unnaturally green [ a wicked cool blog ]

"Godspell" tickets giveaway!

2012-02-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

A new month, a new giveaway! Because I haz the sweet hook-ups, I recently secured TWO FREE TICKETS TO SEE GODSPELL ON THE BWAY! And I'm giving them away on this blog! AAAAAAAH!!!!!

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER! (Three steps)

1. Snap a photo of yourself holding your copy of Unnaturally Green, open to the page containing your favorite quotation! (You can also pull it up on your e-reader.)

2. Go to this blog's submission page and upload the photo, writing your name in the "Here is my idea" box. (If you like, you can also transcribe the quotation into the "Here is my idea" box -- but it's not required.)

3. Check back on February 15, 2012 to see if you won!

It's as simple as that! If you don't live in NYC, you can win always try to win the tickets to give to a friend, or make an East Coast trip out of it! The winning voucher is good for any Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday night performance through May 1, 2012.

And in case you didn't know -- Godspell is back for its first-ever Broadway revival! Written by Grammy and Academy Award-winner Stephen Schwartz (composer of Wicked (OBVS!) and Pippin as well as the movies Pocahontas and Enchanted), Godspell stars Hunter Parrish (“Weeds,” Spring Awakening) and many others, including Nick Blaemire (with whom I once recorded a demo about a Duck that runs for president; he probably wouldn't know me if I accosted him on the street, but, oh well, he's really funny in the show!) and Celisse Henderson (who was Shen-Shen in Wicked San Francisco before I arrived; she also probably wouldn't know me if I accosted her on the street). You should totally go see it! It is great!

And, to recap, the winner will be announced on February 15, 2012! Good luck!
--FLR

Tonight's event was great fun!

2012-01-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all who showed up tonight at Housing Works NYC to see "Broadway Backstage," in which I sat sandwiched between Michael Kostroff and Arthur Anderson -- both of them wise and gracious gentlemen -- talking about Unnaturally Green, my little-memoir-that-could.

If you'd like a peek at what you missed, check out these videos on my Unnatural UStream Channel (and thank you to all who watched it live!).

Peace out, chickadees!

Playbill.com gave us a holler

2012-01-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

Hey, fun friends! First off, today is Gentle Rambo's birthday! (He's my bf, in case you didn't know -- read about his rippling abdominals in my book. Or, get the popular coffee table book Hot Guys and Baby Animals, in which Rambo is featured holding a baby goat. I'm not joking about this.) Everybody wish him a happy birthday in your minds and hearts and possibly bake a cake and eat it in his honor. We'll be devouring a massive, sugar-filled brunch at Norma's ("the best brunch in NYC!") in a couple of hours to celebrate.

Secondly, Playbill.com's Steven Suskin mentioned Unnaturally Green in his most recent theater book roundup (we got a pic and everything!). Even though he admits to only paging through (but not reading the darn thing), it's cool to get another shout-out on a site as well-known and prestigious as Playbill. So, thank you, dudes!

Bye for now. Hug each other!

Hearts,
Felicia

Visit Hamburg and feel like a GIANT!

2012-01-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Check out this ridiculously awesome video of the "Mini Wonderland" (or should I say, "Wunderland") in Hamburg, Germany -- its most successful tourist attraction. (If small things made to scale don't particularly interest you, watch it just to hear the Augustus Gloopian narrator.)

Watch live video of my Jan 24 event

2012-01-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

While the fact that ye Unnaturally Green readers are scattered across the globe makes my life more exciting and colorful, it makes interpersonal interaction tricky. Take, for example, my January 24 book event at Housing Works NYC. I want to meet you all! But, alas. Plane tickets are mad expensive.

Luckily, there is hope!

Thanks to my lovely assistant slash voice student Lesley (who is a veritable online-media-organizational guru), recently I discovered that I can stream video online -- LIVE! -- as the book event happens.

Want to plug in and watch it all go down? It's simple:

1. On Tuesday, January 24, at 6:59PM EST, go here. (It takes you to my brand spankin' new UStream Channel called "UnnaturalTV.")

2. Watch, laugh, and applaud, and imagine that I can see and hear you! I will do my best to hallucinate visions that each and every one of you is sitting before me.

3. There may be ads that pop up on the site during the broadcast (between 5-30 seconds long). Fear not! These will go away eventually. Feel free to express your frustrations by shouting, cursing, and/or waving your fist in the air.

4. If you're going to be busy during the actual broadcast, the event will (if all goes as planned) be recorded and posted for later viewing.

Questions? Comments? Y'all know the drill!

Hope you can tune in!

Love,
Felicia

Come see me talk books on Jan 24!

2012-01-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Come see me move my mouth while words come out! That's right: I'll be speaking about my lovechild/memoir Unnaturally Green at Housing Works in SoHo, NYC on January 24 at 7PM! The event is called "Broadway Backstage" and features fellow author-theater-people Michael Kostroff and Arthur Anderson. The event is free, casual, and will be oodles of fun. Yes: oodles. Bring your book and I will sign it, even if it's a totally random book I didn't write. Only kidding. Maybe.

Housing Works is a non-profit that provides support, housing, and services for New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS.

Deets, location info and more on Housing Works' official site >

Daniel Radcliffe is a baller

2012-01-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

This past January 1, The Boy Who Lived ended his illustrious run in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. (I didn't ever get a chance see him. Sad face.)

But -- get this -- according to Playbill.com, throughout 30 previews and 315 performances, D. Radz didn't call out once. Not once!

Pretty incredible.

For everyone except his understudy.

Broadway will miss you, D. Radz! Come back soon, preferably in a show that combines all your prior stage turns -- singing, horses, full-frontal. They could update War Horse for you: make it angsty like Equus while infusing it with Priscilla Queen of the Desert dance beats.

I would see that.

--FLR

And the winners are...

2012-01-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

This past week, readers nominated their friends and loved ones to win a signed and personalized copy of Unnaturally Green in our blog's New Year's giveaway. Many folks had heartwarming stories about why their person was deserving -- and I wish I could give away 12 copies! Instead, I only have three, to bestow onto three randomly selected winners. Here goes!

Congratulations to...

Marissa (nominated by Bryce)

Casey (nominated by Ashley)

and Quenton (nominated by Asher)!

Wooooo!

(Bryce, Ashley and Asher, please send me an email at felicia at feliciaricci dot com so I can collect contact information for your prize winner!)

Thank you to all who participated, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Share the wealth (3 ways)

2011-12-28T06:17:00.000-08:00

As of tonight, Christmas and Chanukah will both be over (sad face), but that doesn't mean the spirit of giving has to end. Here are three small ways to keep spreading cheer and greenness the world over.

1. Give to Kiva, a non-profit whose mission is to end global poverty.

With the help of your donations, Kiva lends money to small businesses in developing countries -- a concept called microfinance. Maybe someone is looking to start a general store in Nicaragua, or a rice-selling business in the Philippines. Kiva's belief is that people will lift themselves out of poverty if given access to financing.

All of these businesses are looking for an extra boost to start earning on their own, and all it takes is a few U.S. dollars. The coolest part? Your donation is actually a loan: nine times out of ten, you'll earn back your investment. Which means you can then re-loan to more people in need. So $25 becomes $50, becomes $75, becomes $100 (and so on)...

Learn more here!

2. Pay for someone behind you at the drive-thru.

I love this idea, submitted by Amy, one of our readers. It's so simple, and yet I'd never thought of it. It's like insta-good-karma.

Next time you're waiting at the drive-thru (as a New Yorker without a car, I'm practically nostalgic for this delightful suburban-y experience) and there's someone behind you, roll out some extra cash at the pay window and offer to cover the next car, too. It's easy and quick, and you can stay anonymous!

3. Enter the Unnaturally Green New Year's Giveaway!

To ring in 2012, I'll be giving away a signed and personalized copy of Unnaturally Green!

The only catch? You'll have to give it away (to someone who really wants it!).

If you'd like to enter, tell me who it is you want to give your copy of Unnaturally Green. Your neighbor who loves show tunes? Your cousin, who's never had a chance to see Wicked? Your fanatical aunt who can recite every one of Elphaba's lines?

Then, tell me about that person by (1) posting in a blog comment (below), (2) writing on the wall of the Facebook Fan Page, or (3) saying it in a tweet (be sure to include my twitter name, @feliciaricci, at the end).

One winner will be selected in the New Year. Anybody in the world can enter! (Yes, you can nominate yourself -- but the whole idea is to spread the greenness. Loophole: if you give the book away, your recipient can always lend it back...!)

Questions? Shoot me an email at felicia at feliciaricci dot com. Be sure to enter! (And tell your friends.)

Peace and love!
--FLR

Merry Christmas! Here is a song medley

2011-12-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

In 2005, my younger sister Tessa and I wrote a 38-song medley while touring Ireland in the back seat of a van. Being surly teenagers with no attention span, we were bored by the miles and miles of countryside, and so decided the best way to amuse ourselves was to string together songs from all genres in a seamless though nonsensical flow.

Our only rules? No musical transition could be forced, and all had to garner approval by the Medley Board (me and Tessa).

Six years later, and we're still making medleys, even on Christmas. Here is our latest. We filmed it in one take, using no notes. Enjoy!

Friday Chuckle

2011-12-23T07:51:00.000-08:00

Considering my fondness for coat hooks, I'm appalled I didn't think of this myself.

Source: Happy Place. Submitted by Hannah W.

Rediscovering greenness

2011-12-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

As 2012 approaches, I've been thinking a lot about the direction I should take this blog now that my book Unnaturally Green has been born, continues to grow, coo and spit up his baby food with each passing day. Sure, I'll continue to post book-related announcements, like --

1) A New Year's sweepstakes! Win a copy of my book! (More info soon!)

2) A live web chat in 2012! (More info soon!)

3) New York City book event, January 24, 2012, at Housing Works! Hear me and some other theater-book authors talk about stuff! (More info soon!)

-- but what of the day to day? Then it occurred to me. I needed to get back to my roots. This has proven valuable at moments of uncertainty (I call it "Life Lesson 101"). So, I asked myself: What is the core tenet of this blog? What is the essence of Unnaturally Green? And it struck me, clear as day:

To embrace greenness.

Readers, you wrote about greenness in your brilliant contest entries -- times when you had to step outside yourself and do something new. Unnaturally Green (the book) is about a time when I had to conquer lots of new challenges. So I've decided to devote my blog entries to keeping that green spirit alive.

My posts may become less announcement-centric, and more anecdotal. The goal is to chronicle new experiences, and to share with you the stuff I do each day that I've never done before. It may get mundane, it may get inspirational, it may get completely random. If I see a new movie or read a new book, I'll tell you about it. If I discover something new and helpful about singing technique, I'll tell you about it. If I read an inspirational article about somebody doing something new and incredible, I'll tell you about it. If I trip and fall in a manhole, I'll tell you about it.

This may seem a bit unfocused for now, but I'm hoping that the blog will find its own natural groove. Ideally, I would like it to be a compendium of greenness. Fragmented, maybe. But surprising. Hopefully fun to look back on. Collaborative (I'm going to make submitting post ideas easier), and communal.

This blog-makeover may take a while, so bear with me. But I wanted to let you guys know.

Leave comments below if you have thoughts! And look for an updated landing page soon with an idea submission form.

Moving shttttinks, here's a diversion

2011-12-18T08:20:00.000-08:00

Friends! I just moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan (for those of you who have finished Unnaturally Green, yes from *that* apartment to yet *another* apartment...c'est la vie) which explains why on this blog I've been about as productive as the college freshman version of myself, a time when I used to read all of my English assignments lying down in bed, and so would, on the hour, read 3 pages and sleep for 55 minutes.

