This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Quincy Brown: So just a short and sweet battery for this episode today, guys.

[0:03] Kevin Bianchi: They don't care.

[0:04] Quincy Brown: They fast forward through this part anyway.

[0:10] Quincy Brown: My name's Quincy.

[0:11] Kevin Bianchi: My name's Kevin.

[0:12] Quincy Brown: And this is Sentimental Men.

[0:14] Kevin Bianchi: But keep your thumb away from that skip button.

[0:17] Quincy Brown: We're here to talk.

[0:18] Kevin Bianchi: And maybe scream.

[0:19] Quincy Brown: About our favorite women in musical theater.

[0:24] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, we actually don't have that much time. Kevin, I would love for you to introduce this guest just because I feel like you have like, I don't know, there's been a very special energy that you've been giving off towards this.

[0:34] Kevin Bianchi: I'm gonna take you back to 1996. Quincy wasn't alive and I was five.

[0:39] Kevin Bianchi: There was a show on television called Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

[0:43] Kevin Bianchi: Now, you might be thinking about the sexy Riverdale Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

[0:48] Kevin Bianchi: You are incorrect. On that show, the token mean girl was of course my favorite, because of course, as a young gay, even I was like, she's funny, she's catty, she's brunette.

[1:01] Kevin Bianchi: I'm gonna be into this one. That's all I'm gonna give for introduction. Today we're talking to Jenna Leigh Green, which, as Quincy said, I have been so excited about because I have really gone on a journey, a witch journey with her.

[1:14] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I feel like you're thinking that I didn't watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

[1:18] Kevin Bianchi: I definitely did. I'm sure I was watching it like reruns, but I definitely watched it as a child.

[1:22] Quincy Brown: It was 1996 to 1999.

[1:25] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I wasn't watching like the new weekly episodes, but I was what I feel like I've watched a majority of the episodes just because it was probably on ABC Family when I was a kid, I think.

[1:33] Quincy Brown: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you've never taken in the culture.

[1:37] Kevin Bianchi: But she also was an icon in the angsty Spring Awakening teenage community because she was in the LA workshop and production of Bear, which was the cult show that you were into when you were like an angsty high school drama kid, like at my age.

[1:57] Kevin Bianchi: Um, so I'm especially being a young guy too. Wow. She also did the short-lived. Wasn't there a short-lived off-Broadway production of Bear?

[2:04] Quincy Brown: There was, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[2:06] Kevin Bianchi: Okay. And she did that and she's on the cast recording.

[2:08] Quincy Brown: She is on the cast recording.

[2:09] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. When we were talking about this Wicked Witch of the East episode, we were like, we have to have Jenna Leigh Green because she's one of the only who has the insight to offer having both played Nessarose and Elphaba.

[2:20] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[2:20] Kevin Bianchi: She has the range, honey.

[2:22] Quincy Brown: She has the range.

[2:23] Kevin Bianchi: She has the range.

[2:24] Quincy Brown: But also, I feel like most Nessaroses. I don't know if most Nessaroses could do Elphaba or most Elphabas could do Nessarose.

[2:31] Kevin Bianchi: Mmm.

[2:31] Quincy Brown: Like a square and a rectangle.

[2:33] Kevin Bianchi: I think I think the way it goes is most Elphabas could do Nessarose, I think.

[2:37] Quincy Brown: Oh, yeah. Easy.

[2:38] Kevin Bianchi: Um, and since, I mean, she like, I was looking at her IMDB earlier in the week, and she's like busy. Her and Emma Hutton, busy TV, TV, TV, TV.

[2:49] Quincy Brown: She is on all these good shows.

[2:51] Kevin Bianchi: So I'm so excited. It's gonna be great. Um, before we get into the Wait, I have a good story.

[2:56] Quincy Brown: Do I have time?

[2:57] Kevin Bianchi: Oh for a story.

[2:58] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I have time. Wait, so okay, so I have a fun connection to Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The um like establishing shot for Sabrina's house was the house next to um a house that my mom worked in when I was uh that age.

[3:13] Quincy Brown: Um and so like there was a different, you know, there was like one where it was raining, one where it was snowing, one where it was nighttime. Um in one of them, I think it was the one where it was like raining, you could see my mom's car pulling out of the driveway next to Sabrina's house.

[3:28] Quincy Brown: And so anytime anytime it was like raining on the show, it'd be like, ooh, it's mom.

[3:32] Kevin Bianchi: Is she getting royalties for that?

[3:34] Quincy Brown: I doubt it.

[3:35] Kevin Bianchi: Can I give you a little Stuck on SJB?

[3:37] Quincy Brown: Yes, please.

[3:38] Kevin Bianchi: I have an exciting one today, Quincy. For context, Kevin hyped this up a little bit in text. He wouldn't tell me what it was about, but he told me to get rid of it.

[3:45] Kevin Bianchi: Well, okay, so I couldn't tell you what it was about because today for Stuck on SJB, we're gonna do choose your own adventure.

