A Conversation with Alexa Lopez

It was so good to speak to Alexa Lopez on the cusp of her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends. We sat down after the show’s first two previews in Los Angeles to discuss Alexa’s own creative journey, sharing a stage with living legends, and much more besides. With Old Friends now in full swing, Alexa speaks movingly about what it means to be part of this extraordinary celebration of Sondheim’s work. Our conversation begins below:

📸: Yellowbelly Photo

What a perfect time for us to be talking. As we speak, you’re just beginning previews of Old Friends in LA. Can you sum up how it feels to be part of this show, and to be sharing it with audiences at last?

It’s absolutely thrilling and surreal. Each time I’m on that stage, I’m looking at this group of performers that I’m a part of but that I also admire so much. I look up to everybody in this cast. I’m thinking, “Oh my God, did they choose the right person?!” It’s been absolutely wonderful so far, and the audiences have been so receptive to the show. They’ve been loving it.

You’ll be making your Broadway debut as part of such a wonderfully starry company, as you say. Can you give us a sense of those first days in the rehearsal room?

I didn’t know if all I’d be is starstruck. I didn’t know how it would be to work with these people, and what the dynamic would be. But once we were all in that rehearsal room, we were just humans. It doesn’t matter if you’re Bernadette or Lea, or if you’re me: everybody’s putting in an insane amount of work, and the care for the material is always the priority. We’re all just wanting to do it justice.

Everybody in this cast is such a kind human. We take care of each other, we laugh with each other, we make mean jokes with each other. It feels like a family. The whole creative team, too, are just the kindest people. And that vibe was established in those first few days of rehearsal.

And in a rehearsal process that must have been full of pinch-me moments, do any stand out for you in particular?

Two moments stand out to me: “Sunday,” when we did it for the first time with Bernadette, when we were doing the staging and singing it… that was insane. And then also the finale, “Being Alive.” That’s a real pinch-me moment as well, having everybody on stage just pouring out their hearts through this incredible arrangement of that song. It comes at a point in the show when we’ve just watched a montage of Steve from a baby to an old man, and we’re singing “Not a Day Goes By.” It’s this beautiful moment of taking a second to appreciate Sondheim’s life, and that he was a human too. Coming out of “Not a Day Goes By,” it’s a celebration. If you’re singing it as a solo, it can have a darker undertone to it. But what our creative team really drove home was that this is not that. We’re smiling and full of life as we’re singing those words. This arrangement of “Being Alive” is so good: it’s one person after another pouring out their whole heart.

When this show was first potentially on the horizon for you, how much did you know about it? Had you seen the London gala performance?

I didn’t see the gala performance until I was auditioning for the show. It’s not so easy to stream it in the US because it’s on BBC, so I bought a VPN just to watch it—and it was glorious. I first auditioned for this show right after I graduated college this past May. We were showcasing in New York City in April, and I had an agent at that point. The day of the audition was the day after my showcase, which meant that I was prepping this Sondheim music alongside everything else. I was so worried about getting it all done.

Then I actually started a different contract. I was doing a play at the Yale Repertory Theater when I got a final callback for Old Friends. I was doing a press thing in New Haven, which is two hours from the city. So I left rehearsal at 10 p.m. in New Haven, took a train to New York City, got to my apartment at 1 a.m., and I had the first audition slot in the morning for Old Friends. I was so tired. God was good to me, I was offered a place in the show, and here we are. But it was definitely a journey.

Where did Sondheim’s work fit into the picture for you when you were training? Are there particular moments or experiences that switched you on to it?

Sondheim’s music has always been comfort music for me. When I’m in the car, I’ll so often listen to it. The first Sondheim show I saw was West Side Story, which is one of my all-time favorites—and I’ve played Maria twice, so it’s very near and dear to my heart. Obviously Into the Woods is one of my favorites, and Sweeney Todd is one of my favorite shows of all time. I did Into the Woods in college—I played Rapunzel.

In my junior year of college, we had a Sondheim workshop with our musical theatre professor, and the song that I was given was “Children and Art.” Of course, I spent so much time watching Bernadette’s videos and her performance of that song... which now feels so full-circle. Thinking back on it now, if I could tell my junior year of college self that I would be performing with Bernadette as she’s standing on stage playing Dot in our “Sunday” moment, I think I would die. I think I would be deceased.

Everyone has their own unique route through this show. When you first opened your music pack, what were the biggest surprises? Were there any particular numbers where you were like, “I would never, in any other circumstance, get to be part of this song or this scene?”

A lot of these songs I knew already, thankfully. I had to learn the Anita part for the West Side Story quintet, which is something that I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise, just because I’m more of a Maria. In terms of the biggest challenges to learn, definitely “A Weekend in the Country” was one that I wasn’t as familiar with before doing this show, and musically it is really challenging.

I’m also second cover for Beth [Leavel], for “You Gotta Get a Gimmick”, which is so much fun. It’s such a hoot, because the way Beth does that role is stunning—and absolutely hilarious. The life that Beth has lived has given her so much agency over her instrument and her body, and the way that she moves through space and does that number is so unique and beautiful. I don’t necessarily have that kind of agency or groundedness in my body yet as a performer, just because I’m so young, so finding my own way to make it cheeky and fun has been an adventure.

Thinking beyond Old Friends, how do you think about those twin worlds of musical theatre and straight plays as a performer? Would a healthy balance of both be ideal for you as you look ahead?

Definitely. I never expected my first show out of college to be a straight play, but that’s what I ended up doing. And I’m so grateful that I did, because it’s helped my storytelling skills so much when you just have to work with text and navigate it. Sometimes we get so used to singing, it can feel like second nature. But when you just have words, it’s a little bit of a different beast. The wonderful thing about Sondheim’s stuff, of course, is that it appeals to the actor, and the priority is not that someone has to have this crazy, gorgeous voice. Granted, everybody in this Old Friends cast does have a crazy, gorgeous voice… but the storytelling going on on that stage is so brilliant. I mean, Gavin’s “Could I Leave You?” is insane. It’s just a masterclass. I literally get to have a masterclass every night.

It’s been so great to talk to you. If someone’s reading this and they’re keen to see Old Friends but perhaps aren’t super familiar with Sondheim’s work more generally, how would you sell this show to them?

I would say to them, if you want a night of incredible laughter and also a few tears, and if you want to listen to some of the most brilliant music in the musical theatre canon, then you should come to this show. There’s also the fact that you’re watching legends perform this music. This is a historical event. It’s just a wonderful show that really grounds you as a performer, and I’m sure as an audience member too. Every number is a showstopper. I think they’ll be thoroughly entertained, and they’ll leave the theater looking at things from a different perspective.