As a diversion, let me show you something only slightly interesting, which is the redesigned version of my personal website, FeliciaRicci.com! Check it out and try to forget about the fact that I've been the worst blogger of all time. (Oh, and if you need to hire a freelance writer, like, email me!)

MORE COMING SOON! PEACE OUT, HOMESLICE(S)!

Love,
Felicia

Nonsensical tagging: a retrospective

2011-12-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

Tagging blog posts is a useful practice: it helps your readers sort through your articles and search engines categorize your site. Despite my knowledge of its importance, I've freely persisted in tagging all my posts nonsensically and in completely un-helpful ways.

Behold! My ten least helpful article tags!

All ten of the following phrases I deemed logical post categories. As in, popular phrases that you could use to sort more than one article. (Click on them to visit the corresponding article(s)!)

1. amnio fluids
2. astronauts
3. baby's daddy
4. bribery
5. chemistry 4-eva
6. hygiene is obsolete
7. sash machines
8. never eat at jay's cheesesteak
9. complete useless post
10. crazed nutsos

44 seconds of minor amusement

2011-11-27T17:59:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving! On an unrelated note, here is yet another video of me and Libby Servais (former Glinda standby in Wicked) tooling around backstage like complete weirdos. (Read more about the depths of our boredom here or in my book Unnaturally Green.)

Presenting,

FELICIA RICCI AND LIBBY SERVAIS CALL EACH OTHER ON A SHOE PHONE!

Thank you, and goodnight!

Love,
Felicia

Signed copies available for the holidays (+ new video!)

2011-11-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

Hi friends! A brief post tonight to announce:

1) Unnaturally Green turns one-month old today! Yay! I remember the day it was born like it was, well -- one month ago.

2) More importantly, 40 signed copies of Unnaturally Green are now available for worldwide shipping! Fill out this form to inquire about shipping cost. (Copies can be personalized upon request; get yours before they're sold out!).

3) I've just made a new singing tips video in response to questions I got about "vocal blend." Check it out below!

Road tripping

2011-11-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever hosted a party that's so fun it's insane?

You know the kind. Hors-doeuvres, ice cubes shaped like Kokopelli, banter, mini-desserts, novelty cocktail napkins that say, "In my day we didn't need all this therapy; we had a little thing called the martini," maybe a few rounds of charades (if you grew up surrounded by musical theater performers), a healthy debate on whether objectivism begets existentialism (if you attended an Ivy League school), absolutely no straight-male romantic prospects (if you grew up surrounded by musical theater performers / attended an Ivy League school), third or fourth helpings of whatever was served (if you are Italian)?

Whatever the case, this party feels consequence-free...unassailed by the cares of the real world...with endless possibility stretching before you into the late night/early morning hours. I mean, you never want this party to END!

So everybody stays; eats more, talks more. The food becomes more scarce. But still people stay. The laughter becomes more hollow, less frequent. But still people stay. The party rolls on. On and on and on...into the night...until every musical theater score has been sung through in its entirety. And the party literally. Will. Not. End.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE JUST MAKE THIS PARTY STOP!

This, my friends, is how I would describe my road trip from New York to Chicago over this past Halloween weekend -- an adventure I shared with one Gentle Rambo (a.k.a. my muscular boyfriend Marshall (if you haven't read my memoir yet (what is WRONG with you), you missed learning about how he cooks wearing nothing but an apron)) in celebration of our two-year anniversary.

When we conceived of our 800-mile brainchild as a fun bonding experience, we had no idea how taxing not one, but two 14-hour days of labor would be. Indeed, due to the governing laws of the physical world and the fact that teleportation has not become widely available, we had to take the trip there -- and back. In other words, we didn't birth just one fat deformed 14-hour car ride baby. We had twins.

(To clarify: this is a metaphor. I am not actually the mother of twins.)

Looking back, I present to you, Reflections on Our Really Long-Ass Road Trip, Or, Ways to Amuse Yourself If You're Really Bored, Or, The Most Romantic Anniversary Celebration I Have Ever Had

1. Much like my extended description of a party "so fun it's insane," our road trip started off AWESOME! I mean, what was there not to love? There were no rules, only open road! I felt like an early American pioneer, except with a car instead of a fleet of oxen. And instead of twigs and grains, our snacks were gas-station bought, as per the rule that car-snack healthiness should be inversely proportional to car-ride length (something Marshall came up with), i.e. we packed absolute sh*t (Pringles, Oreos, Snow Balls, etc.) and stuffed our faces while listening to a variety of female pop singers belting at absurdly high pitches for about three hours. So, I guess you could say we were blazing our own Oregon trail, to Chicago, in a car, and actually the two have nothing in common.

2. I kinda like driving. At least for the first ten hours. In general, I did enjoy the scenery, especially now that it's fall. With all my subway riding, I had missed that freeing rush of propelling at high speeds while not underground in a subterranean tunnel surrounded by screaming children and the sound of five different songs blaring though other people's headphones.

3. Rest stops in Ohio are beautiful! We literally could not believe how clean and pristine they were! At one point, nearing the 11th hour on the trip back, I told Marshall that we should just live in an RV in the rest stop's parking lot, because we would literally have all we needed. He did not disagree. I'm actually writing this from an Ohio rest stop, where there is WiFi, and also I live there now. Only kidding.

4. When you're bored, you latch onto any source of amusement. For example: town names. Did you know there is a town in New Jersey called Buttzville? Neither did we. But isn't that hilarious. Other example: car games. When we're bored, my boyfriend and I tend to enjoy good ol' fashioned harmonizing (Marshall usually takes the high soprano line). But after our voices got tired we resorted to rapping at each other. Eighties rapping, that is. As in, the Eddie Murphy song "Boogie in Your Butt," that has the recurring line:

"I put a _______ in your butt."

The game? Fill in the blank, switching off, and see who can come up with more rhymes. (Feel free to play this game in your own down time. We're not collecting royalties. Yet.)

5. Coming home, the last leg of the journey (New Jersey into New York) was a nightmare. We had absolutely no traffic the whole way, and then I literally had to steer my car through a construction site, and then essentially fly over the river while dodging flaming balls of fire. Seriously, are there even rules of the road in the tristate area? The takeaway: Regular driving : New York driving : : preschool : prison.

6. All in all, while our road trip was like a party that would never end, on my two-year anniversary with my washboard-abbed boyfriend -- who cooks, harmonizes, and watches Batman cartoons -- it confirmed what I had always thought: when the trip is long, I want him by my side. (Collective awwww/gag.)

Thanks for reading!

Love,
Felicia

Wicked Day Contest!

2011-10-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

In honor of Wicked Day (October 30) the UNNATURALLY GREEN fan page is holding a contest!

Here's how to participate:

All day today (until 12 A.M. PST), if you recommend UNNATURALLY GREEN on Facebook or tweet about it on Twitter, you'll be entered automatically! (Be sure to included @FeliciaRicci at the end (not beginning) of your tweet and/or tag Unnaturally Green in your Facebook post.)

*The more you talk about UNNATURALLY GREEN, the better your chances! Yep: every time you post, your name will be re-entered!*

Prizes: 1) a signed and personalized Felicia Ricci headshot; 2) a signed GREEN BABY bookmark (check out the designs here); 3) $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com

Now, go forth and (unnaturally) GREENIFY!

What I subject my mailing list subscribers to

2011-10-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

If you were at all ambivalent about joining my mailing list, perhaps this will change your mind. I don't know in which direction.

[SENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011]

Dear Sisterhood of the Unnatural Pants,

Hark! Our fat little newborn UNNATURALLY GREEN lies on my kitchen counter, kicking and squirming and demanding to be read. Already it has reached its 1-week birthday (today), and is preternaturally verbal, speaking in full sentences, insisting that I blend its food until completely chunk-less. But the demands don't end there. Just today, it spake these very words:

"BUY ME."

I feel as if, somehow, UNNATURALLY was conceived with the help of all of you (too weird an image?). As our shared book-love-child grows into a spoiled brat, I am plagued with questions:

Who am I? What is this imperious death march we call time? Have you read UNNATURALLY GREEN yet? (Because people seem to like it.)

Instead of scrawling these questions in the form of poetry in a moleskin notebook, I have decided to write you an email. Incidentally, this email also commemorates the first of many "Unnatural Fridays" -- something I invented just now -- which are days on which we will be celebrating UNNATURALLY GREEN and its illustrious birth!

On said "Unnatural Fridays" you'll sometimes get fun new video gifts, or new contest announcements, or blog entries, posted to the Facebook Fan Page. More often you'll get a self-indulgent, quasi-humorous email (like this one) and/or the chance to witness me and other people being really weird on camera. Often I'll urge you to tell a friend (or 90 million) about UNNATURALLY GREEN, or perhaps leave a customer review on Amazon.

As thanks, I will foist the following onto you, against your will:

VIDEO: An Interview with Author Felicia Ricci (Part 1) (Part 2) ... the rest!

BLOG: The runners-up and remaining writing contest submissions here!

VIDEO: Felicia impersonates Celine Dion for no reason.

If you have anything to say whatsoever to Felicia (i.e. me), reply to this email! She (I) will try to write back ASAP!

Now I must go off to tend to our adorable demon baby.

Love,

Felicia

Writing contest proves "greenness" exists at every age

2011-10-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I was thrilled to announce Bettie L. from New York, NY as the Grand Prize winner of the Unnaturally Green writing contest. (Read her winning entry here if you haven't already!) Also due for major congratulations are our incredible runners-up Lesley R. from Brooklyn, NY and Tyler H. from Ogden, Utah -- from whose entries I've pasted below.

Worthy of incessant and unyielding back-pattage are the remaining contest participants -- fifty-odd strong! -- whose inspiring, heartfelt and hilarious accounts of the times when they were "green" (overcoming obstacles to learn something new about themselves) were too darn good not to feature on this blog.

Our writers are of all ages and come from many walks of life; their experiences are as diverse as they are moving, and I hope you enjoy the select excerpts they've given me permission to share.

(If you participated in the contest, be sure to respond to an upcoming email that lets you choose which souvenir Green Baby Bookmark you'd like -- a prize distributed to all writing contest entrants, just for participating.)

Hope you have fun reading what everybody had to say. For once, I can shut my mouth and take in all of your great ideas and experiences. Happy reading!

_____________________________________

Runner Up: Lesley R. from Brooklyn, NY

Lesley describes her early foray into ice-hockey -- spurred by unrequited love. [Excerpt.]

Oh, how vividly I remember the day I broke the news.

"Mom, I want to play ice hockey," I said in my cute seven year-old voice.

"You wanna what? Why, sweetie?" She shoved a tray of pork chops back in the oven. I should've known better than to confront my mother on this matter while she was wielding greasy kitchen tongs.

"I think it could be really fun!" And a really cute boy in my CCD class always gets to be 10 minutes late because he's playing hockey in the park. (As much as I enjoyed Sister Helene’s musings on the apostles, I’d rather use those precious minutes coveting another’s hockey puck.)

“Let me think about it. We’ll talk later." She sighed.

Looking back, I suppose I understand her need to process my proposal. Her daughter wanted to gallivant on a sheet of ice with modified knives on her feet surrounded by boys. It sounded like an SVU episode waiting to happen. Against these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, she obliged.

My father shouldered the burden of shuttling me to Prospect Park at an ungodly hour with my older sister and a very large coffee thermos in tow. He was a southern California native, so he had never dressed a hockey player before. After several attempts at putting the right pieces of equipment on the right limbs, we finally got it right. I looked and felt like a tiny NFL linebacker. Fearless, I grabbed my new stick and set out on the ice.

_____________________________________

Runner Up: Tyler H. from Ogden, Utah

Tyler plays an evil clown during a Halloween parade. Ironically, while he's enlisted to scare passersby he, himself, feels trepidation -- but ends up "stretching his mental hamstrings" to try something new. [Excerpt.]

