This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Quincy Brown: Good day fellow Aussites, Aussians, and Aussitarians.

[0:04] Kevin Bianchi: Greetings, Glynda girls.

[0:06] Quincy Brown: It's good to see me, isn't it?

[0:08] Kevin Bianchi: Hey, besties.

[0:09] Quincy Brown: Hello fellow Aussians.

[0:11] Kevin Bianchi: Fellow Aussians.

[0:12] Quincy Brown: Fellow Aussians.

[0:18] Kevin Bianchi: Hello Aussians, friends.

[0:19] Quincy Brown: Friends.

[0:21] Kevin Bianchi: Friends in Sentimental Men podcast.

[0:23] Quincy Brown: Hi, Sentimental Men podcast.

[0:25] Kevin Bianchi: Hi everyone at Sentimental Men podcast.

[0:26] Quincy Brown: Hey, Sentimental Besties.

[0:27] Kevin Bianchi: Hello, fellow Sentimentals.

[0:29] Quincy Brown: Hey, Kevin. Hey, Quincy.

[0:30] Kevin Bianchi: Hi, Quincy and Kevin.

[0:31] Quincy Brown: Hi, Kevin and Quincy.

[0:33] Kevin Bianchi: And hi to all the fellow Aussians who are listening to Sent Men pod.

[0:40] Quincy Brown: My name's Quincy.

[0:41] Kevin Bianchi: My name's Kevin.

[0:42] Quincy Brown: And this is Sentimental Men.

[0:44] Kevin Bianchi: But keep your thumb away from that skip button.

[0:47] Quincy Brown: Because we're here to talk.

[0:48] Kevin Bianchi: And maybe scream.

[0:49] Quincy Brown: About our favourite women in musical theatre.

[0:52] Kevin Bianchi: I just had the most delightful evening and I have saved it for the pod.

[0:57] Quincy Brown: I have not told you a single thing about the event I just attended.

[1:00] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, you only told me that you were even going, like, a little bit before.

[1:04] Quincy Brown: Well, truth be told, I texted you last week and was like, hey, I'm going to go to this.

[1:08] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, you did, you did.

[1:09] Quincy Brown: Hoping for you to be like, oh, I'll come.

[1:12] Kevin Bianchi: I'd love to join.

[1:13] Quincy Brown: And then you didn't bite my bait, which is fine.

[1:16] Kevin Bianchi: To be fair, that text message was in a string of like ten text messages of us answering everything.

[1:22] Quincy Brown: It was like a chaotic back and forth.

[1:24] Kevin Bianchi: So yeah, so then I was like, I'm going to go alone.

[1:26] Quincy Brown: And I actually was excited to go alone because I haven't had like a Quincy date night for a while.

[1:29] Kevin Bianchi: But then my friend from home randomly was in town and he asked me what I was doing.

[1:34] Quincy Brown: I was like, oh, I'm going to go to this.

[1:35] Kevin Bianchi: And he's like, oh my God, I want to come.

[1:37] Quincy Brown: And then we went and it ended up being really, really cute.

[1:39] Kevin Bianchi: Listeners, I'm talking about a conversation with Wicked's Stephen Schwartz at the 92nd Street Y.

[1:46] Quincy Brown: Featuring performances from Sierra Renee and Michael McCorry Rose.

[1:50] Kevin Bianchi: And Kevin.

[1:51] Quincy Brown: Yes, Quincy.

[1:52] Kevin Bianchi: Michael's saying corner of the sky because it was like Stephen talked through his whole, you know, career.

[1:57] Quincy Brown: So they started at the piano like this.

[1:59] Kevin Bianchi: OK, so can we jump there?

[2:01] Quincy Brown: Yeah, because, Kevin, I got Stephen Schwartz's party trick, making good at the piano, talking about the evolution into a performance of The Wizard and I.

[2:10] Kevin Bianchi: And here's what I want to say.

[2:12] Quincy Brown: It started and I was like, all right, we're getting we're getting the shtick.

[2:15] Kevin Bianchi: We all know it.

[2:16] Quincy Brown: Yeah, we've all seen the YouTube videos.

[2:18] Kevin Bianchi: We're getting the like I was doing this.

[2:20] Quincy Brown: I was doing this.

[2:21] Kevin Bianchi: Then I casted Idina Menzel.

[2:22] Quincy Brown: It was a train.

[2:23] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[2:24] Quincy Brown: And then I moved it into a train.

[2:25] Kevin Bianchi: And then we have The Wizard and I.

[2:26] Quincy Brown: Here's The Wizard and I.

[2:27] Kevin Bianchi: Right.

[2:28] Quincy Brown: So I did have an internal eye roll when it started to happen.

[2:30] Kevin Bianchi: But I got to say, Kevin.

[2:32] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[2:33] Kevin Bianchi: As soon as that man started playing the piano, I started welling up.

[2:36] Quincy Brown: And I really was like, wait, this is really, really special that I'm seeing it in person.

[2:41] Kevin Bianchi: And general theme of the evening, Kevin.

[2:46] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[2:47] Kevin Bianchi: I know we are sitting on our Wicked podcast right now, but I love Wicked.

[2:51] Quincy Brown: I know.

[2:52] Kevin Bianchi: And like haven't really had a moment to be like, wow, I love this show in such a personal way.

[2:56] Quincy Brown: I know.

[2:57] Kevin Bianchi: Until tonight.

[2:58] Quincy Brown: I'm going to be honest.

[2:59] Kevin Bianchi: Like it really hit me tonight.

[3:00] Quincy Brown: You know, I will say I had a similar experience today watching that video that's going around of like the preschool class lip syncing Defying Gravity for like their talent show.

[3:11] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, yeah.

[3:12] Quincy Brown: I haven't seen that.

[3:13] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, somebody sent it to us, but I think I opened the DM.

[3:16] Quincy Brown: But it's this video of like this little preschool class that is like truly like lip syncing Defying Gravity for like a talent show.

[3:25] Kevin Bianchi: But it's like full out set little miniature replications of all the costumes.

[3:30] Quincy Brown: Like this is a preschool with money.

[3:32] Kevin Bianchi: But like what's fun is every once in a while the kids will like know the lyrics and start singing along.

[3:38] Quincy Brown: But it's so cute.

[3:39] Kevin Bianchi: And I was watching it today and I was like, I love this show so much.

[3:43] Quincy Brown: I have like been so like in it that like to watch like someone else experience joy because of it.

[3:49] Kevin Bianchi: I was kind of like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[3:51] Quincy Brown: This is nice.

[3:52] Kevin Bianchi: Even that like I was kicking myself.

[3:54] Quincy Brown: You all know that I record audio of every show I go to.

[3:56] Kevin Bianchi: And for whatever reason, I was like, this isn't the vibe for this small little talk thing.

[4:01] Quincy Brown: I'm going to the 92nd Street Y.

[4:03] Kevin Bianchi: So I didn't start an audio.

[4:04] Quincy Brown: And I was like, it'll be fine.

[4:05] Kevin Bianchi: I'm just going to like experience here.

[4:07] Quincy Brown: And I assume she was singing from Wicked.

[4:09] Kevin Bianchi: So I was like, I'm just going to experience that and not record it.

[4:12] Quincy Brown: And then as soon as like she started to sing The Wizard and I, I was like so upset that I wasn't recording.

[4:17] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[4:19] Quincy Brown: But also it forced me to be present.

[4:22] Kevin Bianchi: And now it exists like only in your heart.

[4:23] Quincy Brown: And let me tell you.

[4:25] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. Tell me how it was.

[4:25] Quincy Brown: It really felt like, you know, that random Stephen Schwartz cabaret that Lindsay Mendez sang The Wizard and I at before she was Elphaba.

[4:32] Kevin Bianchi: And that in the lore of it all is kind of what kickstarted her process into actually being Elphaba.

[4:37] Quincy Brown: That's what started the campaign, right?

