'Wicked,' a musical prequel to 'The Wizard of Oz,' plays through July 2 as part of...
Joan MarcusOlivia Valli, who plays Elphaba in the national tour of"Wicked," first saw the musical in 2015 on Broadway. She was fascinated by the story, a prequel to"The Wizard of Oz" that focuses on the relationship between a young Glinda, the good witch; and Elphaba, the misunderstood green witch.
"I remember I tweeted it, 'I have to be Elphaba one day'," Valli says."I spelled Elphaba wrong because I didn't really know much about theater. I knew 'Hairspray' and 'Rent' because of the movies."Valli first auditioned for the role after college, then worked for several months as a wedding singer. But she kept coming back to Oz. She eventually landed the part of Elphaba's understudy on the tour, where she sharpened her skills from 2016-2019.
"There's a sense of familiarity and more of a, 'I get to make this my own'," Valli says."I'm here. I worked my butt off for three years covering Elphaba. Now, it just feels like a celebration of hard work and loving this show and loving what it represents and honoring a younger me that wanted this."Celia Hottenstein, the current tour's Glinda, followed a similar path .
"I did feel a lot of pressure initially. Am I going to be able to do eight shows a week? It's different," Hottenstein says."Now that I've gotten into a routine, we can make the role our own and bring ourselves to it and have fun with it."Still, with great musicals come great responsibilities. And"Wicked" is no ordinary musical. The original Broadway cast included Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Oscar winner Joel Grey as the Wizard.
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