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.

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.

First North American tour of Wicked is currently in Denver, CO. PJ Benjamin will join the tour of Wicked in the role of The Wizard on Tuesday, May 8, while Nicole Parker will take over the lead role of Elphaba on Friday, May 18 during the tour’s stop a the Buell Theatre in Denver, Colorado.

They join a cast that features Alli Mauzey (Glinda), Liz McCartney (Madame Morrible), Justin Brill (Boq), Emily Ferranti (Nessarose), Andy Kelso (Fiyero), Paul Slade Smith (Dr. Dillamond) and Carla Stickler (Standby for Elphaba).

The company also includes Lauren Boyd, Antonette Cohen, Rick Desloge, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Dominic Giudici, Napoleon W. Gladney, Brenda Hamilton, Courtney Iventosch, Spencer Jones, Trevor Ryan Krahl, Renee Lawless-Orsini, Philip Dean Lightstone, Marissa Lupp, Michael Mahany, Kevin McMahon, Ashley Dawn Mortensen, Cassie Okenka, Christopher Russo, Adea Michelle Sessoms, Sarah Schenkkan, Pamela Shandrow, Shanna VanDerwerker, Nicky Venditti and Mikey Winslow.

Benjamin has played the Wizard on Broadway for five years, with other Main Stem credits including Torch Song Trilogy, Sophisticated Ladies, Pippin, Charlie and Algernon, Sarava, The Pajama Game, The Wind in the Willows, and Damn Yankees.

Parker has played her role on Broadway, with other Broadway credits including The People in The Picture and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. She may be best known for her work on MADtv.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked is based on the 1995 best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, and tells the untold story of the witches of Oz. The musical is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento.

Read the complete news {Via TheaterMania.com}

Wicked Tour will close at The Buell Theatre on May 20, 2012. From here it will move to Sacramento, California for the performances at California Musical Theatre start on May 23 and continue through June 17, 2012.

Wicked is currently performing on tour in Denver, CO and continue through Sunday May 20, 2012. One of the Wicked Cast is a Colorado native and happy to be back home. Andy Kelso plays Fiyero, one of the lead male characters in the musical. He is a graduate of Eaglecrest High School in Aurora and also attended CSU and UNC.

Kelso spoke to 9NEWS at noon about coming back to his home state:

Wicked Musical Tour will stop in Denver CO through Sunday, May 20. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Temple Buell Theatre Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

The second North American tour of Wicked will welcome Christine Dwyer as Elphaba and Billy Harrigan Tighe as Fiyero beginning May 2 in Durham, NC. Dwyer and Tighe will join a cast that includes Tiffany Haas as Glinda, Marilyn Caskey as Madame Morrible and Paul Kreppel as The Wizard.

Dwyer returns to the hit musical after touring as the understudy and standby for Elphaba on this tour for two years. After graduating with a BFA from the Hartt School of Music, she toured the US, Canada and Japan playing Maureen in Rent. Tighe previously understudied Fiyero on this tour, and comes directly from the First National Tour of La Cage Aux Folles, in which he played Jean-Michel.

Anne Brummel & David Nathan Perlow, currently Elphaba and Fiyero on the tour, play their last performance on April 29, 2012 in North Charleston, South Carolina before Christine Dwyer and Billy Harrigan Tighe take over in Durham, North Carolina.

The company also features Catherine Charlebois (Nessarose), Dan Pacheco (Boq), Timothy Britten Parker (Dr. Dillamond) and Stephanie Torns (Standby for Elphaba) with Kerry Blanchard, Michael Drolet, Jeremy Duvall, Anna Eilinsfeld, Peter C. Ermides, Ryan Patrick Farrell, Samantha Farrow, Natalie Fotopoulos, Linda Griffin, Lauren Haughton, Zach Hensler, KJ Hippensteel, Ryan Jackson, Jillian Kates, Becca Kloha, Sterling Masters, Marissa Miller, Robert Pendilla, Casey Quinn, Michael McCorry Rose, Wayne Schroder, Ben Susak, Erin Wilson and Justin Wirick.

Dwyer and Tighe join Wicked in the tour’s opening in Durham, NC. Wicked musical will play at Durham Performing Arts Center May 2 to May 27, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Durham NC Tickets Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

Mark Jacoby plays the role as the Wizard in the touring production of the smash musical “Wicked” at The Buell Theatre. Reporter Adam Goldstein caught up with the stage veteran to get his take on the musical’s popularity.

As a cast member who’s been with the touring production of “Wicked” for more than a year, can you speak to the durability of the piece? What is it about the show that’s made it such a reliable money maker since its debut in 2003?

I’ve thought a lot about that, to tell you the truth. I think first of all, this is going to sound ridiculously mundane, but it’s really good in every department. All of the elements of stagecraft are there. Nobody leaves the theater thinking, ‘I didn’t get my money’s worth.’ The other thing I would look at is this very compelling friendship between these two women. It starts with friction and ends with love. The other thing that brings people in is the other worldly, paranormal nature of it. It’s not anywhere, USA. There’s something about that that captures people.

