Broadway legend Stephanie J Block has revealed how hard it was for her to adapt to “the lingo” of English theatre for her leading role in Kiss Me Kate, writes Garry Bushell.
Award-winning American actress Stephanie, 51, who is co-starring with Line Of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar in the critically acclaimed West End musical, says she struggled to understand backstage London language.
“It was a case of I know you’re speaking English but I have no idea what you are saying to me,” she joked.
The California-born musical theatre star said: “It’s interesting because I’m in London, it’s a foreign country but you don’t think of it like that because everyone speaks English, and I can make my way around, but at same time even in theatre lingo things are so wildly different.
“They will say something like ‘Let’s read the lines and then we’ll do it in situ’.
“I was, ‘What’s in situ?’ It’s situation, which means on your feet with all the elements. So now I’m going to be insufferable, [telling people] ‘I think we should do it in situ’.”
She told Stages Podcast: “It’s not ‘places’, it’s beginners – ‘This is your five minutes to beginners’; it’s not intermission, it’s interval.
“It’s been really fun to translate some of these things.”
Block made her Broadway debut in 2003, originating the role of Liza Minnelli in The Boy From Oz. She became the first actress to play Elphaba in Wicked in the show’s first U.S. national tour in 2005 and reprised the role on Broadway from 2007 to 2008.
In 2019 she won the Tony Award for Best Actress In A Musical for her lead performance in The Cher Show. She had previously been nominated for her roles in 2013’s The Mystery Of Edwin Drood and 2016’s Falsettos.
Her other stage performances include the Broadway production of 9 To 5 as well as the Off-Broadway show Little Miss Sunshine; her television credits include recurring roles on the US series Madam Secretary and Rise.
