BWW Interviews: Josefina Scaglione on the Music of WEST SIDE STORY and More

When Arthur Laurents decided to revive WEST SIDE STORY, one of his challenges was finding a new cast.  Now famously, after being dissatisfied with any number of would-be Marias, Laurents was steered to a YouTube video of a young Argentinian performer, Josefina Scaglione.  One Outer Critics Circle Award and one Tony nomination later, she's performing in Lancaster with PRiMA Theatre in a concert of the music from WEST SIDE STORY and learning about Central Pennsylvania.

MR:  Hello, and welcome to Lancaster.  Are you familiar with it?  Have you been here before?

JS: I was never here before.  It's beautiful and everyone is so welcoming.  I've enjoyed some walking in town.  It has a lot of stories, and it's so open-air, not like New York. 

MR: But you're not a stranger to Pennsylvania, are you?  What's the connection?

JS:  I've been in Pittsburgh.  I did a summer dance program in Pittsburgh at Point Park College in my teens.  Pittsburgh is much more urban than Lancaster. 

MR:  You were involved in musical theatre in Argentina. 

JS:  I was in HAIRSPRAY [as Amber von Tussle – MR] among other shows.  I did ANNIE when I was younger.  We have a theatre district in Buenos Aires, the Avenida Corrientes, that's our Broadway equivalent. 

MR:  Musical theatre, though, is such a uniquely North American art form.  What attracted you to it?

JS:  I always acted at home; I performed with my cousins when we were young.  Musical theatre has been growing in Latin America considerably.  Many shows are coming to Argentina now.  But when I was ten, people were just discovering it.  I liked the singing, the dancing, the whole combination. 

MR:  And then you wound up in WEST SIDE STORY through YouTube – can you explain the story?

JS:  I was performing in HAIRSPRAY, and I'd just gotten Christine in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in Buenos Aires.  Arthur Laurents was casting at the time and was sent to my YouTube video, which had been up for a while, and I got contacted for an audition.  They flew me to New York. 

MR: When Laurents contacted you, did you know who he was?

JS:  Yes, but I didn't really know until I got to work with him and got to see who he was.  And then it was, "Oh, damn, I'm auditioning for Arthur Laurents!"  But not really realizing it up front kept me from being nervous. 

MR: Did the history of the show and the performers who have worked in it make you nervous?

JS:  Not really.  I was familiar with the music, of course, but the show is so American that we didn't know it and we weren't really familiar with its history in Argentina. 

MR:  What musical theatre starts do you particularly admire?  Are any of them role models for you?

JS:  I really admire Patti LuPone.  Audra McDonald.  And Elena Roger, who's playing Evita, who's also from Argentina. 

MR:  Who would you like to be performing with now – do you have any dream cast mates?

JS:  No; I'm open to new casts and new people. 

MR:  So are there any dream shows for you?

JS:  Yes.  I would love to play Sally Bowles in CABARET or Roxie in CHICAGO.  They're fun parts and strong characters. 

MR:  And you're also trained in opera?

JS:  Yes.  I'm not only a Broadway performer.  I love singing in all forms. 

MR:  If you were working on other stage work than musical theatre, would it be opera or straight drama?

JS:  I would love to do drama.  I'd also like to do opera eventually.  I've done television and I'm interested in films, but the stage is where my heart really is. 

America's most uncoordinated childhood ballet and tap student before discovering that her talents were music and writing, Marakay Rogers finally traded in her violin for law school when she realized that she might make more money in law than she did performing with the Potomac Symphony and in orchestra pits around the mid-Atlantic. She has never recovered from being chewed out by Terrence Mann in public for hanging up her bow. A graduate of Wilson College (PA), Marakay is also a writer, film reviewer and interviewer for the Wilkes-Barre (PA) Independent Gazette, science-fiction publications, and other news outlets. She's also taught college-level communications, writing, and English literature classes, has received multiple writing awards, and is listed in Marquis' "Who's Who in America". In her free time, Marakay practices law and often gets it right.

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