Interview: Kyle McArthur of WICKED THE MUSICAL at Bass Concert Hall

WICKED comes to town this week! And even though it’s running for a whopping 24 performances, don’t expect to get seats for much longer. This show is (yes, I’m going to say it, so go ahead and sing it yourself) POPular. WICKED is in fact, pushing up against THE LION KING as the highest grossing musical of all time. This stands to reason, as it is based on what is arguably the most influential film of all time, The Wizard of Oz. WICKED actually has its roots in lesser known novels, also called Wicked, by author Gregory McGuire. And now, after fourteen years of various delays, the film version will finally be released later this year.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to take some time visiting with Kyle McArthur, who plays Boq in the North American tour coming through Austin this week. McArthur’s credits include originating the role of Simon in the off-Broadway musical SUPERHERO at Second Stage and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. He has also appeared in Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels” as Brian Koenig and HBO’s “The Deuce.”

We chatted a little about the role of Boq, and a lot about the phenomenon of being a part of a show as remarkable as WICKED.

Congratulations! I understand WICKED is your first touring show?

Yes, this is my first tour experience. So it's a really amazing ride. WICKED is such an amazing show, and it has such a huge impact on the whole theater world and audiences around the country. So to be in this show and travel from city to city is such a privilege because of the enormous response that we get from every city.

And it's a totally different experience touring a show than staying in one spot. Normally, any production I had been in, we opened in one spot, and we ran for however long and you stay at one venue. So to be in this massive show and then take it from these enormous theaters from city to city throughout the country, and then get the responses in the cities that we were in, was very new to me.

The really special part about it is getting to see the whole range of responses wherever we are. I think that's my favorite part about it, coming out of the stage door, in a new city, and just seeing how, wherever we go, that WICKED has such a wonderful impact on audiences.

People love the show, and seeing their love of the show makes me love it that much more. Hearing how many times people have seen the show, or the last time the show came through, that’s happened in many cities where people say, “Oh my God, I saw this show the last time it was here. Once I found out it was coming back, I had to see it again.” To be a part of that legacy is such a special thing. People have seen many different casts come through, so to be in one of the versions of the show that people love so much is a really special opportunity.

Are there any particular moments or scenes in the show that resonate with you personally?

Defying Gravity is always such a powerful moment for me. I can always hear it on the monitors in my dressing room. I can always hear the audience lose their minds and cheer and applaud and that always gets me excited. Every show, I think, “we're doing something really cool here,” and people just love to see it.

Was there anything in particular that drew you to the role of Boq?

I had seen Wicked once when I was about twelve years old, and I enjoyed the time, but I hadn't remembered it too well, so much of my current experience has come from doing it, and reapproaching it years after seeing it. I love this show. Learning it through the rehearsal process, experiencing the show with my fellow cast members on the stage, that's given me a whole new love and appreciation of it.

I was excited to do WICKED, but I was really thrilled to get to do it on the road. The associations and feelings I had around WICKED have become so much stronger by doing it now than ever before. You get to spend so much time with the cast, doing it every day and also doing it in a different spot, you just start to learn that much more about it and feel it.

I presume that has an impact on how you approach character development?

I have never done a run of a show this long. I’ve done a few months before but I've been in the show a little over a year now so that gives a whole new perspective on how to approach a role, because when you're doing one performance every day you find all sorts of new, little discoveries about what a moment in one of my scenes can be, or how to approach those moments. It’s definitely about keeping it fresh and finding all sorts of different choices to make and different responses.

That’s just a particular challenge of doing the same role in the same show over and over and doing it well. When you've got people who are doing this show every day for a year or two, you want it to be good, and you want it to always be the same show, but you also don't want it to be stale. You don't want it to be rote, you don't want it to be lifeless because you're just repeating the same thing. Much of the challenge of a show like this is keeping it raw and real. I think everyone who works on this does such a good job of trying to ensure that we're doing that every day, so that every show you see is in the moments, and every actor on stage makes it a little new every time.

