Parade, the Donmar Warehouse production presented by Center Theatre Group, opens Oct. 4; plays Tues.-Fri., 8 pm; Sat., 2:30 & 8 pm; Sun., 1 & 6:30 pm; through Nov. 15. Tickets: $20-$80. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles; 213.628.2772 or centertheatregrop.org

“She had to carry everything–dancing, singing, drama. There’s one scene near the end where she went through three mind-boggling emotional transitions…I realized my daughter is a fabulous actress!”

– Jacques d’Amboise, legendary dancer of the New York City Ballet and Founder of the National Dance Institute, commenting on daughter Charlotte’s performance in Sweet Charity

Americans have such fun with royalty…don’t we? They’re everywhere in our world–the Windsors, the Kennedys, the Redgraves and in musical theatre…the family d’Amboise.

Charlotte D'Amboise

Enter Ms. Charlotte d’Amboise, a crown princess of New York theatre. She is soon to open in the Tony Award winning musical Parade at the Mark Taper Forum.

You know her from so many things, but why not start at the beginning. Charlotte, a twin, was born along with sister Cate between the proverbial matinee and evening performance to famed New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d’Amboise and ballerina Carolyn George.

Sister Cate was first, Charlotte was a surprise to the world. “In those days, you often didn’t know of the twin,” she says, “heartbeat behind the heartbeat kind of thing.” She didn’t stay in the background for long.

Dad and mom knew much of their work would bring them to Lincoln Center so they set about to find a nearby home for their family of twin girls and older brothers George and Christopher. Fortunately, they found a brownstone for about $60,000 just blocks away on West 71^st St. A wow house and great deal even in the mid-1960s.

For Charlotte, being born and raised in New York City was just about idyllic. “I will never leave it and want my kids to live there. I feel blessed, growing up surrounded by that culture…right when the New York City Ballet was growing.

“My parents never encouraged show business for the four of us; if anything, discouraged it.” But, as life would have it, all four started taking ballet in addition to growing up in that New York sort of way. “I got to live in a great house, ring doorbells for my friends to come out and play, ride bikes, have picnics in Central Park…and, every year at Christmas, we carried our ballet slippers down the street to dance The Nutcracker.”

The performer was born, and never stopped. She debuted on Broadway at age 19 in Cats. Met the playful Rum Tum Tugger of that show, married him in 1996, and he turned out to be a Beast. As in Beauty and the… As in two-time Tony nominee and father of her children, Terrence Mann.

He’s not the only two-time nominee in the family. Charlotte has her own two Tony nominations. She received the first in 1989 for her work in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway and the other in 2007 for her standout performance as Cassie in the revival of A Chorus Line.

She is also heavily featured in the film Every Little Step which documents the grueling audition process that led to her selection for Cassie. “It was the role everybody in New York wanted,” she recalls still with the nervous intensity of an auditioner. “The film could have turned out to be anything. It turned out to be very honest, very real and tells what we go through.  I’m very happy with it.”

She has done other film and television work, even recurred on the soap One Life to Life. She’s glad of the money it brings in but, “for me, theatre is the passion. I admire film actors. They find it even though it’s broken up. That’s foreign to me. I like doing a beginning, middle and end, and finding it each night. That’s theatre. And, I’m lucky enough in New York.”

Luck surrounds most working actors anywhere. But, so does a good sense of the business. She’s come a long way from the little girl who carried her ballet slippers down 71^st St. to the New York City Ballet. She knows where she fits. “I will never go in for Les Miz,” she says matter-of-fact. “There are people who are major singers and classically trained. I wouldn’t cast me.”

But, they do cast her often and in many different roles in memorable shows like Company, Contact, Can-Can, Damn Yankees and Song and Dance where she performed with brother Chris who received a Tony nomination for his work. You may remember his The Studio which he wrote, choreographed and directed at South Coast Repertory in 2006, featuring none other than her husband Terry Mann.

It was the Fosse influence, however, that gave d’Amboise her two favorite roles: Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity and Roxie Hart in Chicago which brought her raves from around the country and on Broadway, with some reviews there calling her “the best Roxie ever.” When she did the national tour of the show in LA, she won both the Ovation Award and the LA Drama Critics Circle Award as Best Actress in a Musical.

Throughout her career, Broadway producers weren’t the only ones noticing Charlotte. Early-on, she became a favorite of the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. In 1989, she performed “I’m Flying” from Peter Pan in a tribute to honoree Mary Martin just months before her death.

