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[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome to the Theatre Podcast. I'm Alan Seales, your host for the show, and our guest today is Alyssa Fox. She's the standby for Elphaba on Broadway in Wicked. This continues our Wicked takeover. If you haven't listened to any of the previous episodes, just pause, scroll back through your feed, make sure you listen to everybody else, but then come back to this one because wow, Alyssa was so much fun to talk to. She's got this great story of being with Wicked, I think she said for 12 years, whether it was with a tour or the San Francisco production, and then she took a brief break to be Casey Levy's standby in Broadway's Frozen. So, her incredible journey is absolutely fun, and I can't wait to share it with you.

So, find me online, Instagram and Twitter, of course, at Theatre Underscore Podcast, leave a rating, leave a review, find me on TikTok, whatever you want to do, whatever your method is, reach out, let me know you're listening. And now everybody, please enjoy this episode with Alyssa Fox.

[1:17] Alan Seales: Today's guest was one of the original cast members of Frozen on Broadway, where she covered the role of Elsa. After she let it go, she started traveling the country as the understudy for Elphaba in Wicked, but we're getting to the timeline of all this. Okay, so first she was in the San Francisco production in the 2012 national tour, then she led the national tour in 2015, became the Elphaba Broadway standby in 2016, which she then left. And that's when she went to Frozen, and now has come back to Broadway as the Elphaba standby. She's a coach who likes to talk about fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming true Disney royalty. Alyssa Fox, welcome to the Theatre Podcast.

[1:55] Alyssa Fox: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be joining you today.

[1:58] Alan Seales: The way I read the bio, it makes it sound like you coach people on talking about fulfilling their lifelong dreams of becoming Disney royalty, but that's not how it sounds. It's misplaced modifier. Tell us about your Disney royalty dreams.

[2:12] Alyssa Fox: So I grew up with a great love of Disney and Disney princesses, and the storytelling that goes on there. And it was my first introduction to acting and storytelling while singing. And I always wanted to be a singer, and that was number one. So that was kind of how I saw what I could possibly do in the future, because I didn't really know about Broadway and musical theater. So I always thought that I would be a Disney princess or a voice in an animated film. But I actually got to embody an actual Disney princess or queen on stage as a person, not a disembodied voice. And that was really, really a dream that I got to accomplish that I think younger me would be very proud of.

[3:07] Alan Seales: Was there any specific movie that you were really attached to when you were a kid?

[3:14] Alyssa Fox: Well, all of them, but I loved Pocahontas. I loved Beauty and the Beast. I had a Beauty and the Beast poster on my wall and a Little Mermaid poster on my wall. Little Mermaid was like my favorite, probably. I had my mom fast forward through the Ursula parts, though.

[3:25] Alan Seales: Yes, yes. I love that stuff. As a Disney, my grandfather helped build Disney World. He was on the engineering project management team. And so we went there all the time when I was a kid. We'd go visit grandma and grandpa down in Florida, and we would go to Disney World for free because we went with him. So my love for Disney is incredible. And we got all the movies, watched all of that stuff on repeat, wore out the VHS tapes.

[3:59] Alyssa Fox: Absolutely. In the plastic cases.

[4:06] Alan Seales: Yes, yes. The clamshells. The clamshells. Yes. Shelves and shelves and shelves of those clamshell plastic VHS holders. Oh, I love it. I love it. But was that the impetus for starting to get into musical theater? Was the Disney love and I guess Little Mermaid and whatnot?

[4:20] Alyssa Fox: Yeah, I think that I didn't really get into theater or musical theater until very much later. And I always knew that I wanted to be a singer, but Disney was kind of the way that I saw that that could be possible to make a career out of singing and expressing emotion and storytelling. So that was kind of like, it was like I had a precursor to musical theater before I even knew it.

[4:56] Alan Seales: Well, yeah, that I think touches children in a way that they or touches the humanity, right? Like storytelling, singing, there's always the dancing, it's animals, but it's presented. It's presented in a way that is consumable for younger children.

[5:13] Alyssa Fox: 100%. I think that's it's a really great introduction to like theatrical expression. Right. And I think it brings people into this world where there's the messages about acceptance and the messages about finding your chosen family or your real family or by trying to be someone you're not. And that doesn't work out. So you have to be yourself. Right. There's a sense of like authenticity. And that's what we all kind of aspire to. So I think there are a lot of good things about growing up with Disney.

