Explore Eden Riegel!

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One Of A Kind
Thinking back to what she was like in high school, Eden Riegel (Bianca) declares, "I was a dweeb!" Yet, despite also referring to herself as "the biggest loser," the NYC native points out that she was interesting in one respect. "I came to school with crazy outfits, and I would try to top myself every day. I would have sparkles on my shoes or teddy bears on my skirt. I even made a hoop skirt [with an actual] hula hoop." Because she went to the Professional Children's School, which was a high school for actors, singers, dancers, and models, students weren't in attendance a lot of the time due to auditions. When they were, however, Riegel provided her share of comedy. "Everybody got a big kick out of me," she remembers with a chuckle, "but they laughed about me behind my back!"

Soap Talk
Q. What's you favorite movie of all time?
Eden: The Shawshank Redemption. It's so well done. It's very subtle, and yet very striking. It's not sappy, but it's really uplifting. I think it accomplishes what a movie should without setting out for a goal that's bigger than can be attained. After I saw that movie for the first time, I couldn't stop talking about it. That's what it was about."

Going The Distance
Q. Playing a gay character is no problem for Eden Riegel (Bianca). When asked by if she'd be willing to have a same-sex kissing scene, here's what she had to say:

Eden: I would be very pleased to be a part of it, I know that the show would handle it very well because they've handled the entire storyline with such integrity and respect. I think it would be a big step. After all, it happens at night, why shouldn't it happen in the daytime?

How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?
Yeah we know - PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. But for Eden Riegel (Bianca, All My Children - A Broadway baby who has already appeared in Les Miserables and The Will Rogers Follies - all it took was a phone call from producers asking her to play Louise in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. The one-night benefit performance concert was June 6, and it costarred Australian actor Hugh Jackman and Tony-Award winner Audra McDonald.
"It was amazing," Riegel gushes. "During the whole second act I was going, "Wow, just drink this up. Savor every minute, make it last.' It was an experience that I will never forget."
With a cast like that who could blame her? "Hugh's brilliant," Riegel raves. "He's got so much going on that acting with him was quite an experience. When he looks at you, you are immediately in the scene, because he's so believable. Even when he glances at you, it's piercing. I can't explain it. He's not bad on the eyes either!"
Riegel played the daughter of Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan, Jackman's and McDonald's characters. "The musical is quite dark, dealing with domestic violence and suicide," she explains. "They are both flawed, especially Billy, but Julie loves him anyway. He gets mixed up in a lot of trouble and ends up killing himself. After he dies, he has to prove himself before he can go into heaven. One of the tasks that he has to do is go back as a spirit and help his now 15-year-old daughter."
Riegel is thankful AMC made the experience possible. "They knew how much it meant to me," she smiles. "They rescheduled a few scenes so I could go to rehearsal. When you are playing Carnegie Hall they can't be very flexible, so I had to be flexible. Jean Dadario Burke (AMC's executive producer) bent over backward."
AMC had better watch out, because Riegel admits that she longs to be back on the stage. "I'm about to call my voice teacher and set lessons up," she confides. "There's nothing like it in the world."

Eden On Singing
"I miss it. I used to be so active in it, and now I don't even know if I have a singing voice anymore," -- "I'm so out of practice because I've literally not studied it in four or five years. I'm not sure what I've still got in me," -- "Singing is probably my favorite thing to do. It's what I'm most passionate about," -- "It's so energizing to be on stage in a musical. There's nothing like it in the world," -- "I can't even go to the theater without feeling jealous of the performers," -"Actually, it makes me very sad because I leave and feel so wonderful. I come out and say, 'I want to do that.'" - "I'm definitely going to get back into it again, if not for any other reason than I love it and need to do it," -- "I miss it so much that I feel like I lost a good friend."

Round Up
Q. What was your funniest flubbed line?