Mother Nature was bipolar that morning; the weather kept changing rapidly and unexpectedly. The lumpy suburb we were in was where the parade had always been held. It was an erratic place that looked as if it had added onto itself bit by bit. Overgrown trees buckled the pavement where we were standing, but, just down the street, saplings shorter than I stood staked in the bare front lawns of newly constructed houses. This was not the suburb I lived in, but my cousins lived nearby and whenever the Founder’s Day Parade rolled around, they constructed their own float in the parade. Ever since I was little, I had stood on the curb waiting for their float to come by, all the while collecting candy. This year, I was not going to be eating any of the candy.

“Pick a mask and a costume,” my aunt said, gesturing to two plastic bins on the pavement next to the truck, one containing rubber masks, the other carrying clothing that matched the masks. She must have sensed my reluctance to choose, because she almost immediately suggested that I go as a clown.

“No one else wants to be a clown.”

I plunged my hand into the bucket of clammy, used faces. My fingers brushed against what felt like a round clown nose, so I grabbed it between my fingers. Its frizzy red hair caught on the other masks, so it took a little tugging to free it. I almost wished I hadn’t made the effort -- it was definitely a clown, and it was definitely a scary clown. Its factory-made face was pulled into an evil grin, and its brow was furrowed, giving it that nightmare-stalker look....

.....I’m sure the spectators found that half of the novelty of our float was due to the contrast between us and our neighbors. Behind ours was a titanic frilly float that probably left more junk on the road than the horses did. Half-a-dozen dolled-up girls lurked on it, the curls in their hair the exact circumference of a curling iron and their pretty dresses not holding in enough of their body heat.

In front of us was a semi-truck -- the kind that you see on the highway that make you want to pray for your life -- complete with a sticker with a number to call in case the trucker’s driving killed you. Instead of pulling a big metal container behind it, there was a wooden trailer loaded with hyperactive Sunday school kids from the local church...

....I didn’t know anyone in this town. I don’t know if that made it easier or harder to be in the parade, but my stomach caught in my throat even thinking about waltzing up to folks and attempting to make them pee themselves, then rewarding them with candy....

....I tried to be more enthusiastic about my costume. In order to do this (and to give myself courage), I picked up a huge, rusty knife from the back of the truck and held it awkwardly. It was old and too dull to slice, but I figured if I swung it hard enough and long enough I could probably sever a limb from someone’s body. Hopefully having such a cool knife would help to excite me, at least a little.

“Where should I sit?” I asked my aunt.

“Oh,” she said distractedly. “Oh, um, just walk alongside the truck over there. Scare kids, and stuff.”

I think my knife wilted. “Wait, you mean I’m not on the float?”

“Throw candy and stuff, it’s in the back of the trailer.” She looked annoyed. “Run up to people and scare them. But keep up with the float.” She grabbed a mask from the bin and ran around to the other side of the truck....

....I suddenly became very grateful for the mask. Not only did it hide my probably sheet-white face, but it also created a false sense of distance, like I was watching the people in front of me on the television. For those reasons, the mask made it a whole lot easier to scare people, especially kids. So once I got close enough that we were all highly uncomfortable, I dug the rest of the candy out of my pocket and held it out so they could grab it from my shaking hand. I then walked away at last, towards the back of the trailer to restock my pockets with precious taffy. I breathed a sigh of relief.

_____________________________________

Read more submissions here!

Writing Contest: Winners and Runners-Up Announced!

2011-10-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all who participated in the Unnaturally Green Writing Contest! Everybody who submitted* gets to take home a super snazzy green-baby bookmark (stacked at left -- your choice of design -- more details soon!), while our two runner-ups get signed and personalized copies of Unnaturally Green, and the Grand Prize winner gets a signed, personalized copy, $25 to Amazon.com, and their entry posted here!

Congratulations to Bettie L. in New York, NY -- Grand Prize winner of the Unnaturally Green Writing Contest!

We loved her sassy prose, unique perspective, and fun-loving take on an "unnaturally green" experience.

And major kudos to our two runners-up, Lesley R. from Brooklyn, NY and Tyler H. from Ogden, Utah, who, respectively, wrote about their unnatural turns playing ice hockey and dressing up as a scary clown for a Halloween parade.

Check out Bettie's awesome entry below (or click on "Read More")-- and stay tuned for more, posted right here on this blog! -- including: writing by our runner-ups, and excerpts from the remaining 50 entrants (all of which were so fantastic!).

(*Note: If you entered the contest, please check your email; there will be one from "UNNATURALLY GREEN" with the section we'd like to excerpt. Please let us know if it's okay by Sunday evening, 10/16!)

__________________________________________________

The Jump (winning entry, the Unnaturally Green Writing Contest)

By Bettie L., New York, NY

“A time when you went outside yourself and did something new?”

I suppose I come to this question with a bit of an advantage, being older than dirt and having had a ton of adventures in exotic places all over the world. But there is one event in that life that will qualify me for this most colorful contest -- and you'll be surprised that someone with even my epic quantity of chutzpah attempted it in the first place.

Now, after referring to my longevity, I still bristle at divulging my actual age. I'm only demure because most of my friends these days are still very young, or at least much younger than I am, and I fear age-discrimination. Still, it is fun to mark a big birthday with a monumental day -- and 5 years ago I did just that.

Well, actually, my kids forced the issue: kids being my daughter, son and his wonderful Canadian wife (I may be moving there if the government gets any worse here)…Anyway, they informed me that they had an adventure planned for my birthday and that it would be a doozy.

I was shuttled into the car and driven for what seemed to be hours -- indeed, it was at least that -- and as we drove past the city and the suburbs and were speeding by the farmlands of the East Bay, I was sure they were taking me to Sacramento to smoke cigars with the Governator…and I don’t smoke.

After a long drive down a bumpy dirt road, we pulled up to a ramshackle barn, and I was told to get out. This, it seemed, was the destination. I don’t remember the actual name of the place, but I will call it “Drop Dead Skydiving School.” Yes, they were making me skydive! Now, they knew I have a keen sense of fun and have been known to take risks most people avoid (like walking the streets of NYC at 3 AM), but no one had asked me if I was up to this, and I had to give it some thought.

Were they planning this day to speed up their inheritance? That was my first thought, but they had such glee in their eyes and smiles on their faces, I do believe they were happy for me. So I ruled out murder as a sub-plot.

The deciding factor lay in the jump partner. This was to be a tandem jump. I would be attached to another jumper, who presumably, had done this before. It was a woman. I asked her to tell me something of her background. She said she was the mother of a girl in Kindergarten….Stop, that sealed the deal. If she was willing to risk making her daughter motherless, I was willing to fall 14 thousand feet linked to her nylon jumpsuit.

After signing LOTS of papers, saying no one would sue anyone if anyone died, we donned the glamorous baggy overalls, kissed all the loved ones goodbye (probably for the last time), and walked to the tiny propeller plane that would soar me to the clouds.

I have no fear of small planes. I rather like them. Bumping over the grassy landing strip I was excited -- no fear at all -- not even when the plane went above the cloud cover, which was low that day. No, the moment of fear -- and I mean real fear -- came when they opened the door and told me to put my foot on the wing strut and stand up -- outside the plane! Yes, my friends, that was total fear. My legs felt like those heavy weights I read some men like to lift for fun: dead weights of at least 400 pounds. No way in Hell I was going to be able to put all my faith in that right leg and be sure it would hold me up, at whatever fracking speed that plane was traveling. And it was COLD.

Before I had a chance to give it any more thought, the “nice” mother of that 5 year-old child, pushed me to the distant strut and we fell. Fell so fast and so far that the wind was knocked out of my lungs. I couldn’t catch my breath! I now was certain I would die of affixation, before I was a puddle of blood and bones on the cow pasture I could see coming closer and closer.

Then she pulled the ripcord.

Euphoria and joy! The descent was reduced to a gentle glide, and I was enraptured by the beauty of the Earth and the sanctity of life. I screamed and yelled with glee. (No, I did not wet my pants!) My parachute buddy even let me pull on the lines to guide the two of us close to the huge X that was our target. Executing a perfect landing, as fine as any gymnast coming off the uneven-bars, we hit the ground.

The family all rushed up for photos and hugs…joy was felt by all.

And yes: I would do it again in a nanosecond!

Announcing, two new projects! (Coming this winter!)

2011-10-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

Today is Unnaturally Green's official release day! (Can I get a wut, wut.) Our little memoir-that-could has been building steam over the past week -- but today it breaches forth like a green-baby-whale -- arcing over the water's surface against a golden sun of destiny. You heard me.

In that same week, we've gotten some great publicity, including blurbs on Playbill.com, BroadwayWorld.com, and awesome reviews on Amazon.com, Flying High: A Wicked Fan Site and F*ckYeahWicked.

But what would release day be without further expression of my ADHD-like tendencies? Answer: boring.

So, I give you,

MORE FUN PROJECTS TO LOOK FORWARD TO (AFTER YOU READ UNNATURALLY GREEN (and recommend it to everybody you know, via email, Skype, Twitter, FB, your mom)):

1. An Unnaturally Green audiobook! Read aloud by yours truly (a.k.a. Felicia Ricci) (a.k.a. your faithful author-servant). (Coming this winter, hopefully in time for the holidays! HUZZAH TOWN!)

and, secondly...

2. A new e-book!

Well, e-booklet, really. Inspired by your emails, letters, and tweets, I've decided to write a little companion booklet to Unnaturally Green! It's non-fiction, and is best summed up as "a how-to guide for dreamers." It's tentatively titled:

Putting the Cart Before the Horse (and Other Great Ideas)
From Acting to Writing (and Beyond!): How to Do Stuff Before You Know How

Because I love y'all so much, I've decided to post an excerpt from the Preface before it's entirely ready. Because WHY NOT? (Blogging means writing stuff without consequence!) So, please enjoy the excerpt below, and excuse any typos!

[Copyright 2011 Felicia Ricci]

Have you ever daydreamed an extended montage of your future life? This happened to me all the time in middle school. It would start with my peering off into the audience from a big stage; cut to: taking a slow-mo bow; cut to: exiting the stage door, greeting fans—one of whom was somehow me, the 12 year-old musical theater dork. “Nice to meet you,” I’d say to myself. From there things would get logistically difficult, because I’d have to sign an autograph for myself, and then tell myself that I’d done a great job. Usually the reel would end on account of metaphysical confusion.

The point is: everybody has fantasies. The phenomenon is not so phenomenal: it’s part of everyday life. And what guilt-free fun! At night when I can’t fall asleep I project new reels onto the inside of my mind—ones I’ve been scripting in my more recent years. Of book signings. Or trips around the world. Or buying my first house or apartment. Dreaming is glorious. It’s also important: the first step toward making something happen.

As a champion for dreamers, I decided to write a companion to Unnaturally Green, my memoir about the time I understudied Elphaba in the San Francisco company of Wicked. My hope is to give fans, aspiring actors and writers a bit more insight into the logistics of how my story actually happened. How did an English major, with no agent or direct in-roads to show business, get cast in a megahit musical a little over one year out of college? How did she then veer off to begin another career, in writing, self-publishing her first book a year after that?

Putting the Cart Before the Horse sums it up. It means “doing something before you know exactly how to do it.” It takes courage. It takes blind faith. It takes a little bit of DIY and DTW (which I’ll explain later). But mostly it just takes a decision: a moment in time when you turn a dream into a goal. And then reach for that goal with all your might.

Growing up I was fortunate to have doctor parents who for some reason shared an overwhelming love for the arts. They shuttled me to dozens of Broadway shows and kept up to pace with local Rhode Island productions. In this way, my early theater education came from watching; I studied the actors onstage, at once in awe of them, and scheming about how I might one day join. In the meantime, I auditioned for every school play. I did summer theater camp. Later, in college I opted to major in English, while continuing to perform as a hobby. I learned theater by doing. But that’s just my path.