[5:49] Alan Seales: So Disney kid turned into obviously performing adult. Was there a Disney adult, a Disney adult and a performer? Proud, proud Disney. Was there a time, a touch point, a turning point at any point during the young or teenage years where you said, this is what I want to do, this becomes my career? Or you know, you're still not there yet.

[6:10] Alyssa Fox: I knew I always wanted to be a singer. That was always number one. But I didn't really know what that was going to be. I think maybe at a certain point, I thought that I was going to be like a recording artist or something. But then I grew up singing live and I got a real attachment to live performance. And that is there's nothing like that, like singing for an audience and having that energy in front of me. I grew up singing in church. So that was like the big thing where I was. I just loved it so much. And so I think I didn't really do a lot of theater. I did like church musicals and things like that. And then like some school things. But I was more into choir. And then once I once I think it was not until my senior year of high school when I discovered Wicked.

When I discovered Wicked, I was like, oh, this is it. This is it. I'm going to do this. So I was a little older. I think a lot of people start when they're very young. I always knew I wanted to sing, but theater became like the thing pretty late. I discovered it as in like just the cast album.

[7:35] Alan Seales: The cast album.

[7:36] Alyssa Fox: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we're pretty we're similar in age things. It was the same for me. It was like that around that time for me when the cast album for Wicked came out. And then I started just going down this rabbit hole of other things like rent, right?

[7:54] Alyssa Fox: Yes. And I was just like absorbing literally every bit of musical theater ever. The old stuff, the new stuff, the classics, the modern, weird concept musicals. I just gained a wonderful appreciation for this new, exciting thing in my life.

[8:14] Alan Seales: Have you thought back about what it was about musical theater that really made you latch on? Because there's being in church, there's literal spirituality, being in the real world, there's all sorts of different cliques and groups and whatnot. And so why musical theater did you say this is where I want to put my energy?

[8:40] Alyssa Fox: You know, it was a lot of it was listening to Idina sing and the power behind it and the emotion behind it. I was like, you know, I sang with emotion anyways with church. And so that that kind of started my expressive love for singing. And so when I heard it, I was like, oh, this is different. And I looked at a picture of her and I was like, oh, this is like my type. I can do this.

[9:16] Alan Seales: You do look very similar.

[9:17] Alyssa Fox: I know. And now I get to do both Elsa and Elphaba. There's like a pipeline there. Idina is the connection there. But it was really like I heard it the first time and I was like, this is it. This is it for me. And so it became it was like my first realization of, oh, Broadway is it for me. And I just went from there. That was like this, the jumping off point. And I just dove in deep right off the bat.

[9:52] Alan Seales: What is it? October 30th. Yeah, we're coming up on 20 years of Wicked. It opened October 30th, 2003.

[10:00] Alyssa Fox: Three. So it's next year. So 19. This is year 19.

[10:06] Alan Seales: Right. Oh yeah. That's math. Math is hard. Right.

[10:10] Alyssa Fox: I'm not a math person either.

[10:12] Alan Seales: You ever take a global shutdown in a pandemic? Yeah. Well, we'll see. Your brain gets a little fuzzy.

[10:17] Alyssa Fox: Yeah.

[10:18] Alan Seales: And we just delete the two years that we kind of had off there. You know, and it's still kind of going in and out. Okay, so yes, Wicked is currently the what? The fifth longest running Broadway show in history has won more than 100 international awards. Right. So you got started with Wicked, you were saying, 12 years ago.

[10:37] Alyssa Fox: 2010. I started as the understudy for Elphaba, for Idina Desminosa, who's incredible.

[10:44] Alan Seales: Also could be your twin.

[10:45] Alyssa Fox: Right. We all kind of like all the Elphaba's kind of look like sisters, you know, and then we become sisters by doing the role. But yeah, so I understudied. I was very young. I had no idea what I was doing. I had never done like a big production contract like that before. I kind of started up here. And I my story of getting getting the job is a is a journey in itself. I knew that I was in college. It didn't really work out for me. I wasn't much. I was not a good student. So I dropped out and I saw that there was an open cattle call, non-equity cattle call on Playbill.com. And I was like, I'm going to go to New York and I'm going to go to this cattle call and I'm going to get Elphaba. It's just what's happening. It's like I knew I was like, this is what's happening.

[11:42] Alyssa Fox: And I did not have a lot of money. I never had a lot of money. I grew up with not much. So I spent the $500 in my bank account, flew to New York for the first time ever. I'd never been to New York. Went to this open cattle call and I did what I knew that I was going to do. And so initially, I got my first job from a non-equity cattle call in 2008. A long, long, long ago. That's insane. It's insane.

