The greatest musical Wicked is currently playing on 2nd National tour in Durham, North Carolina. Check out the interview by Adesewa Faletibelow {Via Urban Life & Style LLC} with Catherine Charlebois who plays the character Nessarose.

Adesewa Faleti: Tell me about your character Nessarose?

Catherine Charlebois: Nessarose is Elphaba’s younger sister who has been in a wheelchair all her life. She begins the show on her first day of school at Shiz University, hoping to start a new and exciting time in her life, not in the shadow of her sister.

Adesewa Faleti: How long have you been with show?

Catherine Charlebois: I have been with Wicked for two years in April.

Adesewa Faleti: What was the audition process like for this show?

Catherine Charlebois: I began with Wicked as a Universal Swing-my audition consisted of me singing a few songs of my own first, followed by a few pieces of songs from Wicked. After making it through that round, I danced some choreography from the show as well. I eventually added a Nessarose understudy to the tracks that I covered, and to become Nessarose every night, I had to perform a scene and a song from the show for some of our creative team.

Adesewa Faleti: How do you prepare for your role each night?

Catherine Charlebois: As performers, we have to do a lot to keep our bodies and voices healthy and strong to do eight shows a week. Specifically for Nessarose, I have to get my body and voice warmed up and take a few minutes to think about the journey she has to take in the show every night.

Adesewa Faleti: Why do you feel that Wicked is such a loved show?

Catherine Charlebois: I feel that the story is so universal to everyone. The music and the visuals of the show are beautiful, but everyone-male, female, older and younger-can connect to the story and the relationships that develop between the characters.

Adesewa Faleti: What is it like behind the scenes and in between acts?

Catherine Charlebois: It depends on the day! There is almost always excitement and sometimes nerves if someone new is going into the show or doing a new track, but there is always unbelievable support and teamwork between the whole cast and crew.

Adesewa Faleti: Doing the show almost daily, how do you make your performance fresh every night?

Catherine Charlebois: I really just focus on the story that we are trying to tell. I try to keep myself open and see what the other actors are doing on stage with me and react to that.

Adesewa Faleti: What are some of the comments and feedback that you get about the show?

Catherine Charlebois: Everyone loves it! Everyone seems to leave finding a character that they really relate to and follow their story, and I think that is totally unique to our show.

Adesewa Faleti: What show the audience take with them when the play is over?

Catherine Charlebois: Never judge a book by its cover.

Adesewa Faleti: What do you enjoy most about being involved with this show?

Catherine Charlebois: That every day I get to go to work and play with an unbelievably fun and supportive group of people. We tell a story that really moves people and entertains them too!

Adesewa Faleti: Thank you!

Wicked play will be in Durham NC until May 27, 2012 at Durham Performing Arts Center. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Durham Performing Arts Center Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

Wicked Musical is currently playing at the Durham Performing Arts Center and continue through May 27. The cast of Wicked visited Durham School of the Arts to teach a class on acting and movement on Tuesday.

Catherine Charlebois, who plays Nessarose, and fellow cast member Dan Pacheco, who plays Boq, on Tuesday visited Durham School of the Arts to teach a class on acting and movement.

Catherine Charlebois Plays Nessarose in Wicked

Dan Pacheco Plays Boq in Wicked

Charlebois and Pacheco spent the last several minutes of the hour-long class answering students’ questions, ranging from their educational backgrounds and paths to “Wicked” to whether actresses do their own makeup (the answer is, for the most part, yes).

“When you’re acting, specificity is key,” Pacheco advised the group of about 60 high school theater and dance students.

The professionals led the combined class through a series of exercises aimed at fostering specificity, including one in which students were randomly assigned playing cards denoting social class. Kings were the richest of the rich, turning their noses up at most anyone who approached them, while the lowly aces begged for spare change. Participants couldn’t come right out and tell one another the face on their cards – rather, they had to indicate their social class by their behavior.

Waltzing around the room with an air of egotism, junior Anna Acha was clearly a king. A rock musician who aspires to one day work in musical theater, she said after the class that she enjoyed the lesson, particularly since several of the exercises allowed all students to interact with one another.

Most of all, their visit offered students “one-on-one time with someone who is doing what it is that so many of them love to do,” explained DSA theater instructor Tom Nevels. “Our students are here at an arts high school, but I think a lot of times they still have messages coming to them about performance not being a career or needing to always have a backup plan.”

Charlebois and Pacheco said they often visit schools – from the elementary level up to performing arts universities – on tour stops.

“I know when I was their age, it would have been huge for me to see people – not too much older than they are – making it happen and loving their work,” Charlebois said.

And arts programs have become an endangered commodity, Pacheco said.

“Arts are really being cut back in so many communities right now,” he said. “I really like to try to bring some of that into the schools and show the students that you can do things with the arts in your life, and that the arts are important and that being creative is important.”

Read the complete news {Via HeraldSun.com}

Wicked 2nd US National Tour Cast Update:
Lisa Livesay (Glinda), Anne Brummell (Elphaba), Catherine Charlebois (Nessarose), Dan Pacheco (Boq), Marilyn Caskey (Madame Morrible), David Nathan Perlow (Fiyero), Don Amendolla (Wizard).

Wicked Tour will close at Durham Performing Arts Center on May 27, 2012. From here it will move to Dayton, OH for the performances at Schuster Performing Arts Center start on May 30 and continue through June 24, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Durham NC Tickets Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.