Krysta Rodriguez Won’t Back Down

In the Broadway revival of Aaron Sorkin’s legal thriller A Few Good Men, Krysta Rodriguez plays Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway — one of just two female roles in the play, which opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater last week. She’s used to being one of the only women in the room.

“I often find myself in those positions, and you’re grateful to be in the room, but when push comes to shove, you don’t always have the allies who you might need,” says the actor, 42. “I’m very fortunate this group of men that I’m working with are all so lovely, and we’re having a great time. But as far as groups of people you want to look for when you need to feel like someone understands you, that’s not going to happen every once in a while — and so I definitely relate to Jo in that.”

The starry Lincoln Center Theater production, which runs through Jan. 10, features Bradley Whitford (who starred in the original in 1990 on Broadway) and Tom Blyth, who’s making his Broadway debut. Sorkin wrote much of the play on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre. And while its initial run wasn’t a hit — with critics or the box office — the 1992 movie, starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore, was a smash that launched one of the most iconic lines in movie history: “You can’t handle the truth!”

“What’s been crazy is how many younger people know the line but never saw the movie,” Rodriguez says of the show’s new audience.

Rodriguez’s extensive TV and theater credits include Smash (both the NBC series and the Broadway musical) and Spring Awakening (the original production and the 2015 revival). She also recently wrapped up a turn as Roxie Hart in Chicago and moonlights as an interior designer, having fixed up dressing rooms for Broadway stars Jeremy Jordan, Megan Hilty, and Lily Rabe. For Jordan, she created a Jazz Age-inspired space for his run in The Great Gatsby.

So what does Rodriguez’s own dressing room look like?

“To be honest, I haven’t been able to focus on it yet. I always make this joke that the cobbler’s children have no shoes.”

On relating to Joanne:

Jo picked this career because there is a sense of meritocracy in it. Even with all the bullsh*t, she can still put together the right paperwork that will get the right thing done. So I relate to the desire to be in a system like that. I think I give off this appearance of being relaxed and cool, but I am the most anal, the biggest rule follower. I don’t know why I’m an actor, because I wish I lived in a meritocracy. I wish I lived in a world where A plus B equals C, and it just never does.

My life is so different day to day — I’m playing someone who’s skipping through the fields or I’m traveling to Budapest to shoot something or I’m working on my interior design business. What I wanted to tap into is the structure and the rigidity of somebody who went in through the academy, who woke up at six every morning, made their bed, did the routine, and made sure they didn’t step out of line or the whole house of cards would fall apart. For me, my whole life has been about stepping outside the line. If I stay too rigid, my life will fall apart. So I tried to find tiny things that would be a big deal for me, like making my bed every morning and making it really meticulously, or making sure I went to the gym every day — something that I noticed that I have committed to and I stay firm on.

On fighting to be heard:

Due to the rank Jo has, people have to listen to her. She gets to be less polite. Whereas in my life, I have to make sure I lead with a smile and am nonthreatening — kind of tiptoe around an opinion. And sometimes that can build up until the one time you do give an opinion, it actually backfires because you’ve presented yourself as so docile. I don’t think anyone believes I’m docile, but you do try to sand those edges so that you’re palatable. And when you do ask for what you need, it actually works against you. You could be nice for 400 days, and the one day you’re a little surly, that’s what they’re going to remember.

So what I’ve tried to learn in my life is that it’s actually helpful to be honest and clear from the beginning. And that’s what I need to learn from Jo — she’s clear, she is not presenting any sort of front. It’s actually impossible for her. And it has taken her far. She, through all of her chutzpah, makes everyone come in line with her.

On ambition:

What I love about Jo’s ambition is that it’s pure. She is there because she believes in justice. There is no altruistic motive in acting. When you’re young, you want to be a star. And then as you start to realize what that means and what you sacrifice for that — is it satisfying at all? So you start to recalibrate. And as I started to get older, some of the roles that were coming to me were less exciting, just as I became more interesting and complex. I wanted the parts to meet me there.