[12:20] Alan Seales: You were, I know you grew up in Dallas.

[12:26] Alyssa Fox: In Dallas. Yeah. So we're in Texas. Were you still there in college?

[12:31] Alyssa Fox: I was living in Oklahoma City. I went to Oklahoma City University, where I had an incredible voice teacher, Vicki Kelly, who is now retired. But it was an interesting experience because, like I said, I was not a good student. I probably should have gone a different direction. But I did learn a lot. I also learned that college was not for me. And so I was like, I want to work. Let's go. Let's go. I'm ready for this. Let's go. So I left. And I think it was a good decision. I think it worked out pretty well.

[13:05] Alan Seales: It seems like it was pretty good. I'm doing fine.

[13:11] Alyssa Fox: So you show up in New York, non-equity cattle call. 500 girls waiting outside, outside in the rain. Was it specifically for Elphaba? Or was it just the generic union required annual thing?

[13:29] Alyssa Fox: It was just the generic kind of thing where they just had four or five rooms of assistant casting directors and then the main casting director's room that you're moved into if they like you, if you pass the first test. But it was like using eight bars, acapella. And so they just bring people in and out like fast, like hundreds and hundreds of people.

[13:53] Alan Seales: Did you sing from Wicked?

[13:56] Alyssa Fox: I sang. So I had just done Little Women at OCU doing Jo March, and I sang Astonishing. I sang eight bars at the end of Astonishing. And then once I moved to the other room with Craig Burns, he had me sing a little bit of the Wicked of Defying Gravity. And it was really crazy because I had no frame of reference for what an audition even was. So I was like, this is what it's like. And then now I'm like, wow, that was really crazy. Eight bars acapella. What a strange thing to ask for.

[14:31] Alan Seales: Did they have you read or anything? Or was it just...

[14:33] Alyssa Fox: No. I mean, the cattle call was like, I don't know.

[14:37] Alan Seales: Did they have you read or anything? Or was it just...

[14:38] Alyssa Fox: No. I mean, the cattle call, like, obviously, they want to get people in and out. Yes. So they had me. I mean, I came back and I left at that time. And then I got a call a couple months later. And they said I was on their list of people to call back. And I did not have an agent. I was pretty like doing things myself. The decision was myself. And I kind of kept going that way. So I had the casting director calling me personally on my cell phone while I was working at a tea shop in Oklahoma City. So I flew back and forth to New York probably five different times over the year and a half between when I first did the cattle call and when I booked Wicked in San Francisco.

[15:24] Alan Seales: Wow. That's insane.

[15:26] Alyssa Fox: It's a wild story. Once I booked the show, I had $18 in my bank account. And I didn't know how I was going to even afford food that weekend. So Wicked really changed my life and turned it into something that I am very fortunate and lucky. And I am so lucky to be doing to be able to go from that to this is just a complete turnaround.

[15:57] Alan Seales: We're going to take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode.

[16:07] Alan Seales: Did you ever think that you would be living? I mean, I think the understudy, standby, swing life is so difficult, so much harder in a different way than sustaining the lead eight times a week.

[16:24] Alyssa Fox: Yeah, it messes with your head. It really does. And most of my career has been standing by. Like the vast majority of my career has been standing by.

[16:34] Alan Seales: Well, I think it's hard to find people...

[16:35] Alyssa Fox: I think I'm built well for it.

[16:36] Alan Seales: ...who can go from zero to 100.

[16:40] Alyssa Fox: Right. Well, you were saying before we started recording that you went on recently on Broadway for Elphaba and you hadn't gone on for six months before that?

[16:48] Alyssa Fox: Yeah. So I was filling in. I filled in on and off when someone was injured or had COVID, jumping in and out of the show like three different times from September to now. So I got to perform back in November or December was my last time. And then this past Wednesday was my first time back.

[17:13] Alan Seales: So how does it work for... I think it's sort of different for every show, but we've got... Let's see. Allie Trim is the Glinda standby. You are the Elphaba standby. Emily Rogers is the Elphaba understudy. Celia Hottenstein is the Glinda understudy. So we've got understudies and standbys. So how does it work in terms of when you know you're going to go on versus like, are you hanging out in the wings during the whole production? Is there a certain point like when act two goes up where you're like, all right, now I can go home?

