This week we are beyond excited to share Emmanuelle Zeesman as our GLAMoms Meet a Mom! Emmanuelle was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, and is now traveling the United States with the Tony Award-winning Broadway, HAIRSPRAY.
We had the opportunity to chat with Emmanuelle and she is hilarious! She was so generous with her time and it felt like we could have chatted for hours. We loved learning how she realized age is just a number and career goals can be reached no matter your age!
Learn more about how she balances playing multiple roles in one show, her genius way of unpacking at every hotel, and some of her must-dos while exploring each city!
Welcome to Greater Lansing Area Moms, Emmanuelle! We can’t wait to see you in HAIRSPRAY, this week!
Hairspray – would you tell us a little bit about the show?
Hairspray is an incredible story in itself! I saw it when I was in college, It’s really one of those shows where there’s no song that I ever skipped when I listened to it every day for, three years! It’s just so much fun!
The story is engaging. It’s about inclusion. Everybody can see themselves in it, in someone. And it’s also unfortunately, relevant because you can see how far we’ve gone, but how far we still have to go with inclusion and acceptance of everyone.
So I’m really proud that I’ve now gotten to do this for my third season, which is really exciting.
Would you tell us a little bit about your character(s)?
I play something called female authority figure, my lead part is Prudy Pinkleton. She’s Penny’s mom, and Penny’s one of the leads. I’m her horrible racist mother, but stay till the end of the show, there might be a change of heart!
I start with that role, and then I have these two, funny cameo appearances of singing roles and comedy roles. One of them is clowning because I have a background in clowning, physical comedy, and sketch comedy.
Gym Teacher is the other role I play, she’s hilarious, and I’m very proud! Some of my lines have ended up as permanent fixtures of the script- she is very kooky!
Then the other role, I get to improvise and scat sing, which is very exciting at the top of Act Two. And then I go back into Prudy Pendleton for the end of the show.
Wow, you play many different roles! Is it challenging jumping in and out of a role?
Yes, it is. It is difficult, but it’s what theater or acting professionals call- the moment before. You find a sentence that encapsulates your character. It is like something that I can say to myself and all of a sudden I know the voice, I feel the body, I get into it and then I can go on stage. So the moment before a role like this becomes very important!
Did you grow up being exposed to acting? Or how did you fall into this?
So, full story, I saw the national tour of Cats and I was probably too young to see it, four or five, and I hated it. I was like “There’s no story. I don’t understand this,” I’m such a story-based actor, so that’s just not my show.
And then I saw Les Misérables, about a year after because my dad was “Okay wait I have to expose her to more of this.” And I fell in love after seeing that! I loved Cosette, I memorized the entire show! And then in Ottawa, where I’m from, I started doing children’s theater companies. I continued in high school and college. My dream when I was little, was to perform in all Canadian provinces.
I moved from Canada ten years ago when our daughter, Hannah graduated high school. When she graduated, we kind of got in the car and went, oh my God, let’s do this!
It’s been crazy, the first year was madness. Just trying to audition and find my footing and all of that. Luckily, knock on all the wood in the world, I’ve been on national tours ever since.
And have you met that goal of acting in all Canadian provinces?
I have! I was 25 or 26. Actually, the funny thing is, it really changed my life. And then I was alone in my hotel room on tour by myself and I reached this milestone goal for myself. I realized there was no one to celebrate with, Hannah and David were at home and what am I doing?
So that’s when it was pretty clear to me that I was really happy being a local actor in Ottawa until Hannah grew up, until we were ready, and that it’s okay to wait to pursue the dream. Then I got all the dreams, not just one!
It was very clear to me, I remember calling David crying and I don’t wanna do this. I don’t want to celebrate all these birthdays and milestones by myself in a hotel room.
People thought I was crazy when I was in my late thirties and moved to New York. Crazy is fun! There’s a line in the show that says “Crazy like a Loon!”
How do you balance your marriage while being out on tour?
I feel VERY very lucky with my career but I have to say the best part is that my husband tours with me. He’s the merchandise manager and he loves it. He loves traveling. We both do and he loves his job and I’m so grateful!
It’s still hard to be away from our daughter who’s working in Ottawa. We are away from our parents and others, but we do have quite a few breaks, so we spend time there, having each other makes all the difference in the world.
Other actors leave home to go on the road, so they’ll do it for a little while, but we create home wherever we land.
Emmanuelle and her husband, David
What are some of your favorite things about New York?
There’s a lot that I love about New York, but I’m not there very much, honestly. When I’m there, it’s all about seeing shows. If I was in New York full-time with all of the discount tickets and rush tickets and lotteries, I would be seeing a show all the time. I would see everything!
