Latest / STOPTIME: Live in the Moment. / Analise Scarpaci: Family, Love & Legacy

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Analise Scarpaci: Family, Love & Legacy · STOPTIME: Live in the Moment.

• 0:25
  Lisa Hopkins: You're listening to the beautiful voice of Analise Scarpaci, who was kind enough to play a little bit for me in our last interview, I think you're gonna enjoy this one guys. Because when Broadway shut down in March 2020 Analise Scarpaci was getting ready to open as Lydia Mrs. Doubtfire. She was my very first guest on the podcast, which aired one year ago, on June 1 2023 seasons and 42 episodes later, I couldn't be more grateful to be celebrating the anniversary with her and to announce that since we recorded this conversation in March 2021, it has been announced that Mrs.
• 1:04
  Lisa Hopkins: Doubtfire will be back October 21. With first previews, and open again on December 5.
• 1:11
  Lisa Hopkins: Welcome Analise! so great to be with you again.
• 1:14
  Analise Scarpaci: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be back.
• 1:17
  Lisa Hopkins: When I was starting this. I had no idea where it would go, I just knew that I needed to do something for the community and wanted to hold space. And I thought about you because I knew that you were starting this new role in Doubtfire and that it was very exciting. And that must have been quite a quite a shock.
• 1:36
  Lisa Hopkins: Remind me what happened back then.
• 1:41
  Analise Scarpaci: Yeah, well, Mrs. Doubtfire was, we were just starting previews. We were on our third preview. And we were about to do our fourth one and right in the middle of rehearsal, they shut us down.
• 1:49
  Analise Scarpaci: Yeah,
• 1:53
  Lisa Hopkins: Yep. Like so many of us, right. It's It's unbelievable. That we're here a year later.
• 1:58
  Analise Scarpaci: Really is it's mind blowing to me.
• 2:00
  Lisa Hopkins: What's been the biggest challenge? Would you say?
• 2:04
  Analise Scarpaci: Oh, there's been a million challenges throughout this time. But yeah, I feel like, at first, it was definitely a state of shock. I mean, we were all in shock. It was more, we never thought in a million years that a virus was going to shut down the world, let alone the industry for so long. And even when we last spoke, it was still very new.
• 2:30
  Analise Scarpaci: Still, I still thought I was going back to work on April 12.
• 2:34
  Analise Scarpaci: So I was like, Oh, it's only a month and I was convinced that it was only going to be a month.
• 2:38
  Analise Scarpaci: The difficult parts of this entire shutdown have just been not being able to see my Doubtfire family. It's been so hard for me. Hmm. And I loved getting to learn, I feel like we were just starting to learn about the process and to learn about our characters. And we were just like getting right in that groove. And it was shut down. And I feel like, I cannot wait for the day that we started up again, because I just want to go back to learning more and more about Lydia and more and more about what she's about. And I love to learn and I will never stop learning about things and learning getting to learn from the creative team and the other actors I work with. That's my favorite part. And I cannot wait I miss it so much.
• 3:25
  Lisa Hopkins: There'll be a new learning won't there? Because context is different. A years gone by, how do you think that'll change for you as an actress? so different?
• 3:36
  Analise Scarpaci: I feel like as a person, I've grown an immense amount. So I'm excited to explore everybody's characters, but especially Lydia because she is going to I think she's going to change a lot because I have changed.
• 3:50
  Lisa Hopkins: Yeah. Well, you made your Broadway debut as a child. And I know we had talked about you know, that preconceived notion whenever you go into a call that Oh, yeah, but she was on Broadway as a kid, right? It sounds like perhaps this break has allowed you that distance to sort of become an adult now it really will feel like acting does that talk to me more about that..
• 4:14
  Analise Scarpaci: It feels really, really good. I'm not saying that I didn't love to be considered for roles that are younger, but obviously I am playing a 15 year old. But I feel like I've kind of distanced myself from that child actor.
• 4:31
  Analise Scarpaci: Yes, people will always remember me as a kid and Matilda or a kid and A Christmas Story and in Godspell. And now I want them to remember me as Lydia as well, like Lydia is kind of included in that pack. And I'm excited to explore this. It's kind of like a new chapter in my life. And I'm really, really excited to start.
