Chuck and Dexter actress Yvonne Strahovski is making her Broadway debut in Golden Boy, a seventy-fifth anniversary revival of the boxing Clifford Odets drama. She stars as Lorna Moon, the girlfriend of violinist-turned-boxer Joe Bonaparte. She spoke to Broadway.com about why she decided to try Broadway and what she finds most challenging about the experience.
Though no stranger to the stage, Strahovski admits that she hadn’t been pursuing a role on stage, let alone Broadway, in the last several years. She reveals, “Golden Boy was definitely not something I imagined I would be doing at this point in my life because, for the last six years, I was focusing on film and television. I have had some theater auditions come my way [and] I never went out on them because it just didn’t feel right—the timing was wrong. I went out on this one because early on in the year, I saw some standup comedy at a Melbourne Comedy Festival, and I got nostalgic about being on stage. It reminded me of what it takes to be part of a live performance, and so when this Golden Boy audition came around, I thought, ‘I’m going go and see if I can even do an audition.’ I guess it worked out.”
Though the demands of Broadway are greater than television acting, Strahovski explains that she enjoys the challenge. She says, “It’s definitely been challenging and hard work, but it pays off. You hear different lines and discover something new every single night. We go on a pretty tremendous journey—once you’re on it, you’re on it, and three hours later you finish the marathon. It’s a roller coaster ride, and nothing is not complicated.”
In fact, Strahovski says that the most difficult part is the comedown after each performance. She explains, “I must admit it’s a little hard to come down off the show every night. Usually, it’s a cup of chamomile tea, some couch time and trying to get that red lipstick off.”
Golden Boy runs through January 20 at the Belasco Theatre.
