Interview: Marisha Wallace Is Living The DREAM-GIRL in The West End's 'DreamGirls'

When scheduling an interview with Broadway and now West End star: Marisha Wallace, I was quickly reminded that London is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so when we found an appointment that was congruently free; it was a little early for me... Flash forward to a 7am interview that started my day on the highest of notes: Marisha's bubbly and down to earth personality drew me in the first moment I saw her perform in the hit musical "Something Rotten!"

Previously performing in "Disney's Aladdin" and "Something Rotten!" on Broadway and "The Book of Mormon" on tour, Wallace now leads the way as one of the Effie Alternates in the West End's production of "Dreamgirls". Marisha was gracious enough to sit down and chat with me about her experience in the show that 'will never leave you' and her overall career.

Christopher Castanho: I have been a big fan of you since I saw "Something Rotten!" and you were hilarious as 'Eggie White', so I am super excited that you're doing great things in the West End.

Marisha Wallace: It happened so fast; I was still in Something Rotten! when I found out that I was coming here, on a Tuesday I heard that it was a possibility and then by Friday it was happening. I had to leave the show [Something Rotten!] that next day. It was crazy.

CC: Well why don't we back up and you can tell us a little about you, where you're from, where you went to school--

MW: I'm from Goldsboro, North Carolina. It's a really small town outside of Raleigh, and I went to school at East Carolina University for Musical Theatre and also Theatre Education, so I have a teaching degree. I taught high school for a little bit and then I decided to pursue performing.

CC: When did you move to New York?

MW: I never officially moved to New York [Laughs]. I was there back and forth because I have family who live in Brooklyn. So I would go there and audition and then get a job and leave. But in 2011 my husband and I finally subleased a place, so I guess that was kinda technically moving there, but I had been back and forth since 2007. So after we subleased our first place we moved to Brooklyn and then we moved to Harlem, which is where we are now.

CC: What was your first big gig?

MW: My first big big gig, oh my goodness...Well the first gig I got my equity card on was "A Night With Janis Joplin" I did the first production of that show in Portland at Portland Stage. There were actually only two people in the show originally: it was a blues singer and Janis Joplin. Now they have five black women [in the show], but I played all the black women [Laughs]: Simone, Aretha Franklin, Betsy Smith, but in one character. It was a really awesome experience cause I could use all of my character acting and I got to play with the way my voice can be a chameleon. Me and another girl shared the role, and it was a great experience. From there I did Oklahoma! in the first all black cast of Oklahoma! ever. I played Ado Annie, and that was my first big thing. It was at Portland Stage as well, but with a bunch of Broadway people: Rodney Hicks was Curly, Joy Lynn Matthews was Aunt Eller. It was great. And I did a lot of regional theatre. My first big big thing which has gotten me here was the "Book of Mormon" tour.

MARISHA in rehearsal for "Something Rotten!"

CC: You've worked with Casey Nicholaw a lot in "Book of Mormon", "Disney's Aladdin", then "Something Rotten! And now "Dreamgirls"

MW: After we worked together on Book of Mormon we just 'got each other.' You know how you just meet somebody and you're like 'Oh, you just get me. You get what I'm about. You can see me for who I am, before I can see who I'm going to be.' He already knew that I would be the person that I am today, before I even knew that! Every time he told me I could do something, I believed him. [Laughs] When he was like 'Oh, you can tap. Go ahead and do it.' Even though I had never taken a tap class, and then I learned how to tap six [dance] numbers for his show, because he believed in me, and he knows that I have a strong work ethic, which is really important to him. He knows that if I can't get it today, by tomorrow: I'll have it, because I'll go home and practice it for five hours. He's great and he sees in me what I didn't even see in myself at that time, and now because of that everybody else does. And that's amazing! [Laughs]

CC: It sounds like you and Casey Nicholaw artistically fell in love...

MW: Yeah we did! And I think we just fell in love personally too, because he's just great and we have the same sense of humor. He knows that if I'm in the room that I'm going to bring a good energy to the place and whatever he asks me to do, I'll at least try it. I will try anything and I think that's why people like to have me around because I'm game! [Laughs] 'Do a ponche over a small child' 'Okay!' I'll just do it!

CC: And most recently he directed this production of "Dreamgirls" in the West End. What was that audition process like?

