't like to give people an idea of what my opinion is because if they come and see the show, they won't make up their own mind; they'll go with what I say. It's always a very fine balance with a show like this—depending on what night it is and what the audience mix is, it's very much, Is she or isn't she? If I were to say, it would tip the balance. It's like a poem: each person has their own interpretation, and I like that. I like the way people can take from it their own life experience, almost like a mirror itself; depending on what that person has in their life, it might change how that person sees the character. If I were to say, it might tip the balance.

Laura Michelle Kelly and cast in The Lord of the Rings

Did you discuss the role with David Mamet?
He wrote us, like, little notes wishing us good luck.

You're appearing in a play about the Hollywood industry alongside two men who know that milieu from the inside out. Did you have any firsthand experience of that world?
I spent a lot of time over there a couple of years ago, about two months after Mary Poppins having meetings for jobs and things, and it was definitely an eye-opening experience. And I'm probably going to go again at some point. But I don't pretend that I know about the industry; I'm still very naive about it. I'm very naive about a lot of things, but my approach has always been to see everything with new eyes in a very childlike way in order to establish what is true. I'm approaching this play in a similar way, and of course Karen is not from the world of film, so that did help.

What do you think happens to her after Kevin's character so cruelly ejects her from both men's lives?
I don't know because her role in these guys' lives is kind of done. She's made the decision that she doesn't belong there anymore. I guess I imagine that she moves along and gets work on a farm somewhere in a different state after that traumatic experience. Karen's delicate heart has had enough for one lifetime: the enlightenment of the book [the radiation-themed apocalyptic scenario to which she is giving a courtesy read] for her was enough; it was so life-changing. There's the danger that she'll completely lose faith with what these guys do—that the whole thing gives her an opportunity to lose her faith. I would personally hope that Karen would go on to prosper and flourish in her faith; that's what I would want to believe for her, because it's been a terrible two days she's had to go through. One thing's for sure: she'll never be a temp again. Maybe she'll go work as a librarian? In my head, I hope that she finds happiness, but what would she be doing next? We leave people guessing.

Laura Michelle Kelly in Speed-the-Plow

Interestingly, though, the book at the core of the play doesn't seem quite as absurd now, post-9/11 and films like the Todd Haynes Safe, as it did when I first saw the play on Broadway in 1988. That gives the argument a slightly different weight, at least to me.
I think people are split down the middle: What percentage of the audience believes in a book like that or would want to go and see a movie purely with violence and sex? You can hear in the audience what percentage wants that movie to be made, and that's the fun, depending on how we sell it, of seeing who wins. It's like a competition in a way: if you suddenly change one nuance of a line, that can change the audience's opinion. Do they want to see movies that are going to lift them up? A lot of people don't even ask the question about the sorts of films that are being made, so the play in that way makes people think about the movies they choose to watch. Hopefully in my heart this gets to inspire people to ask questions about their own lives and who they are. Doing this job has made me question what stories I do and what jobs I take: what is it about the scripts that excites me. I love what we do; I love it.

It helps, I think, that Jeff plays Bobby Gould as so genuinely and convincingly lost.
We've decided in our production to have fear and love on such opposing levels, with Bobby Gould dead in the center, weighing between the two. He's, like, on the precipice, deciding. We made that choice early in the rehearsal process, which influenced everything that came after. It's a fantastic ending, too, because you want the good person to win, but then is Karen really good? Can you really believe someone that naive and innocent? You get the excitement of the fear element making her behave erratically in the last act, so you have to ask, does she catch the fear as well? She's got to fight against the love and fear going on in her, and it's an amazing thing to see a play in which the audience sways between one side and another—which way are they going to go?

You also get to hold the most dramatic stage pause I've heard in years, when your motivations are directly questioned in that final act.
I know. It's brilliant fun, and I do try and hold it. I try to feel for when enough is enough; when I've gone through the very different thought processes.

Did you scout out Madonna for pointers or to get her advice?
I would love to! [Imagines the conversation] ‘Hey, so we've played the same part! What do you think?' But I don't know her. What I do get is a bow with those two guys, and they're just great. They've got 20 years on me acting-wise, and I've got to learn how to work as hard as them.