This is a story that’s seen plenty of adaptations. How do you think the musical juggles references to the original L. Frank Baum book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” with subsequent retellings? Do you see any links to the film from 1939 woven into Maguire’s source material?

My favorite single aspect of the show is the very ingenious and clever way in which the story is layered over the ‘Wizard of Oz’ story that we all know so well. There is sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes symbolic references to that story. I think it’s delightful. One of the conceptual problems is that most of us are more familiar with the movie than we are with the book. The notion that the whole thing is a dream is not part of the original book. It’s presented as a real story. The question then is to what extent are the factual elements of the book and the movie part of our underpinnings. That’s an ongoing question. Playing the Wizard, the question is, am I that guy that Dorothy met in Kansas or am I not? Is this a different notion? Things like that are ongoing. There’s much discussion backstage even after seven years.

Speaking of the Wizard, the character has seen several incarnations and portrayals in film and in literature since 1900. In “Wicked,” the character takes on a much more sinister aspect, a quality drawn from Maguire’s book. How do you approach the Wizard’s motivations and actions in tackling the role?

I’m always surprised when somebody comments about the Wizard being the villain of the piece. I think very few villains see themselves as villains. True villains, as a rule, don’t see themselves as such. I think the Wizard is a very simple guy, a very ordinary man who, due to circumstances beyond his control, found himself in an extraordinary situation where he became feared and deified in Oz. Being a simple man, he rode with it. He got himself carried away. As he says, ‘What can I say, I got carried away, and not just by a balloon.’ It’s an easy thing to do when people imbue you with supernatural powers.

The interview by reporter Adam Goldstein {Via AuroraSentinel.com}

Wicked play at Temple Buell Theatre continue through May 20, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Denver CO Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

During October 2011, actress and singer Mamie Parris joined Wicked national touring company taking the role of Elphaba, the green-skinned and highly sympathetic witch first brought to Tony-winning life by Idina Menzel and later played by, among others, the Beaverton-bred Shoshana Bean.

It doesn’t have any effect, she said, on how she approaches her part in “Wicked,” which comes to Portland on Tuesday to begin a lengthy run at Keller Auditorium through April 08, 2012.

Joining Parris will be even newer cast members Alli Mauzey as Galinda and Andy Kelso as Fiyero, who’ve been with the tour just a few weeks. What stays consistent, though, is the dazzling spectacle and blockbuster appeal of this 21st-century twist on “The Wizard of Oz,” by way of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.”

Parris spoke to The Oregonian about stepping into the well-known role:

What has it been like taking over such a famous role?
When you take over any role there’s some pressure there. But to be honest, I’ve been so supported since I came in here. Everyone in the company has been really lovely and great to work with.

Do you have any little ways you’ve used to make Elphaba your own?
There’s not a grocery list of things I do, like saying this or that line in a particular way every time. To me, that’s not how acting works. It’s just bringing what I have to the character and making a real connection with the story.

What’s the biggest challenge?
This is one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had in my life. Yes, the singing is a challenge, but if you’re a healthy vocalist, it’s something you can do. What’s difficult is how physically and mentally exhausting a role like this can be. Elphaba hardly ever leaves the stage. And in those few times she’s not in a scene, there’s something I have to be doing backstage, like a costume change. It takes everything out of you.

Among the stronger threads in Gregory Maguire’s novel, and still present in the musical, is the question of who really is good or evil and how they come to be viewed one way or the other. What’s Elphaba’s good-to-wicked ratio?
I don’t know if that’s something that can be put in a mathematical way. Maybe it’s different for someone at different points in their life. It really is a long journey to self-discovery, and we make so many changes to what we think and feel and believe all through the process. So for Elphaba, too, it’s about the journey. And I think that’s why the show continues to connect with so many people so strongly.

The show of course has been a big phenomenon with young audiences. What kind of responses do you get from those fans when you interact with them?
I meet a lot of fans when I leave through the stage door. It’s amazing how much people walk away affected by it emotionally. Here it is this story set in a big, fantasy world, but people see it as something really personal.

The thing that’s surprised me most is that it’s not just young fans. I meet older people, couples on dates, guys who bought tickets because of their wives and didn’t think they’d enjoy it themselves. It’s always thrilling to me to meet people who are completely new to the show and see how much they get into it.

What haven’t I asked you about that I should have?
The No. 1 thing people ask me about is the makeup. It takes about 25 minutes. I have a makeup artist who helps me put it on before the shows. It’s water-based, actual makeup, not a body paint, so that’s good.

But even so, I can be away from the show for four days and still find a little green behind my ears. I forever carry a bit of Elphaba with me wherever I go.

Read the complete interview {Via OregonLive.com}

Wicked will be performing at Keller Auditorium through April 08, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Portland OR Tickets Orders of $350 or more! Use Code #SpringSavings at Checkout!

Tiffany Haas makes her dramatic entrance as Glinda the Good Witch in “Wicked” onstage March 7-25 in Chrysler Hall. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, “Wicked” tells the story of the rivalry, and eventual friendship, between Glinda and Elphaba, the green-skinned Witch of the West, before Dorothy comes on the scene. This prequel to “The Wizard of Oz” tale opened on Broadway in 2003 and is still running there. It broke box office records when it first played Norfolk in 2009.

