12/11/2023
Performances and Artists
When stage-and-screen star Marilu Henner first auditioned for iconic TV show Taxi, she seemed nowhere near what the show creators envisioned.
“What they wanted was a 35-year-old, Italian New Yorker, and I was 25 and Polish and Greek from Chicago,” Henner recalls with a laugh.
But something about her spunky, determined nature persuaded them.
“(Casting director Joel Thurm) thought, ‘She can hold her own with the guys,’” she says. “I always say, ‘You don’t become a success in this business until someone falls in love with you and gets in your corner.’”
The show’s titanic success provided just that, launching Henner’s sprawling career.
Beyond playing a central role in Taxi, Henner costarred with Burt Reynolds in hit show Evening Shade, and has starred in more than 70 films (including 29 Hallmark movies) with A-list actors like Michael Keaton, Steve Martin and John Travolta. She has also starred in seven Broadway musicals, including playing Roxie Hart for 400-plus performances of Chicago – a role she reprised in the show’s run on the Las Vegas Strip.
Henner has even performed on smash show Dancing With the Stars, partnering with top choreographers like Derek Hough, and has dubbed 16 Netflix foreign projects.
With a wealth of stories from all these dazzling experiences – and a rare mental ability that gives her perfect recollection of it all – Henner feels eager to share them with live audiences.
Combining her powerful vocals and peppery humor, Henner will share side-splitting insider stories from across her life and career. Performing with acclaimed music director Michael Orland and talented back-ing musicians, she’ll pair those tales with thrilling TV and film clips, along with a wide range of songs reflecting her anecdotes.
“My show is a musical journey through my life,” she says. “I tell really fun stories, and there’s something for everybody.”
Parties, Leading Men and Dance Wounds
Needless to say, Henner has no shortage of material to discuss.
She has a variety of stories to relay from Taxi, including about the show’s regular cast-hosted parties, which attracted other actors filming in the studio lot, such as Robin Williams and Tom Hanks.
“We did 112 shows and had 112 parties,” she laughs. “We became the social center of the (studio) lot.”
She also became lifelong friends with many of her film and television costars, whom she plans to discuss. Michael Keaton even nicknamed her “Marilu can’t-finish-a sentence-without-laughing Henner,” she says.
She has much to reflect on from her theater stardom, which continues today, as she currently costars in Off-Broadway play Madwomen of the West. She still describes playing Roxie from “Chicago” as one of her favorite roles.
“You can tell Bob Fosse wrote (that role) for his wife (Gwen Verdon) in such a calibrated way,” she says. “It’s beautifully designed for an actress, a dancer and singer.”
Henner also looks forward to sharing the immense challenge of learning new dances eight hours a day for 11 consecutive weeks on Dancing With the Stars, which “felt like triage the whole time,” she jokes.
“I kept taking pictures of my bruises and my wounds, because I thought, ‘If I ever do a show, I want these documented,’” she says.
Songs She’ll Definitely Remember
Henner and Orland had no difficulty choosing the songs for her live show, Henner says. They span favorite hits from her TV shows, film and Broadway career, along with melodies that naturally pair with people and events from her life.
“They were easy songs to pick, because they tell a story,” she says.
Just a few include a tune she sang for film Johnny Dangerously, hits from Chicago and even a song she sang for Taxi that never aired due to time constraints.
She’ll even perform an original song about her extraordinary Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), a memory phenomenon that allows her to perfectly recollect every event from throughout her life. This ability is so rare, 60 Minutes devoted a full episode to testing Henner and others’ recall.
“I play a game at my show where audience members give me a date, and I tell them what day of the week it was, what I was doing that day and what song was popular at the time,” she says.
Audiences will also have much to remember from Henner’s spirited show, she adds. “Everybody says, ‘I can’t believe how much fun that show is,’” she says.
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