[17:47] Alyssa Fox: Yes, actually. Luckily, in Frozen, it was not like that. We couldn't leave until... It's all up to the stage manager. But as long as the understudy is in the building, the standby, at least we can leave once the downbeat of act two happens. I usually stay later because I get stuck to that dressing room couch. It's very comfortable. But I am always in the dressing room ready to go, not painted or anything, but just mentally at work. But I do get to have this job where most of the time is waiting, is being patient. And once I get to go on, I usually find out day of, sometimes very close to the show, sometimes hours and hours before where I can tell people to come to the theater. But usually, it's pretty last minute for a standby. And we don't usually know dates that we're going to be on until day of. Unless there's like planned things.

[19:05] Alan Seales: Yeah. So the standby... So the understudy goes on if it's like a vacation thing, if it's known well in advance and the standby is there. So usually, it's kind of up to the stage manager again. But usually, the standby will go on is the first line. First line of defense is the standby once the lead is out. And then if the standby is out, then the understudy will go on. And the understudy has their own ensemble track too. So they're in the show every night.

[19:26] Alyssa Fox: Right, right, right. So your whole job is to know everything about Elphaba. And not going on, though, do you do put in rehearsals? Do you do touch ups?

[19:36] Alyssa Fox: Yes. Because the lead Elphaba is probably so tired and doing all the shows. Either I or Emily Rogers will do rehearsals when a new person comes in. Usually, they have us jump into those things. So yeah, we do definitely have rehearsals and things like that.

[19:58] Alan Seales: But it's not for you. It's for other people.

[20:02] Alyssa Fox: Usually, yeah. Well, I've been doing it such a long time that they're like, oh, you're fine. We'll have like one day of rehearsal. Then you'll be you're fine. Right? I was like, yeah, definitely.

[20:13] Alyssa Fox: Yeah, yeah. There was a show that I did at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Not quite the caliber of Broadway. It was like a 25-minute show that during the height of the summer, we would do 10 times a day. We love a theme park, but that sounds exhausting.

[20:30] Alyssa Fox: Oh, my God, it was. And somewhat ironically, last night, I was with one of my Busch Gardens friends. And we just started busting out my opening number. And it's been a decade. And it's in there.

[20:43] Alan Seales: And it just sits and never, never leaves.

[20:47] Alyssa Fox: Exactly what I thought. So I had been doing Frozen for a few years. And then the pandemic happened. So it had been five years from the time I came back to Wicked. And I was like, I told Mary Beth, the stage manager, I was like, I don't know that I remember anything. And she was like, okay, well, let's just run through it and see what you remember. I started I was like, it just started to come out of my mouth. And I started to move my body. And I was like, it is in there. Yeah, I remember everything. And so it made me think like, what else is in my brain that I have stored that I just can't unlock until I start doing it?

[21:26] Alyssa Fox: It's pretty wild that I it just, it's in you. Once you do something and you memorize something and work on something and repeat it that many times, it just there's a groove in your brain, you know, it just wears.

[21:39] Alan Seales: There's a smell that like smell, what is it smells is the most, the memory is the most most tied to memory.

[21:46] Alyssa Fox: Yes. And I imagine very, very good sense of smell. To my detriment.

[21:52] Alan Seales: New York is not the city for you during the summer.

[21:56] Alyssa Fox: I mean, truly, it doesn't smell great. I love you, New York, but you're a little stinky.

[22:03] Alan Seales: You're a little stinky. I was walking around in the 98-degree heat last night, and it was a lot stinky.

[22:06] Alyssa Fox: Yes. Yes. Yes. So the whole city like melts.

[22:13] Alan Seales: Yes. I was imagining that what I was saying was, I'm sure if you haven't been on stage in a while, but you put, I'm sure that the paint has a smell, right? So it's got to, it's got to have powder, the paint, the dressing rooms, the theater itself. So as soon as you like, if you're in Dallas, if you're somewhere else, right, then it's going to take a little bit to get back into it. But when you go back into that group, you fall into that, that track, literally, it's a track, right? You fall into that. And then you all of a sudden, you get to the other side, you're taking your bowels and you're like, Oh, yeah, I remembered everything. That was yes. Wow. Yes. Oh, I just did that. I remembered it and we did it. Yeah. And, and, you know, you just got to be careful not to like go completely on autopilot when it's that like built into your body. You're like, okay, wake up. Let's do this show right now.

[23:06] Alan Seales: Do you have trouble with that at all? Of, of, of, I guess, being detached from it after not doing it for a while versus overthinking it? Because I, I find that, you know, some people, when they overthink it, that's when they start to forget words, but when they just let it go.

