Video: In Rehearsals for Encores! LOVE LIFE with Kate Baldwin & Brian Stokes Mitchell
Mar 20, 2025
Victoria Clark directs Love Life as a part of the 2025 New York City Center Encores! season. Watch in this video as the whole team chats more about the exciting new project and catch a sneak peek of the cast in action!
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0:00
What's making this so special for you
0:02
Oh, I can't talk about that without crying. It's just so emotional
0:06
I mean, this is a show I've loved for so long. I've been working on it for seven years
0:12
It's just so beautiful to be with this group of people. And it all goes by so fast
0:18
You know, two weeks from now, the whole thing will be over. So for me, it's about the joy of being together in community and making something that we love
0:25
So, yeah, I can't. My heart is very full. I'm I'm I've got a figure
0:44
as ivory Strong and smooth as ivory Once it used to hold the
0:52
From now I want to use it We're going to be free
1:01
Yeah! I'm going to make that figure useful, holding a joy. We're going to be free
1:14
We're going back to the old days, right? Where we take real forgotten or underutilized, misunderstood
1:27
and taking a look at it again, and giving modern audiences a chance to experience it
1:33
And this is an adaptation of the show. It's very close to the original production, but we've added, we've refreshed it
1:40
and we think made it better for modern audiences You know it 77 years since the original production So the country has really changed and we all changed
1:55
And I think we want this to be as relevant and as modern and as edgy
2:01
and as deep as possible for modern audiences. Well, I think it was frankly one of two shows that we always knew we had to get to
2:09
The other one was the golden apple because people would say that, No one had seen it in a million years
2:13
and no one had seen Love Life in a million years, and Love Life was never recorded, and the cast album of the Golden Apple
2:18
was not a great cast album. So these were two shows that were born to be Encores
2:24
and it took us a surprisingly long time to get to them. Why this is so perfect for Encores, Rob
2:31
Well, it's just so worthwhile, because this is a piece that people have heard about
2:36
but never seen, most likely. So now is the chance to sort of everyone to see what it is
2:41
what's fabulous about it, what is remarkable about it, maybe also how it falls short from being an absolute classic
2:48
But I think that's, if you're a theater lover and a theater goer
2:52
I think it's a must-see and it's going to be a real treat. I play Samuel Cooper, who is kind of the American Everyman
3:00
And what's interesting about the show is we track this family, family of four throughout their relationship and where it begins and where it ends
3:09
as we're also tracking kind of the history of the United States
3:13
They start in the 1700s, but we follow the same couple as if we're kind of like catching up with the same couple
3:19
but now in the 1800s and now in the 1900s, but they never age
3:23
But the country does, and the country changes, and their relationship changes
3:28
And I think that what makes the show so really really interesting to watch You have a lot of different kinds of things going on that inform each other I play Susan Cooper and she married to Samuel and we have parted ways at the beginning of the show
3:46
And then we go back in time to rediscover what our relationship really was
3:51
Was it as great? Was it as real as we remembered it being? Who remembers it best
3:56
And you'll see that in one of the songs. Also, at the same time, we go through the transition that the United States is making
4:06
So we look at how marriage is affected by industrialization, by moving from an agrarian society to an industrial society, moving from being sort of isolated to being around other people
4:19
And so how that affects a marriage, how that affects a partnership, how ideas then filter in and cause a rift between a husband and wife
4:28
before they have to change together or change apart? Well, I played the hobo, which is like not a lot of information on it
4:34
but it gives a lot of people a chance to put their own preconceived notions on it. But this character is so cool because what I love so much about the character
4:44
it's like my character, we're going in, even from the costume and everything
4:49
it's kind of you can put your ideas of who this person can be
4:53
but it's most likely the person that society usually overlooks. from that one person, like, is trying to give this message of what we really need right now
5:03
and trying to bring everybody back to, trying to bring everybody back to their love
5:08
and trying to bring everybody back to what we're missing in the world right now
5:12
And this gets to sing this beautiful song so beautiful And it like almost like everything stops in that moment a little reminder So I love that character so much because I feel it lived so much life and has a very important message to tell
5:29
It was late at night. It was 6.15. You were dressed in whites
5:40
I was all in green. That's right. I remember it well. I really enjoyed being in the room with Rob and Vicky
5:51
We just, we have a great time. We laugh, which is so important
5:57
So I, and you know what, I love working. And I'm so grateful to be able to work quickly, preferably not so quickly
6:05
but it is on Cours and I get it. But I just, I like to feel like I'm participating
6:10
and helping maybe bring something to fruition. So that's, anytime I get to do that, I'm very happy to do that
6:18
But outside of that, you are right. But the moon was wrong
6:27
Yes, the moon was wrong. And I loved your soul. Yes, I didn't love you so
6:37
And it seemed even more than ever before that I'm right
6:47
Oh, yes, you're right. I remember it. Oh, yeah
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