My mom likes to talk about balls and strikes, and sometimes ambition can mean waiting. It can mean making sure to do things that align with your values and what you want to spend your time doing. So my dream expanded. Like, the dream initially was to be on Broadway — OK, I got that. Like, the dream was to be a lead — OK, I got that. The dream was to be at the Tonys — I got that. Now the dream is like, can I enjoy my life? Can my career be positioned in a right-sized manner with the rest of my life? Can the ups and downs of it affect me in the same way as the ups and downs of the rest of my life? And will that keep me more curious, more relaxed, more free, and let me wait for the parts that really speak to me so that they are more worth my energy and my care? So I think my ambition has turned more caring.

On working with younger actors:

We have, like, 11 Broadway debuts in the show, and I’m lucky to be in it with a lot of young people who are just starting out. It’s so fascinating to see that ambition on display — “I want this and I want that.” It’s exciting, but you also want to hug them and be like, “This is gonna wear off.” So either use it now, or learn to make friends with it.

Tom is making his debut, but he went to Juilliard, so he’s not afraid of the stage. A lot of people who have only done film or TV take this opportunity because they really want to hone their chops in a new way, and I think this experience for Tom of just being able to show these chops now to people, or to get to pull them out of storage, is fun. Both he and Bradley are just so lovely to get along with, and it’s so nice because you never know what you’re going to get with a show where you don’t know a lot of people. I do so many musicals, so it’s almost impossible for me to do a show where I don’t know three-quarters of the cast. So for this to be a bunch of people who I’ve never met, and they’ve never met me, has expanded my life, but I think it’s been good for the show.

On Joanne’s backstory:

We don’t know anything about Joanne’s life outside of this show. Everybody’s got a backstory, and Jo has nothing. It’s literally a joke in the show — “Jo, you do whatever it is you do when you’re not here.” And while that’s a funny punchline, it is something that I think people are recognizing now, that maybe the female characters don’t get as much backstory. So I like to play around with this idea that Jo’s actually kind of fun at home. She’s a real good-time gal. Like, she can be married. She could have one-night stands. She could be going to the bar every night.

I like to make a playlist about what I think Jo might be doing at home. She’s got a little something rolling around underneath, and that’s what makes her rigidity so much more fun. I want Jo to be the most solid woman you’ve seen, and for women who come to see the show to be like, “That’s my bitch. I wanna be her.” So I have Beyoncé’s “Formation.” And anything that has some militaristic feel, like “I have got to wrangle people,” is on there. And some Lily Allen.

On memorable audience interactions:

What’s rare is to have a show where you have so many rules that could be followed — there are rule books after rule books about the uniforms and the bars and the salutes. What’s particularly moving is how many service members who have seen the show, and so many of them became service members or became JAG because of the movie. At some point I was at the stage door where this woman got my signature, and then she ran to the end of the line and went, “Uh, your skirt’s too long.” And I said, “Oh, we have a uniform consultant,” but he’s male, you know? And she said, “I’ve been JAG for 29 years, that skirt’s too long.” And this other woman who was next to her — and they weren’t together — says, “I’m Air Force. She’s right.” So I went to my costumer, and he raised the hem. So we have tried our best, but we want to make sure we reflect properly to the people who we're representing.

On her post-show routine:

Every show is a little different, and I haven’t figured it out quite yet. Right now, I go home and go to sleep — I’m in my bed within 20 minutes of arriving at home. Anything else I need to do is happening while lying down, and it might be emails or planning for the next day or whatever. But my favorite way to unwind is grabbing food after the show with friends, people who have come to see it, and maybe having a nightcap. Right now, those things are not available to me as I learn how to train for this particular show, but I’m hopeful that those things will arrive. As the kids say, touch grass — and for me, touching grass is spending time with my friends.

Another fun thing is learning the spots around Lincoln Center. Vanguard Wine Bar is a spot that’s also in Midtown, so that feels comfortable — you’re like, OK, great, I know what I’m gonna get here. The Empire Hotel rooftop bar is really special. And I’ll go with my friends to Shun Lee, this really classic Chinese place around the corner, when we go to the opera and get dressed up. That’s like our ritual. We actually had a day during tech where Tom and Nick, who plays Sam, and I went to Shun Lee and had a defense team dinner, and it was so fun. We just had a blast and ordered as much kung pao chicken as you can possibly eat.