[23:24] Alyssa Fox: No pun intended for Frozen. Let it go. When they just kind of let it go and let the nerves go away, which I don't know if that ever happens, it comes more naturally. And like you said, everything just blurts out. Yeah, I feel like sometimes it's like people always say like doing starting Wicked and doing Wizard and I right off the bat is like being shot out of a cannon. So that's a crazy feeling because you have to just run out on stage and then it just goes from there. You don't really get a break as Elphaba. It's just a marathon of running around and screaming is what I always say. Running around and screaming. Okay, so your audition story insane. Pretty wild. First time you wanted to be on stage since you're a kid.

Discovered Wicked helped you get into theater the first time you're going on as Elphaba on Broadway. End of Act One, Defying Gravity, getting hoisted up that damn cherry picker. Do you remember that? Do you remember what you were feeling in that moment?

[24:29] Alyssa Fox: No. I think usually for shows, you don't really remember anything. You just do it and then your brain, once the curtain comes down, you're just like, how did I do that? Did I do it? How did it sound? I have no idea. But I think there's a lot that's just like you get that first shot of the way. And then you're like, okay, I got this. And I've never struggled with nerves, but there are parts in the show like right before that cherry picker, when there are some technical things that have to be done, plus getting ready to sing the hardest ending to the hardest song. I'll add that on. I'll tack that on to Elsa too. It's always that final number in Act One. Act One finale is always the big one. And so the nerves don't really come into that point for me on stage.

I don't have much of the pre-show anxiety or anything, but it's more like on stage. There are these moments where you're just like, oh, I better be sharp. I better be on. You turn your brain on. You're like, I am present right here in this moment, doing the show. With the show's technical as Wicked and others, I just get so worried about, for myself, I would get worried about walking into a set piece, forgetting what's coming on and what's going off. It happens. I mean, I'm kind of a clumsy person. There has been numerous times where I have just bit it on stage. I just flipped and fell. I mean, it's happened in every show that I've done. I just got to keep my feet under me. But yeah, it is very much like there's so many moving parts. It's just walls come again, light towers, props, dancers who are just like really doing their thing, kicking their legs. You're like, okay, avoid that Leduca heel right there.

[26:41] Alyssa Fox: Did you ever go down the dancing route? Or was that something that you've explored?

[26:46] Alyssa Fox: No. Oh, that is... That's a thing that I always struggled with. Always struggled with. My body doesn't really do what my brain wants it to do a lot of the time. Hence the clumsiness. So when I started in San Francisco, I was the understudy. So they put me in an ensemble track and I had no clue what I was doing. And I mean that in the realist sense to where the dance captain, Allison Leo, we were doing kind of the... She was teaching. She was trying to teach me the very minimal dancing my track had in Oz's ballroom. And she goes, okay, at the end of this, how do you feel about a Sine turn? And I looked at her and I was like, what's a Sine turn? I had no idea. I know what a Sine turn is now. And I can kind of do one, but don't ask me to do a full tap dance number.

I wish that I was better at dancing. I respect so much the people who just it's built into. It's incredible. Dancing is incredible. I've always envied true good dancers because of the amount of control and strength and natural strength you have to have. And physical expression. It's so beautiful. And I try to do that with my voice, but physically, that's such a different beast that it was not really my kind of beast. It was built for other things.

[28:32] Alyssa Fox: This goes back to what we were saying at the beginning. Actually, we're joking around about Idinas and the Edens. And there's a certain type of person who has the chops to do the Elphabas, which is not the same as the Glindas. And it's a sisterhood, exactly what you said, because it is so hard and so difficult. And to make it look as effortless as all of you do, takes some true, true talent. And especially when you're singing hoisted, what, 20, 30 feet in the air with one of the endings to one of the hardest songs on stage, right? It takes a lot of what's the word I'm looking for? Chutzpah! Yeah, there you go. I think that's exactly it. It takes a different kind of person. I don't think people understand how difficult it is mentally, emotionally, physically, vocally.

Elphaba is so difficult. It's exhausting. You can't really do much else in your life with the energy that you have left. And I don't think anyone really understands how hard that is, unless you've gone through it, unless you've done Elphaba. And so I think there is kind of a connection and a sisterhood there because it's like, oh, I know what you went through. You know what I went through. You know, the experience of how thrilling it is, but how draining and hard it is.

[30:17] Alan Seales: Well, the 2015 tour that where you were Elphaba.