And that’s what I miss about being on the road, I almost never get to see anything, because our day off is Monday, and that is the same as every other tour. So even if we’re in the same city at the same time, we’re doing the shows at the same time so that’s what I miss the most.
What are some must-haves while you travel to make it feel more like home?
A meditation station- stones, wisdom cards, and affirmations that I always make sure to put out in a new place. It just makes me feel a little more grounded. My meditation is important to me, but it’s easy to drop off the list on the road, having it out reminds me how important it is for me.
My husband and I travel with our whole lives in four suitcases. We have two big ones with our clothes in them and then my little one has all of the bathroom items we need, and his little one has all of the kitchen items we need.
I also have a little closet. I know this sounds bizarre, but in my suitcase, I make sure that unpacking is really easy. I actually travel with foldable shelves, so that when I unpack my clothes, I just kind of hook it up into the closet, and it’s done because otherwise, I would never unpack, right? You can find them on Amazon and they have them in all kinds of different sizes, just make sure it fits your suitcase.
Do you seek out something particular at every tour stop? Mexican food, coffee, etc.
The first thing we do is look for botanical gardens. It is my jam! I love a curated outdoor setup. I always try to make sure I find outdoor things even in the winter, we have our merino wool under layers and we’ll go hiking, and see botanical gardens, and arboretums. I find that I remember the city more if I go see their “special thing.”
Chicago has this incredible Museum of Illusions and other cities will have a “special something”- I’ll always ask my dresser because we get a local dresser in each place. And that person will be our knowledge, like our best friend for the week!
I prefer not having a car because then you just don’t have to worry about it. Ubers are accessible and easy. There’s almost always something to do downtown, like a river walk.
I’m gluten-free, so I like to try to eat the local “oh my gosh, you’ve got to try this” but honestly that thing is often not gluten-free so that is something my husband does by himself, often.
Eating on the road is challenging. My role is very physical, I do a full back bend, and I have to stay limber. There’s no way I can eat pub food or anything with oils in it, or anything before the show.
What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
Wow, one thing that people would be surprised to know about me? Well, I think my most surprising story is that my father and stepmother found my sister in China under a bridge. And brought her to an orphanage. A year later I have a beautiful, wonderful little sister, who is 20 years younger than me. It was kind of an “aunt” relationship, but now that she’s older, it’s become very sisterly and loving. And she’s just healthy and incredible and such a gift in our lives. Her name is Eliana.
My father, my stepmother, and my sister live in Mexico. My mother, my brother, my niece, and the rest of my family live in Canada, and I’m in the middle! During Christmas break, we always go down to Mexico for a week to spend time with my father. And then we come back and spend the second week with our Canadian family.
Now some fun ones!
If you were to grab coffee, what is your order? Chai latte with oat or almond milk.
Have you ever been to East Lansing? I have not, I have only been to Detroit. I love college towns! First of all, college towns means that not everything is closed at the end of the show, so we can find food. My husband and I, we’re older. It’s an interesting dynamic in this show, because most of the cast plays high school students, so they are between 18 and 23. And then there are those of us who are over 40, play the parents. After the show, we call ourselves the PTA! Ha ha! We don’t necessarily wanna go to a club, but we are hungry and with college towns, it’s great because we can sit and have a conversation and have some food after the show, there are still people up and about.
Last one, what do you hope people walk away with from HAIRSPRAY?
I hope that HAIRSPRAY not only makes them laugh but also makes them cry and think. Then at the end, makes them laugh again. And then they leave with that sense of celebration and jubilation and hope.
I’ve done a lot of touring now and I’ve been a part of many shows- I have never seen an audience jump up and scream before the end of this show and then dance with us! They dance and it’s so much fun because, not everybody knows “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” but it’s a very famous musical theater song and arguably the best finale in musical theater history. According to our Tony Award-winning director Jack O’Brien, this is the best finale of any musical and I tend to agree with him.
HAIRSPRAY has been around for 20 years, and it’s the original Jerry Mitchell’s award-winning choreography. People are dancing in the aisles. It’s an incredible experience for me and I’ve never experienced anything like this show.
It’s why I’ve done over 500 productions and performances of the show. I still feel like the luckiest woman on earth standing on that stage!
Thank you so much, Emmanuelle. We loved learning about your story and we appreciate you sharing your inspiring acting career with Greater Lansing Area Moms. We look forward to seeing you perform and hope you enjoy your visit to Greater Lansing!
If you would like to follow along with Emmanuelle and HAIRSPRAY, find her on Instagram – @emmanuellezeesman and her website, emmanuellezeesman.com
A special thank you to Wharton Center for this amazing opportunity to learn more about HAIRSPRAY and Emmanuelle!
Tickets are still available for this week’s show, click HERE for more information!