[4:39] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. It felt like I was watching that tonight because it was like perfection.

[4:45] Quincy Brown: I actually I have no notes.

[4:47] Kevin Bianchi: I have nothing to say about it.

[4:48] Quincy Brown: It was so incredible.

[4:49] Kevin Bianchi: Wow. Genuinely so incredible.

[4:51] Quincy Brown: I'm so jealous.

[4:53] Kevin Bianchi: I want Sierra Renee to take over from Lindsay Pierce.

[4:55] Quincy Brown: I'll say it on this podcast.

[4:56] Kevin Bianchi: I would love that.

[4:57] Quincy Brown: Some other tidbits that were discussed that I think would be of interest to our listeners.

[5:03] Kevin Bianchi: So we all know the story about how Stephen Schwartz's daughter is kind of responsible for For Good because she wrote the lyrics out to a friend of hers.

[5:10] Quincy Brown: And that became like the first verse.

[5:12] Kevin Bianchi: We know that story.

[5:13] Quincy Brown: Stephen Schwartz's son is also responsible for The Wizard and I because he apparently is a very talented dramaturg.

[5:20] Kevin Bianchi: What?

[5:21] Quincy Brown: And saw workshops and went to a couple of workshops of Wicked.

[5:26] Kevin Bianchi: And Stephen was like, you know, no one is talking to me about For Good.

[5:29] Quincy Brown: Like about making good.

[5:31] Kevin Bianchi: He was like, you know, no one is talking to me about making good after these readings.

[5:34] Quincy Brown: They're coming up and talking about all the parts they like, the parts that they think could use work.

[5:38] Kevin Bianchi: And no one's bringing up making good.

[5:40] Quincy Brown: And that to me isn't a good thing.

[5:41] Kevin Bianchi: And his son was like, yeah, it doesn't work actually at all.

[5:45] Quincy Brown: I think you need to scrap the whole train scene number.

[5:48] Kevin Bianchi: The audience is too far ahead of you.

[5:50] Quincy Brown: It feels very old school to have your leading character like getting on the train and singing her I Want song.

[5:55] Kevin Bianchi: He was like, why don't you just put her in a situation where she wants to sing about what she wants already?

[6:00] Quincy Brown: Wow.

[6:01] Kevin Bianchi: So thank you, Schwartz family.

[6:02] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[6:03] Kevin Bianchi: Thank you.

[6:04] Quincy Brown: Honestly, are they getting checks for this?

[6:07] Kevin Bianchi: Every time I hear the story about how he lifted the lyrics for For Good out of his daughter's yearbook.

[6:13] Quincy Brown: I'm like, OK, but did her friend get a check?

[6:16] Kevin Bianchi: Well, in this he was like, she wrote a letter, but obviously it wasn't lyrics.

[6:20] Quincy Brown: So I took what she said and made it rhyme.

[6:22] Kevin Bianchi: And that's what a good composer does.

[6:24] Quincy Brown: He's like a good composer tells the truth and makes it rhyme.

[6:28] Kevin Bianchi: Another fun story.

[6:30] Quincy Brown: Frank DiLello was moderating it.

[6:32] Kevin Bianchi: He asked when they knew Wicked would be a hit.

[6:35] Quincy Brown: And he was like, we knew it was going to be a hit pretty early on in San Francisco where we had just had a big creative meeting because the show was too long.

[6:43] Kevin Bianchi: We didn't feel like it was working.

[6:45] Quincy Brown: We had a meeting.

[6:46] Kevin Bianchi: Joe Mantello made Winnie Holzman cry.

[6:48] Quincy Brown: So then I had to defend Winnie because Joe couldn't do that to her.

[6:51] Kevin Bianchi: And it was very tense.

[6:52] Quincy Brown: And then we walked outside of the theater and saw a huge crowd in front of the box office.

[6:57] Kevin Bianchi: And we all had thought that like some terrible accident had happened, like someone got hit by a brick that fell off the theater, I think.

[7:03] Quincy Brown: And they were all waiting for tickets.

[7:05] Kevin Bianchi: It makes me so sad that like they saw a crowd of people outside their show.

[7:10] Quincy Brown: And the first instinct was, is somebody hurt?

[7:14] Kevin Bianchi: Well, that's why he was like, that's when we got the inkling that this was our project to mess up.

[7:19] Quincy Brown: He was like, we were essentially getting more credit from audiences than we were deserving of, especially in the out-of-town trial, because the show was just so flawed, but audiences were loving it.

[7:28] Kevin Bianchi: So I thought that was interesting.

[7:29] Quincy Brown: Very interesting.

[7:31] Kevin Bianchi: But he said, that's when we knew we had a hit.

[7:32] Quincy Brown: He was like, it took us a while to realize we had a phenomenon.

[7:35] Kevin Bianchi: And I was like, that's a pull quote.

[7:38] Quincy Brown: Yeah, truly.

[7:39] Kevin Bianchi: So I'm riding a high from that.

[7:41] Quincy Brown: And I'm ready to dive into this listener episode.

[7:45] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I am too, because I think kind of like along the lines of what we were just saying is like, it's nice to see like other people enjoying Wicked.

[7:53] Quincy Brown: When I was like listening to all of these responses, like, maybe that's like what put me in the mood to watch that video of the little kids today, because I was just like, oh, yeah, like, I don't know, like we talked to like every one of our guests about like the show's place in their life.

[8:06] Kevin Bianchi: And it's like really cool to hear all of those responses from the listeners too.

[8:11] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I don't know.

[8:12] Kevin Bianchi: You guys didn't give like canned answers to our questions.

[8:15] Quincy Brown: I feel like you really all took time to think of thoughtful responses and record a voice memo for us.

[8:21] Kevin Bianchi: So I'm very appreciative.

[8:22] Quincy Brown: Yeah, and a lot of people went kind of like kind of deep, but like people shared some very like lovely things with us.

[8:28] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, and also what I was surprised about is like, how many international voicemails we got.

[8:34] Quincy Brown: We are like the goddamn UN, Kevin.

[8:37] Kevin Bianchi: South Wales, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[8:40] Quincy Brown: I'm from Vienna, Austria, Manila, Philippines.

[8:43] Kevin Bianchi: I'm from Germany.

[8:44] Quincy Brown: Coming to you from the Emerald Isle of Ireland.

[8:47] Kevin Bianchi: Like when we launched the Green Circle, there was a lot of international people that were saying they weren't able to subscribe, which sorry, guys, we're working on it.

[8:53] Quincy Brown: We're told that you are.

[8:55] Kevin Bianchi: So we're figuring it out.

[8:56] Quincy Brown: But that was kind of the first inkling where I was like, oh, do we have international listeners?

[9:01] Kevin Bianchi: And then these voicemails.

[9:02] Quincy Brown: I was like, oh, wow, we do.

[9:04] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[9:05] Quincy Brown: Call us Jenny DeNoya.

[9:07] Kevin Bianchi: So funny.

[9:09] Quincy Brown: But yes, we got some listeners from literally all over the world, which was very cool.

[9:16] Kevin Bianchi: So before we jump into that, though, we do have some choices, options and bootlegs for you.

[9:23] Quincy Brown: But so far, these are some choices, options and bootlegs from your fellow listeners.

[9:29] Kevin Bianchi: So we will catch you on the other side.

[9:32] Quincy Brown: See you in the main section.

[9:35] Kevin Bianchi: Hey.

[9:40] Unknown speaker: OK, Alice Fern doing this wild riff in Wizard and I gets me through a bad day.

[9:49] Unknown speaker: So I listen to this all the time.

[9:51] Unknown speaker: Here we go.

[9:55] Unknown speaker: Same.

[9:59] Unknown speaker: Are you kidding me?

[10:02] Unknown speaker: The wizard.

[10:04] Unknown speaker: That would be a really good warm up.

[10:06] Unknown speaker: The wizard.