[30:24] Alyssa Fox: Yeah, I played lead on tour. Yeah. So is that harder or was I assume it was harder. So correct me if I'm wrong, that you're not only are you doing this hard ass role, but you're also changing cities, changing sets, changing stages. Tour is hard. Tour is hard. Yeah. So doing the show full time was probably I think I took a step back and I was like, this is probably the happiest and most fulfilled I've ever been doing lead on tour eight times a week. Incredible. But it is harder. It takes over your whole life and especially on tour where it's kind of the only thing that you can do. You're living in this kind of bubble, traveling from city to city with the people that you've kind of made into your family.

It's very difficult. They usually put an Elphaba on tour first so they can kind of build up their chops. And that's it. Tour is difficult in itself, but doing lead on tour is it's just wild. It's a marathon and it's exhausting and it but it's so fulfilling there. I'm addicted to doing Elphaba. I really I'm addicted to doing Elphaba. I love it so much. It's a challenge and I just welcome every second of that.

[31:41] Alyssa Fox: Do you ever miss Elsa?

[31:49] Alyssa Fox: I do. Yeah. I mean, those costumes. Oh, I got to be a blonde. Right. Never thought that I would ever be blonde in my life. But that was fun. Beautiful costume, beautiful wigs and getting to sing like an iconic song and especially like all the kids in the audience loved it so much. And they would come dressed up in their costumes and Disney dreams there. And doing Elsa was really incredible. When that twinkle right before Let It Go happens of the piano, you can kind of hear the buzz in the audience and the energy because so many people know that song. So many people know Let It Go. And I do miss that feeling of like, oh, this this was my dream and I'm doing it actively. So, of course, I miss it. I love doing it. And the people that I got to be on stage with were just beautiful, wonderful people that will always be close to my heart.

[33:01] Alyssa Fox: It's such a great cast. And I know a lot of people from the original cast and I mean, especially getting to work alongside Kasey Levy and Patti Murin. Oh, my God. Like two of two of Broadway. What a dream.

[33:13] Alan Seales: Literal Broadway royalty. Kasey and Patti. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, my God. Iconic.

[33:18] Alyssa Fox: Yeah. Yeah. They were they were incredible. And I mean, the whole the whole show again, this is a this is one of those types of people that you put your shoulders back, you put your head up and you carry this show. Yes. And that that is that is pressure. That is emotional and physical stress.

[33:37] Alan Seales: Absolutely. Leading a company with grace and kindness is a feat that I...

[34:05] Alyssa Fox: Do you feel down to those ladies? Do you feel like you become like a sort of an unofficial CEO of when you're when you're leading a company, right? You set the tone for the rest of the cast.

[34:16] Alyssa Fox: Absolutely. I think a lot of it comes from not that not that the leads are like the top because we're all doing the same show. But I think there is a sense of like. You know, the people who are leading the show are very much. Yeah. Like you said, like the CEO of like I mean, we don't get to tell anyone what to do or anything, but there is like a tone that you set with your personality, your your energy. You know, if your leads have like high energy and are excited and present with what they're doing, you know, people feed off of that energy. You know, doing theater is so energetic and there's such a connection that vulnerable and what happens on stage and the connections made on stage is is goes very deep and runs very deep. So I think you're right. I think people that lead a company, it's it's a it's a responsibility in a way.

[35:00] Alyssa Fox: Yeah. So when you when you get the call, if you're like, I'm going on for Elphaba, is it just like, all right, I'm stepping.

[35:07] Alyssa Fox: Technically, right? Because you know what to say, you know what to say, you know where to move so you don't get knocked in the head, hopefully. But do you ever think about the emotional leadership aspect of it as well? Or does that come after the fact?

[35:21] Alyssa Fox: I know there's a sense of like, you have to be ready emotionally before you go out there on that stage to do the thing. You know, so but I don't I don't think I'm ever like actively like I gotta lead this company, you know, because there is a sense of like, we're all, at least in my mind, we're all equals. I know some people don't really, they like to be like the diva star. But to me, like, one of my mottos is I am better than no one and no one is better than me. And I think that applies very much to doing the show with other beautiful humans who are putting their hearts and souls and bodies and emotions and mental abilities into this thing that we're all doing together.

[36:14] Alyssa Fox: I think that I think that is very, very true. Because the whole thing, when you're in an ensemble, and especially when you have big dance numbers, you have to be aware of everything and everyone. Otherwise, like, I say it all the time on the podcast, this is the Olympics of theater. You are all at the top of your game. You have to be in tip top shape and be on it all the time. Otherwise, you kick someone or you fall down or you're hurt. Like, it can get serious.

