Spicing up the role of Ginger
Actress Morgan Smith studies Ginger Rogers’ life and work for her role in Backwards in High Heels

By Jeff Eason

Watching the Summer Olympics last week, it was clear that many of the divers, gymnasts and swimmers had prepared their whole lives for the ultimate stage.

The same could be said for young actress Morgan Smith. She has spent over a decade learning how to sing, dance and act in her pursuit of a career on stage.

That hard work comes to fruition this week as Smith tackles the biggest role of her fledgling career. The 24 year old will play Academy Award-winning actress Ginger Rogers in the Blowing Rock Stage Company production of Backwards in High Heels: The Musical Story of Ginger Rogers. Directed and co-written by Lynnette Barkley, the musical had its world premiere in Florida last year and the BRSC production, opening August 29, is only the second version staged thus far.

The Mountain Times caught up with Morgan Smith this week to find out what it is like to take to the stage as an immortal of the silver screen. Here is a portion of that interview:

The Mountain Times: Where are you from and when did you first get interested in musical theater?

Morgan Smith: Originally I grew up in a town called Coleman in northern Alabama. It was a small town without an established arts program. So I traveled to Birmingham to study dance. Then I got involved with theater when I was 14, right before I entered high school. I started doing stuff in Birmingham with a group called Summerfest Musical Theatre. I got in a student acting group and just never stopped. Then I studied theatre at a small private liberal arts school called Birmingham Southern College.

MT: At 24 years of age, did you know very much about Ginger Rogers?

MS: Well, I kind of did. My mom grew up watching those movies and she always loved them. My family, we’re big singing and dancing people. I mean we have a huge appreciation for the arts. My parents weren’t actors or anything, but they took us to the ballet and took us to shows. I just grew up watching all those movie musicals. The ones Ginger made with Fred Astaire and then all the MGM stuff too. So I admired her, of course, but I always thought of her as a counterpart to Fred Astaire.

MT: How did you prepare for this role?

MS: Once I got this role, let’s just say that the Internet is fantastic. I Googled her biography. And they have re-released all the Fred and Ginger movies in a collector’s edition. So I got as many of those movies as I could. Now they all have the attached special features with documentary clips, so that was helpful. I tried to find out as much as I could. Lynnette Barkley, the writer who conceived this entire thing, was a huge resource.

MT: Did any of the documentary clips show Ginger when she wasn’t in character?

MS: One of the cool things was I saw some of the rehearsal footage they had. That was kind of neat, to see her demeanor and how she handled herself. But with most of these old features they focused more on Fred than they did on her. So I just got little glimpses of her here and there.

MT: What were some of the surprising things you found out about Ginger’s life?

MS: I was shocked that she was married five times. Some of the husbands were celebrities but none of them were as successful as her, which is why the relationships dissolved.

The relationship she had with her mother was very interesting and an important dynamic in her life. Ginger never stopped working. She got into the business when she was 14 years old and she did not stop until she was in her early eighties. Just that work ethic that she had and that drive, I had no idea about that aspect of her life.

I was also unaware of her work outside the movie musical genre. I had never seen Kitty Foyle, which is what she won the Academy Award for. She beat out Bette Davis and Katherine Hepburn and all those other big celebrities. So watching her in those films was really fascinating to me because the Fred and Ginger musicals seem to recycle the same plotline. She never got to play any other characters other than the ingénue or love interest. I like him, I hate him, we get back together. To see her really commit to these meatier roles was fascinating. Kitty Foyle was a pretty controversial script because she played a pregnant shop girl. She was ahead of her time.

MT: How is the dancing in this show different than what you’re used to?

MS: I grew up studying tap and jazz but my focus was on classical ballet. I studied that for 14 years. It’s kind of your basic training in dance to study ballet and learn your basic technique that way. But I was a little rusty on my tap so I had to dust off those shoes and do a lot of outside practicing.

–:In the show there’s tap dancing, we do a Charleston number, then the classic Fred and Ginger ballroom dances plus some regular musical theatre numbers.

MT: Are there a lot of costume changes?

MS: The boys in the show and the ladies are playing up to 15 roles each. I get to play the same character, but we’re telling her life and we start at age 14 and go up to her thirties. So it’s just one thing after another while we tell her story. We have tons of costumes to paint all those pictures. There are a lot of quick changes.

MT: Are you working with anyone you’ve worked with before?

MS: Yes, actually. It’s really delightful. Unfortunately, we had someone back out of the show. Lynnette sent me an email saying that we had lost a cast member and asked me if I knew someone who was a strong male performer who was a good tapper and singer. Thad Wilson is one of my best friends. We grew up doing theatre together and we haven’t done a show together since college. It’s fun. He’s playing Joe and one of the stage crew at RKO. He’s got a great song in the show. This is his first time here too. It’s exciting.

MT: How are rehearsals going?

MS: They’re going great. We’re plugging away. It’s a lot of material. And we’re trying to learn all these musical numbers and memorize all the scenes. We’re putting it together in a short amount of time. But everyone’s really on top of their game. I think we’re going to do a really good job of telling her story.

MT: Is it daunting to put on a show that’s been done only once before?

MS: The first one sold out before they even opened. There are things in our production that are going to be different. After they mounted it in Florida, they had some things they wanted to change. So they changed the order of a few things and added a musical number or two. So our production is going to be unique.