I hope they're reminded that joy is very easy to access if you just put down your phone, look at another person, and make a human connection. You'll find a new experience that you wouldn't have had otherwise.
— Phillipa Soo
I feel like 'Amelie' is very much an extension of me. She's a contemporary woman who sees the world through her imagination.
I would put on shows for my family.
There is a certain vulnerability to creating art and putting it out in the world for the first time, but again, there's a kind of thrill to that as well.
I relate to that idea of not necessarily seeking out 'interesting female roles,' but 'this character, this role, who happens to be a woman, is interesting to me, and I relate to it in some way, so I'm just gonna go with my gut and see where it leads me.'
I think as a young person, leaving high school or college, you're like, 'All right, all right, enough already.' But now there's a part of me that would like to go back and relish those moments when you could sit down and just... read a book.
At night, I'll do coconut oil or almond oil on my face as a mask to replenish my skin. I've found those are so simple but work better than any other product. Coconut oil is so good, but if you don't want to smell like a cookie, sweet almond oil isn't as pungent.
When you're on a show schedule, everything is heightened. You're always aware of what works and what doesn't so you can be at your best.
I've prioritized taking care of my mind, having fun, and doing things that make me laugh. And eating well - as in, really good food, like steak or pasta or fresh vegetables or an amazing dessert. You know, 'treat yo'self.'
I think it's just amazing to be in a group of women, in a group of people that you can spend enough time with them to really get to know people and be inspired by them and learn something new about them every day.
I love the collaborative process. Getting to meet new people and really building something with them is such a wonderful way to get to know someone.
I'm trying to look into each character and try to realize her as someone who is also me.
I've been very lucky. I made a choice, getting out of school, to follow the work and the people that really struck my heartstrings; 'Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812' was one of those - maybe it was an accident.
We try to find the information, the clues, to unlock the play or the story or our characters, especially when they're based on real people that live and breathe.
I read 'Backstage' a lot when I first was unleashed into the world from drama school. And what was great about it was that if I was using it or not, it was just nice to know what was happening in my community.
I will say, I can definitely throw down a sick beat once in a while and provide an amazing backup track for somebody who can really, actually freestyle.
Now, when building a show, I ask myself the question - like, 'Jumping off this table will be really cool, but can I do that eight times a week?'.
I like that Amelie is strange, just like me. I'm happy I've gotten to be on this journey following my 'Hamilton' journey because they're so different.
There was a saying going around the theatre: It's a train, and you can jump on at any point whether you're a lover of musical theatre or a lover of theatre or a lover of hip-hop or a lover of history - there was a way to jump on the train.
I came to New York for school, and then I did this amazing show that was received very well, with a great group of people, and I felt like I was creating something that I was really proud of, and then 'Hamilton' was my next big thing in New York.
'Hamilton' just asks us all to go a little bit deeper: whether you're a hip-hop fan seeing musical theater for the first time, or if you were thinking you were gonna see some reprise of 1776, and now it's this? And you're thinking, 'Wait a minute, these people aren't white!' It asks you just take a step and go a little deeper.
As a woman, it's nice to hear people at the stage door say, 'I didn't even know! She's a woman, and that's the most amazing thing'.
My mom always told me to follow my bliss. And I remember specifically with my father, when I was out of school and not knowing how I'd get a job or make money - should I take some classes? What do I do? He said as long as I was working - to enrich myself in some way - that I was on the right path.
I think I'm obsessed with food. Maybe that's why I'm making the transition to organic products - they just feel yummy. I like vanilla scents. I like mint. I like sage. I like the idea of smelling blackberries every time I blink. It's so good.
I eat a light but sustaining dinner before the show: a bunch of greens and some non-gluten quinoa or rice. I'll have a snack at intermission. I'm trying so hard not to have meals after the show because it's so late, but sometimes I just want a big bowl of pasta.
I learn something new about love every day. For example, loving yourself is just as important as loving other people.
I think in general, people are baffled by love and what it does to them and how far they'll go to have love and be loved.
I actually grew up seeing a lot of classical theater - a lot of Shakespeare - but I have such a passion for music and find that way of telling a story to be really compelling as well.
The only musicals I've really worked on in New York are new musicals, and I like the idea that my job as an actor is also that of a detective, archaeologist, and mystery solver.
The way theater can bring people together is so powerful.
I really love being in a room and developing work.: being at the table, looking at the script for the first time, and putting a story on its feet.
It's the coolest job to be on Broadway.
I'm definitely not as good as people who consider themselves beatboxers.
There's no map for you to follow and take your journey. You are Lewis and Clark. You are the mapmaker.
You're able to get into somebody's brain through song.
I decided one day to put on my tutu and jump on the coffee table and sing Aretha Franklin songs for the painters that were painting the house.
You are carving out a story. You and your colleagues are trying to make something that is bigger than yourself. Although it can be a scary experience because you're putting your work out on the line, it's also incredibly rewarding because a lot of it comes from you.
In terms of my own experience, my dad is first-generation, so his parents were from China, and my mom was born and raised in southern Illinois, and she was involved in the arts. My dad's a doctor.
I went through a phase when I was watching a lot of foreign films, just itching to get out of the suburbs and explore.
I find it's nice when I can be a listener and absorb things coming at me. It's important, especially for me, when so much of my job is about putting things out into the world. So those quiet moments are rejuvenating.
There's a very old tradition of theater actors doing their own makeup. It's like putting on your mask. There's an element of storytelling involved in it - you put on your character when you put on your makeup. At least, that's how I like to look at it.
I wake up around nine, drink a cup of coffee, answer some emails, and ease myself into the day.
All I wanted to do was create theater for us, for our generation, for the people of this planet. And it's so rare that the art that you are making is reaching a huge mass of people.
You get to crack the code of the play. You get to really pick at it and see, 'What is the story that we're telling?' 'What are the clues in the text that I can find that will help inform what story we're telling?' It's almost like a detective mystery.
I definitely have been approached and reached out to by a lot of young Asian American and Asian women, which has been really cool for me.
It wasn't until 'Hamilton' that I began to be considered an actor of color, and I really don't know what to make of it.
Exposing yourself to many kinds of art can only lead to amazing things. It helps you learn about your own art, your own taste, what kind of art you want to create for yourself.
You can't avoid the conversation of diversity and remembering that diversity goes beyond race and culture. It goes into gender and sexual orientation and all sorts of things.
That's kind of just the nature of our business, is that you're really putting a lot of energy and time and care into something that isn't necessarily going to last forever.
I think I've learned, really, just how to let go - if an idea doesn't work, or it's not perfect, that's O.K.
