What it’s like to lead a national Broadway tour with your spouse
LOS ANGELES — During a recent performance of “Into the Woods,” Sebastian Arcelus had an idea.
“I was in the moment, I was present, I was making a bold choice and sticking to it!” he told The Times, excitedly recalling his oversized gestures and animated line delivery as the Baker. While Arcelus tried to get the audience on board, Stephanie J. Block, who plays the Baker’s Wife, whispered that the bit was too much; they then both broke character and laughed through the rest of the scene.
“We try things every single night, in front of 2,000 people — sometimes we knock it out of the park, and sometimes, it’s just terrible,” Block explained. “That’s the beauty of live theater: Let’s just go for it and see how it lands.”
The same can be said of Arcelus and Block’s rare endeavor: The two Broadway actors, married for 15 years and playing a married couple onstage, have spent the past six months on a national tour of the Stephen Sondheim musical revival, which ends its run at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre (shows start June 27).
From their home in Northern California, the two reflect on the tour that first sparked their relationship, the benefits of sharing scenes with your spouse, the complexities of traveling with their 8-year-old child and the sting of retelling a far-off fairy-tale that hits particularly close to home. The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
How are you feeling about wrapping up this Broadway tour together?
Block: I’m gonna make a statement: This is our last Broadway tour together. We
