On 'Stereophonic', Sarah Pidgeon builds a dominant lady, chord by chord

There are days when the success of the most Tony-nominated play of all time and its star leads to a gossip session with her co-star, a facial steam, and a poorly microwaved Kraft Mac and Cheese. When the curtains rise at New York's John Golden Theatre, Pidgeon transforms into StereoSinger-songwriter Diana, a fantastic force that is an amalgamation of the greatest rock stars of all time, clearly Stevie Nicks. But she and her co-star Julianne Canfield have a ritual to complete before that happens.

“Jiuliana and I share a dressing room, and it's just like a snapshot of what's happened since I saw [her] 12 or 15 hours ago,” says actress Sarah Pidgeon Rolling rock via Zoom from her New York apartment. “We read and we're very good at it. There is nothing super unique about it. But I think I check in with Juliana and just have the time to say, “Where are you today?” it's changing my show.”

Diana is a towering tambourine tour de force that, out of a Sausalito, California recording studio sometime in 1976, soars to the top of the charts. But it's inside the studio where Diana is steadfast, both in the music she struggles to write and in the myriad problems of her bandmates Simon (Chris Stack), Reg (Will Brill), Holly (Juliana Canfield) and Peter (Tom Peckina ) I can't leave in the parking lot. Peter – the self-proclaimed leader of the band and Diana's boyfriend – is desperate to maintain control, while Reg is always first to a bag of cocaine. Drummer Chris is too focused on the miles between him and his wife and kids to keep a steady beat, and Holly just wants a working studio coffee machine. But at the heart of the play is Diana's relationship with Peter: They desperately want to make the cover for an album, but Diana isn't sure if she can make it work for her life. It's this whirlwind of perfect melodies and conflicting desires that Pidgeon is called upon to plant every night. But offstage, Pidgeon, 27, is a woman in the midst of her Broadway debut and her first Tony nomination — and she also doesn't quite know if she has any clean clothes left.

“I'm so tired,” she jokes. “But today it was like I have to do things. Immediately, eyes open, cleaning, trash, bills. Sometimes it feels like this total meditation that I can just go to the show and forget about everything else that's going on in my life, and sometimes it's like, “Oh my God, there's so much going on,” and then before you know it, there's nothing clean.”

Stereo spent 10 weeks off-Broadway before transferring to what is now a 27-week run on Broadway, and Pidgeon has only missed two performances. Unlike film productions, large plays have the added effect of splitting the actors into two contrasting personalities. For six nights a week, Pidgeon is a whirlwind on stage, a woman struggling to choose between her relationship and her career, with it unclear whether the two can exist at their best without the other. While technically a play, StereoAt its core is its music, composed by ex-Arcade Fire member Will Butler and performed live by the cast every night. The project unfolds through the band's interpersonal drama while recording their most important album. Disagreements abound, but when everyone is on the same page, a perfect harmony of Seventies bluesy rock pours out.

While the stage has always been a welcoming place for Pidgeon, she still seems a little skeptical of how she ended up in her current situation. A Michigan native, Pidgeon grew up attending Interlochen Arts Camp during the summer (she has fond memories of experiencing a season as the beloved Wildebeest #3 in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories) that started her on a path to Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. As an actor, Pidgeon's biggest performances were in the Amazon Original survival drama the wild, and Tiny Beautiful Thingsthe HBO drama about an advice columnist whose life is falling apart. Stereo it was the last audition she completed before Covid shut down live shows, and Pidgeon recalls spending hours rehearsing with her roommate in an attempt to “marry” her current self with the world of playwright David Adjmi. It wasn't until the restrictions were lifted and the project restarted (with substantial edits) that she got the chance to audition again — something she's grateful for.

“I watched my audition tape and I was so glad I got to do it again because I was three years younger and hadn't experienced a global pandemic yet,” says Pidgeon. “[Diana] he talks so much about how he feels, but i think it's because he doesn't have the words for it all the time. This push in her relationship [is] she loves this person so much but they are damaging her and not giving her what she needs. And this is true of so many relationships we have in our lives. We are two different people and suddenly we are stuck in the same room together. I think her journey is about standing up for herself. I just fell in love with it.”

Since last October, Pidgeon lives, eats and breathes Diana's life – an intimate understanding that emerges from her performance. Pidgeon crashes through emotional walls, drawing the audience into a relational maelstrom during the play's three-hour duration as she argues with Peter about songs and the roles they want to play in each other's futures. Pidgeon is not Diana. But that doesn't mean there aren't nights when the show runs a little longer.

“This woman is really into [the] crossroads of many decisions and innovation. And the one person who's supposed to be in her corner undermines her in this unconscious way, which makes it even harder,” Pidgeon explains. “Sometimes I feel like Diana has my skin and my voice, but not my heart. And when I shower, it's done. And then there are other nights where it's like, “Oh my God, that felt a little too real. I need my mom.”

Butler was present at Pidegeon's first audition, but the Oscar-nominated composer says that even at this point, he is always in awe of Pidegeon's performances. “In the first preview, she was singing “Bright” and I was sitting in the back of the theater and I was like, “I'm extremely lucky,” he says. Rolling rock. “God-will-hit-me-lucky. Sarah Pidgeon is up there singing my song making these 800 people here feel something transcendent.”

Butler says Pidgeon's ability comes from her combination of humor and professional commitment to her work. “As an actress, she is amazing. It can imbue any syllable with any emotional force,” he adds. “To have someone so responsive and so insanely talented, it's very rewarding.”

It's a belief that audiences and the American Theater Wing seem to agree with. On April 30, Pidgeon was nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, along with 12 other nominations. On June 5, Butler announced that the series extension would be extended to January 2025 — a 5-month holiday guarantee that people would still apply to see Pidgeon and her bandmates go on this night despite night. But while Pidgeon may be sleepy, she says her role has changed her on a “molecular level,” something she's more focused on than possibly picking up a golden statue at the Tony Awards on June 16.

“Obviously being recognized by the Tonys is a huge honor. I just feel very surprised and I think it happened so quickly that it hasn't sunk in yet,” she says. “But I think just starting to do the show and knowing these people and feeling so influenced by this character, I already won.”