Janet Krupin is best known for for gracing the stage of Broadway’s Bring It On: The Musical, Hands On A Hardbody, and If/Then, starring Idina Menzel. However, there is always a new chapter in store for Janet. On Friday September 1st at 9:30pm, Krupin takes the stage as a writer & performer at Feinstein’s/54 Below with her new musical Chemical Drive. In the latest episode of The Set List Podcast, Janet talks all thing Chemical Drive and how gender & race matters when casting a show. Subscribe to The Set List - click to subscribe on iTunes. We talk below about how she changed creative roles as actress to writer. Chemical Drive is inspired by the stranger-than-fiction nuclear history of Janet’s hometown. The evening will feature Janet and a cast of Broadway friends portraying what life might be like when the government hires a rock ’n’ roll band to distract from top secret operations underway. Where Cabaret meets Fleetwood Mac is Chemical Drive.
Janet Krupin
VL: What differences do you see in creating a role in a musical premiere as opposed to stepping into a vetted character?
JK: All the differences! Existing characters take breath and focus to follow the outline set by the writer to live. Rehearsing is fun and I feel at ease. Sitting in rehearsal as a writer, I feel like I have butterflies and bowling balls inside me and I want to cry and dance and giggle all at the same time while taking even more focus and breath to assist the people around me who are here to make it live. It's much harder.
VL: You mention that Chemical Drive is Cabaret meets Fleetwood Mac, what is your favorite moment in Cabaret, and your favorite Fleetwood Mac song?
JK: I sing the "deedle-dee-dee-deeeee" Two Ladies song to myself all the time. I like it, she likes it, we like it! In 2009 and 2010 I was working with a dance company in Los Angeles and we did this great number to The Chain. "Yeaaaaaaaaa KEEP US TOGETHER RUNNING THROUGH THE SHADOWS!"
VL: What about your hometown drove you to write a musical?
JK: The Hanford Area is rich in secrets and science and magic. Santino Fontana is from the same place and we sat down at a diner in midtown in 2013 with a former engineer who was in town, just to socialize. We both sat pretty spellbound while he recounted jaw dropping stories that never saw the light of day. Also, I'm probably more radioactive than the next person. So I glow at night. Kidding! Kind of.
VL: How has your double major in philosophy improved your performance or song writing?
JK: Philosophy is great because it grows the grey area between black and white, giving us a chance to draw small gradients in the biggest questions we face. Morality, what is right and wrong and why... it also guides us into being able to talk about an idea without having to completely believe in what's it's saying. I think people could use a lot more of that these days and I enjoy prompting people to think with my art.
VL: Do you thing your government distraction plot line can relate to the current headlines of today?
JK: Yes. The reciprocal nature of art and life and history and violence is overwhelming. I feel scared, then determined, then scared again too. I asked myself, "What can I do?" and this is my answer. I'm going to be over here making big loud queer art and sing it in the face of hate and intolerance. Everyone is invited to my tent.