• 4:52
  Lisa Hopkins: Yeah, yeah. It's like you're recreating yourself, right. You're rebranding yourself?
• 4:56
  Analise Scarpaci: Yes. It really is. Yeah. That's, that's super true. Yes. So I feel like this entire year has been one huge lesson of being mature. And now I feel like before I was ready to live my adult life. Now I'm really ready to live my adult life.
• 5:12
  Lisa Hopkins: Are there like other discoveries that you've made about yourself during this time that have surprised you?
• 5:19
  Analise Scarpaci: Yeah, I mean, I guess the most important thing has happened throughout this entire experience in the fever dream that is 2020 and 2021. And the global pandemic, I found my guitar again and I started writing. And I can't even express to you how I'm mad at myself for not writing in so long. And I thought about it. I was like, wow, this is the first time ever in my life that I have had absolutely nothing to do. I wasn't in school, I had nothing.
• 5:55
  Analise Scarpaci: I had no assignments, there were no auditions, there was nothing.
• 5:59
  Analise Scarpaci: And I actually was looking for something to do. And one day, I looked at my guitar, and I said, Okay, let's do this thing. And I picked it up. And I have never looked back. And I'm so so happy that I did. Every time I'm stressed out. That's my thing. I write my songs. Yeah. School stresses me out, I have gone back to school. That's another thing that has happened. I wasn't going to. And then I said, Well, what is there going to? When is there going to be a time when is when is it ever going to be the right time to go back to school. Other than this, when you literally have nothing to do. And I decided to go back in the fall. So I've been back and I'm on my second semester, I'm on track to graduate next year, so only one year later than I was supposed to. But that's okay. had a pretty good excuse to not be at school for one years. So that was, um, but I feel like my writing has formed this kind of new outlet for me. And it's a new way to express my creativity. And it's a new way to explore myself and to learn more about myself. And now I have, I'm going to be having an EP come out this year, which I'm super excited about.
• 7:15
  Analise Scarpaci: And now everybody else gets to hear what I have to say. And yeah, who knows, you know what I was thinking about it? Who cares if anybody even likes it? It's just it's more about like, I did this thing. And I made something out of nothing of the year, like everybody, you know, I this is what I did this year, this is what I have accomplished. This is what I have done. So I feel like that's the most important part of all of it. Nobody even has to listen to it. It's just there.
• 7:45
  Lisa Hopkins: What was it like, going back to school after so long? It wasn't something he thought you were going to do.
• 7:51
  Lisa Hopkins: Right?
• 7:52
  Analise Scarpaci: It really it was it was my first time back at school in a year. Yeah. And I wanted to lose it. It was kind of like it, it hit me . Oh, this is real. I'm not going back to work. And on the first day of class, you know, we do check ins and what we were doing before the pandemic and stuff and I'll never forget, looking at one of the girls in my class was on the tour for once on this island.
• 8:19
  Analise Scarpaci: And I literally started crying when she was talking about once on this island being left and let go and and how it just stopped and I was like, oh my god. It's just everybody went through this. He was really that feeling. We're like, this is really this is really happening.
• 8:40
  Analise Scarpaci: This is happening right now.
• 8:40
  Analise Scarpaci: It's not a dream, this is it.
• 8:44
  Analise Scarpaci: And I kept putting all of that energy into my writing. And I feel like that's what made me grow throughout this whole year
• 8:52
  Lisa Hopkins: I hope you don't mind me asking but like, what, what are you afraid of? If I said to you, you know what scares you?
• 9:01
  Analise Scarpaci: Oh, man, I think a lot of things scare me I think I feel like my life is flying by so fast. I can't I can't even believe that I'm 21 years old. It makes me really nervous. And I feel like I'll blink again. And I'll be 40 and that's scary. And I just feel that life is flying and flying and flying. And I just want to get a chance to do everything in my life. And I just I feel like before my time is up in this on this earth I feel like I just I really have to try everything I possibly can. I'm so excited to just get up and try new things.