[10:08] Unknown speaker: The wizard.

[10:10] Unknown speaker: Oh, well.

[10:12] Unknown speaker: OK, so for my choices, options and bootlegs, I want to talk about the bootleg with Donna Vivino and Ali Mazi.

[10:18] Unknown speaker: It's during I'm Not That Girl when Elphaba is hiding under the bridge and Glinda and Fiyero walk out.

[10:23] Unknown speaker: I believe that the Fiyero and Glinda are supposed to share a kiss during this moment.

[10:27] Unknown speaker: So the choice I noticed Ali Mazi make was that Fiyero goes in to kiss her, but then she stops him and pushes him away.

[10:34] Unknown speaker: I love this choice so much because this has to be the moment her Glinda realizes Fiyero is modified.

[10:39] Unknown speaker: For my own choices, options and bootlegs.

[10:41] Unknown speaker: Oh, my. I had to go with the Queen, Julia Murney singing Spark of Creation from Children of Eden.

[10:49] Unknown speaker: The video has been a part of my Broadway favorites for the better part of the past decade.

[10:55] Unknown speaker: And it always gets me how the look of the choir changes behind her when she opens up and sings that first big belting note at the beginning of the song.

[11:04] Unknown speaker: And it just is proof that Julia Murney is an absolute icon and legend.

[11:09] Kevin Bianchi: So, Quincy, our shtick is asking how did Wicked come into your life?

[11:15] Quincy Brown: Yeah, and you actually came up with that idea for that to be our first question way back in the day.

[11:20] Kevin Bianchi: And I have loved that ever since because it really primes everybody to talk about the show in like a personal way and not just like this was my audition.

[11:29] Quincy Brown: This was when I signed the contract.

[11:34] Kevin Bianchi: This was my like technical experience with the show.

[11:38] Quincy Brown: So I always love hearing everybody's response to this question.

[11:44] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. OK, so we've been hearing from so many of our guests how Wicked came into their lives.

[11:50] Quincy Brown: And now we're going to hear from some listeners how this wonderful musical came into their lives.

[11:58] Unknown speaker: Wicked came into my life when I was six years old, when I saw it with my theater camp.

[12:05] Unknown speaker: Wicked first came into my life when I was seven or eight and my gym teacher would play Defying Gravity while we were jump roping, which was super fun.

[12:11] Unknown speaker: And then I finally saw the show when I was 13.

[12:11] Unknown speaker: When I was in eighth grade and I heard Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel battle it out to the ballad version of Defying Gravity on Glee.

[12:19] Unknown speaker: So that's when it really became part of my life.

[12:19] Unknown speaker: To be honest, I first heard Defying Gravity in Glee.

[12:22] Unknown speaker: Wicked first entered my life when I was watching Glee about four years ago.

[12:27] Unknown speaker: And when I heard Defying Gravity for the first time, I just fell in love with it as everyone does, I guess.

[12:34] Unknown speaker: I became obsessed and went down a crazy Internet rabbit hole of finding every single woman who ever played Elphaba and Glinda and find every single video I possibly could of every different pairing.

[12:46] Unknown speaker: And I really haven't stopped since then.

[12:48] Unknown speaker: I was at school and one of my friends was playing the cast recording at break time and I bought the cast album from our local shop.

[12:56] Unknown speaker: Record Shop. And I went home and played it over and over again, and my parents must be absolutely sick of it. By then, I didn't actually see it in person until 2009. And that first time, oh, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Like, I couldn't believe it. It was absolutely everything I wanted it to be. I actually went to the show, I saw the original Chicago cast, Miss Anna Gosteyer, and I hated it. But I wasn't the biggest fan of Wicked, actually. Like, it didn't appeal to me in the way that it does now. I didn't like it that much. But I kept listening to it, and I let it grow on me. And now it's, like, my favorite musical of all time. I was 15 years old, and I was actually very anti-Wicked at first because I, you know, The Wizard of Oz is such a, you know, story close to a lot of people's hearts.

And I was very upset that they had tampered with it in any way. I was a purist, but a good friend of mine recommended the cast recording, and I trusted her judgment. So I listened to that, watched a really bad bootleg of Idina and Kristen on YouTube, cried for two hours later, and the rest is history.

[14:00] Unknown speaker: In 2003, I was a freshman in college and had come home for the weekend, and my mom had gotten a flyer for it in the mail. And knowing that I was a huge Wizard of Oz fan, she showed it to me and was like, Hey, should we go see this new show? I think it's only in town for a few weeks. Little did we know that it wasn't only in town for a few weeks. It was in previews, and her, like, discount code on the flyer was for a few weeks. In 2013, I saw it on tour at the Boston Opera House with a group of my church friends. And me and those same friends had been on a trip, like, a month or two before. And we spent the whole drive listening to the Wicked soundtrack, and every spare moment we had listening to that Wicked soundtrack.

We wanted it memorized by the time we saw that show, and we did. A really great friend of mine in high school had created this montage video of us all and had put For Good over the top, and I was instantly obsessed. Her and I then booked tickets to go see the opening cast, and then we saw Idina and Helen Dallimore in December of 2006 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

[15:14] Unknown speaker: Wicked first came into my life when I was 12 years old, and I was looking up to sing a song for an audition, and I heard someone singing Defying Gravity. And I was like, oh my gosh, what is that song? I need to learn it. And you know, I saw snippets when I was little of Wicked. I never really looked into it until I heard that song. And then I started watching bootlegs, and I became obsessed. Within the first year or so that it opened on Broadway, my mom was a choir teacher and came to New York City as a chaperone on a school trip where they saw Wicked. She doesn't remember for sure, but we did some research, and we think she saw Shoshana Bean. The first national tour was opening, so we had ads everywhere around the city for Wicked, and it had the iconic two witches.

And I remember being so curious about it and being like, oh, what's this show about? How do I get to see it? And the Toronto run sold out so quickly. You could not get a ticket for it. So when it was announced that the first national tour was returning to Toronto, I begged my parents to book me tickets for my birthday.

[16:21] Unknown speaker: Throughout that whole year, while I waited patiently for Wicked to return to Toronto, I just went down the YouTube rabbit hole. I was a freshman in high school. My youth group, which I am no longer a part of, took us on a trip to New York City, and we voted on seeing Wicked, and I had no idea what I was in for. In 2003, I was finishing my master's program and reading the novel, and that's about now when Wicked premiered. And I just remember hearing about it and thinking there's no way they made this book into a musical. It's so complicated. It's so deep. How are they going to do it? And then seeing the Tony Awards and hearing the soundtrack and thinking, yeah, I need to see this. I need to see this now.

I want to say summer of 2005, I was on a good, deep YouTube dive of my obsession at the time, which was the movie version of the Phantom of the Opera. And in the recommended videos section on YouTube, there came up this video of Wicked at the Tony Awards. So I clicked into it and my life was changed for good. Like the Idina Menzel Tony Awards Defying Gravity video that lives in my mind forever. I think it's the spark to me.

[17:28] Unknown speaker: In 2006, I was taking a drama class at the local library. I don't know how this topic was brought up, but I was talking about how much I loved The Wizard of Oz. After someone explained the basic premise of Wicked to me, I raced home, got on the computer, and listened to samples of every song on their website on repeat. So Wicked first came into my life because of my love of The Wizard of Oz. As a little kid, I had the little dolls of all the four main characters. I remember making my mom cut out a little yellow brick road for me out of yellow construction paper. We drew all the bricks on it. The minute I heard those first chords blasting from my car stereo when I got the album on Christmas Day in 2003.

I was getting in the car getting a ride to Once Upon a Match's rehearsal as a freshman in high school with some seniors and they were listening to it and they're like, oh my gosh, have you heard of Wicked? You have to listen to it. Now at this point, it had been out for like five years and how I didn't know about it, no idea. But I just remember that was the first time I ever listened to it. So then I saw it later and of course the audacity of these women who do it eight shows a week. Come on, I'm hooked.

