Tracee Ellis Ross has always dreamed of being on Broadway, or better yet, in a one-man show.
After graduating from brown university with a degree in theater, ross began her career taking off with television projects such as Girlfriends and blackish, But he still feels this pull to the stage. Initially, this involved Ross renting a small theater for her 40th birthday and presenting a one-man show she had prepared for an audience of invited guests.
And now that has finally led to her Broadway debut everything is great, Ross, 53, will take over the role on July 7, succeeding Mariska Hargitay, who currently plays the role, and Daniel Radcliffe, who debuted the show at the Hudson Theater this spring. This show, which consists of a 40-page monologue and a large degree of audience interaction, is a big leap for her Broadway debut. But it’s also in keeping with Ross’s overall outlook on life.
“I mean, true Tracee fashion, have fun,” says Ross, who also stars in a solo travel show and recently signed a development deal with Fox Entertainment Studios.
In the Tony-nominated play, written by Duncan MacMillan and Johnny Donahue, the narrator explains how, after a suicide attempt, they tried to cheer up their mother by creating a list of the things that make life worth living. The list, which includes specific and detailed items about the joys and routines of daily life, grows as the narrator grows older and struggles with his joy and loneliness. Audience members are asked to shout out items from the list as the play progresses.
Ross, who was approached to take on the role, said she was drawn to the play’s subject matter, the way it destigmatizes talking about depression and suicide, as well as the tone of the piece, which moves between exuberance and emotion.
“There’s a joy in it that moved me, it really moved me, and one of my sayings when I read new material is that if I start reading it out loud, I know it’s something I’m being asked to do, and I’ve been in bed reading and doing it out loud and crying,” Ross said.
Because the show was so challenging, Ross went into rehearsals with the script already memorized. However, with only three weeks to prepare for her debut, plus a mountain of script to tackle, there have been highs and lows in the rehearsal process, which she notes “asks everything from you.”
“I feel, I think, exactly where I’m supposed to be, which is to have a day of practice where I feel very confident, and then I have a day where I completely feel like I’ve lost the wind under myself, and I think that’s what it is,” Ross said on his way to practice in late June. “I’ve been writing about this experience myself. It was a very interesting experience. Yesterday: ‘Uncomfortable, scary, confusing, unstable, raw, strange, wobbly.’
Ross continued: “It’s completely normal. Sometimes the tough moments are when a breakthrough can happen. So let it happen. That’s how you find out. That’s what I wrote to myself yesterday.”
In keeping with this Zen-like acceptance of the unknown, Ross has not seen Radcliffe or Hargitay perform in the show and does not plan to before their debut.
“I choose not to see it, and that’s always the way I am, as a person, not just as an actress. I like to find my own inspiration and not be guided by what I already know, so the more I can know, the better for me,” she said.
Likewise, although she has a plan in mind for what she wants to happen before the show, she says she will adjust it if necessary. About 30 minutes before the show began, Radcliffe would be in the audience himself, running up and down the aisles and selecting participants to take part, while Hargitay would go into the audience to select some participants, but would also stand in the back as a team selecting others, given the more intense quasi-social relationship some fans have with the series. SVU The star, according to New York Times.
Although she will be the only performer on stage, Ross says she is comfortable with the audience participation element of the show, which also sees attendees pose as her father figure, guidance counselor, love interest and more.
“The amazing thing about this show, and what my understanding and knowledge and belief about the individual journey is about, is that it’s not alone, it’s in sharing. It requires a different kind of leaning into others, and that’s what the show is about,” Ross said. “It’s a beautiful thing, and the intention is for the audience to leave remembering that we’re all in this life together, and that you’re not alone in the experiences you have, the feelings you have, the thoughts you may have, which we all have too, and it would be weird if we weren’t, because life is a crazy rollercoaster.”
Ross’s Broadway debut comes before the film’s release Season two of Traveling Solo with Tracee Ellis Ross July 20 on The Roku Channel.
The show sees Ross embarking on her own dream vacations, with Season 2 seeing Ross returning to her Swiss boarding school for the first time in nearly 40 years, and also learning to surf in Australia (which she notes may be her first and last time surfing). The first season was a huge success for the Roku Channel, as the most-watched unscripted original.
The two back-to-back projects led to what Ross said was a “solo summer.” But it’s also a nickname that Ross, who has been vocal about bucking societal expectations and finding strength in remaining single, happily uses.
“I actually love it. I mean it’s my reality now in my life,” Ross said. “I know people immediately associate a solo traveler with someone, or a solo with a single person, but I feel it’s a different thing. I think there are different types of solo travel. The metaphor of solo travel is that it’s a journey with oneself, and that even people in relationships need to have a relationship with themselves. And so, that’s something I’ve spent many years getting comfortable with. It’s been one of the richest experiences of my life, getting to know and learn and love myself and who I am, becoming more of that person, and I think that makes me more available for relationships and friendships.” And family and romance, and all of that, because I have a sense of who I am, and I inhabit my skin, and I embody who I am, and I love sharing that with people.
“I think it’s something that we don’t talk about a lot. I think it’s very revolutionary work, especially for women and people of color, or anyone who is coloring outside the lines and who doesn’t necessarily live their life according to the norms or what the status quo is is what I’m looking for. It’s kind of marching to their own drum,” she continued. “So I love sharing that with people, and I absolutely love connecting with them. “It’s the truth of my experience.”
