We went “Behind the Persona” with Julia Mattison In New York City recently. She and Noel Carey wrote the lyrics and music for the musical Death Becomes Her, which will be presented at Straz Dec. 8-13. Here’s a lightly-edited transcript of our conversation. For the full discussion, see the video below.
How did you get started in the business?
- Being a loud, boisterous kid.
What’s always in your refrigerator?
- String cheese.
Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? And why?
- Yes, in college – it was a phase. And now, no.
What is your worst quality?
- I can be so obsessive creatively, then I can crash on the other side and be profoundly lazy. But I’m not apologizing for it.
What music is on your playlist?
- A lot of the female singer songwriters — Madison Cunningham, Lizzy McAlpine, Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo.
Read any good books lately?
- I just recently read “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin, and I loved it. It’s just such rich storytelling about gameplay and relationships and yeah, I loved it.
Cat person or dog person?
- I’m both. I’m allergic to cats, but if a cat was here, I would snuggle it and deal with it ’cause I think they’re all just great.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
- The best advice I’ve ever gotten is there’s always a way through. I think my mom really instilled that in me. And I think both in life and in creative work, it’s like I’ve never met a roadblock that I haven’t been able to find a way through.
What’s your “guilty pleasure” streaming show?
- Oh, that’s a really good question. None of them feel guilty right now. I’m currently watching and loving The Four Seasons, which is really fun. I love the interpersonal relationships. And so that’s yeah, not guilty at all.
In the movie version of your life, who would play you?
- Oh gosh, I would in my dream version, like even if it wasn’t based in reality, I would love Kristen Wiig to do it just because that would make my whole life look so delightful.
Who or what inspires you?
- I mean, good art inspires me. People boldly being creative and putting new ideas out there and not worrying about what other people think to the point of trying to shape it in a certain way.
What do you consider your greatest successes – personally and professionally?
- I would say my favorite professional accomplishments have been that I never wanted to be pigeonholed into one track, that I always wanted to act and write and be in theatre and TV and everything else. And I found that now I’m finally in a place in my career that I’m able to do multiple things and it’s based on whichever project.
- And personally, I love that I’ve become very good at staying present. I was not always so good at that, but I’m very much appreciating the small things. I love my family, being with my husband and I’m a stepmom and we have an amazing relationship, and I love being a stepmom. I love appreciating the soft, quiet, lovely life moments.
If you hadn’t chosen a career in the theater, what other career path do you think you’d have followed?
- But I think I would in the same way, but if it was a different genre, I would want to be a chef because I love cooking and I love food and I love hosting and I feel like the I feel like a good meal is also theater.