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I caught up with her by phone when WICKED was playing in Atlanta, or “Hot-lanta,” as she called it. “It’s 85 here, and I love it!” she says. “We just came from Boston where it rained every day we were there. The shows went well, but the weather could have been better,” she adds. “The shows just keep getting better and better, and they’ve taken on an almost interactive quality. Here in Atlanta, the run is sold out, of course, but the audience reactions, the laughter, the gasps, and the (correct) silence in certain parts guide us, show us where to go, what to give,” Kassebaum explains. The reactions of little girls, especially, bring a genuine warmth into Kassebaum’s voice as she tells how they react to her, her costume, her persona. She loves to meet audience members after the show, whenever possible. “If I had a dollar for every little girl who’s had her picture taken with my tiara on her head…..” she laughs. “They look at me with complete awe, and are just so beautifully amazed when they’re able to touch me, my dress, my scepter, my crown.” She finds many of the teenage theater patrons some of the most savvy as well. “The show appeals to that demographic,” she explains, “but they get so much more out of it than just the Oz story. It’s ‘politically’ stirring to them, on several levels, and they are very aware of the mistakes, intolerance, and the redemption that comes.” She loves talking to the young girls after a show, and they love talking to her. “Sometimes they bring little gifts, and I am touched beyond words!” She explains further that although she would love to talk to audience members after every show, she sometimes is forced to go right back to her hotel room and get to sleep early. “I have to protect my voice, obviously, and if I have a matinee and an evening performance the next day, it isn’t wise for me to overdo. I’m disappointed, of course, but I have to do what’s best for me and for the show.” I asked her about the rigors of touring, and she laughed. “I don’t mind it at all! It’s not bad—we’re treated well, we play some of the best and biggest houses in the country!” She had some “small” tours, but WICKED is her first national tour. When the show came into Kassebaum’s hometown of St. Louis, she joked with her cast-mates that “at least half of the 4,000 seats in the ‘fabulous’ Fox Theatre would be filled with my family and friends! St. Louis welcomed me—and the show—with open arms, and I couldn’t have been happier. In fact, everyone in the cast was a guest for Thanksgiving dinner in my childhood home. It was a great time for everyone.” Touring can be fun, but it can also play havoc with a performer’s voice. Kassebaum warms up, of course, though not as much as she did earlier in the tour. She’s found what works for her, but the differences in climate, elevations, weather conditions, mold spores, air conditioning and the size of the house can create problems. “I’m in this to perform—eight shows a week, and I normally do. But understudies are employed for a reason: we’re human, and sometimes we just can’t physically do it. If I can’t, I can’t, but I see to it that I’m back the first moment I’m able. My voice is my instrument, and you have to take care of your instrument, no matter what kind of a musician you are.” Along with the tour of almost any musical come the cast changes. Stephanie J. Block, Eden Espinosa and Julia Murney have all played Elphaba to Kassebaum’s Glinda. She finds it exciting, “creating a different dynamic, of course, but with an interesting performance shift that always occurs.” “It’s sometimes awkward, at first, but I look at it from the view that these women are bringing to this show what they do best. Trust becomes the key: trust in them and the trust that develops between us…trust begets trust.” Her favorite part of the show changes somewhat almost every night, although there are certain numbers or scenes which reign supreme in her heart, two especially. “I love, and almost everyone loves, the song Popular. It’s fun, it’s funny, it shows the controlling side of Glinda is still very present, but she’s trying, she’s really trying to help, to bond, to show affection for Elphaba.” The other moment that is often her favorite comes shortly before that number. “I think probably my favorite moment is when the stage is silent at the dance. Glinda has set Elphaba up, but she has a change of heart and they do that dance together. The ‘trust’ dance, I call it. The trust between the two of them has begun. I love that.” Kassebaum is quick to point out that the role of Glinda is a dream role and that she is honored to fill those shoes.” She adds, “It’s a complete journey for her as a woman and a witch to become ‘good.’ My job is to make her character deeper as the show progresses. I’d have to say that the most exciting thing is how she matures as a woman.” And, yes, coming down in that big bubble at each performance is pretty cool, too. She stresses that most audiences are pretty much aware—though not always!—that WICKED is not just a re-telling of The Wizard of Oz. “It’s a new creation, it’s own, beautiful creation. It’s about tolerance and intolerance. It’s about cliques at school, romance with a ‘handsome prince,’ and how the outsider and the popular girl begin to connect. Adults appreciate all those things, too, but they’re also likely to get the darker, socio-political commentary in there, too. Nothing is ever quite as it seems.” That is why Wicked has appeal for all ages. Kassebaum grew up in St. Louis and graduated from Notre Dame High School there, where she received the “Best Actress” award. She received a B.F.A. from Southwest Missouri State University, where she was in shows such as Guys and Dolls and Into the Woods. Regional theater came next, then she did limited tours as Patty Simcox in Grease and Val in Chorus Line. She made her Broadway debut on September 5, 2000, as “Mark’s Mom” in the Tony Award winning Rent, which she considered “my home away from home.” “That was the most wonderful experience I could hope for. I was given so much by everyone involved. I could go audition and work on shows like Red Herring for the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, and know that I was completely welcome to come back to Rent at any time.” In Rent she also understudied the role of “Maureen Johnson” and performed the role for the first time on October 1, 2000, not even a month after joining the cast. Her second appearance on Broadway was in the Tony winner for Best Revival of a Musical, Assassins, under the direction of WICKED director Joe Pantello, at Studio 54. She’s flying high as G(a)linda –“ defying gravity,” as it were – in the national tour of WICKED. She’s definitely “popular,” as the reviews and press can attest. She’s “dancing through life” for about a year-and-a-half, and she has audiences asking “what is this feeling?” It’s the joy, the message of WICKED, and Kendra Kassebaum deserves a huge “YES” when she asks “It’s good to see me, isn’t it?”
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