♪ Tell them how I am defying gravity ♪
♪ I'm flying high defying gravity ♪
- It's time to return to Oz.
One of Broadway's biggest musicals
in history is back this month.
Wicked returns to the Gershwin Theater.
Paul Wontorek caught up with the Broadway star
who plays Elphaba, Lindsay Pearce.
- Thanks Tamsen.
Lindsay Pearce has flown back to Oz
as Wicked's resident green girl.
I met up with Broadway's Elphaba at Gallow Green, naturally
to talk about returning to the show post pandemic
and so much more.
(gentle music)
You you have an interesting story
- Yeah. - because
I feel like this was a dream role for you.
- Yeah.
- You got it.
- Yeah. - You got onstage,
you got to actually start doing it
and then the show just.
- Sayonara.
- It went away. - Yeah.
My debut date was the 25th of February
and then by the, what, the 12th of March,
something like that, it was,
we all got texts and we were like,
I guess we're not going to work.
- Did it almost feel like a dream?
Like, did, did you feel like,
- Yeah. - something like
did I actually do that? - Yeah.
- Was I in Wicked?
- Yeah.
Our stage manager, the amazing Marybeth Abel
called and she was like, one day, you're gonna do this kid.
She was like,
you're gonna get in there and you're gonna do it.
And I was like, it's fine
you know, we had no idea what it was gonna be.
- Yeah. - We had no idea
what was happening and - Yeah,
- it was really surreal. - Yeah.
- It was really, really surreal and then, you know,
everybody kind of like mass exodused the out of the city
and yeah.
- Tell me about this role.
This is a challenging role.
This is a dream role for many young actresses.
- Yeah.
- What was it like actually doing it
and what does it mean this time to be doing it again
and is it, is it different for you?
- I feel like I've been singing this music
since I was like 12, like in the backseat of like a sedan
just like screaming at the top of my lungs
and to go from that and like singing it elsewhere
and throughout my career
and just as like, this is the song
if I really want to show off my chops,
I'll sing, you know, "The Wizard and I"
- Yeah. - or "Defying Gravity".
It's very different to do it eight times a week
'cause it's not just the songs,
it's the scenes and it's the content
and the emotional roller coaster that you go through
and she's intense.
She's bombastic
and she's, you know,
she wears everything right on her sleeves
on those gorgeous shoulder pads
from the second, I, those gorgeous, like tufty sleeves.
So to gauge energy,
having never, I'd never done a full production
of anything in New York.
I'd never been on a Broadway schedule and
it is not to be believed.
It's nothing to scoff at, these people are Olympians,
but it's wild.
Our ensemble I bow down.
What they put their bodies through,
what everybody puts their body through
to make this show possible
is nothing short of miraculous
and I'll tell you what, after my debut,
I woke up the next day and I was like, oh my God,
I've been, I just got hit by a truck
and I, and I thought to myself,
I have to do again
- Right, right. - and again and again.
Now coming back,
I feel a little more mentally prepared for it.
I don't think I'm gonna waste a moment.
I feel like you can get really wrapped up in your experience
of something and be like, it's really hard,
or I'm really sad today, or I'm tired today.
Whereas instead of seeing it as a drawback,
I want to see things as an opportunity.
- So tell me,
what is it actually like
to be painted green and to fly,
let's not reveal the secret,
to fly at the end of act one
and to sing "Defying Gravity" and hit those notes,
what is that actually like?
- It's surreal. - For the audience it's
intense, I can't imagine what - It's really surreal.
- it's like for you.
- One, to sit,
you know, people don't realize one, how long it takes
and then it's not as long as some people
think it takes to get green,
but also not as quick as some other people think
- Right. - it's about a 30, 40 minutes,
- Yeah. - depending on the day
and you don't move,
you sit there and you get green.
And so you're kind of in this meditative
- Yeah, yeah. - almost like spa state
where you're just like,
Elphaba and like was trying to like conjure her in.
It's exhilarating.
I mean, I'll never forget running out from the clock doors
my first time and hearing the response of the audience
and I'm very afraid of heights,
but I'll tell you what, I'm like,
well remains to be seen
'cause I haven't flown again since the last time I did it.
So I could be screaming at the top of my lungs,
but there's something really amazing,
especially in the Gershwin,
there's something really amazing
about walking the same boards that Idina and Julia Murney,
- Yeah. - you know, like the greats,
Stephanie J Block, - Yeah.
- like these titan females that have walked these,
these boards - Yeah.
- that have been in those boots.
that have been in that levitator,
you know, it's all, it's amazing.
It's really incredible
and they've all gone through it
and there's this incredible green sisterhood of women
that are just like,
I know, I know what role you're playing,
I see the green hairline.
You're never alone.