Big, Blonde and Beautiful in Her Broadway Debut
How Bonnie Milligan is breaking body stereotypes in Head Over Heels
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Like all eight main characters, Milligan’s Pamela finds love once she embraces her true nature. However, her journey isn’t just empowering because she realizes she’s (spoiler alert!) a lesbian, but also because she’s a voluptuous woman acknowledged as the most gorgeous lady in the land.
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“That was part of the original vision,” says Milligan about her part. “In the Renaissance era, being plump meant you were wealthy and desirable. This is a time when I was a picture of beauty. I think it is important to see a big woman singing about how she’s beautiful and everyone on stage saying, ‘Yeah, she is.’ So Pamela is never funny because she’s big. She’s funny because she’s super-conceited.”
Pamela’s self-centeredness is on sidesplitting display in the number “How Much More,” during which she throws a royal temper tantrum, demolishing everything in sight while belting her lungs out. “I’ve never done something that’s so taxing,” Milligan says. “I have to limit certain moments physically because I won’t be able to healthfully get out the notes. Spencer Liff, the choreographer, worked through it piece by piece with me so that things looked like they were being destroyed in a good order, but so I could still breathe. It’s hard to destroy things! I hope there are laughs because I use them to cover the noise of me clearing my throat and swallowing. Rolling over the bedframe is probably the hardest thing I do. At a certain point, Michael and Spencer said, ‘Don’t do that — it’s too difficult.’ But I wanted to figure it out because I needed to commit to the comedy of it.”
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TDF MEMBERS: At press time, discount tickets were available for Head Over Heels. Go here to browse our current offers.
Top image: Bonnie Milligan center, with Tanya Haglund, Samantha Pollino, Ari Groover and Amber Ardolino Head Over Heels. Photo by Joan Marcus.
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