[36:41] Alyssa Fox: And it happens. Live theater is, things happen. You know, a set piece doesn't come out on stage. Okay, well, we got to figure out what we're doing now in the moment while still staying in character and making the story still happen.

[36:57] Alyssa Fox: It's funny. I've had this conversation with my friend last night, my Busch Gardens friend. She was saying she saw something recently where a guy came out, sat on a chair and all four legs just went and like broke. And they didn't, it bothered her so much because they didn't, nobody acknowledged it. Nobody paid attention to it. And then just slowly, the state, some, some little hand came and behind the scenes and was like pulling the chair.

[37:25] Alyssa Fox: This happens all the time is if a prop breaks or something and something falls off or somebody drops something, everybody's got their eye on it, like in their peripheral and they're like, okay, working out in their mind. Okay, how do, how do I walk over there and grab this without it looking like, because you got to grab it off the stage. If there's something on the stage, these dancers are going to come off and if they don't see it, they're going to trip on it. So you better be active and be like, there's something on the ground there. Let me find a way. So while you're doing your lines and your songs and embodying this character and the story, there's a part, you kind of split your mind in half and you're like, there's a part where I'm like, okay, you got to do the technical part of go pick up this, go pick up this bell that's fallen off on stage. And, you know, someone eventually will do it, you know, scoop it up on stage.

[38:10] Alyssa Fox: People scoop it up or they'll kick it into the wings or something.

[38:19] Alyssa Fox: Exactly, or into the pit.

[38:20] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[38:21] Alyssa Fox: Yeah.

[38:22] Alyssa Fox: Chop up players like, damn it.

[38:24] Alyssa Fox: It's just like raining, raining bells.

[38:27] Alan Seales: Yes.

[38:29] Alan Seales: So let's wrap the episode with three questions. I ask everyone to end the episodes here. The first one just simply is what motivates you?

[38:39] Alyssa Fox: What motivates me? Love.

[38:42] Alan Seales: For?

[38:43] Alyssa Fox: Love for what we get to do. Love for the theater, love for the energetic exchange between performer and audience. Love for the community of Broadway and musical theater in general. I mean, we always say it's like a small community.

[39:03] Alan Seales: It is.

[39:04] Alyssa Fox: But it's also like if you spread out and kind of see all the people and all the kids and teenagers who love musical theater and Broadway, it can be like a big inclusive community. It's a place where everyone can belong and be a part of this thing. And so when you're on stage, you're like, this whole community is behind me and it's bigger than what I can even see. So that is very motivating to me is the love that people put into this thing that we all enjoy together.

[39:38] Alan Seales: That is such a beautiful answer. Okay. Next question. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[39:48] Alyssa Fox: So I'll say what my what my mom always told me is work hard and be kind and that and then other things will fall into place. You know, if you work hard and and you are kind to the people around you, things things fall into place. And I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought. Can you repeat the question?

[40:11] Alan Seales: So that was what advice would you give to yourself and then younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[40:17] Alyssa Fox: Yeah. So the advice I would give to myself when I was younger is work harder. Don't just glide on. You're like, okay, I'm just gonna be a singer. It's like, no, you have to put the work in. And I think that's something I learned from doing it doing Wicked when I was, you know, 23 and no clue what I was doing. You know, and I was always late. I was I was I was very chronically late. And so I think I would tell my younger self like, dude, stop being stop being late to everything. Like, it's not it's not cute. The show has to go on. And if people aren't ready to go, then it's not going to happen. So don't be late. Try to fix that in my life. But also, yeah, work hard and be kind. And I think advice for people who want to do this kind of thing in their life. What I always say to kids is absorb as much as you can. Look at the greats, you know, and learn from them.

[41:23] Alyssa Fox: I mean, if you just watch performance, you can get something out of it. It's a masterclass. And when I say absorb things, I mean, plays, musicals, movies, you know, reading books about theater, seeing how the whole machine kind of works, doing community theater, doing musicals at church, doing musicals at school. And that applies, you know, theater and musicals, you know, the same kind of deal. But yeah, I think absorbing as much as you can and letting it live inside of you, it can come out in a more genuine, beautiful, studied way.

[42:06] Alyssa Fox: So don't dance through life. Don't be a Fiera.

[42:12] Alan Seales: No, don't go on autopilot. Be present where you are.

[42:16] Alyssa Fox: Be an Elfie. Don't be a Fiero. There you go.

[42:19] Alyssa Fox: Don't be a Fiero. Maybe Act Two Fiero is fine.

[42:22] Alan Seales: Yeah, maybe be an Act Two Fiero.

