Video: How Alyssa Milano’s Daughter Inspired Her to Audition for Chicago

Video: How Alyssa Milano’s Daughter Inspired Her to Audition for Chicago

Plus, doing Fosse is reminding the Charmed star of that time she danced in Annie.

Alyssa Milano may be known for her screen work, including the television show Charmed. But she actually got her start in theatre. “When I was eight years old, I was in the second national touring company of Annie
for 18 months. That was my very first professional gig,” recalls Milano. “I did the first musical version of Jane Eyre when I was little, which was a very special experience, because my dad actually helped with the props. Theatre, that’s the beauty of it, is the community that you create.”

Though Milano’s career has taken her away from the stage, she has now returned. She’s playing Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway in a limited engagement through November 10. Watch the video above, where Milano tells Playbill’s Jeffrey Vizcaino what inspired her to do musicals again.

Milano says she was inspired to do musicals again because of her daughter, who is now doing musicals in her elementary school. “I just had a moment where I was like, ‘Wow, she’s really powerful and strong, and I don’t know how she’s doing it.’” And then Milano realized, it was because of theatre, which led her to thinking: “I did that at that age. Why aren’t I doing that now?” Milano says it’s been a family tradition to go to New York every year and see a Broadway show.

“The great thing about musical theatre at a young age is, not only does it give you confidence, and also all of those things that you need to be a functioning adult, but also, it gives you community,” she says. “There’s such an ease knowing that she’s going to be in middle school and know who her people are.”

And the process of rehearsing Chicago, including learning the Kander and Ebb songs and Fosse’s intricate choreography—it’s taken Milano back to her younger self.  

“It’s really hard,” she says with a smile about learning the choreography. “I remember being eight, and rehearsing for Annie, and there was this one dance step that sent me off the stage crying because I could not get it. I could not get it. And there have been those moments in [Chicago]. But I’m not crying, mind you, because now I have faith that I will get it eventually.” And the most astonishing thing is? “I still remember that move from when I was eight years old. It’s never left my body,” marvels Milano. That means that Chicago will also never leave her body. “And that’s really cool,” she says with a smile.

And it’s also shown Milano what she’s capable of: “What an amazing thing to be older than I ever intended to be and to still be doing something for the first time.”