Eden: You know, I never make any mistakes or bloopers (laughs). I had a flubbed scene that happened recently. Bianca's talking to Frankie while eating a bagel. For some reason, I tore off this huge hunk of bagel and shoved the entire thing in my mouth in the middle of the scene. I not only had a lot of lines, I had whole paragraphs. And I had this gluey, gummy thing in the side of my cheek. They kept it in because they were laughing so hard in the control room that they couldn't possible cut and do it over again. They were howling. After the scene, I was like, "Oh, I guess I bit off more than I could chew!' You can't understand a word I said in that scene.

Living Single
Like many fans, AMC's Eden Riegel was disappointed when the burgeoning romance romance between Bianca and Frankie came to an end. The actress spoke to Digest Online about the success of the short-term story arc.

Digest Online: Your chemistry with Elizabeth Hendrickson was strong right off the bat.

Eden: I connected with Elizabeth very quickly. I had such a wonderful time working with her. I can't say enough good things about her. She is a strong actress, so confident and so talented.

Digest Online: Even though the plot was brief, the relationship was very well-developed.

Eden: I think it was too. A lot of times, beats get skipped because the show decides that it wants two characters together, and all of a sudden, they're just together. I think it's much more interesting when they justify it and show all of the stages that a real relationship goes through.

Digest Online: Do you think this pairing had long-term potential?

Eden: Definitely. That was the beauty of Frankie and Bianca They had so much in their way, but they could have had a future because they were two people who really cared for each other.

Digest Online: How will Bianca bounce back from Frankie's death?

Eden: I'm not quite sure, but I'm certainly rooting for her to find some happiness. I think it's long overdue.

Hit..Not that there's anything wrong with that on AMC

Everyone has heard the four most dreaded words ("let's just be friends"), so viewers could easily empathize with Bianca's broken heart when Maggie finally rebuffed her on Jan. 6.

Maggie suggested the pair hang out, and Bianca impulsively decided to let her feelings hang out. "Are you asking me on a date?" Desperately clenching Maggie's hand, Bianca begged, "I need to know what we are."

The script was sensitive, but more importantly, treated this unrequited love like any other (read: straight) romance: one party unwilling to commit, the other desperate to do so. Unfortunately, that script pointedly avoided the word [i]lesbian[/i] as well as any real physical contact.

Throughout their confrontation, Eden Riegel's Bianca was animated, her hands flailing haphazardly. Elizabeth Hendrickson's Maggie was withdrawn, her expression flat. Hendrickson imbued Maggie with just as much longing as Bianca, but toward a different goal: She wanted to separate herself from her twin, not just as a person but in her sexual identity. Maggie was acting just like a guy - evasive, foot-shuffling, slightly jokey, unable to find the right words. Finally she just said it, plaintively: "Bianca, I love you, I really do...but I'm into guys."

Bianca was stunned but silent; she stared in disbelief and blinked her wounded eyes. Then, with a slight head shake she croaked "OK," and forced a grin. "Well, sounds like an answer, not a question."

Apologetic, Maggie offered her support, but Bianca insisted she "wants what every girl wants - y'know, romance, a lover."

She wanted to know where Maggie stood, and her efforts reminded everyone of the adage: "Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it." The many fans who wanted a Bianca/Maggie relationship (or at least some plot movement) may not have gotten what they wanted, but the performances - which captured the uniquely awkward agony and utter embarrassment of unrequited love - were all fans could have asked for.
BAM! Fans Lobby for Romance!
Fans behind the BAM (Bianca and Maggie) campaign, which hopes to see the AMC pair become more than friends, are sending out catchy videos, "Love is..BAM!" T-shirts and white roses symbolic of the one Maggie once gave Bianca. "We want the obvious: a romance between Bianca and Maggie," says the group. Although BAM claims hooking up the pair - in time for Valentine's Day, ideally - "would give [AMC] the type of romance and societal issue" it has featured in the past, BAM may have hit too late; on January 6, Bianca and Maggie agreed to remain "best friends". And for BAM, that's a bummer.

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