Update on: Chandra Wilson

Chandra Wilson (unknown role, 100 Centre Street; Police Officer, Sex and the City; Evelyn Greenwood, The Sopranos; Dr. Miranda Bailey, Private Practice; Dr. Miranda Bailey, Grey's Anatomy)

Source: New York Daily News

(left) Chandra Wilson as Mama Mortin in "Chicago"

'Grey's Anatomy' star Chandra Wilson gets a Broadway lesson in 'Chicago'

by Joe Dziemianowicz DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, June 6th 2009, 4:00 AM

It’s never as good as the first time — or so conventional wisdom and a hit song by Sade will have you believe.

But "Grey’s Anatomy" star Chandra Wilson has no complaints about her third trip to Broadway, where she begins performances as the bossy, saucy prison matron Mama Morton in "Chicago" tomorrow night.

On break from the prime-time hospital hit, her ­return to the Great White Way has been an eye-opening experience, one that’s come complete with a car and ­driver, fancy digs for the length of run (it ends July 5), plus a brief but sweet visit from producer Barry Weissler, who stopped by during a rehearsal last week to check in on the latest guest star in his long-running hit.

"Everything’s good? Do you need anything? We’re all really excited," Weissler said. "We’re so glad you’re here. You’re like a gift."

Wilson, a down-to-earth girl from Houston, marvels at all the perks and attention that have come since being away from the stage and toiling on TV.

"This is very strange for me," she says. "This is a different Broadway experience for me. I’ve never headlined anything before or been pulled out in a featured role. I was always part of the ensemble."

Her previous Broadway jobs were in musicals — the socially conscious "Caroline, Or Change" and the irreverent puppet production "Avenue Q."

"I’ve never had a car take me to the show. Nothing like that," says Wilson.

But three Emmy nominations later and becoming a household name has changed everything. Including anticipation. "It’s a different expectation," she says, "now that I’ve got this name attached to myself."

If greater expectations have her feeling butterflies, she wasn’t showing them as she rehearsed "When You’re Good to Mama," which, along with "Class," are the character’s big numbers in the deliciously dark celebration of killer chorus girls Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly.

"What I’m learning about Mama is that she’s a manipulative thing," she says. "Bottom line, she’s interested in making sure that she gets paid for everything. She really enjoys this position she’s in. She’s all flash and show, but the point of everything she does is to get you to do something you don’t want to do."

In some ways, then, Mama bears more than a ­passing resemblance to the demanding and blunt Dr. Miranda Bailey, Wilson’s TV alter ego. They know what they want and how to get it.

"Grey’s Anatomy" goes into production of its sixth season in mid-July, which gives Wilson about a week and a half of downtime between the Broadway gig and the return to the daily grind of TV. The 39-year-old actress says she welcomes the hectic schedule. Growing up in Houston, she got into acting, she says, at the nudging of her mother.

"My mom is the one who initially got me started on this path, so I wouldn’t be sitting home idle, doing nothing," says Wilson, whose career has chugged along steadily since studying drama at NYU. "She wanted me to have something to do."

These days that’s a nonissue. Married with three children ages 31/2 to 15, there’s always something to do. She regards her "Grey’s Anatomy" castmates, including Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl, as her second family. And, yes, she says, "I think it’s a happy one."

"Put it this way," she adds after a pause, "we’re there for 10 months a year, in each other’s faces every day. It’s like anybody’s house would be. You’ve got your days when everything is cool and you’ve got your days when you don’t want your cousins over at your house. That’s our family, and I think together we make great, great television."

But for now, TV will wait. It’s all about "Chicago" and Broadway. And tonight she’ll be part of the Tonys, where she’s presenting an award. Like the car and driver, it’s a whole new experience.
"I’ve never been to the Tonys," she says. "I thought when ‘Caroline, Or Change’ was nominated the whole cast would go, but that’s not the way it is."