First Hand Rose

Rose Hemingway is making a smashing Broadway debut as supportive yet ambitious secretary Rosemary Pilkngton in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows’ Pulitzer Prize-winning musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opposite Daniel Radcliffe. TheaterMania recently spoke to the 27-year-old actress about performing in the show.

THEATERMANIA: Is this your first experience with this musical?
ROSE HEMINGWAY: No, I grew up watching movie musicals, and How to Succeed was in regular rotation, and then I was in the ensemble of a high school production — for an all-boys high school.

TM: How did you get cast in the show?

RH: I worked with our director, Rob Ashford, on his production of Parade in Los Angeles. Right after that, I came to New York and Rob called me to audition, and I did this reading with Dan. Then I had to be approved by the Loesser and Burrows estates. It was a much different audition process than anything I’ve ever done.

TM: So have you gotten to know Frank Loesser’s widow, Jo Sullivan Loesser?
RH: Yes, she’s such a spitfire. She really believes in her husband’s work and she makes sure that his desire for how this show should be done has been upheld. She came to a lot of rehearsals and lots of previews.

TM: So what attracted a modern woman like you to the role of Rosemary?
RH: Like me, I think she’s got drive, spunk, and ambition. She’s seeking a better life for herself, and has this desire to want more, and I can relate to that. Back then, she just had to get a husband to attain that kind of status. My big song, “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm” wasn’t meant to be an anthem. This is a satire. Rosemary’s deal is that she’ll settle into the world of New Rochelle as long as Finch is a big tycoon. She’s a smart girl.

TM: You get to sing a lot of great songs, but you don’t do that much dancing. Was that on purpose?
RH: You’re right; I only do about eight counts of dancing. I won’t say I can’t dance — but compared to the girls in our ensemble, I have two left feet. Originally, I pushed Rob to let me do more dancing, because I thought it was a way for Rosemary to have more presence in the office. I was in the “Coffee Break” number for about a day and half, but Rob finally said it didn’t make sense for Rosemary to be there. And now that I see all the choreography, it’s probably for the best.

TM: Do you think you would like to have lived in the 1960s?
RH: It’s been really fun to step back into a world that’s so different than what we’re used to, and, sometimes it seems like the 1960s were so sweet and enticing. There is a certain innocence and glamour we’ve lost, but I know that I’m lucky to be born in an era where women have finally broken through the glass ceiling and don’t have to base their success off what their husband does.

TM: Do you love your clothes in the show?
RH: I’m not into fashion at all. But some of them I love putting on every night, and some I don’t — though they’re all beautiful. The “Paris Original” number was the bane of my existence for a while, because that hat has been known to fall off my head! I do think that it’s fun for the audience to watch Rosemary’s progression though her costumes. They definitely inform my character.

TM: Ok, let’s talk about working with Daniel Radcliffe? Is it hard?
RH: He is so easy to work with, and so fun and so down to earth. I have to admit I hadn’t seen any of his Harry Potter movies before we did the reading, and then I figured I don’t want to watch them and get some idea of who he’s supposed to be. But now I’ve seen them all and I’m really excited for the last one to come out this summer. He’s also become great buddies with my husband, Geoffrey, which makes it easy for me to make out with him on stage every night.

TM: Do you want to be as famous as he is someday?
RH: I don’t think so. He handles it so beautifully, but it’s a very different lifestyle than mine. I want success, but I don’t think I want to achieve that level of fame.

For tickets and more information on How to Succeed…, click here.