Lorraine Bracco: Hello. (Laughs.)

James Gandolfini: That goofy laugh. Hello, Bracco! What's going on?

LB: Oh, nothing. Tired.

JG: Because of The Graduate?

LB: Oy! What was I thinking? I'm an old fucking bag. (both laugh) It's a lot harder than I thought.

JG: it's brutal, isn't it?

LB: It's hard to keep it alive moment-to-moment, you know? But there's another part of it that I really love, which is that you never know.

JG: Well, that's for sure. It's physically demanding, isn't it? Two hours of concentration is a lot different from the two minutes we do [on The Sopranos].

LB: BIg difference. And I'll tell you, between the kid [John Lavelle, who plays Benjamin] who is 21, and me --- I'm 49 years old --- it's a hell of a difference. I mean, I'm not complaining when I'm romping in the bed with him...

JG: [laughs] Is he a cute kid?

LB: Cute kid.

JG: Does he have any back hair?

LB: No.

JG: Good. You know, every time I did a play I felt energized at the end of the show. At the end of a day of filming you're sapped of everything, but after a show I always felt alive. I don't know why that is. I think it's the live audience.

LB: Right. After a show I can't go to sleep until one or two o'clock in the morning. and as you know, I've always been a morning person. So now my whole physical and mental life is different. It's weird. But it's only for a few months -- by the time this issue comes out I'll only have a few weeks left.

JG: What's it like being naked onstage? Are you used to it at this point?

LB: Yes, totally. And you know what? I thought I was going to be a lot more freaked out by it. I think on film I would have been more freaked out, because film is less forgiving.

JG: Yeah, that's probably true.

LB: But onstage it's lit so beautifully, it would make my mother look good. [both laugh]

JG: Tell me more. Were you nervous the first time you did the show?

LB: I was jumping out of my skin. It was horrible. I was all over the place, because I'd never been in front of a live audience. That's a whole other element in the play, the audience.

JG: Yeah, it changes according to what they're giving you.

LB: Absolutely. When they're rolling in the aisles, it's a lot of fun, but when they are tired and bored and not into it -- which does happen -- it makes me sad that they spent all that money, and the energy to even get there. (Isn't that a cool thing for her to say? -- Beth)

JG: I think it's a collective thing. If one person starts laughing it can change everything.

LB: Sometimes there's one person in the audience laughing hysterically, and it's so much fun. You end up playing the entire play to them.

JG: Have you ever started laughing and couldn't stop?

LB: I've started to laugh, but I was able to stop. I'm proud of myself that I have any control at all [laughs]. There are a couple of times when Benjamin calls me a bitch, and it makes me want to laugh. OR when we're in bed --- I'm hysterical under the sheets.

JG: Oh, really? When I was in A Streetcar Named Desire [on Broadway in the early '90s], something happened one night during the last scene -- you knw, when they're carting Blanche off to the insane asylum. I was one of the poker players, and I was sitting at the table, and Lazaro Perez and I could not stop laugiong, man. And, you know, it's a horrible scene. I just put my head in my hands, and I put my face on the table, trying not to laugh. I was basically crying.

LB: Yet you were laughing. I don't think you know this, but that play was the first time I ever saw you. I remember looking up your name --

JG: -- And saying, "Who's that fat guy going up the stairs?"

LB: I said, "I think that's an incredible actor."

JG: Well, thank you.

JG: So, what's a typical day like for you?

LB: I sleep till 11, 12 and at five they pick me up. I've been doing yoga every day.

JG: You're kidding me. Everybody's doing that now.

JG: Well, you smoke in the play, don't you?

LB: Yeah. So I've limited myself to smoking only in the theater.

JG: Have you talked to David [Chase, The Sopranos' creator] at all?

LB: I saw him not too long ago. We had dinner.

JG: Really? What did he say? Anything?

LB: He was good. He seems good.

JG: That's it?

LB: Yeah. We didn't get into the whole Soprano life.

JG: I don't know what's going on. I haven't talked to the man in months.

LB: Well, we start shooting March 26. He'd better be writing.

JG: So. You also have two movies coming up. Why are you working so much?

LB: I did one week on a low-budget movie [Max and Grace, expected later this year] with Natasha Lyonne and David Krumholtz.

JG: And "Tangled." What's "Tangled"?

LB: Oh, I did that 50 years ago. I don't even remember. What have you been doing?

JG: I'm doing this little independent movie [Until The Devil Knows You're Dead], to warm up for our last and final debacle.

LB: You think that's it? No Sopranos movie?

JG: I don't know. It depends. If David Chase, while he's relaxing in France, spends all his money on cheese, we'll do a movie.

LB: Or pate. You know, last season I didn't do anything [on the show], so I was frustrated. I mean, don't get me wrong: It's nice to get a paycheck. But if you don't really do anything it's not very satisfying.

JG: Well, we'll see what happens next year.

LB: I have a feeling I'll have my work cut out.

JG: Yeah. You've only got one more year to really fucking hammer me. [both laugh] Well, I'm proud of you for doing this play and everything. So, have you learned anything?

LB: I've learned a lot.

JG: Not to do a play again?

LB: No. I learned that I have the courage to do it. At times I didn't think I was going to make it. I learned that I could endure.

End of interview.