By Rita Charleston
For the Times
Singer/actress Marla Schaffel credits her parents with helping provide her the ability to earn a living today doing exactly what she loves to do.
A Miami, Fla., native who has spent the majority of her life in New York, Schaffel said her father always told her and her siblings to do the thing they most loved to do.
“My parents were always very generous to all of us in that they gave us all kinds of lessons so we could discover what the object of that love might be,” she said.
For Schaffel, it was definitely music, from the time she was 5 and performed in her first musical at her brother’s high school, until she graduated from the Juilliard School Drama Division, to her current roles on Broadway and off.
Schaffel recently starred on Broadway in the title role of the Tony-nominated musical Jane Eyre. The role earned her several accolades, including a Tony nomination, the Drama Desk Award, a Drama League Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award, all for outstanding actress in a musical in 2001.
Other Broadway credits include Titanic and Les Miserables, as well as the national tours of Evita and My Fair Lady. She also has amassed an impressive list of off-Broadway, regional and film credits.
Currently, Schaffel is starring as Maria — the role made famous by Julie Andrews — in an all-new production of The Sound of Music, which is being presented at the DuPont Theatre at the Hotel duPont in Wilmington, Del., from Sept. 5 through 14.
The inspiring story of the Von Trapp Family Singers is a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic that features a memorable score and puts the spotlight on Maria, a “nun in training” who becomes the governess to the seven children of the widowed Austrian aristocrat, Capt. Georg von Trapp.
Maria soon wins the hearts of the children and their father, and the family barely escapes the Nazis while fleeing to the safety of Switzerland — singing all the way!
The original Broadway production of The Sound of Music won eight Tony awards, including best musical and best score, and the 1965 moving starring Andrews received five Academy Awards, including one for best picture.
Schaffel said that people are constantly asking her what it’s like to appear in a role that is so associated with another performer.
“My reply is always that each time an individual does a role it becomes a different role, their own role,” she said. “And even though I sometimes have Julie’s voice in my head, I am a different style of actress, and so I approach the journey differently.”
The current production has been touring for about five months, and Schaffel said the most difficult thing about being in a touring company is that there’s really no such thing as a day off.
“Our so-called days off are spent traveling,” she said. “Then we find ourselves in a different city where everything is new for us. But I just go with the flow and enjoy what’s new and what’s different. And there’s always a lot to enjoy. I think the best part is the fact that every city is different, every audience is different, every crew is different. So we get to be with new people every week, which is really kind of wonderful.”
When this tour ends, Schaffel said, it’s back to New York to jump once again into the audition process for whatever show may come her way.
“It’s difficult to have to audition every time you want a part, but it’s part of the process,” she said. “You have to accept that and just keep going.”
In the business professionally now for about a dozen years, Schaffel said she’d eventually like to be starring in another musical on Broadway, and maybe even creating a few roles of her own.
“Over the years I’ve had the good fortune of doing just that — creating new roles and playing great characters. That’s what I really love doing because I’m an actor, and I like to be part of the process of the creation of the piece,” the actress explained. “I find that very thrilling. And some day, I’d also love to do a television series, maybe something like Everybody Loves Raymond. That sounds like it would be a lot of fun.” ••
For the show schedule and ticket information, call 1-800-338-0881.