Writing was another dream of mine, but more elusive. Always the bookworm, my earliest forays into writing involved transcribing other stories I’d heard or read. I wrote my first short story in fifth grade, called Violet Perfume, in which a man named Vincent Fusco stalked and murdered his secretary. (For a fifth grader, it was super edgy; if I’m recalling correctly, there was even a sex scene. And by “sex scene” I mean it said: “They moved closer until their bodies touched. Then they kissed.”) My high school English curriculum stirred my passion for language, and struck chords that resonated for the next four years, as I studied writing and post-colonial literature at Yale University. But the life of a writer seemed more mysterious, and less flashy than what I knew about acting. But still, it always interested me.

There's no denying it: I graduated—uncertain. What to do about a career? I tried my hand at acting in New York City. Then I got Wicked. Then I wrote a book. Then two. (But we’ll get to all that.)

For now, that’s the beginning of my story. An idea of it, anyway. Yours, no doubt, looks different. You have your own catalog of experiences from which to draw. From these experiences you’ve developed tastes, passions, wants. Your own dreams. Don’t worry: nobody’s beginning automatically leads to a somehow better or more successful ending. Sure, some people might get a leg-up in terms of opportunity. They might seem more skilled or gifted in the early stages. But that’s not the most important part. The most important part is you. What are your dreams? The opportunities will come. You just have to go find them, and be ready once you meet.

I’ll be the first to say that I am no expert on these matters. I don’t claim to be some great success—taking the world by storm, winning Tony Awards and Peace Prizes and becoming a millionaire overnight. (I mean, I’m only 25—and, on principle, perpetually green.) If you read my memoir, you know that all I have is my personal experience. From there I can explain the “how I did it” part, doing my best to extrapolate, where appropriate, what kinds of approaches that were most effective.

In summary, the scope of this book is both small and enormous. In terms of content, it explains the attitudes and habits that I used in order to do what I've done so far (small). In terms of reach, if it encourages you to follow your dreams -- well, then, it's infinite.

If you’re ready, come on and jump in! We can share a cart, provided you let me sit in the front, because I get cart-sick. Without a horse, we’ll be pulling our own weight. But I think you’ll enjoy the ride.

Giddy up!
FLR, 2011

Slinging it to #1 on Amazon Kindle!

2011-10-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

Since Amazon's Kindle Store ranks books based on genre, today I learned that Unnaturally Green has reached #1 in the Broadway and Musicals category! (...and #25 in the general Theater category!)

Thank you to all who have left reviews on Amazon and helped spread the word so far! The book's overall ranking hovers around 14,500 (out of nearly a million books on Kindle) -- but since I'm a dreamer, I think we can keep climbing, no?

Also: did I mention I'm *so* excited for tomorrow's online release party? So much fun stuff to share! Be sure to join me on Twitter for all the announcements as they happen. Have a happy Thursday!

Love,

Felicia

Countdown to release day!

2011-10-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

THREE! Yes, three more days until Unnaturally Green's official release day (October 14)! As we all know, the book is already being distributed several days early -- but this Friday is nevertheless a special and important date! Why? Because I'll be announcing a bunch o' fun info, including:

1) The winner(s) of the Unnaturally Green writing contest! A day or two after which I will post the winning entry(ies), as well as excerpts from every single submission (pending each writers' permission). I'm so excited to share these stories with you guys, and hope you'll read and comment on them.

2) Exciting news about not one, but TWO upcoming projects! Aw yeah, you heard me.

3) Behind-the-scenes video footage of my days as a standby! It's quite zany, and features the ever-charming Libby Servais, lifelong friend and character in my book.

What's more, I'll be posting and tweeting and having a veritable electronic rave all day, which I invite you to attend! If you're on my mailing list, you'll get a fresh new email in the afternoon, but be sure also to check my Twitter feed as the super fun happy-time announcements unfold!

All in all, it's going to be one, long unnatural celebration!

In the meantime, you can sneak peek it by downloading my book on Kindle, Nook, or the iBookstore. (Oh! And if you're the speediest reader ever and have finished the book, be sure to drop it a review on Amazon or Barnes and Noble!)

Much love, unnatural and otherwise!
Felicia

It's here (a premature birth, but healthy and kicking!)

2011-10-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Friends! EXCITING NEWS!!! Because October 14 is more a feeling than an actual date, Unnaturally Green has apparently become available for purchase WORLDWIDE!

Click here to get your copy and have it shipped in a matter of days!

You can also read it on your Kindle, Apple device (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch), Nook (coming soon), or Sony Reader! (Longer preview excerpt is now available on e-readers.)

These are exciting times! Exciting times indeed!

Love,
Felicia

How to belt really high (the F in "Defying Gravity")

2011-09-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings, muchachos! Many of you posted totally rad comments on my Elphaba Belting Tips video -- one of which was a question: Any advice on belting the high F in "Defying Gravity?"

Behold! I answered in a video!

Book trailers are high art

2011-09-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Inspired by perplexingly random (but earnest) book trailers the world over (like this, or this), I decided to make a trailer of my own for Unnaturally Green. It is bold. It is daring. It is EXTREMELY SERIOUS.

Enjoy.

My book is for sale! (with a few disclaimers)

2011-09-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, friends! If you live in the U.S. you can now pre-order your (signed!) copy of Unnaturally Green. Click here or think really hard about the book and maybe it will materialize in front of you.

And apologies to my international friends for not being able to pre-order yet! The book will be available through Amazon.com's global shipping very soon.

Are you confused? Here's a quick Q&A about the book's distribution:

Q: Why is Unnaturally Green not yet available to all corners of the globe? The short answer: because it'll cost tons of money to ship worldwide right now. Shipping worldwide will eventually be available (just not right now) (for reasons too boring and complicated to explain).

Q: When will it be available to everybody to order online? Probably 7 or so days before October 14, pending Amazon.com's listing of the book.

Q: Why the lag time? Because I'm sort of making up this book distribution thing as I go. There are several sales channels that my publishing site is going to open up to me, but it takes time.

Q: Is the book going to be available in bookstores on October 14? Nope. (Sorry.) It's much harder to get it distributed to stores, especially by a release date. But the good news is that if you're able to ask me about it online you're able to order the book! Via various links and online stores that I'll post up the wazoo on all Unnaturally Green's various sites.

Q: Will it be available as an e-book? If so, on which devices? Unnaturally Green will be downloadable to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.

Q: You say order by October 4 to get your copy by October 14. So will some people receive their copies before October 14? Probably. It's an inexact science. I'm going to try to honor the release date but I also don't want you to miss it, so I'll probably be an early bird and send out the copies as soon as I can. Think of it as a sneak peek!

Post other questions in the comment section below and I'll do my best to amend the post and answer them.

Much love!
--FLR

Do not operate heavy machinery after writing a book

2011-09-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

Ask yourself: Why bother getting shwashted on cosmopolitans when you can simply pull a week's worth of consecutive all-nighters, staring blankly at a computer screen and looking up words like "overhang" and "woolly" because your vocabulary has dwindled to Dr. Seuss proportions and you can't recall the meaning of anything. That's right: finishing a book = feeling drunk all the time, not that I'd know what that's like, and damn right, I'm NOT going to use punctuation or proper sentence structure because PUNCTUATION IS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE!

I will, however, strategically use line breaks where appropriate and/or inappropriate.

Like

this.

What is the point of this post-post-post-modern post?

It is to document, in unabashedly incoherent terms, that I have, officially, beyond all reasonable doubt, finished Unnaturally Green.

And believe me this time: it's true. I know throughout the process I kept being like, "It's done!" "All I gotsta do is edit this shiznit!" "Check it, editing is so easy, yo!" (because I suddenly began to speak in a strange dialect?) but really that was all a lie. Oh, I didn't know it was a lie at the time; I sincerely believed editing would be a piece o' ice cream cake. But this couldn't be further from the truth.

EDITING SUCKS SO HARD!

It is like playing endless games of pickup sticks and the sticks are smeared with olive oil, and your opponent is really annoying. It is like crossing a shark-filled moat with meat wrapped around your ankles, and the sharks are really annoying. It is like scheduling an endless array of dinner parties, then going to Key Food and trying to find produce that is not ten months old, and then the dinner party guests are really annoying.

It is Le Worst.

But the end-result? A freakin' book, y'all. (I should also mention that I stayed afloat through this process mostly due to incredible help and support from my editors -- including a heroic, last-minute copyeditor who swooped in and turned my mucky prose into freshly manicured sentence-lawns, cutting any and all phrases that made no sense (like this one, for example).)

In short, I have gone insane. But I have decided that, when it comes to book-writing and subsequent self-publishing, insanity is a good thing. Insanity is directly proportional to goodness.

∫ (x) insanity = ∆ goodnessxµøπ, where x = book.

That's right: I'm also a math genius.

If you dare to venture into my insane mind-dungeon, why not take a peek at Chapter 1? It's online and is viewable to select fans. (Instructions here. Enter at your own risk.)

Do you want to know another insane thing? I couldn't sleep last night! After I sent my book to my various printers and distributers, I lay awake like some possessed nut-so, mulling over all my last-minute changes...wondering what I had to do next, for promotion, and shipping, and website programming, and...

GAH!

In the end, I am confident it will be worth it. Because

∫ (x) confident = ∆ UnnaturallyGreen(x)µøπ, where x = worth.

Until then? I'll be the one singing softly to myself on the street corner, collecting change in a paper cup.

Cover teaser! (Vote for your favorite)

2011-08-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! I'm days away from finalizing Unnaturally Green's cover design -- and I want your input! Sign up for my mailing list by Tuesday, August 23 for a chance to vote for your favorite. (And tell your friends!)

Below you'll find a tiny sliver of the cover...just a teaser to get things going. Oooooooh, the mystery...!

Writing Contest (win a signed copy of my book!)

2011-08-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

As I sporadically offer writing advice and pointless ramblings, I have long suspected there are burgeoning writer-artist-actor types among my blog audience and readership.

So I think it's high time I heard from YOU!

Yes, I'm asking you for your own "unnaturally green" stories, describing a time when you had to go outside yourself and do something you'd never done before.

Based on the feedback, comments, and encouragements I've gotten from you all, together you make up a diversely funny and creative bunch. I WANNA READ YOUR STORIES AND I WANNA READ THEM NOW!

Check out the official writing contest page HERE! Deadline to submit is October 13 at 11:59 P.M.

Are there prizes? YOU BETCHA. Winning stories will be posted on this blog as well my book's website, and winners will receive signed and personalized copies of Unnaturally Green, as well as other goodies. (Rules and prize info HERE!)

So get on it, friends! Let's all revel in our unnatural greenness.

Book cover shoot (sneak peek)

2011-08-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

We're less than two weeks away from releasing Unnaturally Green's official cover design! Can't give too much away yet, but here are some behind-the-scenes shots from today's cover shoot. In one of them I have a green unibrow. Enjoy!

How to Write a Book (Part 1)

2011-08-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Friends! October 14 is fast approaching (what's happening October 14?), and as such I am becoming even more reclusive than I once was. I have not seen the sun in days. My skin is the color of computer paper. I know this because I have a piece of computer paper right here, on which I've printed Draft Number 3, and sometimes I confuse it with my left arm.

