Chelsea Olivia Friday (BFA’13) likes to joke that her career in stage management was written in the stars.
“I am a Virgo,” says Friday, who refers to herself a “Chaos Organizer” on her LinkedIn profile, “so anything that has to do with organization and being meticulous is a joy to me. I love spreadsheets, puzzles, and planning, so stage management was a natural fit.”
Destiny or not, this graduate of the Mason Gross Stage Management program finds herself surrounded by stars as rehearsal stage manager on George C. Wolfe’s much-anticipated Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy. This fifth Broadway revival of the beloved 1959 musical stars none other than six-time Tony-winner Audra McDonald as perhaps the world’s most famous stage mother. Tony-winner Danny Burstein (Moulin Rouge) is also in the cast, while Camille A. Brown (Hell’s Kitchen) choreographs the show, set to open at the Majestic Theatre on December 19.
Friday credits a robust Rutgers alumni network with helping her land her second Broadway gig: She says Theater alum Marshall Jones III (BA’85), former head of BA Theater and former producing artistic director of Tony Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company (he now serves as the school’s associate dean for equity), connected her with Rick Steiger, Gypsy‘s production stage manager. This is their fifth show together.
Alum Chelsea Olivia Friday. Photo by Ebb Friday Photography
“My training [at Rutgers] really prepared me for any situation—the unimaginable and unheard of,” says Friday, who works on Gypsy alongside Costume Technology alum Melissa Joy Crawford (BFA’95). “…The art of making something out of nothing is a skill that can’t be bought; it comes from being trained and tempered” in a variety of situations, including at London’s famed Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, where third-year Rutgers Theater students work alongside master practitioners of the craft. “Mason Gross taught me that in this business, it’s cool to take the elevator, but it’s best to take the stairs, in terms of working your way up.”
And who can complain about taking the stairs when those stairs lead you to the likes of Wolfe and McDonald? Between the two of them, they’ve earned a dozen Tony Awards.
Of McDonald (above, as Mama Rose), Friday gushes: “She is amazing, has a wonderful voice I never get tired of listening to, and is really funny. She’s the epitome of Black Girl Magic. I really admire how hard she works and how she always brings something new to the stage every night.”
As thrilling as the performances can be, Friday seems content to remain a steadfast backstage presence, helping to steer the behemoth that is Gypsy on Broadway. Among other things, Friday helps coordinate rehearsal schedules, as well as makeup, hair, and costume fittings for a cast of 40. There are no small parts, indeed—onstage or backstage.
Friday says she likes to view stage managers as “the bridge between the director, cast, crew, and production team, working to create harmony between all aspects of the production. We keep things running and moving forward, no matter what.”
Serving as a sturdy bridge—Chaos Manager Extraordinaire—seems to come naturally to Friday.
“Stage management has helped me grow as a person, become disciplined, and it’s helped me with my emotional intelligence and empathy,” she says. “I’m not a mother yet, but I’d like to be, and stage management is perfect training for that, so I’ve heard. There’s always someone or something to take care of or watch over in this line of work.”
Gypsy image credit: Julieta Cervantes