[3:51] Quincy Brown: Oh waitress style.

[3:53] Kevin Bianchi: I'm gonna need you to pick door number one, door number two, or door number three.

[3:57] Quincy Brown: Um, I'm gonna do door number three in waitress fashion.

[4:02] Kevin Bianchi: I knew you were going to, and that's why I put it third on the list. Um because it's a really good one. Okay, so this is a video of Stephanie J. Block in 2004 singing Never Neverland Fly Away.

[4:14] Kevin Bianchi: So this video is from like kind of the start of her career. Like she was in The Boy From Oz at this point, so that she was like new shiny new thing in the New York scene, paired with Scott Allen, also like shiny new in the New York scene.

[4:29] Kevin Bianchi: And there's this really great story in the uh description of the video about how she was gonna sing this song at the Joe's Pub concert, but she sang a different song and he was like crushed, and he didn't know that she was gonna like sing this as an encore, so then this song closed the show, and that like it like launched his career.

[4:48] Kevin Bianchi: So I got a little misty when I was watching this because it really made me miss like going to things because like when she gets up, when she like gets up to sing the song, like somebody in the audience is like, Yes, Steph, get it! And I'm like, I miss like that goofy You're like that. Like that would have been us in the back.

[5:04] Kevin Bianchi: Um, so it's just like great. Um, the song is it goes without saying that she sounds impeccable on the song. We all know it.

[5:14] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[5:14] Kevin Bianchi: But I just love this like moment in history where it was like the start of her journey, the start of his journey. She sounds incredible.

[5:23] Kevin Bianchi: What I love about it is that it's kind of like her own little song about flying, like based in the reality of like a story we all know. So like pr so like pre-Wicked, it was like nice for her to have this. You know what I mean?

[5:37] Quincy Brown: If that's I actually don't think I've seen that video.

[5:41] Kevin Bianchi: If it's from 2004, I don't know. It's like the very first time I think this song was done in public. And it's very different than the well, not very different, but it's a little like gospelier than like the version we're used to now.

[5:54] Quincy Brown: Oh you know what version of that song I'm used to is The Carrie Ellis one?

[5:59] Kevin Bianchi: Carrie Ellis. Yeah, yeah, it's great. Yeah, because Steph has the one on Scott's CD, and then I think she has a different version on her CD, but then Carrie does it on like a different Scott CD.

[6:14] Kevin Bianchi: And Stephanie also does Watch Me Soar on a different Scott CD. But I think what's what's a fun little like button to this story is that in this description of the video that I was reading, um, Scott Allen credits this performance of Stephanie J. Block and the previous performance of uh Home by Shoshana Bean as like the launching pad of his career.

[6:41] Quincy Brown: I mean, Scott Allen loves a belting woman.

[6:44] Kevin Bianchi: I will say that.

[6:45] Quincy Brown: Loves What does Casey Levy sing on a Scott Allen song?

[6:49] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, she sings I don't remember Kiss the Air.

[6:51] Quincy Brown: Kiss the Air.

[6:52] Kevin Bianchi: Kiss the Air. I love that this turned into Scott Allen Corner.

[7:00] Jenna Leigh Green: Hello.

[7:02] Kevin Bianchi: Hello.

[7:02] Quincy Brown: Welcome to Sentimental Men.

[7:04] Jenna Leigh Green: Oh, I love the title.

[7:06] Kevin Bianchi: Thank you. Obviously, I know what that's in reference to. But yeah, so when we were planning out like who we wanted for each episode, we were like, we have to have Jenna Leigh Green for the Wicked Witch of the East episode because you are in the very unique position to have played both Elphaba.

[7:23] Jenna Leigh Green: I feel like there's a couple of us, I think. We were saying, because we know like Eden did it and Shoshana. You know, things changed a lot. Like they don't do things the same way.

[7:31] Jenna Leigh Green: Uh honestly, after me. They kind of didn't do things the same way. Because we didn't have a standby the first year on tour, that's why I did um Nessarose and then covered Elphaba, because they were like, oh, we don't need to have a standby. Let's try this out. And then they were like, Yeah. Maybe not a good idea.

[7:50] Jenna Leigh Green: But originally, there used to be for us on tour, there were two Elphaba covers. So one of them was Pink Beret. In our on the tour, First National, originally, Pink Beret was Emily Rosick, who was our fantastic Glinda cover.

[8:08] Kevin Bianchi: Oh.

[8:08] Jenna Leigh Green: Hey Barra. Um Pink Beret and I think what was no Katie had a hat, so I can't remember. But ours were the horns.

[8:20] Kevin Bianchi: Mm-hmm.

[8:20] Jenna Leigh Green: Yep. Maria and um and me.

[8:23] Kevin Bianchi: Okay. I want to dive into the tour stuff, but before we get into that, we start every episode by asking when did Wicked the Musical enter your life? So not necessarily as a performer, but what is your first touch point with the musical?