In times of such misery comes genuine reflection and, of course, the urge to share my own suffering with the rest of you. So, in the spirit of last month's how-to video on Elphaba belting, I submit to you:

Felicia's Totally Made-Up, Learn-As-You-Go, Put-the-Cart-Before-the-Horse Guide to Writing a Book (Which She Herself Is Trying to Follow as She Finishes Editing Unnaturally Green)

1. Decide You Want to Write a Book

This sounds easy enough -- as easy as deciding whether you want to perform electrolysis on your scalp or willingly enter into a jail sentence. A moment's decision will turn into lasting regret. But this is a good thing: if you're the type to stick to a project once it's begun, bully for you! That's an incredible quality, since most people who start writing books never quiiiite finish. (Just as many people who start reading books never quiiiite finish.) So: think long and hard and ask yourself, do you really want to write a book? (Translation: Do you really want to start a project that will take months, or even years, and which will monopolize your thoughts, dreams, and conversations from now until you type your final draft's THE END?)

If yes, please proceed to Step 2!

2. Buy Wardrobe That Makes You Feel Like a Writer

This may seem like a superfluous step, but it is really the most crucial; the only way to become a writer is to look like one. I suggest you watch any episode of Sex and the City and steal ideas from its protagonist Carrie Bradshaw, who writes one newspaper column a week and yet is able to pay rent on her massive upper east side studio apartment. Anyway: she always wears crazy clothes when she writes. Choose an outfit that works for you and only wear that outfit. Well, that probably will become a biohazard. I guess wear that outfit whenever you need to remind yourself of your writerly identity -- and wash it in between.

My Writer's Wardrobe was inspired by several of Carrie's outfits. I call it, the "off-the-shoulder Carrie Bradshaw sweater," and I've modeled it below, propping my hands up to make it seem that I am typing, even though my hands are floating in the air:

Have you found your Writer's Wardrobe? If yes, proceed to Step 3!

3. Decide What Kind of Book It's Going to Be

Will you be writing fiction? Nonfiction? A children's book in which the illustrations are fingerpaintings by your dog? It's up to you! Ask yourself, what story am I telling, and what's the best way to tell it? At this phase I also encourage you to:

3.5 Read a Ton of Books

This will both help inspire you and clarify what kinds of structures are successful in long storytelling. What are your favorites? What are your least favorites? When I decided to write Unnaturally Green I began devouring other memoirs to get a feel for different authors' pacing, chronology, framing devices, etc. What I discovered was both helpful and daunting: most memoirs are, on the whole, really wild! It is a genre of lawless freeform, whose authors are allowed to do whatever they want. (So...based on my style of blogging you can probably discern why I, Felicia Ricci, decided to go that route...)

Have you decided what genre you're going for? Proceed to Step 4!

4. Write, Damnit!

Yep! This is the most fun (read: excruciating) part. Now you actually have to start writing.

Hmm...where to begin?

(Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post, coming soon!)

How to Sing Defying Gravity

2011-07-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

I first saw WICKED on Broadway as a 19 year-old, in which the goddess known as Shoshana Bean played Elphaba, its green-skinned protagonist. Aside from being struck by how awesome the musical was in general, mostly I couldn't understand how Shoshana sang all those freaking high songs. Cuz, like, those songs be high and hard, like. Many years later, after playing the role myself, sometimes under less than ideal circumstances, I have a few tricks up my own sleeve.

Wanna see??? (Click below for "Defying Gravity" and "The Wizard and I" singing tips!)

News and TWO Weird Videos!

2011-07-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Friends!

Tonight I will be releasing BIG NEWS and TWO WEIRD VIDEOS about my memoir Unnaturally Green, sent exclusively to my mailing list subscribers.

If you want to join in on the fun, be sure to sign up now...

Love,
Felicia

BOOK ALMOST THERE AAAH OMG

2011-07-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

In what will be remembered historically as one of the most drawn-out lead-ins of all time, I am happy to say that today, July 6, 2011, I am GOING TO FINISH MY BOOK, Y'ALL!

Well. A draft, anyway.

I submit for evidence the pile of legal pads (above) that have been strewn about my couch for the past several weeks. Midway through writing I switched to exclusively using a pen and paper and have lately been transcribing 3,000+ words a day onto my computer. My hands by this point are basically fists with nubbins. I haven't slept. I haven't left my apartment except to empty my bedpan. Only kidding. I make someone else empty my bedpan.

So let it be here writ! I'll be done with my final draft before the stroke of midnight tonight! I don't know about you, but for me, this is great great news!

The not-as-good news? Finishing my draft means it will be time to EDIT. But, don't worry, I'm going to edit like a MOFO. I've enlisted the help of two editor friends who are going to whip this 70,000-word gobbledy-gook-fest into shape so we can get it PUBLISHED, y'all.

Then, while I keep you abreast of the publishing process, I'll (finally!) send out my book's trailer, other related goodies and start accepting writing contest submissions! (<-- More formal announcement about this, via my mailing list and blog, coming soon!)

In the meantime, tell your friends! If you're as excited about UNNATURALLY GREEN as I am, you can help me get the word out.

Thanks for listening, and I'll continue to keep you posted.

Love and legal pads and bedpans,
Felicia

New Book Excerpt (Holier Crap!)

2011-06-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hi, little nuggets of fun! I recently shared a new Unnaturally Green excerpt with my smokin' hot mailing list subscribers (along with other life-altering news, like that my book is now being written in the past tense -- I know: try to contain your shock and amazement). And, after much soul searching, I have decided it is high time I delivered this exclusive content to the cruel, unfeeling world (that's you).

Behold! A new excerpt!

(Click here to read a previous excerpt. Or click here. Or just stop depriving yourself and join my amazing mailing list already.)

Bryan, our conductor and music director, was like a distant, power suit-wearing father. No matter how much he scared me, I just wanted him to love me.

At 6:30 I swung by the Vocal Rehearsal Room, whose door was propped open, and caught Bryan sitting on the miniature couch, eating a dinner of what looked like falafel and French fries.

“Come in!” he said, not looking up, even though I was already in the room, at which point I considered backing out, then walking in again, so as not to upset him.

Instead, I boldly took to the center of the space, a mere foot from where he was sitting, and set my binder on the music stand.

“Thanks for coaching me,” I said, as Bryan glided over to the piano bench.

"No problem."

Without a moment to spare, he began to play, the familiar vamp of rolling chords—the ones I’d heard at my audition, my callback, then every night through the dressing room monitors, over which Teal Wicks, as Elphaba, would sing:

“Unlimited…”

“STOP!” Bryan spun around on the bench to face me, frowning like I had mustard, or boils, on my face. “You weren’t thinking, were you? I mean really thinking.”

“Uh—” I shook my head.

“What were you thinking?”

I am so scared of you, that is what I was thinking.

“Uh, I guess,” I said, stalling, “I was focusing on my notes and breathing, just, trying to focus, for now.”

“You inhaled way too early.” At this he closed his eyes and looked down, as if pausing before my open casket. “Your breath should come with the sound, directly before you phonate. If you’re present, this happens naturally. If not, your breathing is totally off.”

“Oh, okay. Right. Thank you,” I said, wondering if he’d learned this subtle giveaway in the guidebook of Evil Music Director Detectivery.

“Again!”

Rolling cords. Steeled mind. Think of something, anything!

"Unlimited…”

“STOP!”

Motherfu--

“What were you thinking about?” said Bryan, this time not even turning to face me. Without waiting for the answer, he asked, “What does ‘unlimited’ look like?"

I furrowed my brow. “Uh…"

Unlimited.

How could such an unspecific word mean something specific to Elphaba?

I was learning the hard way that singing wasn’t just breath, posture, or vowel placement; singing was acting. And acting wasn’t black turtlenecks and berets—acting was specificity. Specificity was your imagination, channeled concretely. But imagination was risky, because it involved decision-making, deciding what a character—a person—might think, feel, believe, experience.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and inched onto the ledge of my imagination.

Time to take a risk.

It's been so long, OMG!

2011-05-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

T.S. Eliot votes April, but I say May is the cruelest month. Why? First, midway through, I completed my twenty-fifth year on this spherical hovercraft known as earth. Consequently, I dabbled in my version of a quarter-life crisis. Where I was like, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF IT ALL" while eating tons of corn chips and chocolate turtles.

Why else is May cruel? Because I haven't had time to blog, y'all! I've been busy doing all kinds of rando things, like buying rain boots, and questioning my life's purpose.

But here's the good news! I will post soon! And, mailing list subscribers, I'll be sending a new Unnaturally Green excerpt your way oh-so-shortly, as well as an in-the-works video that's kind of wild, but hopefully entertaining (and informative)!

To wrap up this exercise in pointlessness, here is a picture of me, right now:

Caption: "Yo, my face is basically a different color than my body maybe because of the flash but also because I'm abnormally pale"

Sincerely,
Felicia

Regarding Memoir Writing

2011-04-21T02:41:00.000-07:00

Sup! Somebody named Anon Y. Mous posted a great comment on my latest excerpt that I thought was worth answering in a new post.

Q: "I don't mean to question your morals or honesty, but is this legal? the people who own wicked are really hard-ass when it comes to copyright stuff. did you have to pay to get approval?"

A: Great question, Anon. Indeed, I've been in touch with the super cool folks at Wicked, and they know about Unnaturally Green and its unnaturally green (as in "first-time") author (me!). In any event, memoir writing is legal, because each individual owns the rights to his or her own story. The rule is: if it's true and it happened to you, you can write about it. Otherwise we would live in a censored society! (No free speech, and whatnot. Yikes.)

The tricky part would be if a memoir contains slander or defames any person or organization that might falsely portray them in a negative light. But Unnaturally Green is not about mud-slinging, gossip, or huge "reveals" about how things "really" are: it's a story about one girl's personal, hopefully funny, (totally true!) journey under strange and unusual circumstances -- which, due to real-life events and happenings -- takes me backstage of Wicked in San Francisco.

Thanks for the question!

Top Secret Book Excerpt (Holy Crap!)

2011-04-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

I recently shared with my mailing list subscribers this excerpt from Unnaturally Green (you know, the super cool behind-the-scenes of Wicked book I'm writing?), but here it is again, copied and pasted for the motley, unwieldy masses.

Read it and WEEP, then feel free to leave comments below. (Although, it would be better if you did not weep, as it is not a particularly sad scene, and I would worry about your emotional stability.)

“So are all of the costumes kept here?”

“Each production has its own wardrobe department, but, yes, when the costumes aren’t being used they’re housed here, in the shop. Our goal today is to find some that might fit you.”

Amanda leads me to the right aisle and starts hoisting down clusters of hangers, on which there have been draped every manner of heavy fabric, sewn together in intricate and impossible designs. These costumes are so large and elaborate they look more like wildly festive outdoor tents than any kind of wardrobe for humans. She holds out my first costume, which reminds me of a brownish orange barrel, held together by a structure of hoops, studs, and snaps.

Utterly perplexed, my first instinct is to initiate a headfirst attack—so I basically lunge forward with my chin tucked to my chest, like a land diver. This is apparently very wrong.

“Oh, nope, careful there,” says Amanda. “It looks like it buttons here, but actually you just pull it apart with the snaps there, and step inside right there.” She pries apart the barrel then collapses it around me, until I am swimming in hoops and fabric. “Over time, you would learn how to get everything on and off, plus you’d have a dresser helping you during the actual show.”

“This is great news because I can barely dress myself,” I say.

Next we make our way to a steep-shelved library of plastic bins, each of which contain dozens of colorful shoes, labeled in Sharpie with names of former Wicked cast members. It seems the production keeps a physical record of everyone who’s ever passed through—a monument to the talent that’s helped make it all possible. I see names that read like chapter headings in a theater encyclopedia: Idina Menzel, Eden Espinosa, Julia Murney. Confronted by this visual reminder of how small I am, I feel my throat gulp, in that cartoon sort of way.

“Hmm,” says Amanda, kneading her palms together. “Why don’t we give those a try—the Elphaba shoes.”

