It might be hard to believe, but Yvonne Strahovski has never seen a Broadway show.
The Australian actress, currently making her New York stage debut as Lorna Moon in Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy, reveals this fact a little bit sheepishly, but she’s far from apologetic. She has dedicated the past few years of her life to making a name for herself in the world of film and television. And her efforts have paid off.
As one of the stars of the long-running, but chronically ratings-challenged NBC spy series Chuck, the blonde bombshell has garnered a seriously dedicated fan base. After concluding her five-season run on Chuck, Strahovski quickly bounced to Showtime’s Dexter, where she is currently appearing as Hannah McKay, a potentially murderous love interest for Michael C. Hall’s title character. And in case you thought she was getting any sleep, she will also appear in the upcoming films I, Frankenstein (opposite Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy) and The Guilt Trip (the new buddy comedy starring Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand).
In the midst of her Broadway debut’s busy preview period, we sat down with Strahovski at a cafe on the Upper West Side to discuss Broadway, boxing, and precisely what it’s like to end up covered in plastic wrap on Dexter Morgan’s kill table.
Welcome to Broadway!
Thank you! I didn’t know this was going to happen, and now it’s happening.
How did Golden Boy come about?
My agent called and said “Do you want to go out for this play?” I spent a lot of time when I was growing up in theater and that all sort of ended six years ago when I moved to L.A. Earlier this year, I shot a movie in Melbourne, and while I was there, they had the Melbourne Comedy Festival. I went to see a lot of the stand-up comedians, and when I was in the audience, I remember thinking, “Wouldn’t it be fun to be on stage again?” And that’s really what inspired me to go in for this.
What theater did you do when you were growing up in Australia?
We did a lot of high school productions. My first was Twelfth Night. I played Viola. We did Much Ado About Nothing and Taming of the Shrew, and a lot of musicals. The Wiz, Bye Bye Birdie, Oliver…
Who did you play in Bye Bye Birdie and The Wiz?
I’m not a singer. In Bye Bye Birdie, I think I was the sad girl who sits on the park bench during “Put on a Happy Face.” I grew up being a dancer, so I was always doing some sort of dance number, like the Tornado in The Wiz.
You were the Tornado in The Wiz?!
Yeah, I was the Tornado in The Wiz. That was my pride and joy moment at that time.

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