Ashley Brown
The Rage Monthly: Welcome to San Diego! Ashley Brown: Thank you. This is my first time living
in San Diego; I’ve never even visited here before. La Jolla Playhouse is amazing. It has the best reputation and I see why. Everyone is so eager to help and so positive. It’s a little slower pace than New York, which I like.
Rage: What prompted your decision to audition for this new musical?
AB: I am in awe of Charlie Chaplin and all the things
he overcame. Today we go to school and we train and we’re expected to know things. He was just born to do what he did—a self-made man who paved the way for all of us artists.
Rage: You play two roles in this show? AB: I play Charlie’s mother Hannah and his wife
Oona. I know it sounds a bit strange and incestuous, but it really works because I play his Mom in act one and his wife in act two—both are women who truly love Charlie for who he is. By playing both roles, it allows the audience to see how much he yearns for love. All his life he searches for love. It’s fun performing both roles, the way the show is written is quite extraordinary.
Rage: Tell me about Oona and Charlie Chaplin’s relationship— they were quite the scandal because she was so much younger. AB: Yes they were. He had been married before and
he was known as a womanizer. Oona O’neil went to an audition for a Charlie Chaplin movie at age 18. She could not decide if she wanted to be an actress or not. Charlie fell head-over-heels for her. Ultimately she didn’t star in a single film. She is a constant for Charlie, reminding him that movies, film work, isn’t everything and isn’t his only identity. Despite the rumors and what was printed in the papers, she stuck by him and was his rock. One of the scenes I love in this show is when Oona and Charlie are older, after 30 years of marriage and eight children. They are talking on the phone and they sing the song “Only Love Can See.” It’s a great number because they could al- ways make each other laugh. They are able to get through all of life and bring out the best from inside each other.
Rage: Do you relate more strongly to one role or the other—his mother or his wife? AB: I really enjoy the opening Vaudeville numbers that take place in England with his mother. You see Charlie’s first time performing in a music hall with his mother. They have so much fun and are so close. He hears an audience applause for the first time and it so obvious how much they love each other. When he loses her, these memories
become like lost episodes that he is always trying to recapture in his film work.
Rage: In between Mary Poppins and Limelight, you also put out a CD this year? AB: Yes, it is an album of American Songbook standards
called Speak Low. It was released in January by Ghostlight/ Sony. It has Chaplin’s song “Smile” on it.
Rage: You’re clearly in awe of Charlie’s talent. What will audiences take away with them? AB: You find out who he is from his first stage appear-
ance to his acceptance of an Oscar for Lifetime Achieve- ment. You learn so much and you begin to care so much. He was genius. I can guarantee you; you’ll want to rent all of his films after seeing this and you’ll watch them so differently—with different eyes. He wasn’t just a movie star; he was a composer, musician, director and founder of United Artists. It is just beautiful; a wonderfully written, amazing journey. I can’t wait for it to begin!
Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin runs September 7 through October 17 at The La Jolla Playhouse Mandell Weiss Theatre. Tickets and more information are available by calling 858.550.1010 or by visiting
lajollaplayhouse.org.
SEPTEMBER 2010 | RAGE monthly 19
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