The following interview for Backstage’s on-camera series The Slate was compiled in part by Backstage readers just like you! Follow us on Twitter (@Backstage) and Instagram (@backstagecast) to stay in the loop on upcoming interviews and to submit your questions.
Lena Hall has long been known for her work on Broadway, from originating the role of Nicola in “Kinky Boots” to winning the Tony for best featured actress in a musical for her performance as Yitzhak in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” Now, she’s breaking out beyond the stage and onto the screen to star alongside Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly on TNT’s sci-fi action hit, “Snowpiercer,” which premiered last year to much acclaim. Hall and managing editor Benjamin Lindsay had a virtual hangout, and talked about everything from the difference between her personal process when working on stage or screen, to her advice for actors who might be looking to make the same transition!
How the ‘Snowpiercer’ CD Finds New TV Talent Hall’s television and theater experiences have been significantly different.
“On Broadway, you get to tell a story front-to-back every single night, eight shows a week. So you get to like, live the catharsis of the character eight shows a week with no down time. And then with scripted television, your arc is so long; it’s like a puzzle piece you’re putting together almost like living it real time, but not in order. So it’s wildly different and it’s very interesting. It’s very fun, because you as an actor have a lot more input, even if it’s just how you are in general, on the character, than say in a written script for Broadway. So, the characters become much more tailored to you and who you are.”
In general though, she relies heavily on physicality.
“It’s heels, it’s a corset—a corset will make you stand a certain way and feel a certain way, especially this type corset that I’m wearing. The clothing itself is very much a character in and of itself for Miss Audrey. A lot of the other characters, it’s very different, they wear the same thing all the time, you know, they almost have a uniform. But Miss Audrey is constantly changing her clothes. We joke [that] her wardrobe is an entire train car. We’re like, ‘Where does she get all this clothing?’ But that corset is so telling. And then the makeup, the hair—it all gets you into a certain character. I did a backstage [video] getting ready for Yitzhak when I was in ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch.’ And the video’s out there. It’s the transformation from just me every day into Yitzhak. And what's crazy is, as I’m doing my makeup, putting the hair on, my voice is changing, my body is changing, my stance is changing. Like, everything starts to match into that character. For me, that’s the biggest character development: what I’m wearing and how I feel.”
READ: 3 Major Differences Between Stage + Screen Acting,
According to an Actor
Her musical talent impacted her role on “Snowpiercer.”
“So originally, I was cast as someone different. In the original pilot that we filmed, I was someone totally different. It’s funny because in my contract it was like, ‘She’s not gonna sing, and she’s not gonna be in her underwear.’ [Laughs]. And then they came back and they were like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna have you sing.’ And I was like, ‘You know what? Awesome.’ And they told me about why the character change [happened]—I played an archivist of the train in the original pilot—and then when they redid everything, they were like, ‘Hey, we’re just gonna have you be the night car cabaret singer. You’re the Cher of the train.’ I was like ‘Perfect!’ ”
Hall feels that a character you play onscreen is more true-to-life than onstage.
“When we go onstage, we are playing a caricature. And this is just my experience—I’m sure it’s very, very different for other people. But when you get in front of a camera, that goes away, and what actually speaks much more clearly on camera is yourself: how you are, you as a human being. So one is very grand, caricature, of course you’re trying to get to the back row, you’re performing broadly, you’re telling a story to someone who’s so far away they can barely see your expressions. And when you’re on camera, the performance is so internal. You’re thinking it, you’re reliving your own experiences through this whole made-up thing, you know? But pulling upon who you are as a person is much more helpful than looking at it as like a caricature.”
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