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Krysta Rodriguez has been a New Yorker for more than two decades but this summer marks a full-circle moment: bringing Smash home to Broadway. Rodriguez, a longtime favorite on stage (Spring Awakening, Into the Woods) and screen (Smash, Halston), stars in the highly anticipated musical adaptation of the beloved New York-based TV series, now playing at the Imperial Theater.
We caught up with the 40-year-old actress to talk about her experience stepping back into the Smash universe, her favorite New York rituals and where you might spot her with a dirty martini in hand.
On bringing Smash home to Broadway
“It’s really special,” Rodriguez tells Time Out. “We filmed the series in New York, we were in real theaters and there with a lot of theater people. Now, we’re really there with theater people. There’s something special about being able to bring it home to where it was with all the people who do actually make that art form.”
As someone who grew up in the industry, Rodriguez says there’s a deep personal resonance with this production and being surrounded by like-minded people.
“Brooks Ashmanskas [her co-star] is doing his 16th Broadway show,” she says. “It’s part of the fabric of who we are, and we’re happy that we get to share that.”
There was one moment when it all really clicked. “When the marquee went up, it was like, Wow, it’s actually happening," she remembers. “And at our first preview, we’re literally talking about a dress rehearsal during a dress rehearsal. It’s very meta—and crazy.”
On being surrounded by Smash in the city
After opening night, Rodriguez says the Smash takeover of Times Square felt almost surreal.
“We walked to the party at the Hard Rock Cafe, and my friend was like, ‘I feel like I should be eating a salad and talking about the next auditions,’” she laughs, referencing Smash scenes filmed at the tables right in the heart of Times Square.
And now? Smash is everywhere.
“Every taxi has the digital ads now, so now every taxi can have Smash on it at any given moment’” she says. “We had a commercial that aired during the Oscars and I didn’t even know about it until I walked into a bar and my friends were like ‘What’s happening?!’ It’s been fun to be surrounded by it.”
On 23 years (and counting) in New York
Rodriguez moved to New York for college and never looked back.
“In a very Sex and the City way, New York has been the biggest relationship of my life,” she says. “I’ve lived here longer than where I grew up.”
She has resided in many neighborhoods—from the Financial District to the Upper West Side—but downtown feels most like home. “It’s where I was first introduced to the city,” she says. “I still go to the same nail salon I went to in college.”
These days, you’ll often find her at Rosemary’s in the West Village.
“Perfect brunch, perfect lunch special, perfect dinner,” she says. For a quieter moment, she loves Rosecrans, a cozy cafe-slash-florist: “You can grab a coffee, sit among the plants and walk to the park.”
On pre- and post-show rituals
Despite a packed Broadway schedule, Rodriguez tries to stay flexible.
“When you’re doing a show so consistently, that is the ritual,” she says. “If your cat’s sick and you miss your normal warm-up, you still have to be able to do the show!”
But there is one New York tradition she loves: Sardi’s.
“It’s the perfect post-show spot down the alley from the theater,” she says. “They know me there. If you go around 9:30, you’ll get to see Tom Francis walk by in Sunset Boulevard, so get a window seat, get your martini, get your tuna tartare and watch Broadway unfolding right in front of you. It’s a very New York moment.”
(For the record, her martini order: vodka, dirty and absolutely not Tito’s.)
On her dream New York role
Rodriguez has a long list of dream parts, but there’s one classic she keeps coming back to: Chicago.
“I’d love to be in Chicago someday,” she says. “It’s an institution. I saw it when I was a kid visiting New York, and we did it in my arts high school with members of the original cast directing us.”
As for her first Broadway experience? It was Fiddler on the Roof when she was just six years old.
“I don't remember a lot about it, because I was quite young, but I remember the feeling—the ritual around it, the energy in the theater, and the community,” she says. “It just really hit me very at a very young age how special the theater is.”