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Everything’s Coming Up Joy Woods
The Broadway breakout’s big belting in The Notebook went viral this year. Now, she’s taking on one of the greatest musicals of all time: Gypsy.
She has performed nonstop since she turned 19, becoming known for her powerful voice, which can adapt to both the vibrato-inflected, diaphragm-supported, classic musical-theater sound and the pop influence of modern Broadway, and for her ability to imbue her characters with an innate, unpretentious dignity. During that run, a video of her singing Audrey’s signature ballad, “Somewhere That’s Green,” accompanied by Little Shop composer Alan Menken, went theater viral (it’s nearing 200,000 views on YouTube) because of her poised emotionality: Woods holds her composure throughout the song, then, at the end, two perfect teardrops fall down her face. Having walked past countless theatrical divas on our tour of the museum — her favorites are the six women in red from Stephen Sondheim’s 80th-birthday concert, including LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, Donna Murphy, Marin Mazzie, and, of course, McDonald — the conversation turns toward where she wants her career to go from here.
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