[8:38] Jenna Leigh Green: So I first moved to New York in January of 2004 to do a show called Bear, which I had done in Los Angeles.

[8:46] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, we know Bear.

[8:47] Jenna Leigh Green: Okay. I love how you just introduced that as if we wouldn't know what it was or not.

[8:51] Jenna Leigh Green: So uh I I moved to New York to do that. And so I'm trying to think, it was Wicked, that was Wicked's first year on Broadway. But Wicked was the big thing.

[9:03] Kevin Bianchi: The big yeah, so you had been like hearing about it.

[9:06] Jenna Leigh Green: Oh, sure. I think I even went to their Tony party, and then it was like a weird thing because everybody thought that they would and maybe should have won.

[9:15] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[9:15] Jenna Leigh Green: Um, but I remember Michael Arden and I were together at the party party.

[9:21] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my god.

[9:22] Jenna Leigh Green: We still had a great time. Like our we were two kids in New York City, like just being like, whoo, we're at a Tony party. This is amazing.

[9:28] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[9:28] Jenna Leigh Green: Um, so when I'm trying to think, I want to say that the first time I actually saw the show was when oh, I didn't have time. I mean, I moved to New York and immediately went into rehearsals in an eight-show a week schedule.

[9:42] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, that's right. You're so there was no real way for me.

[9:46] Jenna Leigh Green: I I probably could have seen the show because we had this strange layoff after Bear closed off-Broadway, you know, so quickly. The only reason it closed was because we were supposed to make this big transfer to a big supposed to New World, right?

[10:01] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, to we were well, it was Dodger stages, was what it was called at the time, and we were gonna be kind of the inaugural show there. And um then all everything happened with them, and they kind of lost a backer and they went dark for a while. So our show was pretty much the casualty.

[10:18] Jenna Leigh Green: They it took them a little while to get back on their feet, and of course now they had so many shows since then, but Bear was the casualty. So in the interim, we were kind of on hold. So I was just kind of young and playing around in New York City for the summer.

[10:34] Jenna Leigh Green: And so I don't think I ever saw the show, but it was new, so I knew I was going to, and I had, of course, already memorized the soundtrack. Um, and then I went to see the show when I was auditioning for it. And all of my auditions were for Elphaba.

[10:50] Kevin Bianchi: So many people came and saw Bear because it had this. It was such a moment.

[10:53] Jenna Leigh Green: Yeah, it had this momentum, and a lot of people were coming. So, but I know that Stephen Remus had seen it a few times, so I'm sure that that helped in so much as all of a sudden the news becomes clear that Bear is not going to reopen.

[11:07] Jenna Leigh Green: And then you've got this insanely everyone in the cast, this insanely talented young cast of people who are all suddenly free. So uh, you know, everyone started auditioning for things. Me, I was kind of terrified because I had moved to New York to do Bear. So I'm like, oh my god, I've just moved my entire life to New York to do this show that opened and closed in what felt like a heartbeat.

[11:33] Kevin Bianchi: And at that point, it must feel like it's your everything.

[11:36] Jenna Leigh Green: Oh, sure. I mean, I had spent years of my life already at that point working on Bear, creating it from almost day one. But anyways, you figure out what to do, and now I've have a lease and I'm living in New York, so you just start auditioning.

[11:52] Jenna Leigh Green: And Wicked was honestly one of the first auditions I had.

[11:57] Kevin Bianchi: Was it on your radar as a role you wanted to play at that point?

[12:00] Jenna Leigh Green: Sure. But here's the thing, and I'm not saying this to be self-deprecating in any way. I always I've always sung. I'm a s I will not not call myself a singer. But I've always though.

[12:16] Kevin Bianchi: Thank you.

[12:16] Jenna Leigh Green: But I've I've always always considered myself an actress who can sing. There are voices in New York that sing circles around me. But what I've always prided myself on is I I will tell you a story. And then if you like the way I sound with that, great.

[12:34] Kevin Bianchi: I love that.

[12:35] Jenna Leigh Green: So I I definitely was like, oh my god, Elphaba. But I kind of had this gusto, I guess you could say, that like, you know, now I go on auditions and I'm shaking and I'm nervous, and I have this stage fright that developed, which then I didn't really have. I just was like, great.

[12:55] Jenna Leigh Green: Um, and I loved singing the songs and doing, you know, all of these, all of these, and the packet was pretty thick. I mean, it was a lot of material, but the only song in the Elphaba Packet that is the full song is I'm Not That Girl, which says so much to me.

[13:01] Jenna Leigh Green: I'm Not That Girl is such a small, and if you can draw them in and get everyone's attention and have them just be so enthralled and invested in what it is that you're saying with such a simple song, I love that that is the only full song in the packet.

[13:31] Jenna Leigh Green: So I I went in and it went well, and I knew I had a callback and did you know you were going in for the tour, or was it just a kind of thing?