MW: He told me that he was interested in me doing it, but when you do things on the West End it gets tricky, because you got Visas and producers over there, and it's expensive to get someone from the States to come do a show. So he kinda mentioned that he wanted me to do it, I sang for Henry Krieger, and I had just actually--It's crazy how everything- it's divine how everything was just lining up for this. I just worked with Henry Krieger on a reading and he had heard me sing this part that is basically Effie, just as a small child- in her teens, and this music sounds just like Effie. So I had just worked with him and then I got called to do this audition, which was really private but was great because I was singing this music for Henry and Casey. I have been singing this music forever and for the man who wrote it to be sitting there while I'm singing it was nuts: bananas. But I didn't get it, at the beginning. And I was bummed about it, but I knew there was a plan- it would happen at some point, it just wasn't happening at that moment. And then I saw Dallas Theatre Center was doing Dreamgirls in the summer and I was like 'Ya know what, I'm gonna go do it. Just so I can get it out- out of my artistic space. I'm going to do it my way and delve into this character, so I know that I can do it.' So I auditioned for that, and the choreographer of the Oklahoma! production I was in [at Portland Stage] was the director. I auditioned for it and he was like 'You're never gonna come do this, you're on Broadway!' but I got the part and asked Something Rotten! if I could leave, and they were so beautiful and amazing, and let me leave the show for three months and then come back. Which they don't let everybody do that! So I was very grateful to Kevin McCollum, he is a big supporter of me and believes in my talent. It's just really great to have those people in your corner to believe in you cause it really pays off because I got to do the role at Dallas Theatre Center. The production was rehearsed almost like a play, cause we dived so deeply into the backbone of these characters. And because of that process, the performance that I'm giving here in London is so layered and complex. I'm so glad I did that, and after the Dallas Theatre Center production I went back to Something Rotten! on Broadway, but I was auditioning a lot because the show got its closing notice. I had been getting to the end of [audition] calls: all the way to the end of Sunset Boulevard, all the way to the end of Waitress, and then not getting it. I was devastated because I'm spoiled [laughs] and I had gotten a lot of things very easily in the past. I have not really been on the audition circuit because I had always been booked and working, and I was in the throes of the audition season and I was so bummed. I do a lot of readings and I had done probably twenty readings this year of new musicals, so I was thinking in the year 2020 I'm going to be so booked [Laughs] cause it takes so long for musicals to get to Broadway. I was actually doing a reading when I found out that London had called and asked if I was available. It happened so fast, like four days and then I was here at the opening night.

CC: How long did you learn the show? What was that process like?

MW: I learned the show in five days, like total with all the rehearsal...I think it was five working days. It was great learning the world of this production because it's was different than my previous experience. Every production of Dreamgirls is unique depending who's directing it, who's in it. This show has more of an arch, going from really young- teenagers, to mid to late twenties. Which is very different from the original production because they played them older and I think this one is more realistic to the age of the characters. And everything has the Casey Nicholaw flair, and I've just worked with him so much I knew exactly what he wanted. But that's the cool thing about him and I; we have this relationship, he knows that I'm going to give a performance that he approves of. I understand his comedy, choreography, his movement. I just get it. I learned it really fast, but thankfully I also learn really fast.

CC: What's your favorite part about doing this production of "Dreamgirls"?

MW: I just love that it's a full production. I have never done a production of it where you have the BEST- Gregg Barnes costumes, the BEST set, Swarovski crystals is sponsoring it, so it's just blinged out! And we also have a huge audience. When I did it in Dallas the theater was really intimate with around seven hundred people. To do it on the West End, on the high level, that is the best thing. And to do this role where it was built by the people who originally created it- Henry [Krieger] worked on the show too- which was just crazy and beyond [Laughs] Getting an email from Henry saying how excited he is that I'm here and that I'm doing a great job, it's just everything that I've worked for coming together, everything that I've worked for paying off at once.

CC: That's wonderful...You mentioned working in the West End--Have you noticed any differences, culture wise/people wise that is different than New York?

MW: I always feel like a theater's a theater, as I've worked in so many different places, cause when you hit that stage it doesn't matter where you are; you're just giving the story. And I always try to give one thousand percent, no matter what size stage or place that I am. But I will say that the London audience, they love their theatre and they really really listen. They're not just like 'Oh, I love this song.' They are hanging on to your every word, every movement, and really want to get the full story. Which is something that I really enjoy, because a lot of these people have never even seen Dreamgirls as this is the show's premiere on the West End. I feel like in America people really know the story, but it's been nice to introduce these audiences to this rollercoaster of a story. I feel like we all know these songs, but the storyline- how Henry [Krieger] and Tom [Eyen] wove it together, it's great, how Michael Bennet edited it, and now with Casey's editing for Act II, it's just great.

CC: Since you mentioned how the story is beautiful and poignant, what's your favorite part about Effie's story that you tell throughout the performance?

MW: I love the fact that she gets redemption. I feel like we see so many stories about blues singers, famous singers who lose everything and then they die [Laughs]. But in this story it's beautiful because she loses everything and then gets everything right back and gains more because she gains her self-worth, her strength and as a black woman that takes it to another level. Black women go through so much, so much that we don't even get to see and I love that I get to tell the story of a woman who loses everything and gets it all back and more. That's why I love "I'm Changing" it's definitely one of the favorite numbers I do in the show because in just one song you get so much text, so many emotions and it has such a big arch in one song. You are literally changing your whole life in one song, it's really great, really great writing. That's what I love about this story, being an underdog. She goes from being the 'topdog' to nothing, to being an underdog, and then making it on her own terms.

CC: I'm so glad that you are sharing your talents and a beautiful story on the West End.

MW: I'm just so happy to be here. I'm so glad I get to represent Broadway on the West End! [Laughs]

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Buy your tickets HERE to see the Casey Nicholaw's stunning new production of the classic musical "Dreamgirls"

This Tony Award®-winning show tells the story of a boppin' female trio in Chicago, as they climb their way to the top and details their experiences that will change them forever. It was recently announced that this production will transfer to Broadway next season. We hope to see Marisha continue on with the show on the Great White Way.

Dreamgirls is Directed and Choreographed by Olivier and Tony Award®-winning Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Disney's Aladdin and Something Rotten!), with Set Design by Tim Hatley, Costume Design by Gregg Barnes, Lighting Design by Hugh Vanstone, Sound Design by Richard Brooker and Hair Design by Josh Marquette. The Musical Supervisor is Nick Finlow, the Orchestrator is Harold Wheeler, with Additional Material by Willie Reale.

With Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen and Music by Henry Krieger, the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett opened in 1981 and subsequently won six Tony Awards.

Be sure to follow Marisha Wallace on Twitter, Instagram, and her Website.