[18:47] Unknown speaker: Wicked first came into my life when I was around 12 or 13. My best friend from my childhood, she knew how much I loved The Wizard of Oz and how much I loved the Wicked Witch of the West. I don't know why, I just did. And she told me about Wicked and she showed me the music and I immediately fell in love with it and it became my whole life. I went into this store called Media Play. I don't think they even have Media Plays anymore. And I just randomly picked up the cast recording and I took it home and I put it in my white Sony CD player and I listened to it and like read through the program notes and just fell in love with this show. And you know, it's kind of funny. We actually were not going to see Wicked. We were going to go see The Lion King, but mom really wanted to see Wicked. So we gave her what she wanted and we went inside. I'm so glad we did because I've been obsessed with it ever since.

[19:36] Unknown speaker: It was the trailer from London with Idina Menzel and Helen Delamore and that was the advertisement back then from Stage Entertainment for the 2007 opening of Wicked in Stuttgart with Willemijn Verkaeck and Lucy Scherer. Back in 2008, I was a freshman in high school in a little town up in Michigan and I was in band. And for our spring concert, one of the pieces that we performed was selections from Wicked the musical. So I remember rehearsing this music and it was so fun to play and it was exciting. And so, you know, I did my research. I listened to the soundtrack. I watched a few YouTube videos. I read Gregory Maguire's book. When the show first opened, I had a drama teacher who came to me and said that she was taking the senior class to see the show and I needed to buy the album.

And I was scared because I was a massive fan of both The Wizard of Oz and The Wicked Witch and prequels, especially back then, weren't the greatest things in the world. So I thought that they would wreck it and I made it as far as no one warns the wicked when I realized that it was a very special show with a lot to say. I was a closeted theater kid who was just trying to soak up everything Broadway and this show came out and fully changed my life. I had never heard anything like it and the story resonated with me and these women inspired me and I was fully obsessed.

[21:07] Unknown speaker: My older sister had been obsessed with the Rent movie and Idina and then when she was in this new musical, Wicked, she got the CD and so, you know, she listened to it. So, of course, I was listening to it. I was obsessed with The Wicked Witch and The Wizard of Oz. So I thought, what a perfect musical this is. Seeing the show and I was like, oh my god, this is theater. This is what I want to do with my life. Quincy, you know, it kind of blew my mind when I was listening to these answers is it never dawns on me that like everyone hasn't known Wicked for 17 years. That's interesting. I like forget that there are middle schoolers currently discovering the show for the first time.

[22:00] Unknown speaker: Well, was I with you when someone was like, yeah, and soon Wicked's going to be taught as like an olden musical and I was like, wait, what? It's a contemporary show. It's a contemporary show, but like. So like in 2010, Rent was approximately as old as Wicked is now. So it's like it is at the point where it is like a teachable part of theater history.

[22:16] Unknown speaker: Oh, and I was also surprised at the people who said they didn't like Wicked to begin with, particularly at the person who was like, yeah, I really hated it at first, but then I just like forced myself to listen to the music and then I fell in love with it. I was like, OK, wait, you just like gaslight yourself into liking Wicked for no reason? Like what compelled you to keep listening to it if you didn't enjoy it?

[22:37] Quincy Brown: Truly gaslit, gatelit, gate kept, girl boss. Yeah, no. And there was like a few people who were like, yeah, it wasn't my jam at first, which is just nice to be reminded as somebody who went from zero to one hundred with this show immediately. I got my first taste and then I was all in. I was hooked. Yeah. But it is humbling to remember that not everybody feels the way we feel about this show. Someone I felt like particularly bad for is the person who said that they were introduced to Wicked through Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel's cover of Defying Gravity on Glee.

[23:17] Kevin Bianchi: There were so many who said that. Really? Yeah. There was like there was more than I think like made it into that montage. I remember having the wherewithal, even when Glee was in its heyday, to be like, this is not it. Like this cover was not arranged in a way that it should have been.

[23:33] Quincy Brown: OK, but also like you learned about anything goes from Glee. Lindsay Pierce belting anything goes, not Kurt Hummel in his falsetto hitting the high note in Defying Gravity. That's a fact.

[23:43] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, you mean the two of them specifically? Yes. I'm not talking about Glee. I thought you meant Glee as an introduction. I was like Quincy. No, I got introduced to Rocky Horror through Glee. But that specific cover of Defying Gravity was an atrocity. And I can't believe that like Glee. I don't think this is controversial to say on record even.

[24:04] Quincy Brown: No, I know. I thought it was universally accepted that it was just like a horrible, horrible rendition of Defying Gravity. It's not good. Especially when you have Lea Michele. I'm like, make her belt. Don't put Kurt in it. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen.

[24:15] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. And I mean, I think it goes without saying that a lot of people's introduction to Wicked is the Tony video or the recording of the Tony performance, which is so funny because that feels so like far away for me that it's so funny that like that's a touch point for people.

[24:29] Quincy Brown: Oh, that's interesting. See, because I discovered like the bootleg world of Wicked before I discovered the Tony performance. Do you remember like watching that on the Tonys?

[24:38] Kevin Bianchi: I definitely was not watching that Tonys.

[24:43] Quincy Brown: Oh, see, I like do remember.

[24:47] Kevin Bianchi: No, the Tony performance isn't the one that sticks for me. I think they performed on like Letterman or something and did a similar style Defying Gravity. Am I making this up?

[24:54] Quincy Brown: Oh, yes. Which is crazy to think about it now. I haven't seen this in a long time, but yes. Imagine Wicked hauling Defying Gravity to like a late night talk show and getting Idina Menzel up in that cherry picker. That's crazy. That's actually so insane that they did that. That is nuts.

[25:11] Kevin Bianchi: Like Parker in How to Do the Wizard Knight. But yeah, I think that is more of like the touch point for me than the Tony performance. That's interesting. I haven't thought about that video in a long time. That's when you could say I turned into an Elfie enthusiast.

[25:20] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I bet it was. Speaking of Elfie enthusiasts, we got quite a bit of submissions from those who also identified. That was smooth as hell, Quincy. Did you not clock what I was doing two sentences ago? It was really smooth. It was really great. We got quite a few submissions from Elfie enthusiasts, more so than Glinda gals, would you say? Way more. I started with like 40 minutes of Elfie, or like maybe 30 minutes of Elfie.

[25:53] Unknown speaker: I had to narrow it down to like eight and I started with maybe 12 minutes of Glinda.

[25:59] Unknown speaker: You heard it here first, kids. That proves some sort of point that I've been trying to make.

[26:03] Unknown speaker: Well, no, let's let them argue my point for me.

[26:07] Unknown speaker: Yeah, let's let them argue.

[26:09] Unknown speaker: Play the music.

[26:15] Unknown speaker: Elphaba taught me that everyone deserves something.

[26:20] Unknown speaker: Elphaba has taught me that good deeds may not always be rewarded, but we should do them anyway.

[26:25] Unknown speaker: Those like, what would Jesus do bracelets? I always ask myself like, what would Elphaba do? I find myself asking myself that quite a bit.

[26:33] Unknown speaker: Elphaba has taught me to stand up for myself and stand up for others.

[26:38] Unknown speaker: Elphaba taught me to always stand up for what I believe in, even if it's not the most popular opinion, no pun intended.

[26:45] Unknown speaker: Well, Elphaba taught me that it's okay to be different and fight for what I believe in.

[26:49] Unknown speaker: Elphaba taught me to stay true to yourself and to what you believe in.

[26:55] Unknown speaker: Everything. It has everything that you could ever want in one character. And I just think she's such a badass and so headstrong.

[27:01] Unknown speaker: And I could watch just about every bootleg or cover in the world. But every so often, I will cry tears of joy listening to Defying Gravity over the sheer power and inspiration of the song. I find strength in her and her fight to get to where she is. To me, her wickedness isn't evil, but believing in herself in order to fight for those that may not be able to. Elphaba as a character is so tortured and it's just like this beautiful tragedy that she goes through.