[13:38] Jenna Leigh Green: I knew it was for the tour. I knew it was and honestly, at that point, I I kind of touring wasn't something that I thought I wanted to do, because you know, I had this strong television background, and then I had you know been working on on Bear, but in Los Angeles, that's just kind of like a a fun thing to do.

[13:58] Jenna Leigh Green: You're certainly not making any money doing it. Right. Not that we made any money off-Broadway. But you know, I was still doing regular guest spots and television gigs, so the thought of just literally being on the road for a year and not being in Los Angeles or New York was somewhat daunting, but it was Wicked.

[14:20] Jenna Leigh Green: It was the biggest thing. And when you're a kid and you dream of being in a Broadway show, like that's the pinnacle. That's it. And was it tour lead or cover? Like, was that specific when you were auditioning? No, it was it the the initial auditions were for for Alphaba herself, not not to cover just for Alphaba. And I, you know, my mind I was like, well, I'm not very tall. And I I imagined her being so much taller, and you know, I looked so I, you know, looked really young. I'm like, well, she's supposed to be, you know, I just I all these things I was like, I don't know, but this is so exciting. So I my roommate at the time was well, he now he's a manager, an amazing fantastic manager, but at the time he was a casting director, Jeff Soffer.

And so he kind of coached me, and we worked on this material like over and over and over and just like really got into it. So I went, you know, went in and I auditioned and I had a callback. I want to say I had a couple of callbacks. There's definitely a few callbacks, and then everything was just so strange and quick. We got a call saying that they were pretty sure they knew what they were gonna do with the role of Alphaba, but uh they wanted to know if I might consider coming back in for them for the role of Nessa.

[15:41] Quincy Brown: And what was the initial thought when that news was given?

[15:44] Jenna Leigh Green: Here's the thing I wasn't at all, I was loving the experience, but I don't think I ever had that moment where I was like, I'm gonna get Alphaba, I'm gonna get that role. I just kept thinking, oh my gosh, I have another callback. Wow, okay, cool. You know, I I was just like, oh my gosh, okay, yeah, let's go back again. And I was loving, you know, getting to listen to the things that Joe Mantello had to say and Stephen Schwartz had to say, and getting direction from them and all of that. So I was just enjoying the whole experience. I don't think I ever was like, I'm gonna get this part. But I was just going with the flow. So when they said that, the obvious answer kind of was just yes. Like I was that at that point, I was invested in the process and I was invested in the project.

And I thought that Nessa was at this point, I had seen the show. I was like, sure. And I loved, like I said before, that it was this beautiful acting role who had to sing for sure, but I I don't know. I just was immediately said yes, and then I went in and a day later, I think. It was real quick, and um they gave me the governor's mansion scene and her small bit of a song, and all I remember is going in, and they put a chair in the middle of the room, and so I sat in the chair and I did the scene, and like I mean, it's so quick. It's you know, the scene's what a couple a minute or two long? It's it's not that long the scene. Yeah, so I was like, okay, I'm like, I felt really good about that. All right, great. And then I mean, it was it was pretty quick. I within an hour or two, I think. And then we go to tour and we open the tour.

[17:25] Kevin Bianchi: What is it like to originate a role on tour? Because I've always wondered, because it's like, yes, the roles have been done, but then I always feel like the talk of the people who opened the tours is like it is like a new opportunity to kind of set things fresh and do things a little bit differently. So can you speak to any of that?

[17:40] Jenna Leigh Green: We you weren't pulling people from lots of different companies who had done it before, who who all had their, you know, we were all learning together. So it was almost as if we were truly creating the show all over again in, you know, in our own bubble, because we weren't we weren't there when it was being done in New York or in San Francisco, and we weren't put into that show. So, you know, very rarely do you get the chance to originate something, whereas you're not just quickly being put into an existing company. So we all, you know, but there were there were slight differences everywhere. There were there were tiny differences in staging, there were tiny differences in costumes. There was, you know, I think we had two or three less people than the Broadway company, so slight things were changed there.

[18:27] Quincy Brown: Okay, so we have a DM from a listener who told us that you actually did the first preview of the tour. Is that true?

[18:33] Jenna Leigh Green: What he's referring to is um, I don't know how many people know or or don't know or whatever, but um, we had an injury. Stephanie was injured um by um uh uh uh something that was that was gonna be in the show that that never they cut it immediately, it never ended up happening. So did you ever see that like flying effect in rehearsal or anything?

[18:57] Jenna Leigh Green: The wires? I did it.

[19:00] Quincy Brown: You did it?

[19:02] Jenna Leigh Green: I did it right before Stephanie did it. Can you talk about what it was like?

