It is late morning and a major star is kicking off. “Turn the lights on, for fuck’s sake!” she rages at a stagehand. Her fists are clenched, her tanned, tattooed arms are sticking out of a royal blue sleeveless dress, and her locks have been dyed a burnt brunette. Once her demand has been met, the star pivots to face the wide, high-ceilinged room and switches to a gentler register. “Humilia-ting!” she trills, making the last syllable ring like a bell. As laughter fills the air, she slips out of character, her body visibly relaxing. This woman is no longer Myrtle Gordon, the sozzled Broadway legend cracking up on the eve of her latest show, but Sheridan Smith, the double Olivier-winning star of the Legally Blonde musical, whose own recent troubles have left her feeling she has something to prove.
The new musical – called Opening Night and adapted by Ivo van Hove and Rufus Wainwright from John Cassavetes’ blistering 1977 film – could be just the ticket. “It’s so close to the bone,” says the 42-year-old, taking a break from rehearsals in this London studio. “I’ve actually had the curtain brought down on me. I’ve been through that sort of crisis.” Myrtle – played ferociously and fearlessly on screen by Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes’ wife – is starring in The Second Woman, a melodrama limping through out-of-town previews prior to its glitzy New York premiere. Myrtle fears she has lost her youth, her grip on the role, and increasingly her mind. Her sanity becomes even more precarious after a fan is knocked down and killed outside the theatre. Soon she is seeing the dead girl everywhere.
