Examine, if you will, the most up-to-date bookends of Alicia Witt’s acting career: She was 7 years old when director David Lynch cast her in his 1984 sci-fi epic Dune. She then appeared in Lynch’s cult favorite TV series Twin Peaks.
Two years ago, Witt co-starred in the smash horror film Longlegs. Just before that, she had roles on Orange is the New Black and The Walking Dead … and starred in 10 consecutive Hallmark Christmas movies.
Here is a creative individual who stubbornly refuses to be pigeonholed – and aside from movies and TV, she also happens to have a thriving career as a singer/songwriter and pianist.
It’s in that role that Witt will appear Sunday at Clearwater’s Murray Theatre, part of the Ruth Eckerd Hall complex. It’s an intimate solo concert.
The Worcester, Massachusetts native was a classical piano prodigy, and was weaned on the pop/jazz sounds of vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole and Nancy Wilson.
Joni Mitchell and Barry Manilow became her earliest songwriting heroes; in the 1990s, she says, Shawn Colvin was an inspiration.
Oh … you might have seen Alicia Witt in Mr. Holland’s Opus (she was the shy young clarinetist), Cybill (she played Cybill shepherd’s daughter Zoey for the series’ four seasons), six seasons of Nashville (as Autumn Chase), or Ally McBeal, or A Medea Christmas, or nine episodes of Friday Night Lights, or Four Rooms, or Urban Legend, or the Exorcist TV series … in ’23, she appeared as “Dandelion” on The Masked Singer, performing Over the Rainbow.
Witt’s in the bay area this weekend for a photo ops and autographs at the Scaradise Horror Convention (at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa; see this link).
Sunday night, 7:30 at the Murray Theatre, is all about music (tickets are here).
“I think everyone at their core really wants to connect,” Witt says. “And is looking for proof that they’re not alone in the world. And I guess that’s why I love making music and sharing it with people.
“I feel like, for that one moment, when we’re all together in a room and everyone’s listening to the same song, no matter what differences they might have with each other, for those moments they’re all connected. And they’re all the same.”
St. Pete Catalyst: What do people in airports, or on the street, most ask you about when they run into you?
Alicia Witt: It’s different depending on each person and I long ago stopped trying to guess. Because with almost 100 credits, at last count, I really don’t know and I’m almost always wrong if I try to guess.
If it’s a family coming up to me, most likely it’s going to be a Hallmark Christmas movie. And whatever you might think of horror movies, I have been shocked by the families coming up to me about Longlegs. Like, an entire family including small children.
You were a kid in Dune and Mr. Holland’s Opus …
I still hear those, though, very frequently. When I least expect it. A lot of Mr. Holland’s Opus. If someone knows who I am, they might mention Dune. I don’t think they’re likely to recognize me from Dune.
On a weekly basis, I have people that are shocked, that didn’t realize that was me in Dune. Even people who know me quite well.
David Lynch was very important to you, wasn’t he?
He sure was. David Lynch changed my life in every way a life could be changed. It started of course with the first movie I ever made, which was Dune. I have no idea what my life would look like if I hadn’t crossed paths with him. If he hadn’t seen what he saw in me when I auditioned for him.
I mean, we can go back farther and say that if I hadn’t ended up on That’s Incredible! then the casting director wouldn’t have had anything to go on, wouldn’t have heard of me and wouldn’t have had me go to New York for the audition.
Hang on, Alicia. That’s Incredible!? What did you do?
I was 5, and I recited from Romeo and Juliet.
And this led to Dune.
They were having trouble casting the role of Alia. The character was meant to be around age 4, and she was born with the wisdom of generations of Reverend Mothers. Among many other things, she could speak like an adult, and had the thoughts of an adult, and the memories of many generations of adults.
So to find a kid that could just even say the lines that were required of Alia, let alone seem like she understood, I guess was a challenge. And so she (the casting director) got in touch with That’s Incredible! to see if they had any suggestions.
And they recommended me because I had appeared on the show a few years earlier. At this time I was 7, but they sent her the VHS tape and I was brought to New York to audition. She asked me to stay an extra day to meet David, who was coming to New York the following day.
You can’t make up a story like that. It’s too good.
No. It was fate. I’m certain it was fate and destiny. But it can’t be over-stressed how David’s energy and who he is as a person – I feel his energy and his essence is still very present – made me love making movies. He made me love acting and the world of getting to pretend, and craft something out of nothing.
The fact that I loved it, and had this instant sense of peaceful knowing that I had found something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, that is all thanks to David. He is a remarkable director who is not only brilliant, but treats actors like they are the finest treasure. He makes it fun.
There aren’t a whole lot of people who are successful in both acting and music. What kind of sacrifices had to be made, and did you think you wouldn’t be able to do them at the same time?
The question I’m often asked is, “If you had to choose, which would you pick?” and I think you’ve guessed by now, I can’t pick. And I don’t have to, and I’m not supposed to actually – I’m supposed to be doing both.
The only thing I think I did sacrifice was, earlier in my career when I moved to L.A. and started focusing on really making my way as an actor. I didn’t realize that I could do both at that time.
I started taking piano lessons, and started competing, at age 7. I won my first piano competition a few months after I started taking lessons. They both were side by side at the very beginning, because I made my first movie at 7.
When David wrote the role of Gersten for me on Twin Peaks, when I was 14, that was my first big stay in L.A., with lots of auditions. I planned to spend most of my time in L.A.
And my character played piano in that. Which David wrote because he knew I played piano.
To make a living in Los Angeles, I played piano. My longest job was at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. I played there in the lobby two and a half years to support myself. I played there and they allowed me to leave when I got the role in Mr. Holland’s Opus, when I was 18. There were maybe 10 of us on rotation, so I could leave as long as I secured a substitute.
I certainly wasn’t making enough money as an actor, because without a name yet, you make very little.
I wasn’t singing much. But in my mid 20s, I sang in several acting things. Like on Ally McBeal, I got to sing with Randy Newman. And some other songs too. And I did a musical at a theater in L.A. when I was 25.
In terms of singing my own songs, I just didn’t feel quite confident enough. I guess if anything, that was my sacrifice. But I think the music had to come in its own time.
Your performance at the Murray Theatre is solo -just you and the grand piano. What’s on your set list?
I have six releases and a number of singles. When I play my non-Christmas shows, I play those, I tell stories, some of which are from professional experiences, some of which are just from my life. When it’s an acoustic show, it can’t help but become an interactive experience.
I also take requests on the spot.