Broadway and voiceover vet Merle Dandridge dishes on headlining OWN’s new superchurch drama, “Greenleaf,” and working with Oprah Winfrey.
On family ties in ‘Greenleaf.’
“The core of the story is about family and how deep those wounds go and how layered those relationships are. You scratch the surface and there are so many more years and years of hurt or happiness or betrayal or bonds. There are so many things in a familial relationship that anyone in this entire world can relate to.”
On getting cast.
“I went in [to audition] just with the casting director, put it on tape, and dropped the mic. Forgot about it. A week later, I was working on another TV show, and in between setup, I checked my email. ‘Oprah wants to meet you at 6 o’clock today.’ I dropped the phone.”
On TV versus theater.
“I’ve been in leadership roles on Broadway, and it’s one thing to lead a Broadway company—you’re with those people for a year straight and you’re doing that same show, eight shows a week. It’s quite another when you carry on the story…. You go beyond that and you ride the wave of a character. In this particular genre, it took me a minute to realize that it’s not what you say—in voiceover it’s so much of what you say, and on the stage you can express to the audience through a song or a monologue—[with television] you can say so much just being still. That is a really amazing new tool and gift.”
On her recipe for success.
“My intent was always just to move forward and be open to discovery. And I’ll tell you: [Backstage] is the reason I’m doing what I’m doing right now. I would religiously get the publication, look through everything that was in there, read every article, and it was my guide. It was my guidebook when I was in college and when I finally moved to New York. I didn’t have an agent, I didn’t have anything; I just went to every single thing that was listed there. That’s how I got my Broadway debut: They were doing open calls for ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ and I showed up at 4 a.m. and started a non-Equity sign-in list. Mid-afternoon, somebody didn’t show up for the Equity appointment. I got in and got my first Broadway gig.
By always looking out and always moving myself forward and being disciplined and being open to new experiences, I think that’s how I was able to diversify because if it felt right to me creatively, I went for it. It didn’t matter if I knew how to do that, I just did it because my creative heart felt pulled to it. That seems to have worked out.”
On looking ahead.
“Boy, have I stretched and become so much more dynamic than when I started this journey [of ‘Greenleaf’], and I can’t wait to see—because we already got our Season 2, thank God!—how much farther we get to go. By the time we finished the end of the first season, we were revving on all cylinders, hot! To pick up from that and carry on, oh my gosh, you’d better get ready.”
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