Broadway actor Janine DiVita speaks with MTI about her life in the theatre, from the community stages of her native Kansas to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway.

There she stood, behind the curtain, poised to play the title role. Her lines were memorized, her kerchief was in place. Eight-year old Janine DiVita was about to be a star… in her neighborhood production of Cinderella.

“The garage door was our curtain. My babysitter got all the neighborhood kids together and, man, I wanted that part! I was so excited. I remember being terrified and slightly excited to kiss the prince, but sadly, we ended up hugging.”

Even as the garage door raised and the bright light of summer filled the space, DiVita knew she had stumbled upon something great.

“I think what drew me to the theatre was the fact that I got to be somebody else for awhile… I had permission to be silly. I was always pretty shy and felt awkward in social situations. Theatre and singing were my escape… something I could excel in.”

And excel she did. Never one to turn away from a challenge, DiVita dove into the rich community theatre opportunities in and around her hometown of Overland Park, Kansas.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t know about professional theatre. I did it for free and couldn’t have been more thankful. (Community theatre) is a fantastic way to bring people together for an artistic cause, to have fun, and be creative. I never would have gotten where I am without the support of my directors, teachers, and community.”

That support took DiVita from her first “real” show (with costumes and a set) at Music Theatre for Young People, through several other community theatres in the Kansas City area – Pearson Productions, Shawnee Mission Theatre in the Park – to the stage of the Kansas City Lyric where she reprised her role as Cinderella.

In high school, DiVita sang in the show and concert choirs and landed title roles in the school musicals, playing Marian in The Music Man and Laurey in Oklahoma. Outside of school, DiVita studied at the Miller Marly School of Dance and Voice and found a particularly supportive mentor in voice teacher Dr. David Yoss.

DiVita went on to double-major in Musical Theatre and Communications at the University of Michigan. She received her Actors Equity card in 2005, while performing at the St. Louis Muny the summer of her sophomore year. After college, DiVita made the move to New York where she soon found herself on the stage of the Brooks Atkinson Theatre playing Rizzo in the Broadway revival of Grease. The audiences were enthusiastic, cheering and clapping wildly after every number… as enthusiastic as the neighborhood parents during that pivotal moment when Janine DiVita stepped out of the garage and into the sunlight one hazy summer in Overland Park, KS.

Q&A with Janine DiVita

MTI: What MTI shows have you been in?
JDV: Guys and Dolls, Singin’ in the Rain, Sunday in the Park with George, The Music Man, and Company.

MTI: Do you have any favorite roles or shows?
JDV: My favorite MTI show – there are so many! – would have to be Sunday in the Park with George… it speaks to artists of any kind. It strikes a chord because it addresses the beautiful, yet conflicted relationship between life and art. I played Dot/Marie at Heritage Repertory Theatre in Charlottesville, VA when I was 21. It was the most amazing role, so real and challenging. The score is beautiful and lush. The first time I heard “Finishing the Hat” that was the end of me. I was a ball of mush. Sondheim and Lapine are geniuses.

I also love Songs for a New World. I saw this production at the University of Kansas City, Missouri right about the time I was applying for colleges. I had been raised and trained on Lerner and Lowe, Rodgers and Hammerstein. This was the first time I had even heard or seen something this contemporary. It really spoke to me at that time in my life and I remember thinking, “Okay, this is something I want to do. I want to be a part of this art form because it really and truly inspires me.”

MTI: Any favorite memories from your time playing Rizzo on Broadway?
JDV: Playing Rizzo was a BLAST! She’s such a spitfire. She’s the rebel, the sex pot (until Sandy tries to outdo her), the tough Italian chick… but I think underneath all of that is a really insecure girl trying to figure out what she should be doing with herself. If you think of the time period, girls were so conflicted… teenagers in the late fifties had watched their mothers play the housewife role, all the while being fed images of girls smoking cigarettes in extremely tight pants and listening to rock and roll. They were beginning to rebel against the prototype they were expected to be and staring to latch on to more seemingly deviant habits. I think that Rizzo’s toughness is her defense mechanism. That really comes through in “There Are Worse Things I Could Do.” It was fun to read into the scenes and find the subtext and motives of her actions and words. Plus, it was fun to hear the audience go wild every night!

Visit Janine's MTI ShowSpace profile for more information.

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