She scoops up one bin and starts to dig. I peer over her shoulder to see folds of supple leather, zippers, and laces, doubling back on each other, like some swirling shoe orgy, until a handsome pair of brown laced boots emerge from the chaos. They’ve been fashioned to look worn and distressed, and so carry with them inalienable character and story, like an old medicine man.

“Here we go,” Amanda says.

I take a deep breath and slink my foot toward her, as if the boot must first grant me permission to enter its domain.

But in seconds, I, Felicia Ricci, am in Elphaba’s shoes—a living metaphor. I wiggle my toes, carving out my own little space in this legacy of greatness.

“How do they feel?” Amanda asks.

“They feel perfect,” I say.

Here is something that happened to me recently.

2011-04-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KMKCY2GDcg&feature=player_embedded

Stephen Schwartz Newsletter and also other things

2011-04-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hello, sass machines!

Brilliant news! Carol de Giere, author of the Stephen Schwartz biography Defying Gravity has mentioned Unnaturally Green in her latest quarterly newsletter. Check it out here!

Carol is a super cool lady, WICKED aficionado, and Stephen Schwartz über-expert (obvs) who has already been generous in providing me with tips and guidance on the publishing of Unnaturally Green.

Here is a sample chapter from her totally awesome-tastic book and a link to the WICKED section of her Stephen Schwartz website. Be sure to check them out!

In other news, my young and fashionable sister visited me in NYC this weekend and we finished an epic project which shall be gracing YouTube in the near-to-very-near future. It involves singing, rapping, eyeliner on my face, and much awkward prancing. (Because why would you expect anything less.)

Stay tuned...!

My book discovered the internet, then joined Facebook

2011-04-04T17:03:00.001-07:00

Oh no. Unnaturally Green thinks it's a person! I bet it needs friends.

Announcing my memoir's official title!

2011-04-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! I just sent an announcement out to my mailing list revealing the title of my behind-the-scenes of WICKED memoir. It is... (drum roll....)

Unnaturally Green
[mind-blowing subtitle pending]

As such, my book's placeholder website (www.FeliciasUntitledWickedMemoir.com) will now redirect you to its new online home, http://www.unnaturallygreen.com/.

Indeed, "Unnaturally Green" is borrowed from the Stephen Schwartz WICKED lyric that describes Elphaba at birth, and is also (DUH!) the title of this blog. Truth is, I'm mildly obsessed with the phrase because I feel there could not be a more apt way to describe me when I first got hired: wholly and unnaturally green -- a novice, a nobody, a nincompoop -- watching unbelievable events unfold as if I were starring in the strange and oddly directed movie-version of my life.

I hope you're just as excited about this as I am!!!

Love,
Fel

Pssssst! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

Shameless sap and ANNOUNCEMENT!

2011-03-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

Dear totally awesome followers of this blog,

First off, can I just take out my virtual hanky for a second and wipe some virtual happy tears? Thank you ALL for the support you've given me both on this blog and lately with the announcement of my behind-the-scenes memoir. It is astonishing how fricking cool all of you are. I love your enthusiasm, and passion for the arts, and for humor, and for voicing your opinions.

I spearheaded my memoir project because I wanted to stay connected to all of you, and deliver a personal story that might just be worthwhile enough for you to read. The project represents hours upon hours of work -- the culmination of many dreams of mine, each merging into one, lasting, exuberant expression of who I am. And I am so grateful that you've leaned in to listen. Now, more than ever, I have such a clear sense of who my audience is: the curious, inquisitive, hungry, appreciators of theater, of humor, and of creativity. From little kids who dream big to grown-up kids who never stopped, I say to you all, "HELLO! AND THANKS!"

So, catch phrases and taglines aside, if you asked me, "Fel! What is this book really about?" I would say: it's about you guys.

Corny? Nah.

Honest? Definitely.

Okay. Hanky going away.

For now.

Also, hankies are unsanitary, so next time I am going to use a tissue.

In any event, I am pleased to announce that soon -- as soon as this very night! (...or tomorrow, if I can't get my shiz together) -- I'm going to disclose my memoir's official title, along with more info on where you can find (regularly updated!) excerpts and other little goodies.

In the meantime, if you haven't joined my outrageously cool mailing list, be sure to do so here!

Talk soon!
--FR

P.S. Yesterday, March 30, marked the one-year anniversary of my Elphaba debut!

Carol de Giere, author of "Defying Gravity"

2011-03-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Exciting news on the memoir front! I've gotten in touch with author Carol de Giere, who penned Stephen Schwartz's biography "Defying Gravity," and she's been relaying some helpful tips on how to get the word out about my own book. Stay tuned...

In the meantime, here are links to her sites, so be sure to check them out!

www.DefyingGravityTheBook.com - Read her Stephen Schwartz biography!

www.MusicalSchwartz.com - Check out her Stephen Schwartz fan page!

--FR

P.S. In case you hadn't noticed: UNNATURALLY GREEN is BACK, y'all.

Hey, my book has a website!

2011-03-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

Check this out and try not to pee your pants even though I suspect you are reading this while not even wearing pants!

http://www.FeliciasUntitledWickedMemoir.com

(It's uses flash, so you won't be able to view it on your mobile device or any manner of iTabletThing. Only old-fashioned computers. So antiquated.)

The "Learn More" page includes a contact form for you to sign up for my mailing list. No spamming here -- just periodic updates on the book's official title (to be revealed soon...), its release date, how to order advanced or signed copies, and how you can get involved in spreading the Wicked-memoir love across this great wide earth.

Hooray! Getting psyched for this, everybody!
--FR

SECRET POST!

2011-03-24T17:15:00.001-07:00

KNOCK KNOCK.

WHO'S THERE?

A WICKED MEMOIR BY FELICIA RICCI

A WICKED MEMOIR BY FELICIA RICCI WHO?

COMING SUMMER 2011.

(Tell your friends. And stay tuned. And eat your vegetables.)

That's all, folks!

2010-09-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here it is: my last Unnaturally Green post EVER. Like most endings, especially those conceived by M. Night Shyamalan, mine will be, at best, mildly entertaining, at worst complete drivel, but, prevailingly, just kind of strange, disappointing, and self-referential.

I was reluctant to embrace a Blogberry send-off, and so I promised a Final Days Retrospective. After further inspection, however, I realized that my penultimate post ("I Am Not A Sentimental Man") rather did the Time-To-Wrap-It-Up trick, didn't it? Adding more to that would be like adding, I don't know, extra grated cheese to macaroni and cheese (which I do, by the way, but that doesn't make it dignified or healthy).

So my farewell stands! The final days of WICKED were very meaningful and gave me great closure, but at the same time, they were not reflective of the totality of the experience. That's the funny thing about goodbyes: they're compressed versions of all the stuff that already existed, so they always come up, well, short. And for this reason they're both affirming and disappointing, filled with nostalgia for the magic and the mundane, and with sorrow for never being able to recreate it all.

But, who am I trying to be, some two-bit philosopher? Nah, it's not my style. How about some lighter fare? I designed farewell cards for everybody in the cast and thought you might get a little-bitty kick out of them:

So that happened and was fun.

Oh yeah! This is the almost-most important part! I'm starting a new Blog, all about my New York City adventures! Here is a prototype of the site's header. Its title is "Five-Trick Pony," which is inspired by my favorite quotation, as uttered by the illustrious Amy Winehouse: "I'm not a one-trick pony. I'm at least a five-trick pony." Header below (click to enlarge)!

As soon as the Blog is up and running, I will activate the above header as a hyperlink that will take you directly there.

That just about covers everything, doesn't it?

Remember: this isn't really the end for us! (...because there always could be an M. Night Shyamala-nian twist where you realize that this Blog has been written backwards, and every time you read it you time travel, and also that my skin really is green, and every time I go on as Elphaba they wipe away the human skin to uncover the true green color behind it, like the Joker in the original Batman, except not at all, and to top it off I am a homicidal tree.)

Heck, no twists for me. Let's be straightforward: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for following Unnaturally Green. It's been my pleasure, and I hope you'll stick around for Five-Trick Pony adventures.

Love to you all!

Bye bye for now,

Felicia.

I Am Not A Sentimental Man

2010-09-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

But I have occasionally been known to be a sentimental woman. Unfortunately, I no longer have internet in my apartment and therefore have no way to thrust my inner thoughts and agenda onto the general internet public, except through Twitter, which simply will not suffice for a verbose madamoiselle like myself. But this morning, lo and behold, I remembered: I can blog via Blackberry! I can Blogberry!

But I refuse to deem a post that was typed by my weary thumbs on the unfurnished floor my very last, so I've decided that either later today or, more realistically, later this week, I will sit down and do a Final Days Retrospective. It might be really blubbering, or I might try to repress my feelings and just list facts like a court affidavit (yeah, I used to do Mock Trial, no I never had dates to school dances. JK! I had dates! If you count my gay best guy friends. But whatever, now my boyfriend is the ubermensch. High school dating scene retribution lemme hear you say HEYO! (Blogberrying is dangerous, as under normal computer-based circumstances I would edit out everything I just wrote, but on a tiny screen/keyboard, this is far too much effort.)).

So, anyway: WICKED closed last night, and it was...how do I describe my feelings? Some folks asked me if I was sad, and I'd have to say no, but with a giant, multifaceted asterisk. I am sad insofar as something beautiful that was no longer is, and that's a huge loss to deal with. But WICKED closing also evokes so much positive emotion, as I think of all the lives it's touched here in SF. I know, from your letters and kind words at the stage door, to my own personal experience, that the story of WICKED is timeless, inspirational, cathartic, and quite universal, and I think I would be much sadder if its message had never been disseminated. But I'm thrilled to see firsthand how it has worked its magic on literally hundreds of thousands of people -- and I'm thrilled to have been a part of it.

Huh, I guess it is possible to be sentimental on a Blogberry.

More soon from me. Bottom line of this post? Thank you! Thank you, WICKED, thank you, amazing fans, thank you, universe, thank you, Mom and Dad, thank you everybody who came together to make this life-changing experience possible.

On the bright side: now I get to paint my nails any color I want. Today, I choose purple!

On another bright side: I will be releasing info about my sequel Blog (title, content summary, work-in-progress header) in the super-near future.

Okay. Sigh. See you soon, my friends. Same Unnatural time, same Unnaturally Green place. We've got a few more in us, right? Of course we do.

Love,
Felicia.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

So, this happened, too!

2010-08-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

I hope you've all been sufficiently delighted and/or weirded out by the video pastiche I posted two days ago. If you didn't think I was capable of such senseless tomfoolery, boy, weren't you surprised.

Related tangent for a hot second: Isn't my sister the Ultimate Bomb Digs? I wholeheartedly concur, tenfold, with all the nice things people have had to say about the Little Bonus Ricci. She is an extremely talented singer and performer, and also a genius, and also might be the best human ever to live. Stop me before I start to brag. In all seriousness, thanks for all the complimentary comments. We so appreciate your support! (And if you liked "A Thirty-Eight Song Medley," do send it along to your friends! Our goal is to take over the world, through the power of song.)

Okay, back to my favorite topic: Me. Allow me to direct you to an interview with Yours Truly (that's right, from now on I'm going to capitalize all references to Myself) that's just been featured on the WICKED News site Innuendo and Outuendo. It's basically a fun li'l summary of the content we've covered here on Unnaturally Green -- a retrospective, if you will. Which is apropos, in a sentimental way, because both WICKED San Francisco and my WICKED Blog are, well...going to DIE!

(From whence I shall be reborn in a new, invigorating, me-in-NYC-doing-theater-but-also-other-things Blog, whose title is yet to be announced. So be forlorn not! Many more hijinks are in our future!)

Anywho, click here to read my interview, or click on "Read More," as I'll paste the full text on my blog after the jump. Enjoy!