Part of what keeps this show so alive, I think, is the investment of everyone who works on it, from our stage managers toward dance captains to the creative team that will come out and always keep the show brushed up. I think everyone who works on the show does an amazing job of keeping it new and alive. Anytime we have a rehearsal to freshen it up, it's all about shaking up what we're doing, keeping it in the moment, keeping it fresh.

Are there challenges or rewards to doing theater and playing this character in particular that you might want to share with us?

On screen performances are amazing, and I love the work that I've done on that, but theater is a whole different ball game. Coming post pandemic, and being in this show that's so big, the live response from these audiences, in this show where people love it so much, there are people who have seen it 60 times, and they're crying. And then there's some people who are seeing it for the first time. There's so much love around this show. Combined with the magic of theatre and being on stage and getting that live response is so invigorating and so exciting that it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. Coming back for the first time doing theater post pandemic was such a relief for me to be reminded of what this space is. And I was so grateful that it was WICKED that got me on stage again, because of how spectacular the production is and how enormous the audience responses are.

Are there any special moments you’ve experienced during the tour?

I always love when the maps come down at the top of the show and the music starts. There are some shows where the audience just erupts the moment the music starts playing. That always gets me so excited too, to show us they're excited.

Responding to that audience reaction, that's the amazing thing about theater. Every show is different, not just because of us, but because of the audiences. I also always love when you get a nice laugh. That's what I like about this role, too. Boq, he's funny.

This show is all about transitions and how characters change, so there's a lot that's really fun to play. There's a lot of funny moments but the characters experience a lot of major transitions that happen. So much of the story revolves around Elpheba and Glinda, but to get to be on that journey in the scenes that I have as Boq, always excites me every night, because it's a story that's moving in a direction.

How do you keep WICKED and Boq real?

There’s  something big and fantastical about the world, because, you know, it comes from The Wizard of Oz, and there's magic involved, but what I think is really excellent about this show, and why it's so successful, is it's always grounded in realism. We get to play these heightened characters in these heightened scenarios. But every scene is all about being real and just reacting to how the people are in that scene.

I think that groundedness makes it really compelling. You can be flying high and flying high in the sky and painted green, which is, you know, such a fantastical thing, but you feel it so deeply, because all the moments leading up to it and afterwards are real. They're just real moments.

Something I've learned in this show, I think, is really playing each moment as it comes. With a long running show like this, there are so many people that come in and out of the show. I've experienced several different Glindas and several different Nessas, and each of those shows and those performers playing those roles give a different flavor to what that scene is. Doing it every day, I think I've really learned to react to whatever's in front of me.

Obviously, you have your blocking, and you have your intentions behind it, and you have the things that are set about the show. I think every day, it's not about choosing what the scene is gonna be before it happens. It's about going out there and responding to the person that's right in front of you, and whatever they're giving. You have to live in that world. And I think that's what, for me, the challenge is, because that's what keeps it authentic and fresh. It’s saying, “Hey, what does this person say to Boq right now and how does Boq respond?"

What  is it you hope that audiences take away from this iconic and amazing production?

I think you have to remember what the rare opportunity theater brings. To be in a space with people and just looking at the lives that we all live. I think this is a beautiful story about friendship, about acceptance. You get such a beautiful message about this, something so hopeful about this show, about how we can learn to understand people who are different.

Every single night, people cry when they see this show, or you may not cry, but you may find something new. You may feel something new. I hope audiences get that they can put everything down for a second and just listen to people. We can just be there with people, especially when we’re encountering things that don't make sense or are difficult to understand, like the green skin or the someone who's different. I think this show really encourages people to take a second and just say, "hey, I want to understand this. I want to understand you. Let me try to be here with you."

Is there anything else you might want to leave us with?

Come see WICKED! Yes, yes! Come support theatre! You’ve got people who are trying so hard, working so hard to tell these stories, especially now theater seems to struggle; to really bring audiences in. Theatre is necessary because of how much we learn from it both by doing it and supporting it.

WICKED runs March 13 - 31, 2024 at Bass Concert Hall. 2350 Robert Dedman Drive, in Austin.

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