The blockbuster musical Wicked opens Wednesday in the Norfolk performing hall for a three-week run. As Glinda the Good Witch, Haas makes a dramatic entrance in a bubble high above the stage where, she says, “I can look down and see everybody in the audience.”

The New York production also is where Haas got her start. Her story mirrors the classic one of the young hopeful who comes to town and lands a big Broadway role.

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music in 2005, Haas moved to New York to pursue a musical theater career. She appeared in a showcase there sponsored by the college that was attended by New York agents and others in the theater world. There she met an agent who eventually connected her with the casting director of “Wicked.”

For her first role in “Wicked,” Haas worked as a swing performer, a job that required her to cover all of the female roles in the show.

“Swinging was a phenomenal experience. Every night I played a different part,” she says. “It was a great way to be involved in the show and to learn how it worked.”

During her two years as a swing performer, Haas always felt that the role of Glinda was right for her, but the timing wasn’t right. She left the “Wicked” cast in 2007 to perform in the national tour of”The Drowsy Chaperone,”but let the producers of “Wicked” know of her continued interest in playing the role. That opportunity came when she was first hired as Glinda’s understudy before stepping into the role last September.

Part of what attracted Haas to the role of Glinda is that she saw parallels in her own life.

“Glinda has this constant journey of perseverance and proving herself,” says Haas, who is now 30. “She’s trying to figure out exactly what her purpose is. It’s actually what I’ve gone through since graduating from college.”

In reality, Haas started on that journey much earlier. Beginning at age 3, she took classes and danced and performed in the company directed by her mother, Linda Haas, owner of the Academy of Dance & Gymnastics, which has studios in Hampton and Newport News. Linda Haas says Tiffany became infatuated with musical theater early on.

“From the time she was a little girl, if you came over to our house for dinner, you were bound to see a show,” says her mother. “She worked so hard in the company which is the place we train them to be professionals.”

Haas’ vocal talents also became evident early on. Linda Haas remembers taking her daughter to a voice teacher when she was 9 years old. After hearing the young girl, the teacher sent her to Virginia Opera to audition for the children’s chorus. Haas sang opera for her talent competition after she won the Miss Ohio title and competed in the Miss America pageant.

In addition to her 15 years as a member of the Academy of Dance company, Haas attended the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk during her high school years. During those years she won the Virginia State Bland Music Vocal competition.

Read the complete news {Via DailyPress.com}

Wicked will be performing at Norfolk’s Chrysler Hall through March 25, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Norfolk VA Tickets Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

The company of the first North American tour of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s Wicked will welcome Alli Mauzey as Glinda and Andy Kelso as Fiyero beginning Feb. 24 in Tempe, AZ.

Mauzey already played the “popular” part in both the Broadway and San Francisco productions. Mauzey returns to Wicked having previously starred as Glinda in both the Broadway and final San Francisco productions. She also starred as Lenora in the Broadway production of Cry-Baby (Theatre World Award winner and Drama League Award nomination) and also played Brenda in Hairspray on Broadway. Andy Kelso played Sky in Broadway’s Mamma Mia!

They will join a cast that includes Mamie Parris as Elphaba, Liz McCartney as Madame Morrible and Mark Jacoby as The Wizard.

The company also features Justin Brill (Boq), Emily Ferranti (Nessarose), Paul Slade Smith (Dr. Dillamond), Carla Stickler (Standby for Elphaba) and Natalie Daradich (Standby for Glinda) with Lauren Boyd, Antonette Cohen, Rick Desloge, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Dominic Giudici, Napoleon W. Gladney, Brenda Hamilton, Courtney Iventosch, Trevor Ryan Krahl, Renee Lawless-Orsini, Philip Dean Lightstone, Marissa Lupp, Michael Mahany, Alli McGinnis, Lesley McKinnell, Kevin McMahon, Ashley Dawn Mortensen, Christopher Russo, Adea Michelle Sessoms, Pamela Shandrow, Shanna VanDerwerker, Nicky Venditti and Mikey Winslow.

Wicked is currently playing ASU Gammage through March 11, 2012. Wicked ASU Gammage tickets are selling like hot cakes. Buy Wicked Tempe AZ Tickets today, Get $10 OFF on Wicked Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

Most popular Broadway musical “Wicked” is currently playing on tour in Austin, TX.

Wicked musical tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two witches Elphaba, the unfortunate girl with the green skin, and the blonde and perfect Glinda.

Anne Brummel plays “Elphaba,” and she gave a peek into her preparation for the show. KXAN News got an inside look at some “green” business – Watch Video Below:

Inside look at ‘Wicked green’ business: kxan.com

“The coolest part of it all is being able to bring inspiration and a beautiful story to different parts of the country,” said Brummel.

Wicked will be playing at the Bass Concert Hall until February 12, 2012. Wicked will next play at Bjcc Concert Hall from February 15, 2012. Buy Wicked Austin TX Tickets today. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Birmingham AL Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.