In 1995, Jacques d’Amboise was honored there for his dancing and founding of the National Dance Institute where he taught school children to dance. Charlotte and her brother Chris danced a special number for him, peppered with some of their dad’s signature steps from ballets like Apollo and Who Cares. Balanchine had designed them for Jacques and they thought “maybe only he would get it.” And, he did. It was one of her favorite moments on stage, especially since they filmed her father watching his children give him such a gift.

Later, in 2002, she performed “Dance at the Gym” from West Side Story for honoree Chita Rivera. This brought Charlotte’s Presidential total to two Bushes and a Clinton. “The backstage nerves are always catching when you’re performing live for a President,” she says. Her favorite Chief Executive moment? “When President Clinton left his box to come down onstage and shake the hands of each child that performed.”

It’s natural that there is a special appeal for her in the nurturing of children. Whether it’s President Clinton, her father or herself.  Of all her credits, she believes the greatest ones are her daughters Jo-Jo (Josephine) and Shelby.

As d’Amboise was, so are her daughters-children of parents on stage. Scheduling is always key. “It’s easier when we can all be together. But, we’re lucky now that Terry can be with them while I’m rehearsing here and he’s rehearsing The Addams Family (with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth) in New York.”

Jo-Jo is starting first grade and Shelby second grade. Is home schooling an option? She laughs. “Oh God, no, too expensive and I’m not that good at homework time…’what do you mean you don’t understand why 2 plus 2 equals 4?!’”

Besides she loves their Harlem neighborhood and what it offers her children growing up. “There are African-American, Latino and white neighbors. No air-conditioning in the summer so everyone’s on the stoop. It’s like 71^st St. used to be for me.

In rehearsal for Parade

“It’s hard to be away from all that. But, when I was offered Parade, I thought ‘Wow, this is different for me, this is something I’d like to do.’ For Broadway shows, they think of me as a dancer who sings and acts. In Parade, there is more acting than dancing and singing for me.

“I’m playing multiple roles…Sally Salton, the rich governor’s wife, and Mrs. Phagan, mother of the murdered girl. She’s lower class. An older woman, not attractive, not sexy, not dancing. The costumer would see me coming and say ‘Oh, here’s the crying lady.’

“Playing a mother who loses a child is painful. I have a lot to use. There’s nothing worse in life. How do you survive after losing a child? I don’t know. I’ve asked people who have and they don’t let it in. They couldn’t and survive 20 years.”

So, I guess, in attending this Parade, you’ll be enjoying a blue-ish balloon instead of a pink one. And, your treats won’t be from a cookie cutter. But, that “establishes Parade as an admirably ambitious, musically daring piece that deserves praise for attempting to intertwine the political and the personal…,” as observed in The Independent about the recent London production.

Hush. Back to the magic of theatre in Los Angeles. Charlotte is having a good time here. Why not? She’s enjoyed coming to LA professionally since the 1980s when she appeared in To Sir with Love for writer/director Ken Page, a fellow Cat and favorite in New York and Los Angeles.

Her cast mates in Parade are also great. She finds its star T. R. Knight to be “the nicest guy on this earth. Incredible actor. Real ensemble player. Really generous.” When asked about his switch from television to stage, she replied, almost surprised…”Any actor who cares about acting wants to be on stage. He’s there to grow and expand. We make $1100 a week, each of us. Everybody’s making the same. You have to be in it for the passion and growth.”

While in LA for the show, d’Amboise lives in the same complex as co-star Lara Pulver who was nominated last year for an Olivier for her role in Parade in London. She says, “After a fantastic career in musical theatre there, Lara will stay on here in Hollywood.”

So Parade sounds like a winner. It has been before with two Tony Awards for Best Score by Jason Robert Brown and Best Book by Alfred Uhry, on the heels of six Drama Desk Awards and last year’s seven Olivier nominations in London. Los Angeles is being treated to the revised script so popular in London, and directed/choreographed by Tony and Emmy award winner Rob Ashford.

Hush. The rehearsals will end this week and previews begin. Don’t let this Parade pass you by and when you’re sitting there, blue-ish balloon in hand, keep watch for our triple threat. Whether she’s acting, singing or dancing, as Sally Salton, Mrs. Phagan, Roxie or Charity…it’s all just sweet Charlotte d’Amboise.

Feature image and story image by Craig Schwartz

Article by Geo Hartley