Meet the veteran Broadway showgirl finally getting her big break

An array of Broadway sorts populates the new musical comedy, “The Promenade”: the self-absorbed diva, the exasperated press agent, the useless main man. After which there’s the jaded refrain lady, who’s been in “Chicago” for 20 years with out ever getting to play Roxie. That final one was modeled on Angie Schworer, a fixture in Broadway choruses since she made her debut in “The Will Rogers Follies” in 1991. “That is the Angie Schworer half,” director Casey Nicholaw and the writers stored saying. “We want an Angie Schworer kind.” They even known as the character Angie. After which it dawned on them: Why not get Angie Schworer? No extra refrain strains for her: Now Schworer has precise strains she delivers with professional comedian timing — and stops the present with a Bob Fosse sendup known as “Zazz.” Her Broadway champions say it’s about time. “Angie is the most legendary showgirl of our era,” says “Hairspray” songwriter Scott Wittman. “She’s proper out of Broadway in the 1930s.” His writing associate, Marc Shaiman, says: “Angie is the nice instance of the riches that lie inside the ensemble.” Schworer is extra modest. “I’m simply Angie the refrain lady, it doesn’t matter what I do,” she tells me over a blood-orange salad in the West Village. “And I like being a gypsy. After I’m in the refrain, I at all times suppose: Nicely, any person’s taking a look at me.” You may’t miss her. She’s a 5-foot-11 blonde whose legs, to paraphrase a line in “Metropolis of Angels,” don’t cease till they hit the flooring. She has the greatest “present and conceal it” on Broadway. That’s refrain lady lingo for strolling throughout the stage by crossing your legs, opening them and crossing them once more. (I’ll allow you to guess what’s being proven and hidden.) Schworer will get up from the desk to display. A bunch of funding bankers at the subsequent desk droop dialog. Born and raised in Fort Mitchell, KY, Schworer took ballet, jazz and faucet dancing as a child. Broadway was by no means in her sights, however dancing was. She landed jobs at theme parks in Florida, dancing in a dirndl at Busch Gardens and performing in a Tina Turner wig in entrance of Cinderella’s Fortress. Schworer in “The Producers” in 2006.Rob Loud/Getty Photos She auditioned in Miami for a street firm of “Cats,” however didn’t get forged. After which she acquired a name from a buddy in New York who stated Schworer can be excellent for director Tommy Tune’s new present, “The Will Rogers Follies.” She acquired a component, and on the first day of rehearsal watched Cady Huffman — who later created the position of the horny secretary Ulla in “The Producers” — stroll throughout the stage on pointe. “I believed, Holy s - – t. That lady is so tall, and her legs are so lengthy and he or she is so beautiful. What the hell am I doing right here?” After “Will Rogers,” Schworer landed a job in “Loopy for You,” the place she met choreographer Susan Stroman. She labored pretty steadily apart from a lull in the late ’90s. Pressed for money, she considered taking a job in a theatrical company. However Schworer informed the lady who interviewed her that if a task calling for a 5-foot-11 alto got here throughout her desk, “it would damage my emotions a bit.” The girl stated, “Name me in a 12 months.” Just a few months later, Stroman supplied Schworer a spot in the refrain of “The Producers.” Later, Schworer performed Ulla on tour after which on Broadway. Now that she’s featured in “The Promenade,” are her chorus-line days behind her? “Who is aware of?” she says. “However for those who had informed this little tow-headed lady who did cartwheels [in] Busch Gardens that any person would write a component for her someday, I might have laughed.” Two nice actors — Eileen At kins and Jonathan Pryce — are coming to Broadway in the fall in a terrific play known as “The Peak of the Storm.” It is going to be at the Friedman Theatre in October, directed by Jonathan Kent. Don’t miss it. You may hear Michael Riedel weekdays on “Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning” on WOR radio 710. Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/12/20/meet-the-veteran-broadway-showgirl-finally-getting-her-big-break/ The post Meet the veteran Broadway showgirl finally getting her big break appeared first on My style by Kartia.