[27:34] Unknown speaker: It's hands down the music for me. I mean, The Wizard and I is just the most perfect, I Want song ever. She just has the better songs in the show, I think. I can fulfill my destiny regardless of the pathway that's put in front of me by others.

[27:54] Unknown speaker: Definitely, I love what Elphaba stands for as a character and I love that she defies all the limits that are thrown at her.

[28:02] Unknown speaker: I think I am more of an Elphie enthusiast. Elphie from the get-go is unapologetically herself. She's just the one that I can relate to more as an introverted bookworm myself. And I feel like you kind of can't help but root for her from the start.

[28:21] Unknown speaker: I would say I am probably an Elphaba enthusiast more so because, like many people, I know how it feels to grow up an outsider and be afraid of showing the world your power and such.

[28:38] Unknown speaker: I also think that the character of Elphaba in particular has been kind of a hero for marginalized communities, communities of color, the LGBTQ plus community. I think the show really resonates so much with LGBTQ plus people simply because of the journey that Elphaba goes through.

[28:53] Unknown speaker: Her story is very familiar to me being bullied growing up for being different and not realizing what that difference was until recently when I actually came out to friends and family.

[29:09] Unknown speaker: There are so many ways in which I feel different as a queer person, as an adoptee. It just resonates so much with me and has meant so much to me at so many different points in my life. And it's always felt like a kind of beacon of hope.

[29:28] Unknown speaker: Elphaba was really the character I identified with when I came out in eighth grade. Dear God, what a horrifying experience. But no matter how my day went at school, I'd come home and I would grab my broom and my fierce cape I bought at Spirit Halloween and sing Defying Gravity and everything would be fine.

[29:46] Unknown speaker: I think what Elphaba has taught me mainly is that you can achieve the unachievable. Now, obviously, I'm not going to go jump off my roof and try to fly, but I know I feel like that my love for this musical is what's going to be my drive to be part of this production. And Elphaba taught me that I can do that. If I'm willing to put the work into it, anything's possible.

[30:09] Unknown speaker: It really taught me to not be ashamed of any insecurities that you have. She's different and that people have tortured her for this. But there's also power in that, taking something that she is embarrassed about and turning it around on everyone. And it's now the source of her power. And I think that was really moving and something that encouraged me.

[30:28] Unknown speaker: The character of Elphaba really did change me for good for so many reasons, but mainly because she really made me believe that different was cool. I really looked at Elphaba and thought, that girl is so cool. And it helped me embrace that quirkiness and about myself and love who I was, because I was like, even if I'm weird, like you can still be like the coolest person in the room, even if you're not understood.

[30:49] Unknown speaker: And that where we end up at the end of the story might not be where we thought we would end up, but where we needed to be. Elphie's story resonates with me in so many ways. And I've always felt a little bit green in so many ways in my life. So it's always brought me comfort and brought me strength and brought me hope through the best and the worst.

[31:12] Unknown speaker: You know what I loved from all of that?

[31:14] Unknown speaker: Tell me.

[31:15] Unknown speaker: The person who said, whenever I need to make a decision in life, I think, what would Elphaba do? You know, like those bracelets? What would Jesus do? That really got me.

[31:27] Unknown speaker: And also I was like, should that be merch? Should we make a, what would Elphaba do bracelet?

[31:31] Unknown speaker: Okay, that's a cute little button. But then are the Glinda gals going to want? We'll think of something for us.

[31:37] Unknown speaker: I'll think of something for us. If you're ever in a situation asking yourself, what would Glinda do? I think we have some bigger issues.

[31:43] Unknown speaker: Moving on.

[31:45] Unknown speaker: As soon as you can't see, but that really grinded Kevin's gears. One connection that a lot of people made that was like obvious to me because it's like the connection that I made, but it was still really nice to hear all of the stories was like everyone who connected to Elphaba because they were part of a marginalized community of some sort.

[32:06] Unknown speaker: Because it's like, yeah, that is so like inherent. Like you watch the show, she is an othered person. Like that's maybe a very easy connection to make with the show. But hearing everybody's like individual personal experiences was really nice.

[32:22] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[32:22] Unknown speaker: One, I also felt kind of validated because remember when we were on, we did our friend Ryan's podcast, Why Are You Like This? And he asked why Wicked? And I talked about how everyone always says that feeling of being the other, they really related to. And that was kind of their entry point in. And definitely there is a level of that for me.

[32:42] Unknown speaker: But like really what my entry point in was, was like the belting and the singing and just like the good songs and talent. And like the responses we got from the Elfie enthusiasts were pretty like split between like those who resonated with the character and those who I think someone even said that she just has the better songs and it was the belting for them.

[33:05] Unknown speaker: And that's always been a source of insecurity for me as a Wicked fan, where I'm like, I'm not like I am. For the same reason you said Willamine in your interview all those years ago. Just makes me feel very dumb and shallow, which I'm going to circle back to later in this episode, Kevin.

[33:24] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[33:25] Unknown speaker: So it was nice to know that I wasn't alone in being like, yes, yes, yes, all of that. And all of that is very important. But also like she sings really high. Do you hear this coach?

[33:36] Unknown speaker: Now I will say, Quincy, since you were so rude about Glinda earlier, it's not that I necessarily would ask myself, what would Glinda do in many situations? But if I did ask myself that the answer would be, she would mature a lot and have a really interesting journey.

[33:55] Unknown speaker: Bringing that back. I feel like it's been, well, I'm making a transition. I'm not as good at this as you are. I thought you were just being petty. I was like, Kevin, that was crazy.

[34:05] Unknown speaker: No, I was like trying to like take you into my opinion and then be like, so there are also listeners who agree with me. I literally was like, wait, this is insane that he's bringing this up right now.

[34:18] Unknown speaker: All right. So anyway, here's the Glinda girls.

[34:21] Unknown speaker: I wanted to sympathize with Elphaba. I wanted to be the main character. That's what she is. And that's everyone wants to be an Elfie enthusiast, right? And no matter how hard I tried, I just was actually not the like radical activist that Elphaba is. I'm still too much of a goody two-shoes.

[34:39] Unknown speaker: If someone said, you want to come change the world with me? Get on my broomstick. I'd be like, no. Glinda taught me to forgive my past self and be open to becoming a better person. And that truly changed me for good.

[34:54] Unknown speaker: Glinda actually taught me not to judge a book by its cover. She's a lot stronger and more complex than what I used to give her credit for. Just the older I get, the more I appreciate Act 2 Glinda. Because when I was like eight, I wanted to be Act 1 Glinda. And now I'm like, oh, like her story is so compelling. And I feel like people don't appreciate it enough.

[35:12] Unknown speaker: I'm totally a Glinda girl. The costumes, everything. She's my number one dream role forever. And then Glinda taught me the fashion, the glamour, and everything.

[35:21] Unknown speaker: Yes, Abe and sister. And Glinda taught me that when people change, it isn't always a bad thing. We all evolve and grow as people. And it's okay to be a different person than who you were five years ago.

[35:35] Unknown speaker: I am definitely a Glinda girl. I'm 100% that soprano bitch. And I am also quite short. So I think I connected more with Elphaba. And I understood more of her. But I just so wanted to be that popular, effortlessly beautiful person that everybody loved.

[35:57] Unknown speaker: I think she has one of the best character developments in all of Broadway. Glinda has taught me that not everything is about me. And that sometimes my happiness comes at a cost.

[36:07] Unknown speaker: Glinda actually has a really relatable story that people might not realize that they can so easily identify with. And it actually wasn't until I was listening to this podcast that they really kind of opened my eyes to the pain that Glinda goes through throughout the story too, and how much that she loses.

