Wicked national tour is currently playing at New Orleans from May 08 to June 02, 2013. Now in its 10th anniversary year, Wicked is still a crowd favorite. The musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, tells the story of the unlikely friendship between the two witches of Oz.
Curt Hansen in Wicked as Fiyero
BWW author, Heidi Scheuermann recently spoke with Curt Hansen who plays Fiyero, the male lead, in the National Tour production of Wicked. Read the interview Below:
You’re fairly new to this cast for the national tour of WICKED. You’ve been with them for a little over a month. What has your experience been like so far?
It’s been great! Everyone’s very welcoming. It’s such a new, such a different thing to replace someone in a show. It’s kind of like you’re a kid, and even though it’s never happened to me but, you like move schools or something and go to a new school. It’s kind of that feeling of like everyone’s really nice but you’re still, you know, the stranger in something that, in basically a family. So it can be kind of daunting coming in, but everyone’s been really great and welcomed me with open arms and I hope that I’m fitting in rather well. I think I am. I hope I’m not delusional though.
So this is your second national tour, the first was NEXT TO NORMAL which you also had a run in on Broadway, and you also have done HAIRSPRAY on Broadway. So you’re not new to show business, but what is it like to now be a part of one of the most popular shows in existence?
It’s awesome. I’m really lucky. It’s kind of been a dream of mine to do this show. When it first came out I was I think in middle school, maybe even high school, when I went to go see it. Our choir group went to go see it as a group, and you know I always wanted to be in it and now that I am it’s kind of surreal. I had hoped it would happen some day, but I didn’t know if it would happen this soon. It’s cool. I’m really thankful for the opportunity, and also to get to travel with the show is great because so many people come to see it. And it’s such a thrill because it’s such a big show that audiences are always crazy and they go crazy for it, they love it. It’s always full which is great, and it’s just a very rewarding show to do.
What was your first impression of WICKED when you saw it for the first time?
Oh, it was so impressive. It was before I had even started doing theatre myself. The music was cool, it was new. I feel like it was kind of the first show that I had seen that wasn’t the typical old musical like OKLAHOMA and stuff. I think it was just the fact that something could be, I don’t want to say relevant but, relevant and cool and also exciting but with like pop music. It was something that was so different than what I had seen and what I was exposed to being from Wisconsin. All around it was just so impressive.
What were some of the other musicals that you were exposed to as a kid?
I mean we did, my whole family kind of took part in the community theatre, which was really cool. My older brother and my younger sister were acting in the shows. My dad sometimes would be in the show but he ran the light board and did all the crew stuff. My mom would work backstage. We did like ANYTHING GOES and THE KING AND I and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I did LES MIS in high school, which was cool but I mean more traditional musicals that you grow up with that a lot of school do and community theaters.
It’s cool that your whole family was involved in theatre. That’s kind of rare. You don’t normally see entire families who are involved a whole lot.
It’s really rare especially when my first semester in college I was going for pre-med and my parents wanted me to do theatre instead.
That’s sort of backwards from what you usually hear!
Yeah, but I think I made the right choice. I don’t want to be anyone’s doctor, and no one wants me to be their doctor!
So let’s talk about your character a little bit. You play Fiyero who is our dashing male lead. What is his place in WICKED?
In the story he’s basically I guess the apex of this love triangle between the two witches. It’s something that I’m, not struggling with, but trying to find his importance in the show because… It’s funny, the other day I went to go watch Dee [Roscioli] who just left as Elphaba… I went to go watch the rest of her first act and I realized how, I don’t want to say how little I do during the show, but I don’t do as much as everyone else does and it kind of made me take a step back and really re-evaluate what I am on stage and how important everything I do is. I like to think that I’m the catalyst to the story really kind of going because as soon as I’m out there stuff kind of starts hitting the fan. I kind of help, you know I fall for Elphaba right away and kind of help her do things that I normally wouldn’t do, and kind of add that extra… I don’t know what the word is… drive to the show? But maybe it’s just in my head and maybe that’s just what I tell myself. I think that the most important thing is the love triangle and how two girls… basically we’re all just friends and I end up falling for both of them, but in the end obviously I go with Elphaba because she’s more interesting. Not to say that Glinda isn’t, but there’s different needs that I need fulfilled as the show goes on.
Read the complete Interview {Via Curt Hansen Interview by nationaltours.broadwayworld.com}
Wicked national tour will be at the Mahalia Jackson Theater from May 08 to June 2, 2013. Buy Wicked New Orleans LA Tickets Online at discounted prices.