Today, we are excited to share an interview with Felicia Ricci of the San Francisco cast of the show, which closes on September 5. Ms. Ricci is currently the standby for Elphaba in that production, having previously been in the ensemble and an understudy for the role. As we’re sure you know, she also runs a blog about her experiences in the show, called “Unnaturally Green”, which you can click on to check out. Tomorrow, we’ll have an interview with the standby for Glinda from the production, Libby Servais. For today, enjoy this wonderful interview with Ms. Ricci!

What were some of your favorite shows that you did in college? What did you learn from those experiences?

I did a ton of plays and musicals in college, most of which were student-run. Being a non-theater major, I had to learn by doing. Student-run productions often presented many logistical challenges, but made me appreciate the value of collaboration and cooperation among a company of people. My two favorite shows were probably “Assassins” (I got to play a Charles Manson fanatic!) and “The Last Five Years” (which had lots of challenging singing, and felt like vocal boot camp).

What was your audition process like for “Wicked”? How many times did you try out?

I got really lucky and had to audition for “Wicked” only one time in December 2009. The whole audition/callback/hiring process was barely week long! Talk about a huge life change in a short amount of time.

What was your reaction when you found out you had been cast in the show?

I actually had a fitting before “Wicked” officially hired me; they wanted to make sure they could costume me from the resources they already had. So finding out was a bit of a process: all during the fitting I was bursting at the seams (figuratively, not literally (or else they wouldn’t have hired me!)) but I couldn’t truly celebrate until I had heard official word. Official word came later that day, while I was taking a walk with my best friend from growing up. We both started screaming and doing a celebratory dance.

Who was the first person you told that you had been cast? What was his/her reaction?

As I said, I was with my best friend at the time when I got the “you’ve been hired!” call. After that, the first people I called were my boyfriend (who was ecstatic!) and my mom and dad (who were also ecstatic!). Then, as the day progressed, I literally made a million more calls and pulled people aside on the street to tell them I’d been cast in “Wicked.” Just kidding about that last part.

What was the most difficult part of your initial rehearsal process for the ensemble? What about for Elphaba?

Rehearsing for the ensemble is insane because it’s just you and the dance captains and you have to imagine that all the other cast members are with you. And for the first few weeks you don’t rehearse onstage, so you have to also imagine the set, lights, costumes, etc. It’s all about using your imagination. With Elphaba it was similarly challenging, but what was extra taxing was that I was performing in the ensemble in the evenings and learning Elphaba during the day.

What was your first performance like? How would you describe it in one word?

THEMOSTFUNEVER.

What was your reaction when you found out you had been moved to standby?

More screaming, celebratory dancing.

What was it like to ride the “Defying Gravity” lift for the first time? Is it difficult to sing while riding it?

The first time I had to ride ‘n’ sing was during my put-in rehearsal, which was four days before my Elphaba debut. It is indeed tricky, because, while flying, you have to stand on this tiny platform with your feet glued together, and you can’t shift your stance. So my trick is to tighten my butt really hard and stay grounded. And, if all else fails, adrenaline kicks in and does most of the work.

What is it like to go on mid-show as opposed to for a full show? Does it make it difficult to really “get into the character”?

Yes, it is much harder, because you have to fill in the early part of Elphaba’s journey in your mind and sensory memory. Definitely more of an uphill battle. But certainly not impossible.

Have you had to change any daily habits to protect your voice and body while in the show?

Yes, definitely. I am way anal-retentive about my vocal regimens these days. Top four daily habits are probably: 1) lots and lots and lots and lots of water (I’m serious: LOTS), 2) use a Neti Pot at least once a day, 3) sleep with a humidifier on, 4) vocalize daily. And then, if I’m feeling under the weather, I supplement my routine with other stuff, like tea with honey, or hydrogen peroxide gargling, stuff like that. Is this TMI?

Have you witnessed – or perhaps been involved in – any onstage bloopers or mishaps that you’d like to share?

Oh, hellz yeah. The first time I went on as Elphaba (which was mid-Act I), while crossing upstage to the Defying Gravity lift, I got my broom caught between two set pieces and broke it in half. I performed the song holding just the broom’s tip, which looked like a dustpan duster.

We have been following your blog – “Unnaturally Green” – what have you thought about the fans’ reaction to the blog?

Hey, thanks for the plug! I am psyched that fans are into the blog! I began writing it back in January on my plane ride over to San Francisco from New York City, and it’s chronicled my entire journey in “Wicked” thus far. Honestly, it started as something that was purely for my own amusement — maybe also to amuse the occasional bored friend or family member — but it certainly has caught on in ways I never imagined! I think “Unnaturally Green” appeals to a wide readership because it not only divulges behind-the-scenes tidbits from the Wonderful World of “Wicked,” but also dispels a lot of mystery about what it’s like to work in a professional Broadway company.

So, this happened.

2010-08-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

(Backstory here.)

Fact of the Day #15

2010-08-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

This post isn't going to be too thrilling for those of you who aren't super familiar with the show, but at the very end of WICKED, Fiyero re-emerges after the ensemble sings a brief reprise of "Good news, she's dead...the wickedest witch there ever was, the enemy of all of us here in Oz, is deeeeeead...." As he walks out there's a melody in the orchestra that is a deconstructed version of the Scarecrow's solo from "The Wizard of Oz," which is (although sans lyrics): "I could while away the hours." Eh? Eh? Stephen Schwartz, you're such a sasser.

At the very least, this post is a fine prologue to my next post, which will be about the time I sat in the orchestra pit for an entire show. Let me tell you, it's a jungle down there! And by "jungle" I mean "highly disciplined group of prodigiously talented people sitting in chairs, wearing black, and being unflinchingly attentive." If that doesn't scream jungle, I don't know what does.

Stay tuned!
--FR

Another kind of witch switch

2010-08-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

So some of you may have heard, or even seen in person, that this past Sunday night I went on as Elphaba midway through Act II. Elphaba swaps during the show are pretty rare, although not as rare as you'd think, and swaps during Act II are even rarer. Like, if Elphaba swaps in general are Portuguese Man-of-Wars, then swaps in Act II are Goblin Sharks. (<-- Isn't that the weirdest video you've ever seen?)

Recap time, wut wut! So. Where was I this past Sunday night during the evening show, you ask? I was at home, luxuriating on my couch, about to watch another riveting episode of "Say Yes to the Dress" (the suspense always kills me: WILL SHE FIND THE PERFECT DRESS?!?!?!). Nothing out of the ordinary there: on a regular night of work, I usually sign in and head back home, turn on The Learning Channel and pretend not to notice the numbing repetitiveness of all of their programs. And I am always reachable by phone if WICKED needs me.

Sunday, August 8 at 9:40PM, I get a call. I have to go back to the theater! On with the shoes, the sweatpants, the scarf, the dumpy college sweatshirt. But my nerves remain calm -- even a phone call from stage management doesn't necessarily mean I am on (a lot of times the team will want me in the building just to be safe).

So, dressed in the most heinous of outfits -- rivaled only by what I used to wear during late-night college study sessions, when I would sit with my laptop in Gourmet Heaven, the campus' favorite 24-hour deli, and chew a whole pack of caffeine gum so that I could study an entire semester's-worth of information in 12 hours or less (this unfortunate situation actually only happened once, in my senior year: to fulfill a science credit in order to graduate I made the ill-advised decision to take a class called "Language Abilities in Animals" and wrote my term paper on whether or not dolphins could talk (they can't)) -- I walk to the Orpheum theater.

It takes ten minutes to get there. Moments after walking in the door, I hear: "You're on!"

The first, and only other time I went on as Elphaba during the show was during Act I, and it was my first day on the job. This combination of factors was truly terrifying, but also exhilarating. In contrast, and not to burst everyone's collective bubble or anything, going on this past Sunday night was totally fine. Honest! The only thing that was sort of stressful was getting painted green at super warp speed. But by this point I have such a great rapport with the WICKED staff (my dresser, our makeup artist, our wig supervisor), that we can basically handle any challenge. To be honest, it was actually kind of fun getting into Elphaba makeup and garb with such a small window of time; it was kind of like that game show Minute to Win It, except there was no weird robot lady with a British accent telling me what to do. Stage management did end up holding the show for a few minutes right before the "Wonderful" scene and song in Act II (which is where we did the witch switch) while I finished getting ready, but, well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

And then I finished the show. Yay!

I hope this explains everything to people who have been asking about it. As for what happened with Marcie Dodd, our brilliant and lovely principal Elphaba, please no prying questions! She just wasn't feeling well and couldn't finish the show. Believe it or not, this happens quite a bit in live theater. Anyway, she's back and fierce as ever, and, when all is said and done, I'm glad I was able to step in and help her. Cuz it be ma job, y'all.

PEACE OUT TO BROOKLYN,
Felicia.

Fact of the Day #14

2010-08-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Bear with me. This one is a doozy.

I come from a family of five: my dad, my mom, my younger sister, my older brother, and me. My dad is Anthony and is a doctor, my mom is Patricia (and is also a doctor, but that's incidental to what I'm about to tell you), my sister is Tessa, I am Felicia. My brother's name isn't important. But it's Marcus, in case you wanted to know. That's the setup.

Here's the payoff:

Tessa (younger sis) and I basically memorized the score of WICKED growing up. In a moment of desperation and extreme boredom (second only to the time we spent nine days in the back of a van while touring Ireland's hypnotically underwhelming scenery, and so composed a 38-song medley that, to this day, we can recite from memory) we came up with a delightful familial homage by changing the lyrics to the following section of "No Good Deed":

"Nessa...Dr. Dillamond....Fiyero...FIYEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" (You know which part I'm talking about? Of course you do.)

Okay, those are the real lyrics. Here is our patented, Ricci-tastic version:

"Tessa....Dr. Anthony....Patricia....FELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICIAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" (Implicit is that it's older bro Marcus (not mentioned) who is singing.)

And that, my friends, is not really a Fact of the Day so much as another piece in the How Did Felicia Get to Be This Way puzzle. Let's never speak of this again.

Live Blogging: Witch Switch 2010!

2010-08-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

6:56PM Heyo, heyo, heyo. Writing from backstage at the Orpheum Theater, where Glinda Standby Libby Servais and I are gearing up for a little something we'd like to call,

WITCH SWITCH 2010: COME 'N' GET IT, WITCHES!

That's right: Libby is getting into full Elphaba makeup / garb, and I'm going to try to squeeze into her tiny Glinda costumes. And we're going to take silly photos! What could be better? NOTHING.

I will update this post with live addenda as the night progresses.

Commencing... NOW!

9:24PM Okay, so I am really bad at live blogging. I guess it's hard to blog when you're actually, uh, doing stuff. But, no matter, here is a photo of the finished product!

[photos removed due to copyright]

Oh well. Photos had to be removed. But we have the memories.

8/12/10 2:07AM I just reread this post and it wins the award for post with the greatest number of copouts.

Fact of the Day #13

2010-08-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

The dragon on the top of the proscenium is named Ozwald. I'm not sure if it's spelled with a Z or an S, and I have no idea who named it.

On a side note, my blog now has 100 followers! Yip!

Elphaba: Dressing the Part

2010-07-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ah, the inner-workings of a mega-hit musical. Yawn. Old news. Getting painted green? Please, they do that in Shrek: The Musical -- PLUS he wears a prosthesis, which is cooler, so whatever, it's over.

Reader, that hurts. I mean, it's been only seven months and already you've moved on to someone else? What did I do? What can I do?

I don't know, you tell me! You write less frequently, you promise articles and then never deliver, and when you do they're short and uninspired. Let's face it: you've changed.

