INTERVIEW: Finding inspiration in Harvey Milk’s trailblazing story
Photo: A Letter to Harvey Milk features Adam Heller and Julia Knitel with Aury Krebs in the background. Photo courtesy of Russ Rowland / Provided by JT Public Relations with permission.
Harvey Milk was one of the preeminent leaders in the gay rights movement, and his trailblazing story has been dramatized and recorded in several mediums, including Gus Van Sant’s Oscar-winning Milk. Now the political leader’s story has inspired a new musical, A Letter to Harvey Milk, based on the short story by Lesleá Newman.
In the piece, which is currently playing Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre in New York City, Harry (Adam Heller) is a Kosher butcher who is given an assignment to write a letter to someone from his past who’s dead. One might think he would write to his deceased wife, but instead he chooses Milk.
Then there’s Barbara (Julia Knitel), Harry’s lesbian writing teacher at the senior center. She is taken aback by Harry’s missive to Milk, and quickly they realize there’s a connection between their seemingly different lives.
The music for A Letter to Harvey Milk is by Laura I. Kramer, with lyrics by Ellen M. Schwartz and Cheryl Stern. The book is by Jerry James, Schwartz, Stern and Kramer.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Knitel, an actor best known for her leading performance in Beautiful. That memorable musical landed her the role of Carole King on both the national tour and Broadway. Here’s what she had to say:
On how she became attached to A Letter to Harvey Milk …
“I’m actually very lucky. A bunch of the people who are in the show right now have been with it for quite a while since readings and other productions, and I got submitted for it by my agent and got to go in and kind of meet the whole team and perform for them. They decided to allow me into the family.”
On the complexity of her role …
“Well, you know, it’s a gift always as an actress to get a complex female role, and it’s not always the case. But I’m really luck with Barbara because she’s troubled, and she’s resilient. She’s coming from a place of love at all times, and I think it’s really amazing to get to play a lesbian character on stage in a time as important as this one, and to get to show her in a positive light but also to show that we’re all troubled. We’re all flawed, and we’re all trying to just be our best selves every day.”
On working with Adam Heller …
“Adam Heller is such a star. I am in awe of him every single night. Truly, he just challenges me and surprises me on stage, and getting to be roles like Barbara and Harry, which are so codependent and symbiotic, we kind of get to go through this whole journey together. It is such a joy. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner up there.”
On her research into the life of Harvey Milk …
“I’ve actually been doing quite a bit of reading. It’s interesting to me sort of through my research learning so much that I had no idea about. It’s heartbreaking to me that we teach so little of the gay rights movement in schools, and I grew up in a very liberal town and still didn’t learn much about Harvey Milk in the curriculum. So going back now as an adult and learning about the struggle that so many people who are so close to me went through, it is so eye-opening, and it’s so heartbreaking. And it’s also so inspiring.
“I’ve been reading The Mayor of Castro Street, which is the biography about Harvey Milk, and it is just really rocking my world to learn about where he came from and how became the man that he is.”
On the backgrounds of the main characters …
“What she is looking to do is to connect with her Jewish heritage because he comes from a family that’s not comfortable with where they come from and their faith, and so she’s so hungry for this taste of her past and this taste for history. … He moved to America in his 20s, so he grew up in another country. He has very strong Jewish roots, and she’s looking for that and then is completely stunned when by prodding about his past Harvey Milk comes up, especially because she’s this young gay woman who is so influenced by him as many were. And for her to have already found this friendship in Harry, then to find this thing that really truly bonds them on a cellular level, it’s really when our story picks up. It’s really when we start to see how these two people are going to shape each other’s lives for the better.”
On the difficulty of performing the show …
“Everything has its difficulties. With this piece, the music is so melodic that it makes it very easy to sing. It’s sort of in a soprano-y range, which I don’t always get to play, so that’s a gift. I think more than anything, it’s emotionally more draining than it is vocally because we are nonstop for 90 minutes. We really have to go to some darker places or so more emotional places throughout, so I think for me — and I’m sure for Adam as well — it’s definitely more of an emotional challenge more than any other.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
A Letter to Harvey Milk is currently playing Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
