Katie Holmes understands the show must go on.
The actress stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Nov. 27 to discuss her role playing Mrs. Webb in the Broadway revival of Our Town. Holmes, 45, revealed some of her pre-show rituals, including reviewing all of her lines multiple times before a performance.
“One time I didn’t do it, and I was in the middle of a scene and I just said the whole line except the last word, and I couldn’t remember it,” Holmes said.
“I made something up but it didn’t make sense,” the actress continued. “And then I got so red because Jim Parsons, who’s delightful, he’s onstage most of the time because he’s the stage manager. And so I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Jim knows. He’s watching. And Ephraim [Sykes] knows because I was saying it to him, and then Richard Thomas. Oh God.’ ”
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Holmes recalled how she became flustered during the moment then rushed to get through the scene.
“[I] got off stage, and Jim gave me a hug after,” Holmes said. “He was like, ‘I’ve never seen anyone say their lines so fast and remove themselves.’ ”
“And nobody cared, but I cared,” the actress added. “I’m like, ‘This is Broadway!’ ”
Our Town, now in performances at the Barrymore Theatre in New York City, features a 28-person cast including Parsons, Thomas, Sykes and Zoey Deutch. The Pulitzer Prize–winning play, written by Thornton Wilder, follows the residents of a small New Hampshire town.
Holmes noted that the script also requires her to mime. “Thornton Wilder wrote this in 1938, and it takes place in 1901, and so he’s written in that the mom’s, like, I’m making oatmeal,” she said. “But then our director Kenny Leon was like, ‘You know, I really want everyone to bring themselves to the characters.’ So over time, I’m like, ‘I am getting so sick of miming oatmeal.’ ”
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Holmes said she started a recurring gag onstage, where she pretends to make a new dish every night, including quiche and pancakes.
“But you know who appreciates my cooking is Richard Thomas,” Holmes said. “He’s like, ‘Can you do a Dutch pancake? Do you know what that is?’ And I was like, ‘Yes!’ ”
Our Town marks a Broadway return for Holmes, who made her debut in the 2008 revival of All My Sons, and later starred in the 2012 play Dead Accounts. Holmes noted that Our Town is a particularly special production as well.
“It’s like a dream job,” Holmes said. “And I love this play. It’s been done so many times. … Our director said this is Our Town for our time. And so it’s a bit of a reimagining but the script is, obviously, still the same.”
“We have a great time,” Holmes added, of the cast. “We all really love each other.”
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