One Life To Live – Starr X’d Lovers – What I Asked Kristen Alderson

Today is Day 2 of the 3 day Starr X’d Lovers musical event on One Life To Live. Don’t miss it!
Here is a transcription of the questions I asked Kristen Alderson, the actress that portrays One Life To Live’s Starr Manning, in last week’s conference call.

Ms. Valerie Gray: I notice in the preview, there’s a lot of songs, you know, kind of spanning over a number of years. Did you find yourself liking any of the oldies? Did they expose you to music different than you typically listen to? We don’t really know a lot about Starr’s taste in music, so how is that different from yours, and how is that different from what we’re gonna see Friday?
Ms. Kristen Alderson: Well, I was really excited when I found out that we were all gonna be doing I’ve Got a Feeling– By the Black Eyed Peas because it’s really current, I’ve always liked that song and I knew that we would have fun doing it. And then, for example, one of the established songs from the ‘80s was We Belong by Pat Benatar, which I sing in a lot. And I was so nervous when I heard that because I was like, oh, my gosh, I have to sing a Pat Benatar song, really? But, I knew that song already, but, you know, following that voice is a little nerve racking.
But, it turned out to be really good, and I felt really comfortable doing it. So, I now know that I can sing that song, which is cool.
Ms. Valerie Gray: Fantastic.
Ms. Kristen Alderson: Yeah. And the difference between like Starr’s taste in music and Kristen’s taste in music–well, my taste in music–I’m not sure. I think that Starr barely gets a chance to really listen to music that much. I’m sure she’s probably watching a lot of children’s show because she has like a one-year-old.
Ms. Valerie Gray: She’s watching the Wiggles.
Ms. Kristen Alderson: That’s about as musical as she gets–and Barney and friends, you know?
Ms. Valerie Gray: Kristen, who chose the songs? And like, did you guys all have input into the songs that were chosen?
Ms. Kristen Alderson: Actually, our executive producer asked us to write down 10 songs that we would like to sing that were established songs, and it was so much harder than I thought it would be. I ended up only picking like one song because I really didn’t know the–yeah, I didn’t even know the whole storyline going into it.
But, the song that I picked they ended up using, and it’s better off. The songs that they picked are much better. I think it was all the writers and our music director’s decision, like Paul Glass, who is our music–yeah, our music director, and then Frank, our executive producer. The three of them like all collaborated–.
Ms. Valerie Gray: About the dancing, I know you mentioned, you know, people were nervous about the singing but got into it. How was it with the dancing? Did everyone kind of get to enjoy that? Or, you know, sometimes, people are self conscious about dancing. Was there a lot of that?
Ms. Kristen Alderson: Yeah. Well, you know, I don’t think they–they didn’t give us that many dances that were so hard and nerve racking–well, my character, anyway, because my character is kind of sad and she didn’t want to be dancing. But, actually, I got a feeling–Brittany Underwood and Jason Tam and Shenell Edmonds and JJ–what’s JJ’s last name–JJ Singleton, they were brought into I’ve got a feeling and they were a part of the full dance number, and it was such a difficult number.
I give them so many props for jumping in and doing it, and they aren’t professional dancers at all. I mean, Jason was on Broadway and danced in that. But, it was still like a crazy dance and they did a really great job.
But, like for us, like it was really fun to learn choreography and it was really different. And I think it was funny to like see some of the guys do it who are so not used to it.
Ms. Valerie Gray: Just, is there anything you think would have been neat to incorporate that couldn’t–in my head, I can totally see Cole’s character doing Jail House Rock in the current situation. Is there anything that you think, you know, would have been fun to incorporate that you just didn’t have enough time to incorporate?
Ms. Kristen Alderson: Actually, I don’t think so. I mean, surprisingly, I feel like everything was covered and then some. We have 14 numbers over the course of like three episodes, and all of them turned out 10 times better than I actually thought that they would.
And the storylines–it’s just so full of drama. And if we added one more thing, I think it would have like went over the top and pushed it overboard. So, I think we did like as much as we possibly could fit into all the stories, so.
Ms. Valerie Gray: Fantastic. Thank you.
Ms. Kristen Alderson: Yeah, thank you.
And also, all the music is–well, all the original songs are available on iTunes right now. You just look up Star Crossed Lovers.
Ms. Valerie Gray: Is Kathy singing? (NOTE – I was actually asking about Cassie DePaiva, the woman who portrays Blair. I think it was transcribed wrong.)
Ms. Kristen Alderson: Yes, Kathy is singing. Actually, a lot more character–she sang in the musical three years ago, but some of the characters that haven’t–that didn’t sing in the musical three years ago that you will be seeing sing consists of Jessica, Brody, Layla, Roxie, Hannah, you know, and then all like the younger cast, all like, you know, the–Danielle and the list goes on and on, Danielle, Matthew sings–my brother sings a little bit and–yeah, just all the new characters. A lot of people are involved.
And also, not only is it about the teenagers, but it really involves all the other storylines, too, over the course of the three episodes.
I was given financial compensation from ABC Daytime to write this post. My reviews and recommendations are always my own and represent my genuinely held opinions.