[42:24] Alyssa Fox: Swinging in on that rope, saving the day, swinging in on that rope in the cornfield.

[42:28] Alyssa Fox: Be an Act Two Fiero, not an Act One Fiero. That's your new slogan.

[42:31] Alan Seales: There it is. There's my new motto.

[42:33] Alyssa Fox: There's your new motto.

[42:34] Alan Seales: Forget the other ones.

[42:36] Alan Seales: Alright, last question. If you can see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[42:44] Alyssa Fox: Oh my gosh. That's a really hard question. One show?

[42:51] Alyssa Fox: Yes.

[42:53] Alyssa Fox: There are so many shows, Alan.

[42:56] Alyssa Fox: But you can see it as many times as you want.

[42:57] Alyssa Fox: There are so many shows.

[42:59] Alyssa Fox: You're stuck on a desert island.

[43:02] Alyssa Fox: I know. I'm going to pick something and then I'm going to think about it an hour from now and be like, no, I want to pick another thing. And I'm going to change my answer. But I can't really do that. Right off the top of my head, the thing that I love right now is Hadestown.

[43:15] Alyssa Fox: I think it's so creative and beautiful.

[43:17] Alan Seales: It is.

[43:18] Alyssa Fox: And I've only seen it once, but I was on the third row. I got house seats, but I was on the third row. And once Wait For Me started and those lamps started swinging, I was just in tears. And so it's a beautiful story. And I think it was really creative the way that they did it.

[43:40] Alyssa Fox: I was listening to that original concept album, which I love. It's also like 12 years old or something.

[43:51] Alyssa Fox: It's so good, though. And some of the things are changed. I'm like, we shouldn't change that. So I'm like an old Hadestown fan. But right now, I feel like that's kind of what I would want to continue seeing. And I'll probably change my answer later, but that's the one that is right off the top of my head. I'm like, I just want to keep seeing that one.

[44:15] Alan Seales: That's a good answer. That's good. We'll go with that. Where can we find you online? Social media?

[44:19] Alyssa Fox: Social media on Instagram, which is pretty much the one thing that I've kind of concentrated on. Facebook, I don't usually even look at. Twitter, I'm kind of a lurker at Alyssa Fox. Instagram, where I usually reside, is at Alyssa Joy Fox, which is my middle name. But that's kind of where I am.

[44:43] Alan Seales: Alyssa Joy.

[44:44] Alyssa Fox: Alyssa Joy Fox. That's me.

[44:47] Alyssa Fox: But my equity name is just Alyssa Fox. My stage name is...

[44:53] Alyssa Fox: I'm not like a three-namer.

[44:55] Alan Seales: Never trust anyone with two first names.

[44:58] Alyssa Fox: There are so many, though.

[45:00] Alyssa Fox: I know.

[45:01] Alyssa Fox: Especially in theaters.

[45:03] Alyssa Fox: Like, oh, somebody's got this name? Okay, I'm going to add my middle name.

[45:06] Alan Seales: There's very many three-namers.

[45:09] Alyssa Fox: There was a hot minute where I thought I wanted to go by Alan Scott Seals.

[45:14] Alyssa Fox: Even though Scott is nowhere close to my middle name. Because I disliked Alan Scott Seals. I don't know why.

[45:20] Alan Seales: You disliked it?

[45:21] Alyssa Fox: I disliked Scott, yeah.

[45:22] Alan Seales: But then my initials would be Ass, and so I didn't.

[45:28] Alyssa Fox: Wait, I did not expect you to say that, but that's very funny.

[45:33] Alan Seales: But I would say maybe that's a reason to add Scott to your name.

[45:36] Alyssa Fox: Oh, alright.

[45:37] Alan Seales: Well then, welcome to the theater podcast with Ass.

[45:40] Alan Seales: I'm your host.

[45:43] Alyssa Fox: Wait, that's a different show.

[45:44] Alan Seales: I'm your host.

[45:45] Alyssa Fox: That is a different show.

[45:47] Alan Seales: The theater podcast, After Hours.

[45:49] Alan Seales: I'm your host, Ass.

[45:52] Alyssa Fox: Aster Hours.

[45:53] Alan Seales: Aster Hours.

[45:54] Alyssa Fox: Not rated PG.

[45:57] Alan Seales: No, don't say Aster Hours.

[46:00] Alyssa Fox: Aster Hours.

[46:01] Alan Seales: I am all about the dad jokes.

[46:03] Alan Seales: Alright, get more of me, thetheaterpodcast.com.