Wicked....?

Question

Once again.... me theatre friend wants to know (shes moved onto wicked...) what it takes to become miss elphaba.
she wants to b her on broadwya and wants to know what you tink you need to be on broadway
what kind of voice too
and ummm
somethng along the lines of....
huh? wait... nvm

Answer 1

I think your friend needs to get her own account and put it into her own words. Elphaba is a very demanding role. Usually you don't start there. She'd need to have a good resume of other comparable roles. A friend of mine started by playing Nessa and understudying Elphie and you may eventually move from the tour to Broadway :-) .

Like anything else you have to be a great performer with lots of stamina. You need years of great training and experience. This is not a pipe-dream that changes with the wind. You work for it for years. Your friend needs to get cracking with private voice lessons, dance classes (ballet, jazz, & tap) and continuos acting classes regardless of the role she wishes to play in the future. She needs to be a real triple threat. In her voice lessons she needs to carefully work into being able to belt high in the mezzo-soprano range. If it doesn't come naturally to her, it will take years to develop if it ever comes to her and it will take a professional's help to do it right or she will hurt her voice and eventually lose it.

It's a fun fantasy, but it's a whole lot of work. I hope she's up for it!

Marianne

Answer 2

Once again, Marianne answers a question beautifully. I just wanted to reiterate that the best thing your friend can do right now is get as much experience as she can by taking classes and going to auditions. Broadway is a very lofty goal, but every single person on a Broadway stage started small, so your friend (right now) needs to think small. Join the theatre club at school, take voice lessons and dance classes, and start auditioning for local theatre. Even Idina Menzel sang at weddings and bar mitzvahs to make ends meet early on.

Answer 3

needs to be a strong mezzo-soprano belter. Elphie's range is pretty grand from low alto notes to strong mezzo-soprano highs.

http://www.musicorld.com/libretto/wicked/libretto1.html