Katie Holmes reveals what she did when she forgot a line during an Our Town performance on Broadway
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Katie Holmes is no stranger to Broadway, but even seasoned stage veterans can forget their lines every now and then.
The 45-year-old actress is best known for her film and TV work, though she made her Broadway debut in a 2008 production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons.
She has also starred in 2012's Dead Accounts from Theresa Rebeck and 2023's The Wanderers from Ann Ziegler before her current production, a revival of the Thornton Wilder classic Our Town.
The actress returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, though in an extended part of the interview that didn't air she revealed how she handled forgetting a line.
'I was in the middle of a scene and I just … I said the whole line except the last word and I couldn’t, I couldn’t remember it,' Holmes admitted.
'I made something up, but it didn’t make sense and then I got so red, because Jim Parsons is on stage most of the time because he's the stage manager, I go, "Oh my God. Jim knows, he's watching,' she said.
Katie Holmes is no stranger to Broadway, but even seasoned stage veterans can forget their lines every now and then
She added, 'So I get red, real fast and I got flustered, so I just said my lines so fast after that and got off stage.'
'Jim gave me a hug after. He was like, "I’ve never seen anyone say their lines so fast and remove themselves!"' she admitted.
She also revealed her pre-show ritual - a Starbucks on 8th Avenue near the Barrymore Theater, where Our Town is showing.
'They are so lovely, every time I go in. They know me and I know them and they wish me a great show,' she said.
After her Starbucks run, Holmes revealed, 'Then I go to the stage and I do my lines like twice. I do my lines like three times at home.'
Holmes plays Mrs. Webb in the 28-member ensemble cast of Our Town, which Thornton Wilder wrote in 1938 and is considered among the greatest American plays of all time.
She admitted this gig is, 'like a dream job,' adding, 'I love this play, it's been done so many times and our director said this is Our Town for our time.'
Holmes added the production is, 'a bit of a reimagining, but the script is, obviously, still the same,' as the original production, which won Wilder a Pulitzer Prize for drama.
The actress returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, though in an extended part of the interview that didn't air she revealed how she handled forgetting a line
She added, 'So I get red, real fast and I got flustered, so I just said my lines so fast after that and got off stage'
Holmes plays Mrs. Webb in the 28-member ensemble cast of Our Town, which Thornton Wilder wrote in 1938 and is considered among the greatest American plays of all time; Holmes seen on stage on October 10
The actress added she is always look for 'a good napping spot,' adding that she found one in the basement of the Barrymore Theater where she's part of the 28-member ensemble cast of Our Town.
'And so, early on, I said -- I went to the basement and I saw a couch. And I was like, "Who's in charge of the couch?"'
The photo was taken during, 'a tutorial on all of these different movie clips,' with Katie insisting she'll only take a nap before and join after... but that didn't happen.
'The alarm went off, and I was like, it was 5:00 and our show was at 7:30, so I still had time. I said Bill, "I've got to sleep more." And I was right next to them. And they're all like playing clips and loud, and I didn't move,' she joked.
Our Town - a Pulitzer Prize-winning play originally written in 1901 by Thornton Wilder - runs at the Barrymore Theater through January 19.
