Post By:
Joel Conceicao
Article By:
Rachel Ong
Date:
7 December 2011
Wicked Interview__________________________
Radio Heatwave recently caught up with the notable cast of hit musical, Wicked! We sat down with Patrice Tipoki and Suzie Mathers who played Elphaba and Glinda respectively as they spill their wicked tales on tour and on stage.
(L-R: Rachel, Suzie Mathers, Patrice Tipoki, Joel and Kevin from the new Radio Heatwave management)
1. How long have you guys been preparing for this musical?
Patrice:We've been with the company since it started in Melbourne, Australian about three and a half years ago. The original rehearsal process about four to five weeks full-time Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm. So it's full-on rehearsal once it's up and running! We've been doing the show on and off for three years.
2. How was the audition like? And how did each of u get picked?
Patrice:We've got to come prepared with songs and come in to sing and dance. Then we got picked and chosen by the American creatives from the Broadway production of Wicked and so they were the ones who directed us. It was quite intense.
Suzie: It was full-on. If they want to see you again, you get a call back. I actually got seven call-backs before I managed to get a spot in the show. But even so, three years on having the role of Glinda, for the Singapore production, I still have to go through the same process of audition by sending videos to the States and showing my singing, acting, dancing ability. It's a tough process but once you get there it's totally worth it.
3. How do you guys work on your chemistry together on stage?
Suzie:3Well, I mean, the girls, Elphaba and Glinda had a real great friendship. Our dressing rooms were just next to each other. We spent a lot of time together, the girl who was playing Elphaba now, Jemma Rix, and myself who'll be taking the Asian Tour, we were actually in the dressing room originally in Melbourne and we've been friends for year so it's great!
4. Are there any routines you guys engage in before you perform?
Patrice:It's different for both of us. For my character, Elphaba, she has great skin, and so I had to spent an hour to paint myself green, whereas for the rest of the cast, they get to do things together.
Suzie:We have warm-ups physically and vocally before and after the show, and half an hour to get made up and wigs on. I supposed, I make sure that I have a minute to sit down and have some me time before going on stage.
5. What do you want your fans or audience to take back?
Suzie:For the show itself, it's a spectacle, it's amazing with costumes and the lighting, it's a great night out! But I supposed, what the audience kinda takes away from the show is that friendshsip kinda transcends all. These two girls... This girl who's green and this girl who's popular, blonde and bubbly... They are the most unlikely friends but through out the show, they go out on a huge journey and their friendship blossoms, and it kinda shows that two people from two completely different backgrounds can have a wonderful friendship together.
6. Are there any memorable moments during your journey in the musical?
Suzie: Plenty! One of my fondest memories in one short day was the tricycle. One of the members in the ensemble in the Melbourne season has to ride the tricycle on stage and one of the wheels one night got caught in a piece of the floorings and he toppled over! The tricycle was completely flat on the floor and his costume was intertwined throughout the wheels so he couldn't get out and so we were all killing ourselves laughing! We couldn't help beause the show must go on. He was trying to get off the stage and he was dragging the tricycle by his costumes and ran into the set, and our musical director at that time was Kellie Dickerson is very good at keeping a straight face when something happens but she completely lost it. Once we saw her losing it that's it, we were all gone, and so we all try to sing and laugh and keep it together all at the same time.
Patrice:One of the first times, I went on as Elphaba, she has a huge second-act dress, it has about 40 layers of material in it all hand stitched and I was singing one of the big numbers in the second act then I went to turn and walk stage right and there I stepped on the dress and disappeared out of the spotlight for a second but jumped back on stage! It's very embarrassing to ever fall on stage in front of everyone.
I had a similar thing that happened in Adelaide because I was the understudy for the Australian Tour, my costume was slightly too long for me so I turned around and tripped out and went flying into the wings but thankfully kept my balance! It was enough for the entire audience to gasp out loud!
8. Are there any differences performing in Singapore and Australia?
Patrice: We love the humidity in Singapore because for singers, it's really great as the moisture in the air really helps us.
Suzie:Wicked Worldwide prides itself that the show you see in Broadway will be the same as the show that you'll see in Singapore. We are directed by the Broadway directors and music directors, and we have directors all over the world to come help us. So the show itself is the same quality, we have the same intense rehearsals process that they have in Broadway and West End.
9. How has participating in Wicked changed your lives personally?
Patrice: For both of us, these roles are dreams roles for women, it's something that when you first hear the show, you hope that one day before you die you'd be able to sing these songs on stage or act these shows on stage. For both of us being able to do these sets at our age at this point of our career is just a dream come true.
Suzie: For both of us, these roles are dreams roles for women, it's something that when you first hear the show, you hope that one day before you die you'd be able to sing these songs on stage or act these shows on stage. For both of us being able to do these sets at our age at this point of our career is just a dream come true.
10. Green make-up is really hard to come off, how do you remove it every night?
Patrice: We are very lucky to be sponsored by M.A.C, it's a wonderful product, it's so easy to wear even though it doesn't look that way. Just because it's green, it does have a tendency to stay and is harder to remove every single trace of it. I'm a victim of that, knowing that when I walk out of the theatre and still have a bit of it stuck on my face.
11. Does your skin react after nightly perfromances upon the harsh glare of the light? Does it affect your skin or does M.A.C gives you their higher range of skin care solution?
Patrice: I think your skin adjusts, you know you're in the air-conditioned theatre, you sweat and you keep touching up but your skin will adapt to it.
Suzie:And I think you find what make-up works for you. The hardest thing about being on tour with the Australian Tour especially, is that Australia is so huge, everytime you move to another city, you are in a different kind of climate, a different kind of humidity, and that takes a toll of your skin than the show make-up does.
12. A lot of Singaporeans travel and they are very exposed at the same time. A lot of them have not seen Wicked, so I think it's a very good place and time to reintroduce Wicked. I want to know if it's better to read the novel first or watch the show first to get a better understanding?
Suzie: I actually think it's more beneficial to watch Wicked before reading the book although the book is fantastic. Wicked is based on a book, it's not a reincarnation of a book. By reading the book, you get to understand the set designs and the costumes, but really for the story, it's not a pre-requisite, you don't need to read the book to know.
Patrice: The moral of the story is also to not judge a book by its cover. For this instance, do not judge the Wicked Witch of the West.
14. Where do u personally come from this? How does this whole concept of judging a book by its cover resonate with you?
Suzie: I have to say that I live my life with that in mind. I'm not the kind of person who judges people by its cover. This show instilled that more in me and in us. I'm positive and am just living a good life, and trying to give a great message to people who tend to put their judgement too quickly
Patrice:Definitely, in a similar way, I think it's hard when people don't really understand where you're coming from. Like Elphaba, despite her good intentions, things just go wrong and she's misunderstood. Yeah, we all have that experience of trying our best especially in this industry. We have to audition and prove ourselves for our job, we are put into a lot of pressure in that way so we are always trying to make our mark in that way and hopefully be judged by our works.
Suzie: Unfortunately, we are working in a business where we are judged by the way we look, as much as we'd like to live by that philosophy. For specific roles, I'm sitting here playning a blonde and I have blonde hair. That's not a coincidence, that's just how we're casted.