• 9:51
  Analise Scarpaci: So I feel like what I'm the most afraid of is that I will finish this time that I have on this earth without trying everything I possibly can go to Europe and finally get to Italy and finally get to go to France and get to go travel and see the world and work on a film and work on a TV show. I just want to say that I've done it.
• 10:17
  Lisa Hopkins: You know, you see possibility everywhere which is beautiful and I love you know you time and time again you say you know It doesn't matter if it goes into or I just want to have done it. But I've also I also, which is cool. So you want to experience it is what I'm hearing? Why is that important to you? Why is it important to experience things? And then second question is you did say, I want to be able to say, I've done it. And I'm curious to know, why use that word.
• 10:45
  Analise Scarpaci: Yeah, that's interesting. You know, like, I guess, I want to, I want people to know that I exist. Hmm. I don't want to go in this world unnoticed. I want people to know who I am. And I want people to know, the type of person I am not just an actor, but that I'm a person who loves her family more than anything in the world, and that I come from an Italian American family, and they are my whole life, my whole world. And my great grandparents came here from Italy, in order to start a new life, and to have a better life for future generations. And I feel like, I want to do this, for my whole family, I want to, I want to get our name out there and say that, like, we did it.
• 11:36
  Analise Scarpaci: We came from Italy, from a small town in Sicily, and we did the thing. So I feel like it's, it's a nice tribute to my parents and all that they've done for me, my grandparents and all that they've done for me, as well as my parents, and my hometown is small. And I come from Staten Island. So it's, you know, beat the stereotype of what people think that is. And yeah, I want to say that I beat the stereotype is what I'm really saying.
• 12:10
  Lisa Hopkins: Oh, yeah. Okay.
• 12:10
  Lisa Hopkins: You said it's important that people know who I am. But that's not really what you're saying.
• 12:17
  Lisa Hopkins: It's so funny. You you like totally went from I need to do everything and skydive and people need to know who I am.
• 12:23
  Lisa Hopkins: That's not who you are. Right? I mean, it's fair to say, That's not who you are, know, what values of, of yours Analise's Are you honoring, by grabbing life by the reins and going for it? Why is that important to you? What value does that speak to? of yours,
• 12:41
  Analise Scarpaci: I think in all its love, because my family and my friends have given me everything, every gift in the world. a lot of my family came to see our first preview of Mrs.
• 12:58
  Analise Scarpaci: Doubtfire. And now they're all planning on coming back on the first day that we're back, and even more of them are planning on coming. So I'm so excited.
• 13:03
  Analise Scarpaci: But I feel that the entire value my entire moral in life is to lead with love, and lead with always knowing who you are, and to never ever, ever forget where you came from. And I feel like in this world, I need to just make my mark and show the world.
• 13:22
  Analise Scarpaci: This is who I am. I want people to know that there. There is more to me than what meets the eye. If that makes sense. What would you say, holds you back the most from who you want to be? myself? I think fear of failure. fear of not making people proud not making myself proud.
• 13:48
  Lisa Hopkins: How do you want to be remembered?
• 13:52
  Analise Scarpaci: Oh, man,
• 13:52
  Lisa Hopkins: I know it's a big one.
• 13:56
  Analise Scarpaci: I want to be remembered for me. And not everyone has to remember me. But the people who know who I am, I would like them to remember me as me, just me. And all of me.
• 14:07
  Analise Scarpaci: Let me see. So my first Broadway show was a Christmas story. My first like official Broadway credit. And I'll never forget.
• 14:14
  Analise Scarpaci: So my uncle, my great uncle, my grandfather's brother, he came to see our show. And he was sitting on the heater because obviously he was older and he couldn't really walk around. And I went to go see him. And I have a picture of the two of us. And he said, You've made our name.
• 14:27
  Analise Scarpaci: Good. you've, you've done well for us. And I always, always, always been so proud of that. I have always been so proud of that. Because there have been times where I was like maybe, I don't know, maybe my last name is too long, but and maybe I should just shorten it make a change. But no, Annalise scarpaci is who I am. And that's who I will always, always, always be. I'm never ever, ever going to change it for anything or for anyone. That love that I have for my family, the pride that I have for being a member of my family, the love I have for all of them, and the love that they have for me that has encouraged me to be who I am and to never be upset with who I am.