[36:26] Unknown speaker: Just because it's so relatable to the average day life. You're presented with these decisions between your professional life and your personal life. And it's that navigation of, did I make this right decision? Am I doing this right? And I really think that's something that everybody can relate to.

[36:45] Unknown speaker: Honestly, this is going to probably push me to listen to that Louise Dierman, No One Mourns the Wicked compilation on YouTube.

[36:53] Unknown speaker: Kevin, you can start this little Glinda section.

[36:56] Unknown speaker: Oh, I can start the little Glinda section.

[36:58] Unknown speaker: I'm such a dick. I love the response that starts with, of course, I want to identify with Elphaba. Like, of course, I want to see myself as the main character, because everybody wants that. It got me. It got me.

[37:12] Unknown speaker: And I think that it is important and valid to note that not everybody has the gene to be the radical, to not have the radical side of them that makes them an Elphaba.

[37:25] Unknown speaker: Kevin, this is what I was going to circle back to earlier. Listening to these Glinda gal submissions made me realize something about myself.

[37:34] Unknown speaker: Yes.

[37:36] Unknown speaker: In that, in every way that I, that Quincy Brown is as a person and personality wise. And I think, I tend to think you would agree with this.

[37:47] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[37:47] Unknown speaker: I, as a person, relate to Glinda's sensibilities more in the sense where, like, if I was in the same situations, I would be a Glinda. However, I have the wherewithal to make that distinction in my head and be like, oh, but Elphaba is the more interesting, better character with better songs. And that's where I fall on the whole debate of it all.

[38:05] Unknown speaker: And what made me realize that was the listener who said, if someone came up to me and was like, hey, you want to change the world? Get on my broomstick. I would say no. I would not.

[38:16] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[38:18] Unknown speaker: Cut to me arguing you about that.

[38:21] Unknown speaker: Okay. So bring that understanding with you to the Gershwin the next time you see the fucking show. Nobody, but this does circle back to what they were saying at the end was it's like, I think that Glinda is way more easily relatable than people realize she is.

[38:38] Unknown speaker: A hundred percent. And this, it, it all circles back. Everybody wants to like sit high on their horse and be like, I would tell the wizard to fuck off and fuck off.

[38:50] Quincy Brown: I would fly into the sunset. No, bitch, you would say, I'm so sorry, Your Highness, let me go see what's wrong with her. Yeah, no, on this podcast, I am high on my horse. I am riding the Elphaba wagon. And I get it. I love a schtick. But I do think it is important to acknowledge that maybe while people connect with Elphaba on an aspirational level, perhaps they should reflect on the idea that maybe they are like Glinda, and they should do the work that Glinda does during the show to become more like Elphaba at the end. Do you want to drop your microphone? Kevin.

[39:29] Kevin Bianchi: What?

[39:30] Quincy Brown: Just when I'm forgetting. Just when I'm forgetting. But you always come back with a moment of deep analysis.

[39:40] Kevin Bianchi: Well, that's what it is. It's I relate to Elphaba on an aspirational level. And maybe in some ways, listeners, we're getting deep here at Sentimental Men. Maybe in some levels, Glinda represents a lot of things that I don't like about myself. And that is where we're going to draw the line on Sentimental Men.

[40:00] Quincy Brown: Yeah. And I have therapy on Saturday. Moving on. Also, special shout out to the fellow sentimental who was like, she taught me glamour. She taught me. I cackled. I actually laughed out loud. The sparkles, the glamour. I was like, yes, bitch, she did. I found it very touching and heartwarming to hear the reasons why you guys stick around with Wicked and why Wicked has been such like a consistent favorite for all of us throughout our entire lives. Because like, realistically, I don't know if I have another show that I love and like am a fan of in the way I am with Wicked. Like I have a lot of shows that I think are really, really incredible. And I revere in such a high artistic way, but not that I'm like so enveloped in as a fan, if that makes sense.

[40:51] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I agree. And I mean, it was the question that we asked that like sparked all of these answers was just like, what has kept you a fan of the show? People answered in a much more emotional way than I think we were expecting. It's great. So I think we should just roll these responses.

[41:08] Listener: It taught me that I am allowed to be passionate about things. It's OK to be unapologetically yourself. You don't need to feel bad for doing what you want to do. I'm like kind of emotional when I talk about this, but I mean, they've taught me how to stand up for what you believe in, how to not take life too, too seriously, how to stand up for others, how to be a voice for those around you, how to be a voice for the voiceless and to stand in integrity. And during a time when integrity has been challenged, I think this show's message is very integral to remember.

[41:50] Listener: All the actresses who have played Elphaba and Glinda, too, have honestly changed my life in a way that I can't truly explain. I think more than really being changed specifically by either one of the characters, the biggest change is just Wicked led to really a love of musical theater for me. I think the show has universal themes of empathy. It has universal themes of friendship. I think that the characters have taught us a lot about standing up for your values. And that's something that can obviously resonate with anybody of any age. And I think, if anything, Glinda and Elphaba have taught me that no matter who's put in our life for however long or for whatever period of time. So I think about that a lot, to not take for granted the people who are in my life, no matter how long or how short of a time period it may be.

[42:46] Listener: Wicked is about a lot of things, but there is an incredible message about friendship and how these relationships grow over time. Sometimes you grow apart from the people you love the most, and that's okay. Good and bad, their handprints are on your heart. Things will change, but you'll never forget them or how much they mean to you.

[43:04] Listener: What has Elphaba or Glinda taught you? Well, mostly in my life, I think that friends and being a good friend to someone else is key. As we learned early on in Wicked, it's not always your immediate family that helps you getting through stuff, but it's your friends.

[43:20] Listener: To appreciate the friendships that I have, especially those that are deep and that I've held for years. I've had friends since I started college back in the late 90s and up till now that I can still truly call some of my best friends. And this show kind of amplified, you know, to cherish those moments and those friends.

[43:42] Listener: You do not need to be identical or have similar interests in order to make beautiful and fulfilling friendships. Glinda and Elphie are so different from each other, and yet they complement each other beautifully. And the evolution of their friendship and knowing that they have each other's backs, just love them. I think that one of the lessons that the show teaches us is really that we are both of these characters. There are shades of us that are vain and shallow and self-absorbed, but really beneath that is a real person. And then there's the other side where we have integrity and sometimes you pay a price for that. I have been a fan for so many years now, and it's kept me a fan because it just gives me so much joy, whether I'm watching a bootleg or listening to the cast album or whatever I'm doing. It's my number one show forever, and it was my gateway to Broadway, so I'm forever grateful for that.

[44:50] Listener: I think it really was the first time I felt understood the other fans and the large fan base, this podcast, for example, and knowing that there are so many enthusiastic other Wicked fans out there.

[45:04] Listener: What's kept me a fan all these years is honestly the high belting, but on top of that, it's a bit of a comfort blanket for me. It's a story full of warmth, humour, friendship and, you know, also the high belting.

[45:15] Listener: Something that's kept me a fan over the years is probably how relatable the show is. I feel like this story can resonate with anybody in any time, in any point in life. I've seen it a lot, and every time I see it, it hits me in a different way. It just gets me, and because I've watched it over the years, I come at it and I change my perspective on a few scenes, and because they play it differently, you appreciate different lines and different scenes more every time.

[45:46] Listener: The show is just so different each time it's performed, even though it's the same show. Although the show is, what, 18 years old now, somehow it still is incredible. It's still so fresh, and the topics are still so relevant even today. It's a show that I just keep introducing to people in my life that don't know musicals well, and that is the thing that gets them hooked. The music is just amazing. It's a story that not everyone knows, but everyone knows The Wizard of Oz, and so everyone is really, really intrigued by it. I introduced it to my grandma, like, three years ago, and she asked for the Wicked CD for Christmas, and I got it for her, and she listens to it all the time now. She is obsessed.