[19:04] Jenna Leigh Green: She we actually we've been doing we've been doing it for a while. Stephanie did it a few times, and then myself and Maria, who was the other cover, we did it as well. And then Stephanie was just doing it again when it happened. And what was it? So basically, in in the Broadway company, in the Broadway production, in No Good Deed, she rises from from below the stage. So the original design for the top of that number was Alphaba flew in from the wings. And it wasn't like she's flying. It was just kind of she. I'm trying to show my hand here. She it was she was up in at stage right wings, and she just kind of fee and comes to the middle. Kind of, yeah. She just the wires were, you know, you wore a harness and it was two wires from the back, and you just kind of slowly came in, got to the book, and it was staged where the monkeys kind of danced around her a little bit and unhooked the wires. So it was a very simple effect.

[20:02] Kevin Bianchi: Did you have a broom?

[20:03] Jenna Leigh Green: No, no, no. She was just levitating. I love that. It's so hard to remember because it was literally cut before we started the show, but no, she didn't have the broom. No, because she doesn't have it for she doesn't have it for the number. No. There was just a malfunction, and I mean it was a completely freak thing, but we had to cancel the first preview, I believe, and they actually flew Christy Cates from New York, who was the on-stage understudy.

[20:33] Quincy Brown: Right, right.

[20:34] Jenna Leigh Green: They flew her to Toronto because at this point, we're trying to open a show. We the understudies hadn't been rehearsed. There wasn't anything to be done. So they they brought Christy from New York, and she was so amazing, she literally, with probably an hour's notice, got on a plane, came to Toronto, and she did the first week. So they kind of I think pushed the opening night a little bit. And then a couple of hours before opening night performance, I got a call from our company manager. And she was like, Hi, Jenna, I just wanna, you know, say, I hope you have a great opening night, you know, have so much fun out there tonight. This is a Tuesday, I believe. She said, FYI, I just want to let you know that you're gonna go on as Alphaba Friday.

[21:18] Quincy Brown: She started with hope you have a great opening night tonight.

[21:21] Jenna Leigh Green: She wanted to like wish, you know, give me can give me the congratulations and not just start the conversation with hiatus, so we have some news.

[21:27] Kevin Bianchi: And you hadn't rehearsed at all prior to this.

[21:29] Jenna Leigh Green: No, put in a channel. No, I had never even sang, I hadn't sang a song since the since the auditions. Wait, how did you do that then?

[21:39] Jenna Leigh Green: No idea. I kind of was in shock. I was like, Are you guys sure? Like, wait, I haven't rehearsed, and they're like, We know, but an executive decision's been made. This is what's gonna happen. We can't keep Christy here. We've gotta send her back to New York. Cause she, because Christine, Stephanie was doing um, you know, she was slowly working back up to full steam ahead, and so they kept Christy for half the week. So they would do four and four. I I was on stage with anyone once for a put in the day before, and I sang uh through the score in a rehearsal room, and they brought they brought Kendra in and Derek in for like 20 minutes so that I could at least sing. But like orchestra, never. Never.

[22:22] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my god, Jenna.

[22:24] Jenna Leigh Green: I had the very first no-fly show. So on my first performance, the Levitator did it.

[22:31] Quincy Brown: Your first performance performance.

[22:32] Jenna Leigh Green: So that day that they were like, You're going on, you haven't rehearsed, that was your no-fly show.

[22:36] Quincy Brown: Uh huh. Wait, this is horrible.

[22:37] Jenna Leigh Green: So I thought, of course, I thought I had done something wrong because it's very complicated. You gotta, you've got all this stuff and a bag and a broom and a cake, and this and a that, and you gotta run into it. And if anything is blocking it for safety measures, if it doesn't close completely around you, it won't move. So it moved forward, but it never went up. And I thought But was there a protocol at this point? Because now there's a plan B.

[22:57] Jenna Leigh Green: No protocol. One by one at the end of the show, when cast members realized that I was still just standing there on the ground singing for Jesus, one by one, everyone just started lowering their bodies to the ground and like laying on the ground with their hands up in the air. So you are the protocol. Like you were the reason why the plan B is the plan B. Because that's what they do now. Yeah, they open it up and she runs out to the foot of the stage and they change the lighting and make it look like she's just floating, kind of. Yeah, but they normalized down. It never even occurred. There was no thought that it wouldn't work. It had it had never not worked before.

[23:32] Quincy Brown: Have you gone to therapy for this? I feel like it's a stuff.

[23:35] Jenna Leigh Green: So I maybe that's what he's referring to. I had the very first no-fly show, but I didn't go on the first preview, but I did go on with no rehearsal. Pretty much no rehearsal. And I and I started um I had a false start on The Wizard and I because I'd never heard the orchestra, and I was so nervous. There were definitely like line flubs, there were lyric flubs. I was just trying to get it.

[23:56] Kevin Bianchi: I was gonna say, how did the performance go?

