Take 2: The Three Mrs. Cranes
More of Soap Opera Weekly's interview with Ben Masters, Andrea Evans, Kim Johnston Ulrich and Lindsay Korman.

KISS AND TELL

Ben Masters, Andrea Evans, Kim Johnston Ulrich and Lindsay Korman (Julian, Rebecca, Ivy and Theresa) sat down with WEEKLY's Deanna Barnert to talk about life at Passions - on and off the screen, and two things are clear: There's no love lost in this triangle, since their characters despise each other, and this foursome is anything but square.

WEEKLY: What's it like sharing the stage with this group?
ULRICH: Fighting for light! No, it's fun. I love working with Andrea. We haven't had that much with Lindsay since she came back out of the coffin.
EVANS: Not in a while, no.
ULRICH: Theresa's rising out of the coffin was so macabre-ly absurd. I had trouble keeping a straight face with some of that. I was like, "What?" I'd like to do some more where we really go at it. And Ben's always adorable, muttering and mumbling.
KORMAN: Ben's the best! I loved all the Bermuda stuff with him. We had a really fun time - especially him stuffing me into the little armoire.
MASTERS: It was well-written stuff. It was very funny. For me, I think [the best scenes have been] some of the really strange wacky stuff - some that hasn't aired, yet! Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. I just have fun working with any of these three wonderful, talented women.
ULRICH: We enjoy our feisty feuding. I loved crashing the car [into Theresa and Ethan's wedding] and getting out. All that comedy and then doing the turn where I nailed Theresa. That was fun. I actually got to scream and yell.
KORMAN: Yeah, that was a great day for me, too. Everything went wrong for my character.
ULRICH: I actually do enjoy when you have a couple of pages of running monologue. You don't want them all the time, but it's fun to get a running start at something and go with it. See how big and far you can go, but truthfully.
KORMAN: I agree. When we get to play honest work that's good, because we don't get to do that often. It's nice once in a while to be exactly who we are in the moment, so that [viewers] can see who the character really is - instead of what they're always after.
MASTERS: I really am not fond of doing "real" scenes on this show. I've done all that for years. When I get saddled with honest scenes now, it's like, "Oh my god. What am I going to do?" It's very hard [to go from Julian the cad to something real]. It's like you're on a railroad track and all the sudden you're on one that's thirty feet down, but there's no slow [transition].
EVANS: I tend to love doing the comedy. All the slapstick stuff with Ivy was a highlight for me.
ULRICH: I'm always amazed that [viewers] are like, "You're so wicked and evil - I love you!"
EVANS: I get a lot of mail saying they love the stuff between Rebecca and Ivy. It's like another homage to Death Becomes Her. It's that love/hate relationship. They need each other.
ULRICH: We have a symbiotic relationship. We feed off of each other.
EVANS: I love working with all these guys. It's fun. WEEKLY: What's it like working with a villain we never see?
ULRICH: Alistair's the man behind the curtain.
MASTERS: It used to be that Alan Oppenheimer, who does the voice of Alistair, also did the hands. Then, when Alistair actually entered in [they used Bill Dempsey as his body]. This guy's a bit brawnier and more substantial physically than Alan, who's a friend of mine. So when you're doing a scene, you've got Alan sitting off with a microphone and Bill with the cigar. It's become doubly difficult.
EVANS: It's hard, because you're eye naturally goes to the voice.
MASTERS: So Bill, who's trying to do a good job, is mouthing the words, too. I find it interesting, too - not just because Lindsay's sitting here - that, for the most part, the people in who are in their early 20s on this show, like Deanna (Wright, Kay) and Lindsay, have such an ability to be real in front of the camera. This is like Ms. Laurence Olivier, here, our Lindsay Korman. With Deanna, this little girl is going on and on and someone else wrote these words! It's this uncanny ability to make the words sound like their coming out of your mouth. Not everyone is like that. I'm surprised at how good you guys are for the age you are.
ULRICH: I still don't know how Lindsay cries.
KORMAN: In the beginning, it was hard. Now, it's really something I can do like that (she snaps her fingers). It's pretty crazy.
ULRICH: I can't do it [like that]. I think it is something you get better at it.
EVANS: Some people are really good about it.
KORMAN: I don't have stress about it, anymore. Give me two seconds and I'm ready. It's kind of funny. That's the show - three years of it. Do you think that Ivy really believes Theresa is terrible and awful? Do you think Ivy ever wonders?
ULRICH: I think that you do love him: I don't think you're good for him. Now, it's exactly what happened to Ivy, but she's blind to that. She's doing the same thing in trying to break Theresa and Ethan up, but I think in her heart of hearts, because you've lied - Hello! Ivy's lied too, but she doesn't see that. Maybe you're too much like her. How's it being the mother on the show?
KORMAN: I love it. That's the highlight for me right now, working with the babies. I didn't even know you were supposed to rock the baby, at the beginning. I was so fragile with it, and now it's cool. The connection between [a parent and child] is a neat experience. Something so pure is really fun to explore.
MASTERS: Then why won't you let me hold the baby?
KORMAN: Because you're drunk, all the time! When in doubt, drink - so you can't hold my child. Forget that!
MASTERS: He's my son, too!
KORMAN: No, no.
ULRICH: Do you really think that at 18 or 19, Theresa should be married with a child?
KORMAN: I could be 21 by now. You never know.
EVANS: Soap ages are always nebulous. You don't really know unless you're still in high school.
ULRICH: However old she is, she's under 30. Wouldn't you want to slap her upside the head, and say, "'What are you doing with your life? Go to college!"
KORMAN: I don't know. I question it a lot. If she stops and thinks that she's going after a man to fulfill her, she wouldn't have anything. Then she probably wouldn't think she's worth anything and she'd break down. That's part of her denial. She'll just keep on that path till one day it slaps her on the head.
ULRICH: If nothing else, the women are persistent on the show.

WEEKLY: What would happen if Julian took another Mrs. Crane?
KORMAN: That would just be too exhausting!
EVANS: It's a big house.
ULRICH: It would be nice to have Julian really fall for somebody. That would be fun, where he loses his heart to someone.
KORMAN: Then he'd be distracted and we really could do whatever we wanted to do.
ULRICH: As long as we have the money, we don't care.
EVANS: [Rebecca could be with] the pool boy. I want the money.
ULRICH: You want the power and prestige, too, because you had money.
EVANS: I think Rebecca does [have real feelings for Julian, too]. One of my favorite scenes was when Tabitha goaded me by telling me Julian had married me under false pretenses. He knew he couldn't legally do it all along, and Rebecca was really hurt. There was a moment of seeing her vulnerability. I would like to see Rebecca fall in love. Have her grow a little heart.
MASTERS: Then you'd have too many people falling in love, growing hearts, and people start changing the channels.
ULRICH: It could be unrequited. You (to Masters) could be Ivy for a while, chasing after somebody. Really have your heart broken.
MASTERS: I would never stoop that low.
ULRICH: But we'd like to see you stoop that low.
EVANS: People like to see romance. Duh!