Broadway actress back in Isles for starring role

Jade Stice was one of the first Island actresses to catch the "Miss Saigon" wave in New York. She said Broadway provided a roller-coaster ride she’ll never forget, but she’s lucky she kept her priorities straight.

Broadway actress Jade Stice returns to the Islands to play Florence in "Chess," a role in which she is on stage for nearly the whole play. She said she hasn’t done a lead in a while. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I went into the show with the notion of buying a home," said Stice, 30, who is back in the Islands to portray Florence in Diamond Head Theatre’s "Chess" musical, opening today.

"If you go into this business, thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to be a star, I’m going to be famous, I’m going to be rich,’ you’re not doing it for the right reason," Stice said. "It’s not going to make you rich. I feel I can come home now and be satisfied with my 10 years in New York. But I wasn’t working all those 10 years. I had some really, really horrible times; I wouldn’t tell my mother how bad things were.

"This is what I (would) have to eat for the next three days,"she said, showing a morsel of bread over lunch the other day at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. "Am I going to eat it, or am I going to feed the dog? I give it to my dog."

Even with the cruelties of frustrating cattle-call auditions, Stice has no regrets. In retrospect, it was all a growing and learning experience.

"You can’t say that’s not character-building — it is," she said "And this makes you really appreciate your next gig. That’s the problem with some of the ‘Saigon’ kids. They were plucked from Hawai‘i, they’re were making more money than God, and when it was over, they may not have planned."

She feels she was one of the fortunate ones. Stice was one of the alumni of Castle High School theater director Ronald E. Bright who auditioned for and then moved into "Miss Saigon" productions, on Broadway and on the road. Even in far-off Germany.

Many others have since made that pilgrimage. Broadway producers were hot to sign Asian singers-actors-dancers, and Castle, through the Bright-directed Castle Performing Arts Center, had a small army trooping over: Chloe Stewart. Cliffton Hall. Robert Orosco. Michael Bright. Jade Anguay. Jewl Anguay. Zoey Anguay. Alex Selma. And more.

Respected among peers

Stice helped break down barriers, said Bright.

"I remember, she was a determined little lass from very early, one of three sisters at Ben Parker Elementary, who’d sit on the floor and watch our shows when we did them there. Her parents always supported her. ...

"She loves the arts; she’s so respected among her peers. We’re thrilled she went to Broadway and did well."

Besides "Saigon," she has performed in "Jeckyll & Hyde" and has toured in both. Because she worked with director-choreographer Andrew Sakaguchi in Hawai‘i, he called her to invite her to portray Florence in "Chess."

"Before he hung up, I knew I was going to accept," Stice said, "but I didn’t want to sound so eager, so I said ‘Let me check.’ We had just had a snowstorm and had to shovel our way to the car. Like, I was going to turn down 80-degree weather in Hawai‘i?"

Also, she said, "Vocally, Florence is where my voice sits."

She hadn’t seen the show, she knew only two tunes in the score, she hadn’t done a lead in a while, but she knew it was time to return here to do a production.

Sakaguchi, who first worked with Stice in 1989 in "Dreamgirls" at the Hawai‘i Theatre, said he’s the luckiest director in town.

"I’ve been waiting to work with her," said Sakaguchi, who worked with Stice when she produced a run of "Forever Plaid" in Waikiki a few years back, and roomed with her in New York "when we both were poor," he recalled.

"This was a wonderful opportunity. The chemistry she has with both leading men (Matthew Pedersen and Guy Merola) is amazing. She not only sounds great, but she looks beautiful, and her acting is intense."

Florence is a tour de force role for her. "I think I come off the stage for a total of 10 minutes for the whole show; it’s nonstop, I was honestly concerned about my stamina level. I hadn’t done a lead for a very long time and to do a lead of this magnitude, where it’s not where you just sing pretty but you have to be there mentally."

She has also been thinking about her personal life. "The older you get, you kind of have to ask, ‘Do I want a family, do I want to raise my kids here?’ and those are the things that I have to consider now. I want to have kids by the time I’m 35."

She’s not quite ready, however, to wash New York out of her hair. "I think of others often, especially since ‘Saigon’ has closed," she said. "A lot of people are faced with the decision, ‘Do I stay in New York?’ But it comes down to several questions: Are you a crossover look? If you’re just Asian, you don’t get called. Can you pass for Hispanic? Can you pass for another race, as well as what you are?"

Producers are very type-specific, she said. And it’s not just a matter of talent and looks. Luck is a factor, along with timing.

Play your cards right

Her "Saigon" stint started in 1991 through 1993; she left for a year and resumed roles from 1994 through 1997, the last two years on tour. She was part of a "Flower Drum Song" workshop production. The show was said to be Broadway-bound, but plans have changed.

Work hasn’t been steady. "It goes up and down; I’ve been singing and auditioning for the past 2  years, and I can’t deal with it anymore," Stice said. "I wasn’t ready to leave New York, but the auditioning process was tough. But if you can go and push through it, you’re a better person for it, because that rejection does something good for you. It humbles you, puts things in perspective, and you come back to Hawai‘i a little bigger fish if you go there. You see what the big picture is, eventually."

"No one should ever complain being on the road, especially in a Cameron Mackintosh show," she said. "If you play your cards right, you can come off a tour and buy a home. That’s how I did it. I knew what I wanted. I went on tour with a goal, to end up with something to show."

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