[46:36] Listener: I think, for me, it's a combination of the music, I just love the score, the beautiful story that is timeless, and, of course, when you're in the rabbit hole of all the different interpretations, all the defying gravities, all the alpha bars, all the riffs, the different languages. The costumes, the story, and all the Little Wizard of Oz references definitely kept me a fan over the years.

[46:57] Listener: The initial, like, love for the story and just, like, the magic of the show, it's so beautiful and so captivating. The timeless and fantastical story combined with a superb Stephen Schwartz score keeps me engaged in the material even after all these years.

[47:13] Listener: If you've seen the show, you know Wicked is seriously a feast for the senses. I love learning about the technical aspect of any Broadway musical, whether it be costume, makeup, or set design, or even to the props. Anything I learn about Wicked, it just revamps my love for the show. And at this point, I doubt there's anything I really don't know about the show, because I love, I watch interviews and backstage tours and all that to learn whatever I can about the musical.

[47:45] Listener: Well, the music is just so amazing. The spectacle of the show is just, you know, it's unheard of. And the storyline has really, you know, touched me in, you know, in a big way even more recently here in my life. The music, like Defying Gravity, The Wizard and I, or I'm Not That Girl and For Good, is what kept me a fan of the play and, of course, the whole story.

[48:22] Listener: This show is such a cornerstone of our industry. I love what it means to so many different people. You know, I think one of my favorite things is, Wizard of Oz is so beloved and so cherished in American culture, and I love taking things that are simple and looking at them from a different angle or from all different sides. And just to see, like, that whole other side of this story that I loved as a kid was amazing to me. And just the way it was turned into this incredible musical was just, it really grabbed my attention. I was just obsessed with it as soon as I saw it.

[49:58] Listener: The whole theme of what makes people tick, I had been interested in that from the time I was very young. I was interested in the villains much more than the heroes because I felt they had a story to tell. There was a reason that they became the way they did. And this show was just such, so encapsulated that. As far as, like, the content of the show itself, I would say the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda, just their friendship and also, like, the journey that both of them go to throughout the show. I just really enjoy seeing that play out in their individual character growth.

[50:34] Listener: I also love the friendship of Glinda and Elphaba. How two different people became best friends. I became a really big fan of Jessica Voss and kind of followed her career. So when she went to Broadway, we went up and saw her a few times, including her last show, which was incredibly cool to see that. I've also gotten to know Jenna Claire Mason through her musical theater school. My daughter's participated in that and she's become a friend in quarantine. Hello, the number of not-so-talented women who have come through that show. It's hearing all the different vocals and seeing all the different actresses portray the characters that have come to mean so much to me.

[50:57] Listener: 100% all of the amazing leading ladies that they keep casting for Elphie and Glinda. There are just so many amazing women that have played both Elphie and Glinda. And everyone plays them so different. So we have a lot of options to listen to. All the different casts that have been out there, all the women that you've been interviewing, all everybody. I'm always excited to see each new Elphaba and Glinda bring their own spin to the roles and continuing to spread the message of Wicked.

[51:42] Listener: Once bootlegs were available and you could not just hear Adina, but Shoshanna and Eden and of course, our Queen Stephanie. I always love listening to the different performers that do it and hear what they do with it. I'm a riffnista. I love listening to all that stuff and the various choices that they make with it. That's what's kept it exciting for me over the years. You know, whether it's a vocal riff or different acting choices, or maybe she's a little bit more quirky this go around. I think the fact that each individual person brings something so different than the last, it's almost like a completely different show. And that's really exciting. I don't think a lot of Broadway shows have that capability. The radical different interpretations throughout the casts, throughout even the languages really. Knowing that they brought in such amazing talent as Julia Murney and Stephanie J Block and giving these performers a chance to just shine in the brightest.

[51:47] Quincy Brown: What's kept me a fan over the years is it takes forever to learn about all the casts and all the changes and all the tech behind it. So it's just been an endless kind of pit of knowledge that I've tried to engross myself in. The show in general is just so good that like every couple months it's like no matter what you think you have to go back and just listen to it a couple times. Listening to these responses, I had a thought where I was like, because everyone's talking about why they love Wicked so much and what part of Wicked they love and blah, blah, blah, blah. And they're touching on literally like every aspect, like the acting, the singing, the technical, the costume, the production. It really made me realize that Wicked really came together, like every aspect of Wicked married in such a perfect way that like does not happen in musicals very frequently at all. Actually, even in a lot of long running musicals, that, my friends, is what separates a hit from a phenomenon.

[52:45] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, bitch, you want a pull quote?

[52:49] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I mean, it's such an economic show, like every piece of it is there because it needs to be and there's nothing extra. Well, the things that feel like extra are there for a reason.

[53:00] Kevin Bianchi: That's true.

[53:01] Quincy Brown: You gotta let Elphaba breathe for a second before she starts to find gravity. It was just like really like it really is lightning in a bottle and I'm trying to think of another show that that all happened. I don't think we have to do it right here, right now, unless you have an example.

[53:14] Kevin Bianchi: It's Les Mis. It's like Wicked and Les Mis are the only shows that like got it all right and will just duplicate itself from now until the end of time.

[53:25] Quincy Brown: And like A Chorus Line. A Chorus Line is the only other show I can think of like that, that is like exactly right as it originally was.

[53:32] Kevin Bianchi: Sure.

[53:33] Quincy Brown: You know what I loved about all these responses was how many people have been kept invested in this show by the actresses like you and I.

[53:42] Kevin Bianchi: It's true. I think, again, something that I think sets Wicked apart from a fan point of view is that like it's so interactive to be a Wicked stan because it's like, well, have you seen this video? And like, who's your favorite this? And like, well, which option do you like the best? And it's like we have this wealth of resources to make the conversation about Wicked never ending. Like we just talked about this show for a year and we have not run out of shit to say.

[54:10] Quincy Brown: You guys haven't gotten bored of it yet, right?

[54:12] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[54:13] Quincy Brown: It's also interesting to think of from like an actress's career perspective where it's like, so the media company I was working at over the pandemic had this joke that if the media company retweeted you, you would get the company bump and that like you would get all these followers and then like people started to like view you in a different way because our company retweeted you. And it kind of feels like when you get cast as Elphaba, you get the Wicked bump in like every aspect.

[54:37] Kevin Bianchi: Totally.

[54:38] Quincy Brown: And it really is like a bookmark in your career, I think.

[54:41] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. I mean, I think until something harder or more monumental or more anything arrives, like Wicked will always be the most impressive thing that someone's done. You know what I mean? Like, not the most impressive. It's just like, oh, they ran the marathon. They did that like Iron Man.

[55:00] Kevin Bianchi: Right. Well, and it's like the thing where it's like you meet somebody, you know, they ask like what you've been in, you say you were in Wicked and people, it clicks for people that you're at a certain level of your industry. And when you can say, I was in Wicked, and I was motherfucking Elphaba, or yes, and I was Glinda the fucking good, that carries weight, you know?

[55:23] Quincy Brown: Should we talk about our favorite bonus stories?

[55:25] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I mean, but this is like the impossible task, because we had like 45 bonus stories to listen to, and they were all really good.

[55:35] Quincy Brown: What was one that just like stuck with you?

[55:38] Kevin Bianchi: One that stuck with me, partially because the story is funny, and partially because the listener had me like cackling listening to it, was the woman whose family was really religious, and she could not believe that they were encouraging her wickedness. I was raised in a very conservative family, so I couldn't even believe that they had agreed to buy me something that had a witch on it. So we went to the first national tour. Yes, Stephanie J Block was my first. Thank you very much. It was iconic and a religious experience to this day. My mom was like, we're gonna leave if there's even the beginning of a spell, if I hear even the beginning of a spell or any type of witchcraft, we're leaving. And like, truly, by the time she heard Eleka Naaman, she had not, she was too invested to leave. She was fully hooked as well. I couldn't believe it.

