Actress Kathleen Turner, now performing in Ogunquit, on being in her first musical (2024)

Actress Kathleen Turner is appearing in a musical for the first time in her career, at the Ogunquit Playhouse. It’s also the first time she’s set foot in Maine.

Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” opened on July 18 and runs through Aug. 17.

You might remember Turner for her starring roles in 1980s films like “Prizzi’s Honor” and “Romancing the Stone.” Both earned her Golden Globes.

For her turn inthe 1987 film “Peggy Sue Got Married,” Turner was nominated for a best actress Academy Award.

Turner has also starred in the one-woman show “Finding My Voice” and has been in several Broadway productions, including “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” the latter of which earned her a Tony nomination for best actress.

Turner, who lives in New York City, answered five questions from her temporary home in Ogunquit, which she’s sharing with her cat, Simon.

This interview has been edited for length.

How’s the show going so far?

It’s going so well. Everyday it seems to get clearer, and we had only two weeks rehearsal. This is the quickest I’ve ever worked up a show. I think the natural progression now that we’re in the run will be to get fuller and fuller as we go along. There’s no duds; every person in the cast and crew are at the top of their job, and it’s such a pleasure. Everyone is so good. I never anticipated that I would do a musical. I turned 70 in June, and after 30 years of rheumatoid arthritis, I was figuring I didn’t have eight shows a week left in me anymore. But this character is in a wheelchair. Ta da!

How did you get the role of Madame Armfeldt and what made you say yes to it?

My agent called up and said that they’re asking if you would have any interest in this. It always depends on the script. So I went and looked it up and raced through it and said, “You know what I think? I think I want to give it a shot.” I do these silly things and act kind of crazy. I said, “I don’t know if I can do it, so let’s find out if I’m going to fall on my face.” I have never been a big fan of musicals, per se, because some of them just seem so silly to me. I don’t understand why you just don’t talk. But these songs are scenes – they’re really scenes between people, and it’s really quite intricate.

What’s it like to sing your character’s song “Liasons?”

It’s a lovely time with the audience because she’s alone on stage; she’s only talking to them. She’s not talking to another person in the cast or in the company on stage. It’s just her and the audience saying, “I did this and I did this and it was great, and what is wrong now?” It’s completely a dialogue with the audience. It’s such a treat.

Are you still teaching acting?

I’m actually a professor at Pace University now. I did all of last semester, and I’ll do the coming semester. I’ve always done master classes around the country. I decided I needed to settle down, and in a sense, I wanted to have a more continuous impact on the students rather than come in and do a week’s work and leave. One reason I want to teach is because I want to pass on the ethics of it and the traditions. I really think, from my experience over the years, if you’re very good at this, it creates quite a responsibility, and you better be sure of what you’re choosing to represent.

You’ve long been an advocate for women’s rights and a supporter of Planned Parenthood. Are you still involved?

My real focus and the organization I’m most involved with is (national progressive advocacy group) People For The American Way. Norman Lear started it. I work closely with a group within that, called YEO (Young Elected Officials Network), so elected officials under 35 to any position. Stacey Abrams is one of our graduates. I work with them when we have our conferences. I work with particularly the ladies on their presentation: how you stand, how you speak, if you overuse this gesture, that word, organizing your thoughts. I want good progressive leadership in this country behind me. I don’t want to leave it to these older men who do the same thing over and over.

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