[23:58] Jenna Leigh Green: I don't even remember. Besides the no-fly. I mean, all considering I'd like to think they thought I did a really kick-ass job, but who can hold you accountable for anything? For a good amount of time, I kind of did like four shows a week, and then it as Stephanie got stronger and stronger and was like back to her kick-ass self wardrobe-wise, and and um the way that it made the most sense, we would kind of do weekends. So if I had one weekend, the other girl would have to do the other weekend once we started rotating. But yeah, I mean, it was a it was a crazy, crazy, crazy experience. It's probably why I've never toured since because nothing's gonna top that. But also like an abnormal, I feel like touring experience. Like you really jumped in two feet.

[24:43] Quincy Brown: So I have a question that we ask every guest. Um, and it's usually a one-part question, but I think for you it's gonna be a two-part question. Um so we, Kevin and I believe that every Alphaba is most at home in one of the three big numbers. And my second part of the question is, do you think that you're being drawn to I'm Not That Girl is tied to like this kind of Nessa energy that you maybe gave off that would they were like, oh, maybe that plug-in can work.

[25:13] Jenna Leigh Green: Possibly, because I, you know, I remember in when I was auditioning for the show, Joe uh Mentello, the most notes I actually got were on I'm Not That Girl. He he broke me down a little bit because I think that there is something about me that sometimes can be a little, I'm just a little pulled together. And um there's an awkwardness to Alphaba that is just funky. Yeah, she's it's like she needs to be vulnerable, but she's not gosh, I wish I could remember that. It's probably gonna be the word's gonna pop into my head in like 10 minutes. But um we'll take it. Uh and then I'll I'll be like emailing, it's this word, no kidding. Yeah. Um, but um, so I think that he probably saw pieces of Nessa, but as far as I'm so long-winded.

[26:06] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, to satisfy the game.

[26:08] Jenna Leigh Green: Satisfy the game. I'll be honest with you, the song, even though I was dying, and sometimes I was like, how am I gonna get through this? I just don't know. The song that I had the most fun doing, No Good Deed.

[26:21] Kevin Bianchi: Okay.

[26:21] Jenna Leigh Green: It's a really crazy song, and there's so many words, and there's gibberish words, and there's, you know, all of this stuff, but. But oh god, I love just like being in it, in it, in it, and then you, and then you get there, and it's so soft and so sweet, and these this moment in the center of it where you're she's calling for everyone, and then boom. I nothing gave me that the rush like that one.

[26:48] Quincy Brown: Got it. So after you had been doing the doing Nessa for a while, and you went, so we did tour, we did Broadway, and then we did LA, right? Back to back.

[26:56] Jenna Leigh Green: Um tour to Broadway. Were you like on the Nessa train, or was there ever like, oh, maybe I want to do Alphaba, maybe I want to stand by for Alphaba?

[27:07] Jenna Leigh Green: Well, you know what? Let's let's just lay it on the line here. There's no like, no, I'd rather do this. It's just you you take what they offer you. Um I never played Alphaba again. They they you know, it it didn't, they changed the way things were. They never had a ne uh Nessa that was the Alphaba cover again. The tour got a standby. Before I mean, probably a few months before I left the tour, I had gotten the offer to to go into the New York company. So I knew I was I knew I was gonna, I I only had three days off.

[27:40] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my god.

[27:40] Jenna Leigh Green: A couple of cities before before I closed, Steffi and I finished on the same day in um Philly. And um, or Pittsburgh, sorry, Pittsburgh. I went into New York to look at a couple apartments because I knew that I, you know, I we we had our final show on a I guess a Sunday matinee. Sunday. Yeah, Sunday matinee. Had a cast party, you know, had a good had a goodbye party, and then I was on a plane to back to New York the next day. And I wanna say Wednesday, I did a follow in the in the New York company. I followed her backstage.

[28:26] Jenna Leigh Green: And uh, or I think I had a rehearsal in the daytime because there were differences in the show. Had a one one rehearsal in the daytime, followed her backstage through the show, and then I was on the next day.

[28:36] Jenna Leigh Green: So it was super fast. I didn't have a vacation or anything. And how was it? Because we talked to Alpha Buds who have gotten contract right into another contract, and they are always like, I wish I took time between the two. Like, I wish I didn't jump right into it. Well, for me, it was just that that's when they needed an SS. So if I didn't accept the offer, then I would just have to wait, you know, and it, you know, contracts were nine months to a year, so it was like go back to New York and don't have a job, or go back to New York and do Wicked on Broadway. So I did, and then again, the same thing happened when they were building the Los Angeles company. Of course, I'm sure that they knew I was from LA.

I'm sure they knew that that would be something I would be interested in. Yes. Got it. Um, so I'm sure my energy made it clear that I really wanted to do it, but I kind of, and what's funny is I can't remember who it was, but I remember being out somewhere, so it was either after a show one night, and we went for, you know, food or drink or something, and I ran into someone, like at a Reba Ariba or something like that. And then being like, so LA, huh? And I was like, what do you know? What do you really? You're telling me. But I feel like it was someone that I knew would be, if there was anyone that was gonna be in the know, it would be that person. So I can't remember who exactly it was. But that's when I was like, I feel like I called my agent the next day and was like, can we find out if they're interested in me for LA?