[56:29] Quincy Brown: Oh, I thought it was interesting. The guy who took a pop, I think it was like a pop musical theater studies class, he said, and they brought in No One Mourns the Wicked. In the year 2003, I was in a class called pop musical theater studies, and the teacher brought in No One Mourns the Wicked. Nobody knew what the show was, and he said it was from this new show that's coming out. And the interesting thing was, when I first read the lyrics and sang the song, I always interpreted as being sympathetic towards Elphaba, like, Oh, No One Mourns the Wicked. No one cries, they won't be gone. It isn't that terrible. I always thought that it was a song that was calling for empathy for Elphaba, and obviously, it isn't.

[57:12] Kevin Bianchi: One is Wicked a pop musical theater score?

[57:14] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I would say so.

[57:15] Kevin Bianchi: Am I just like, so? Am I of a contemporary age?

[57:19] Quincy Brown: Not pop in the sense that like, Spring Awakening is a pop, you know what I mean?

[57:22] Kevin Bianchi: Like, that's what I would consider. Or even like, Dear Evan Hansen is like a pop score.

[57:26] Quincy Brown: Yeah, but you have to think in 2003, like, it was definitely a pop. Our idea of a pop score has gotten poppier in the last two decades.

[57:37] Kevin Bianchi: But the interesting part of that story is that he thought that it was like, a song of empathy, and not of which I remember being a little 12 year old gay listening to the CD. And I remember always being very confused because I knew the context of the show of the song in the show was like anti Elphaba, but the line and the like musicality of No One Lays a Lily on Their Grave always sounded so sad to me, for some reason. And I remember always feeling like it stuck out and it was like a little like, something that was like, that like made it off.

[58:16] Quincy Brown: What was another favorite?

[58:18] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my god, I loved the story of a listener who just really wanted to see Carrie Ellis and kept missing her. First time I saw it then was in the summer of 2007. I saw it in London. And I really wanted to see Carrie Ellis. And we got there for the matinee on a Saturday and she was off. And my parents were so sweet that they saw that I was upset that they agreed to bring me again that evening. So we saw it twice in one day for the first time out, which was very special. But we had Shona White both times who was amazing. And then a couple of years later, they wanted to take a trip to New York. And lo and behold, Carrie Ellis was doing it on Broadway at that time. So we booked our tickets for Tuesday, the 11th of November. And Carrie Ellis's final performance on Broadway was Sunday, the 9th of November 2008.

[59:10] Quincy Brown: And then the parents bought him a ticket.

[59:14] Kevin Bianchi: What great parents.

[59:15] Quincy Brown: To go that evening. My mom would literally be like, screw you, you saw the show, we're going home.

[59:21] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my god.

[59:22] Quincy Brown: You're welcome, by the way.

[59:24] Kevin Bianchi: I took off work for this.

[59:28] Quincy Brown: I also love the guy who like accidentally saw Adina's last performance on Broadway.

[59:33] Kevin Bianchi: I had seen the original cast of the show, minus Adina Menzel, who was filming a movie. I loved it. And I loved Eden Espinoza, who had gone on for her. But in 2005, I was given an opportunity to go to New York, and this was going to be the last week that Adina was in the show. So I bought tickets to the January 7th performance, two nights before she was scheduled to leave. And saw it, fifth row center, was blown away, got to meet her after, cried like a baby, as did most of the audience, and flew back to Detroit only to discover the next day that she had fallen through a trap door and was injured, meaning I had seen her last full Broadway performance, which is one of, to this day, the greatest honors of my life.

[1:00:23] Quincy Brown: Oh my god. You know what that reminded me of? You know, on Drag Race, when they're making over the veterans, and the one that Jinx Monsoon has is like, I killed Judy Garland?

[1:00:35] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[1:00:36] Quincy Brown: That is what this reminded me of. It's just this like, I just happened to go see the show, and then she fell.

[1:00:46] Kevin Bianchi: But that's iconic now. Like, that's history. I wish I was there.

[1:00:49] Quincy Brown: That's great. Yeah.

[1:00:51] Kevin Bianchi: So those are some highlights, but all the stories were super, super fun and exciting to listen to.

[1:00:56] Quincy Brown: That was nice. Before we wrap up, should we let some more of our listeners take us through some stuck on SJBs?

[1:01:06] Kevin Bianchi: Let's do it!

[1:01:07] Quincy Brown: Some SJB stories?

[1:01:08] Kevin Bianchi: I think this is so fun. Yeah, take it away, listeners.

[1:01:11] Listener: When my daughter Louise was about 15 or 16 months old, I went down a SJB rabbit hole, unsurprisingly, of watching like every video I could find of her. And at one point I was watching it, and Louise comes wandering up and watches it, and she just stares at the screen like wide-eyed and obsessed with her. It ended, and she just looked at me and started crying like big, heavy sobs, and she just kept going more and more. And so she wouldn't stop crying until I played SJB over and over again. So my current stuck on SJB is Stephanie J. Block and Julia Murney. So we've got two witches for the price of one singing all that jazz during their Wicked Divas concert in Columbus, Ohio. But they look like they're having so much fun.

And the way Stephanie says jazz at one point is like hysterical, but also I'm obsessed. And then their harmony at the end is everything. But it's just such a good little performance that shows like how amazing they both are, but like how much fun you can have when you're singing with your friends.

[1:02:29] Listener: My stuck on SJB is from Susan Blackwell's video series, Side by Side by Susan Blackwell, where the cast of Falsettos gathers at Stephanie's home for Thanksgiving dinner. And they are laughing and talking and gabbing, and SJB is exuding hostess with the mostest energy. They're playing party games, answering questions, telling stories. It is hysterical and a joy to watch. One of my favorite shows is the Pajama Game because your girl loves a good labor strike. And SJB and Sebastian sang a duet from it a couple months back called There Once Was a Man. It's this funny, clever and witty duet between two people that is competitive in the same vein as anything you can do, I can do better. But better because it's a love song. It is beautiful. It's them one upping each other of how much more the other person loves them. And it is just so funny. And they clearly love singing together. And they're having a good time. And it's a little bit country, and I love it.

[1:03:14] Quincy Brown: Oh, guys, this was so fun.

[1:03:18] Kevin Bianchi: I hope you enjoyed this journey through Wicked with us with each other.

[1:03:25] Quincy Brown: Yeah, and it was a pleasure to hear from all of you. Thank you for sharing your stories with us. We have a really, really fun interview coming next week.

[1:03:34] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, next week, Quincy, finale of Oztoberfest.

[1:03:37] Quincy Brown: With a very fitting guest, I think.

[1:03:39] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I'm pumped.

[1:03:40] Quincy Brown: So I'm very excited. Stay tuned for that. I think it's gonna be a very good listen.

[1:03:44] Kevin Bianchi: Stay tuned.

[1:03:46] Quincy Brown: And have a good week.

[1:03:48] Kevin Bianchi: Have a great week, guys. Go outside. Touch some grass.

[1:03:51] Quincy Brown: Kevin, thank you so much.

[1:03:52] Kevin Bianchi: Quincy, thank you so much.

[1:03:54] Quincy Brown: I've had the time of my life.

[1:03:56] Kevin Bianchi: And I owe it all to you.

[1:03:59] Quincy Brown: You've been listening to Sentimental Men. This episode was produced and edited by your hosts, Quincy Brown and Kevin Bianchi. You can reach us at sentimentalmenpod at gmail.com or on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at sentmenpod. You can support the pod by leaving us a rating or a review or by subscribing. Subscribers get early access to our regular episodes, monthly bonus episodes, and get added to the sentmen green circle. Which is literally our close friends on Instagram. Thanks to Giulia DiMarzo for our thrillifying artwork. And thanks to you for tuning in. Till next time, I'm Quincy.

[1:04:38] Kevin Bianchi: And I'm Kevin.

[1:04:39] Quincy Brown: I'm sorry, did we blaze through that?