• 15:16
  Analise Scarpaci: And that's what I take into the world and what What I want people to know is that I'm just the same like everybody else.
• 15:27
  Lisa Hopkins: Yeah, no, that makes really good sense. I mean, you're, you're grounded by your family. And that's something that will never be taken away from you. You will always be on all these capace. And it sounds like it sounds like that is what propels you. Oh, for sure. Yeah, they always do. It's so beautiful. It's so beautiful.
• 15:43
  Lisa Hopkins: Tell me just real quick, because everyone's gonna want to know like, what do you know and what can you share about Doubtfire?
• 15:50
  Lisa Hopkins: of Mrs. Doubtfire? coming back?
• 15:53
  Lisa Hopkins: What are you hearing?
• 15:55
  Analise Scarpaci: Well, we will be back when we can. As soon as Governor Cuomo gives us the Okay, we will be back. I'm so excited and hopefully with the vaccine rollout, but it's so quickly now. More people will be getting vaccinated. So please go get your vaccine if you want to.
• 16:14
  Analise Scarpaci: I will not force you to get your vaccine. But I will say that if you would like to come see Mrs.
• 16:21
  Analise Scarpaci: Doubtfire. I do suggest that you get vaccinated because then we will be back creating theater and making people smile because that's what I love to do best. I love to make people smile. And I'd love to do that. sooner than later. So please get vaccinated.
• 16:37
  Analise Scarpaci: But we will be back.
• 16:38
  Lisa Hopkins: Alright, so let's play What makes you so what makes you hungry?
• 16:44
  Analise Scarpaci: Literally, everything makes me hungry.
• 16:48
  Lisa Hopkins: What makes you sad?
• 16:51
  Analise Scarpaci: A lot of things make me sad. Let's see.
• 16:54
  Analise Scarpaci: If I had to choose one thing. I feel like it would be when people are being mean to others.
• 16:59
  Lisa Hopkins: What inspires you,
• 17:01
  Analise Scarpaci: my family. But I also love when people follow their dreams. what frustrates you, when people don't put their best work into what they're doing makes me so frustrated when people have potential to be the best that they could be but they don't try and they don't put in the work.
• 17:21
  Lisa Hopkins: What is.... , I'm going to flip flop the question what frustrates you most about yourself?
• 17:26
  Analise Scarpaci: A lot of things. Um, if I had to pick one, I wish there was more social and in like, environments.
• 17:36
  Lisa Hopkins: What motivates you?
• 17:37
  Analise Scarpaci: Motivates me?
• 17:37
  Analise Scarpaci: I feel like my drive to learn. I want to inhale all new information all the time. And what makes you grateful?
• 17:47
  Analise Scarpaci: Everything, literally everything. I'm grateful to be here on this earth at this time.
• 18:01
  Analise Scarpaci: And I'm grateful that I get to live life.
• 18:04
  Lisa Hopkins: Yeah. Beautiful.
• 18:04
  Lisa Hopkins: What are the top three things that happened so far today?
• 18:09
  Analise Scarpaci: My favorite thing to do is just to go into my bathroom and start singing.
• 18:12
  Analise Scarpaci: So today, I went into my bathroom and I belting Broadway songs, which I never do, but I did it. And it was great. I had a good time.I had a really good smoothie. And getting to talk to you today. That's my third thing.
• 18:29
  Lisa Hopkins: Oh my god. Full Circle. Right. It's so great. I love it. Oh, it's been such a pleasure. I really appreciate you taking the time to be in the moment with me. I have been speaking today with Analise Scarpaci. Don't forget the name.
• 18:47
  Lisa Hopkins: Stay safe and healthy everybody and remember to live in the moment as always. Thank you so much. Thank you. Mrs. Doubtfire starts previews on October 21 and opens on December 5. I'm super excited for Analise and our Broadway community. We're heading into season four with an amazing lineup of Creative Conversations. Thank you so much for your continued support and listening.
• 19:26
  Lisa Hopkins: "In music stop time is that beautiful moment where the band is suspended and rhythmic unison supporting the soloist to express their individuality. In the moment, I encourage you to take that time and create your own rhythm. Until next time, I'm Lisa Hopkins. Thanks for listening