Because I haven't wanted to like ask them. I, because it was a little bit early. You know, that you were still in the Broadway production, right? I was still in the, yeah, I was still in the New York production. So it was a little bit early for me to be fishing. Yeah. But then when it was kind of brought up to me, I was like, can we find out if this is a possible, if this is something? And so then of course, very shortly they were like, yeah, they want you to open LA. So I did actually, um, I got them to let me out of my New York contract a week early so that I could take a vacation. Yeah, gotta. Because at that point, because the rehearsals for LA started like right when my contract ended. It was like a week later the rehearsal started.

And that's not a, that's a whole full rehearsal at that point. It's not like you're, it's not like you're just going into another put-in situation. You are rehearsing the show. Full six-week rehearsal period. We were in New York for four weeks and then went to LA and tech the show and everything. And who opened LA? Eden opened LA? Eden and Megan Culti. So yeah, but it's so funny because you talk to people now who, you know, they were like, oh, I was in Wicked for five years. I was in Wicked for seven, whatever. And you know, so to me, it to me it felt like I was in it for such a long time, but it's because I was able to do it so many places. But it was just under three years. And do it in so many places in such like you opened the tour, you opened LA and you went to Broadway.

You know, like such iconic like places to do it. Yeah. So you alluded, you kind of talked about it earlier, the how Alphabet and Nesserose are different in ways and similar in ways. Having played both, did that inform, I would say more so for Nesseros. Did having played Alphaba inform your Nesseros at all in performance? Um, I don't think that like being in Nessa's shoes changed how I thought of myself when I was Alphabet or vice versa. Um, they were such wildly different beasts to me. You know, I, it's hard because I feel like Nessa is really underrated by a lot of people. It's kind of a role that people just kind of, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Nessa. And it's because a lot of the people who are so, you know, musical theater enthusiasts who are so, you know, yes, this, da, da, because Nessa doesn't sing that much, it's like, meh, Nessa.

Well, because Wicked Witch of the East isn't on the cast recording. I believe if it was on the cast recording, we'd have like Nessa stands. You know what I'm saying? Like that would be done in Cabaret's musical theater students would be performing that song, you know? Such a shame. I feel like I, I think that they said the reason why it wasn't there. Well, first of all, it's because it's, it is such a short, in order, in order to make it a full song, I think that they would have needed to include Alphabet's chant and a little bit of dialogue, and it gave away too much. Like they needed to keep that moment a surprise because people who haven't seen Wicked don't know what happens to Bach. I'm still not giving it away.

Um, I think that they thought they thought that there was no exact. I think they thought that there was no way to include that without giving away, you know, a secret. It's a tragedy that it's not on the cast recording, though. Agreed, agreed. But um, it breaks my heart a little bit when I hear people just kind of ah yeah, Nessa, but uh I'm like and we were talking before this interview where it's like we don't necessarily see Nessa as much as an Alphabet or Glinda, but she does have quite the arc in the context of the show where we see her at like major points where she starts as this like shy, kind of unsure girl and then grows into this brazen, good or bad woman, and then dies. Depending on who you see as Nesserose and what their interpretation is and what the journey that they decide to take, watch a Nesserose during the entire scene, the entire number of dancing through life.

Because she's in the whole thing. Is she dancing? No, but yes, she's dancing with her chair. Everything she makes so many, there is so much that's choreographed with her chair, and the way that she comes up to people and then goes back to people and tries to join this group, but then kind of gets back a little bit because she maybe she shouldn't be there, and the way that she at least that was my journey, the way that she watched everything that was happening during this entire number and wanted so badly to be a part of it long before Glinda gets back invite her to the dance. Like when everyone's in the schoolyard, like that was one of my favorite sections of the show, and literally until she rolls out and is like, oh, I got invited, nobody pays attention to her, but you should pay attention to her because if the actress is in it, which I hope everyone is.

There's a whole story going on there. There's just, I just think that she's such a one, like it's, it's a really great role. It's a really great role. It's a great role for an actress who sings, you know, because you don't have to sing like an alphabet to play this amazing role in a kick-ass show. You know, there's a role for you. And that doesn't happen very often in musicals. Like if you, and not to say that they've ever cast a Nessa Rose who isn't a brilliant singer. Yeah. I've always been, um, I'm that person who goes to see a show and I'm constantly watching everything. I'm watching the ensemble members, I'm watching what people are doing when they're not the one talking. And that's what a lot of Nessa's show is.

