Q & A with Actress Tory Ross

Current Location:
Manhattan
Hometown:
I was born in Littleton, NH, but went to high school in Dayton, OH.

Current gig:
Playing the pivotal roles of the candy striper and the perennially-depressed secretary, Daphne in the Broadway musical 9 to 5.

If you could change places with the 9 to 5 cast member of your choice for 24 hours, who would it be and what kind of mischief and or good deeds would you do in their place? What kind of mischief and or good deeds would they do in your place?
Oohhh… tough question! I understudy a bunch of parts, so I kind of get to live this question. I got to play Judy this week during the understudy put-in – the moment in which she gets to belt her ass off while the entire set disappears, is my idea of musical theater heaven. I also understudy Roz, and that bathroom number is a second helping of musical theater heaven. I got to go on for Margaret two weeks ago, which was a blast, because her desk is in a completely different part of the "office" and I got to see parts of the show that I didn't even know existed! I'd love to get the chance to do all the Mr. Hart flying... or wear some of Doralee’s (Megan Hilty) clothes. I'm hoping to go in for Violet when the show gets revived in 20 years. Her second act number and that white suit are amazing.

My track is actually really busy and fun. I think people would enjoy spending time at my desk writing notes on my personalized Daphne stationary. The inter-office memos that I circulate are quite a hit at work. We've started a montage on a wall backstage!

You are a sequined shimmering beacon for Misfit Showgirls everywhere (as wonderfully portrayed in the production number “I Want to be a Producer” in the movie version of the musical, The Producers.) How might one prepare for a “Misfit Showgirl” audition? Any special stories on how you landed the role or on-set antics?
You never really know how far you should go with auditions like that... I mean, you want your outfit to suggest the part ... but you don't want to costume yourself. I was on tour playing the part, and we were in Minneapolis when I got the call for the audition, so I ran to Target and bought some short-shorts, leg warmers and a t-shirt that said, "I Live for Dance." I was going for a contemporary take on "Bitsy" the “Misfit Showgirl”. I called her “Bitsy” because I did a different bit (mostly for our traveling crew) every night after popping out of that filing cabinet, though I got reined in by our resident director after I did the West Side Story dance. Anyway, I digress … The girls at the audition were BEDAZZLED and I was sure that I wasn't going to get it. In fact, I only did it twice in the audition room, but I totally got it!

It was an amazing day on the set. I remember that they sewed me into my costume, so I couldn't really sit down or eat or go to the bathroom, so I just buzzed about amusing people... mostly Matthew (Broderick). I mean, I looked RIDICULOUS. I kept shoving bagels down my costume. Apparently they thought I was funny and the shoot went really late into the wee hours of the morning, so they kept me around as the set jester and put me in the last shot of the day... the button of the number, next to Jon Lovitz! Also, when they did the close-up shot of my face, “Stro” (Director, Susan Stroman) told me just to keep making faces until she yelled “cut!” ... turns out they had put money down as to how long I could go. After making faces for two minutes (try it in the mirror... two minutes!), I finally yelled “cut” myself.

Better Movie: Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell or the musical movie adaptation of the Broadway show Mame with Lucille Ball.
This is a terrible musical theater confession, but I've never seen either of those movies... so I have to say the best Auntie Mame I've ever seen is Christine Baranski. I did the show with her at the Kennedy Center and she was incredible. Of course, now that I'm working with “Janney” (Allison Janney), I think she would probably be the best Mame of all time. I'm trying to talk her into doing it in a couple of years. By then, I'll be old enough to play Gooch; a part I played in high school and understudied at the Kennedy Center.

(9 to 5) Daphne… She wasn’t in the movie, was she? Explain this please. What motivated you to make the Daphne musical montage on YouTube?
Oh Daphne! She's such a Debbie Downer! Daphne was a co-creation between Joe Mantello (our director) and me. During the first week of rehearsal, I told Allison that she had to get me a line. Randomly, Allison and I knew each other before the show because we are both from Dayton and our moms are friends. (Side note: when I was in high school, Allison's mom made her take me out to dinner when I was in NY studying for the summer and she was doing Present Laughter. She's a total doll and PLU.) So I told Allison she had to get me a line. I had been released for the day when the Stage Manager called and told me that I had been added to a scene. I was thrilled! I ran back to rehearsal, where Joe informed me that Allison thought it would be hilarious if I walked across the stage and she said, "Hey Daphne" and I said, "Hey." Thus, the birth of Daphne! She was behind Joe giving me the thumbs up! Hilarious. So, I did it and everyone in the room laughed and we all decided that Daphne should be the uber-nerdy, Star Wars-loving, job-hating, perennially-depressed office drone. Cut to tech: Andy Karl, who I have come to learn is the modern definition of a Renaissance Man, started writing theme songs for all of our office characters (we all have names and relationships... there's a lot going on in that office). Daphne was one of the first songs he wrote. For opening, Allison gave him one of those HD flip cams… so we decided to shoot a music video. We had such a good time doing it, and people really enjoyed it, that we are in the process of story-boarding the next film. Right now we are thinking that Daphne discovers the delights of a kazoo... (See video below)

They say that to get to Carnegie Hall, one must practice, practice, practice... What kind of practice was required for your part in Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall? I worked with 9 to 5's musical supervisor Stephen Oremus during the workshop, so he brought me in for Jerry Springer. For my audition (another one that people really had to GO FOR), I sang Let the River Run with my headphones on, pretending that I was waiting for the bus. I didn't realize that with my headphones on, I wouldn't be able to hear the pianist (duh) − but it must have been funny, because I got it. Then when we were rehearsing, the director came up to me and told me that Stephen had told him that I wouldn't have the guts to be the Jerry-Cam stripper for a video they needed to shoot for the show. Of course, I totally took the bait and found myself two days later doing a stripper pole dance in my skivvies and making out with a complete stranger in the bathroom stalls at Therapy, the gay bar. Ah, my Carnegie Hall experience... so classy!

Tell us one little-known or trivial fact about you that you think we should know about:
I won the Right Stuff Award at Space Camp when I was twelve. I'm reeeeeally cool.

Favorite kind of pie:
Banoffi Pie. My mom makes it (she's British and a brilliant chef.)

If you had 5 words to describe or sum up Your “Theatre Story”, what would they be?
“I bring my own fun.”