Daisy Eagan:

,"The whole

piece is
so highly
relatable,"
says the Tony

winner about
Love, Loss, and

What Wore.

g

Off-Broadway smash Love, Loss, and What I Wore
dissects matters of the heart — and the closet
at Detroit's Gem Theatre.

Suzanne Chessler

Contributing Writer

aisy Eagan never went to a prom,
but she easily relates to the
monologue about prom dresses
that she performs in Love, Loss, and What
I Wore.
The production, an intimate collec-
tion of stories written by Nora Ephron
and Delia Ephron based on the bestsell-
ing book by Ilene Beckerman, as well as
the recollections of the Ephrons' friends,
will be staged Feb. 8-March 4 at the Gem
Theatre in Detroit.
Eagan, the youngest actress ever to
win a Tony Award — at age 11 for best
performance by a featured actress in a
musical for her portrayal of Mary Lennox
in The Secret Garden — will be joined by
four other stars in a series of vignettes
connecting wardrobe to life's most poi-
gnant and sometimes ultimately funny
moments.
Capturing those moments with Eagan
in Detroit will be Emmy Award winner
Loretta Swit of the TV series M*A*S*H,
Emily Dorsch (In the Next Room), Sonia
Manzano (Sesame Street) and Myra
Lucretia Taylor (Nine), all of whom have
appeared in the Off-Broadway version,
currently running in its third year with an
all-star cast that rotates every four weeks.
"The whole piece is so highly relatable
says Eagan, 32, in a phone conversation on
the road with her first tour. "It seems like
it would be a frivolous topic, but there are
so many universal themes in it.
"The only person with one role is
Loretta. She's playing Gingy, sort of the
narrator. She's taking on the character of
the person who wrote the book, and the
rest of us are reading various monologues
and scenes.
"My monologue about prom dresses is
really about self-identity. This girl is sort
of misguided and looking in the wrong
places to learn who she is. Even without
ever having gone to a prom, I find it very
relatable with the idea of a young woman

trying to negotiate the world:'
Eagan, also presenting a monologue
about shoes and the pain tolerated for the
flash of the high heel, found her own iden-
tity through acting.
"Becoming an actress just sort of hap-
pened," explains Eagan, who grew up in
New York and now lives in California. "My
father had been an actor long before I was
born but had given it up in favor of his
sanity
"When I was 8 years old, he decided to
do a play on a whim. I saw it, and that's
my first memory of watching theater. I
was completely blown away by it.
"I was not very popular in school, and
I saw acting as an opportunity to escape
who I was and get to be someone else
with a whole audience of people looking
at me. That was an extremely attractive
prospect:'
After telling her parents about wanting
to try the stage, the young Eagan got their
help — reluctantly. They found an audi-
tion for a musical version of A Christmas
Carol, and she was cast.
"I always think that if I hadn't had suc-
cess as quickly as I had, I wouldn't have
pursued being an actress:' explains the
Tony winner. "I was lucky enough to have
very good experiences with the theater
jobs that I got"
Those jobs included roles in Les
Miserables, The Dead, Be Aggressive, On the
Mountain and A View From the Bridge.
TV credits include Numb3rs, Ghost
Whisperer, The Unit and Without a Trace.
Counted among films are Losing Isaiah
and Ripe.
A one-woman cabaret show, Still Daisy
After All These Years, explores her experi-
ences.
"I like doing film, but I'm not that inter-
ested in TV;' she says. "I find it's difficult to
be a woman in Hollywood. There are big
expectations of how you should look and
what you should be like, and I struggle a
lot with that.
"My mom was a strong feminist, and
it's hard to be part of an industry that

makes me conform to false beauty and
image ideals. I think those images make
it hard for girls to celebrate who they are
naturally"
Eagan, whose Jewish heritage is from
her late mother's side of the family, was
brought up to experience Judaism cultur-
ally without holiday celebrations. Her
stepmom, also Jewish, has introduced
observances.
"It's been nice as an adult to get more
in touch with that part of my history:" says
Eagan, whose present life involves boy-
friend Kurt Bloom, a writer who enjoyed
seeing Love, Loss, and What I Wore.
"Kurt was very moved by the produc-
tion:" says the actress, who has taken time
away from show business to rethink her
career choices. "He said that he felt he
came to be a fly on the wall during an
intimate conversation among women and
really enjoyed that.
"I think, for men, the theater piece is a
peek into why clothes tend to be impor-
tant to women and why clothes take up so
much of our lives. For some men, it helps
them remember their own relationships
with their moms and the other women
they have known"
Eagan, who blogs through her website,
www.daisyeagan.com, believes there is
something in every segment of the pro-
duction that will touch members of the
audience regardless of age.
"The monologue that touches me the
most is the one about the purse, and Myra
does it brilliantly," says the actress, who
has been working with Jeanine Tesori and
Michigan native Lisa Kron on their new
musical, Fun Home.
"After I first read that monologue in
the script, I said to myself that I'm not the
only one hopelessly disorganized.
"It's all about the challenges of a purse,
and it's roll-in-the-aisles funny. It gets to
the heart of looking through your purse
and wondering why everything is all over
the place.
"When am I ever going to get orga-
nized?" ❑

Emily
Dorsch

Sonia
Manzano

Loretta
Swit

Myra
Lucretia

Taylor

Love, Loss, and What 1 Wore will
be performed Feb. 8-March 4 at
the Gem Theatre, 333 Madison,
Detroit. Curtain times are 8
p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2
p.m. Thursdays, Saturdays and
Sundays; and 6 p.m. Sundays.

$49.50. (313) 963-9800; www.
BroadwayinDetroit.com .

February 2 • 2012

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