How she reacts to everything around her. That's interesting. And I love that. Jenna, this has been so much fun. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, oh my gosh, thank you so much. Thank you guys for having me. Where can people find you online? You can find me on Instagram at Jenna Leigh Green and on Twitter at Real Jenna L. Green. Because Jenny Lee Green was taken. Oh, really? Whoever she is, will be sending a cease and desist immediately. Quincy, you must be so proud of me. I didn't bring up Sabrina the Teenage Witch not once. Not once. Which I feel like. It's almost like I love the fact that we were able to have a whole conversation with her without bringing up Sabrina. Oh, sure. I wasn't, I didn't think we were gonna be lacking conversation.

Which can you believe she was like, oh, I was in the show called Bear. And we were like, Ms. Lee Green. Trust and believe. Um, yeah, how was that for you, Kevin? How are you feeling after Quincy? I gotta say, it was great for me, and on a personal level, I'm glad that I contained my fangirl as well as I did. Big takeaway for me was if you're listening to this podcast, you most likely know the story of SJB getting injured, but I never knew the specifics of it and like what exactly that entrance entailed and whatnot. So to have Jenna just kind of spell that out for us, I feel like really filled in a gap in my wicked history knowledge. Yeah, so that's like there's so much history wrapped up in that, but then it's also the origin of the no-fly.

That, oh, that Kevin. We talked about the no good deed mishap, but like the or the fact that she is the reason why the plan B is the plan. Yes, like what she just kind of made up on the spot is now the no-fly. And what those ensemble members, let's give them credit too. Shout out to the ensemblists who are like, you know what? We're just gonna crouch down. Which, like, I'm gonna say, Kevin, you would be leading the charge had you been in the ensemble of that time. Like that feels a very on-brand thing for Kevin to do in that situation. Like, we need to make this believable and just start lying down. What she remembers as probably like, you know, like the cherry on top of this crazy week is like from our point of view, we're like, you better have had that no-fly show, bitch.

Like, it's so, and it's so, it's like, you know, yet another reminder that like what we are obsessing over is these people going to work. You know what I mean? Like exactly. I also love that we got to kind of have a moment for Nessa Rose in our arc of this whole podcast. I feel like we haven't really discussed her much. And I mean that literally because she's not on the cast recording. The unsung witch. That was clever. Thank you. Thank you so much. But yeah, it's true because like Nessa also, and I think it's easy to overlook this, like she was saying, like, yeah, yeah, Nessa. But like we also watched Nessa go from this like shy, weird young girl and grow into a villain that we already know about.

You know what I mean? Like we see her the tights and the heels. It's like, oh, we watched that. We watched that transformation happen. See, but I viscerally remember, like, probably like my first time watching a bootleg proper of Wicked, having just listened to the cast recording, when she sings Jessera and Me, The Wicked Witch of the East, I remember being swig snatched. This is brilliant! Um, Kevin. Oh god, it's happening. I think it's time. I think it's time for Kevin! Glinda Corno! Woo! I hate that that is what the theme has become. I wanted like a cute jingle. I wanted like a nice little like rhyme, and then it just became me shouting into the microphone. Sorry, I just had to get that out.

Uh-uh. Okay, so you and I are currently in a fight because we posted a disagreement we had about Defying Gravity on our social. And Instagram is siding with me, and TikTok apparently is siding with you. Can I ask where we have more of a following though? Quincy. Do you want to answer that? Yeah, it's TikTok. I'm just saying. Okay, no, continue. I'm going to go. Well, anyway, so. I don't want to do this again. I can't get through one Glinda's corner. But you and the rest of the Alpha Gals will be happy to know. You like that? We'll be happy to know that I am going to dip my toe into the Glinda's a shitty person pool. Only now. Only now. Because I think the use her sister moment is so shitty. Like it's so like.

It's fucked up. It's so fucked up. And it's like it always gets a little bit of like a ooh. Like it's so, wait. Glinda is the reason that Nessarose is dead. Now I'm back defending her. Glinda says, start a rumor about her. And Madam Maribel says, you know what would be better, assassination. A change in the weather. A change in the weather. Wait, that scene gets dark. Another successful one in the books. I feel like this was a good episode. And I know because we did it, we already finished it, that next week is also a really good episode. So if you're not subscribed, subscribe. If you're not telling your friends to listen to us, tell your friends to listen to us. Leave us a rating and review, please, Kevin. I will talk to you in five minutes. Bye, Quincy. Good episode.

[42:06] Quincy Brown: You've been listening to Sentimental Men. This episode was produced, edited, and hosted by Quincy Brown and Kevin Bianchi. Thanks to Julia Jamarzo for our thrillifying artwork. And thanks to you for tuning in. You can reach us at sentimentalmenpod at gmail.com. Or on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Scent MenPod. That's S-E-N-T-M-E-N-P-O-D. Till next time, I'm Quincy.

[42:31] Kevin Bianchi: And I'm Kevin. And I never really feel like there's a ton of roles where you feel like the guy's like, oh god.

[42:39] Quincy Brown: But girls, they're all over the place.

[42:41] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. Well, look who's composing them.