Then I can change, still! What can I say to make us feel young again, like we'd just met, held hands for the first time, skipped through the San Francisco Tenderloin and pretended it was a meadow of sunflowers instead of a strange wasteland of destitution? .... I know! I'll write a post on my personal hero, Kathleen Giordano, Elphaba Dresser Extraordinaire!

(End of weird paragraphs-as-dialogue convention.)

So I've been planning this post on Kathleen for basically months but kept putting it off because I wanted it to be totally rad, like a kind of Vanity-Fair-meets-Rolling-Stone-type investigation -- which is to say, part interview, part cultural essay, part meditation on modern masculinity -- but I, in my crazed craziness, never quite got my act together. (Also I realized that those Vanity Stone articles are annoying, especially when they're celebrity portraits. The details are so random, and somehow everything is supposed to be sexy: She eats the iceberg wedge with her hands but smokes the cigarette in a holder. She blames her parents. "To Mama I was the iceberg, to Papa, the cigarette." I offer her a napkin. She takes a drag. And I thought I had issues.)

Speaking of random details, I'm selling my leather couch on Craigslist for cheap. If you want to buy it, email me.

Enough preamble! Presenting:

KATHLEEN MY DRESSER IS WAY AWESOME AND HERE IS WHAT SHE DOES OKAY THANKS BYE!

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of a dresser (as I was when I was first hired by WICKED), their job is to relieve from the actor the stress and chaos incurred by costume changes, upkeep, and other backstage logistics. Whereas, say, in high school and college productions my castmates and I were individually responsible for our own backstage shenanigans (costumes, props, wigs, makeup, etc.), now that I'm in the Big Leagues, as it were, I have a super duper profesh dresser to do all that crazy stuff for me. What kind of stuff? Glad you asked!

1. Costume Upkeep
Kathleen, along with all the other dressers (and there are quite a few -- Glinda, for example, is assigned her own, and the other principals share several among them, as do the ensemble men and women), are in charge of keeping WICKED's ridiculously intricate (*cough cough* expensive) costumes in tip-top shape. This involves, but is not limited to, the following action verbs, here presented as gerunds: ironing, pressing, steaming, hanging, dry cleaning, washing, repairing, sewing, patching, tailoring, adjusting, preening. The list goes on.

This kind of upkeep occurs before and after the shows, usually during the day. And it's a TON of work. Just the other day I told Kathleen that my white jacket (which I wear after "Popular" through "One Short Day") felt like it was, uh, getting a little tight (the fabric shrinks, I swear! It's like a Chinese finger trap!), and within hours she had altered it to fit me.

2. Dressing Room Upkeep / The Elphaba Hand-Off
I share my Elphaba Dressing Room with the lovely and talented Marcie Dodd, which means double the pleasure, double the fun. Or, more accurately, double the confusion, double the headache. But Kathleen handles this dual love affair with grace and ease! Since Marcie and I don't share costumes, in the event that I go on it's up to Kathleen to switch out all of Marcie's stuff for mine.

This "stuff" includes costumes, shoes (three pairs each) and other miscellany, like knee-pads (which, SURPRISE, I wear under my costume!), my Shiz glasses, my special Entertainer's Secret throat-coat spray, my water bottle(s), the soft zipper-backed t-shirt that I wear under my Elphaba Act II dress (without it, the fabric would scratch my fair part-Irish skin!), my "No Good Deed" wings, my pointed hats, etc. etc. etc.

Furthermore, my dressing room belongings extend beyond the realm of onstage paraphernalia. I also have to have my makeup case, my headband (to pull my hair back while I'm getting painted green), my green flip-flops (for when I shower after the show), and my life-sized cutout of Barack Obama (kidding about that last one). Bottom line: there's a lot of s*** to take care of in the dressing room.

3. Physically Putting My Clothes On and Taking Them Off
This is perhaps the single-most indispensable aspect of having a dresser: they physically put your clothes on and take them off you. Out of context, this may make me sound entitled, or kinky, or like a weird incapable gimp. But when the costumes are as complex as those in WICKED, it really helps to have a certified expert straightening your seams and sticking your arm where it belongs. Quick changes? No biggie. Hard-to-reach buttons? Whatever, no problem. Skin-tight nylon made to look like your green skin? So comfortable! (At least, it is when you have a dresser to help you.) Some specific examples of when Kathleen's assistance is truly invaluable are during my two quick changes, one right after "Popular," and right before "One Short Day."

4. Pampering Me Because I Am A Baby
Then there are times when I am so overwhelmed that I literally need Kathleen to baby me.

The most ubiquitous of these moments involve some kind of refueling. Before I run on for the final scene/song in Act I, "Defying Gravity," Kathleen provides me with a water bottle full of room-temperature water, as well as my trusty throat spray (we affectionately refer to it as "crack"). As I'm running down the stairs to get to the trap door elevator before "No Good Deed," Kathleen is always waiting at the bottom of the stairs to hand me my water bottle -- always to my left hand, because I'm carrying the train of my dress in my right. I complete the hand-off as I enter through the orchestra pit doorway and give the water bottle to one of our three stage managers.

Another example? After "No Good Deed" I run off stage right and am greeted by Kathleen and Mark, our wig supervisor. Between the two of them, I am pampered to no end: I sip water, while Mark does my hair and wipes my forehead with a Kleenex, and Kathleen holds a mini-electric fan to my face and sweeps it around to cool me off. It's almost like a day at the spa, except I'm panting, heaving and sweating like an irritated farm animal.

And sometimes, yes, my hands are full because I'm doing a quick change, or sipping from my water bottle, or getting a wig change, and time is so short that I literally need Kathleen to wipe my nose. Yep. You heard me. Obviously not one of our more dignified interactions, and I mention it not to diminish what Kathleen does, but to enumerate further just HOW CRUCIAL she is to the success of my performances.

5. Helping Me Up Ladders and Stairs
Finally, there are the moments when Kathleen follows me up various hazardous pathways and holds my dress to ensure that I don't trip or get stuck, as in right before I enter for "Wonderful" and right before I pop up out of the trap door in Act II. In the case of the latter(/ladder) the conditions under the stage are far more sparse than you'd imagine: I basically climb up a twelve-ish foot ladder and crouch down beneath the trap door waiting for my cue. My long, flowy dress is somewhat cumbersome, so Kathleen climbs up with me and holds my dress until the moment I appear onstage. CRAZY!!!!

And that, my friends, concludes what may be the longest Unnaturally Green post ever. And it was decidedly unlike anything that would appear in Vanity Fair or Rolling Stone -- or any other reputable publication, for that matter.

But I hope it means something to you. Look at me. I said look at me, damnit! Read my writing and tell me it doesn't mean something to you! I'm willing to make it work, if you are. Please? See if we can't give it another try?

You know where to find me,
Felicia.

September 5: Mi enemigo, mi amor

2010-07-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

WICKED's San Francisco company will close on September 5. It is time to come to terms with the truth: my days here are numbered.

"Here" refers to many different spaces, physical and metaphysical: here in San Francisco, here in WICKED, here in Elphaba's (green) skin, here in the Blogosphere.

Will WICKED's closing mean the end of "Unnaturally Green," my blog?

Yes, I think so. It's sad, I know, but isn't life made more beautiful because we know we must die???

My final posts on "Unnaturally Green" will together strum a glorious swan song that is at once a surrender and an apotheosis, in which truth and beauty envelop the decay wrought about by time's tragic asymmetry and perform a mystical dance with death that is both contentious and erotic, like that scene between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas in "Zorro" where he rips her dress. (My blog is Antonio Banderas, and September Fifth is Catherine Zeta-Jones.)

But, what's better, I shall start anew! I have decided that I shall indeed continue to blog, this time about my adventures back in NYC. New thrills, new chills. So y'all best keep readin'!

Full unveiling of my next blog (name, content, goals) will come in the final week here in SF, but this is your first preview. It might be way weirder than "Unnaturally Green," because I will be in the throes of existential questioning and despair, but maybe not. It might actually have a bit of relevance, and photojournalistic flair. Who knows!

Stay tuned for my next post, in which I shall, at long last, tell you about my Elphaba dresser, Kathleen Giordano, and how she is a heroine of the highest order (she literally wipes my nose sometimes).

Love always,
Felicia.

Two-show day, and now I am lounging in sweatpants

2010-07-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

It'd been almost three weeks since I done did a two show day, but did one I done did, yesterday. All I gotsta say is RESPECK to the cast, and for peeps who do this all the time. Okay, enough of this strange dialect. I suspect two-show days are the kind of thing that get easier with time, as one develops one's endurance and all that. But HOT DAMN, it is tiring to do them on the irregular. I basically got home late last night and hobbled around like a, uh, hobbling zombie, and ate a bowl of cereal while watching the worst movie of all time, "The Transporter."

And now I am lounging around in sweatpants sipping iced coffee and watching the Food Network's Alton Brown dramatize freezer burn through the use of sock puppets.

Ah, the life of a standby. Highs and lows, know what I'm saying?

More soon... promise!

Felicia.

Fact of the Day #12

2010-07-14T01:27:00.000-07:00

Composite warm-up facts, in rambly paragraph form: If I'm on as Elphaba, I warm up in the shower. Every time. Whether or not I actually wash myself is variable. Elphaba and Glinda's dressing rooms share a wall; we can usually hear each other warming up, and have an elaborate Morse-like code whereby words are pitches and vowel sounds are punctuation.* During WICKED's opening number, while I'm still backstage I usually sing along with Glinda's solo ("Let us be glaaaaad...") as I hear it come through the monitor (every dressing room has a monitor through which the show is broadcast, live). In the backstage area downstairs there are no rehearsal spaces, and many of the "walls" that separate the dressing rooms are more like partitions, as they do not reach all the way to the ceiling. This makes vocal warmups well-nigh impossible at the theater! Most cast members end up doing their warmups at home before arriving at the theater, or some sneak off to nearby stairwells to get in some final puff-hums before curtain. The name of the game is resourcefulness!

*The last part of this sentence is untrue.

Upcoming Events!

2010-07-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here are two upcoming events that are pretty fun and cool!

Monday, July 12 @ 7:30PM - Broadway Cares Benefit with the cast of Young Frankenstein at Club Fugazzi. I'll be singing a duet with my hetero life mate, Libby Servais.

Tuesday, July 13 @ 6:30PM - Singing with Libby Servais (there's a trend here) at WICKED event at the Apple Store in Union Square. There will also be a Behind the Emerald Curtain presentation by Jonathan Ritter.

Also, I had a swell time performing in today's matinee; it was my second time doing the show alongside our new Glinda (Alli Mauzey) and our new Fiyero (Cliffton Hall), and my first time with Neka Zang as Nessarose. Yippppppeeeeee!

More soon,
Felicia.

Fact of the Day #11

2010-07-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

Today's FOTD (pronounced "fah-tud," as if you're saying "farted" with an upper-crust British accent-- because even people of high social ranking fart) is not super duper exciting, so I'll finish it up with a bonus juicy tidbit.

Throughout WICKED there are a number of pre-recorded sound cues that are made to sound as if they are being spoken/sung live. They include, but are not limited to:

1) The mysterious lover's singing voice at the top of Act I and its second iteration in Act II ("Have another drink, my dark-eyed beauty...")
2) The Oz Head's thunderous speaking voice ("I am Oz, the great and terrible!" etc.)
3) Elphaba's melting scream

Bonus juicy tidbit: As a member of the WICKED ensemble (before I became Elphaba Standby) I would underdress my street clothes beneath my mob coat costume from "March of the Witch Hunters" through the remainder of the show! My costume was very roomy and bulky and made it easy to wear a many number of outfits without them showing. (No harm, no foul!)

Fact of the Day #10

2010-07-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

The following two italicized lines, taken from the scene leading up to "Popular," appeared in the San Francisco tryout of WICKED but were later cut before it opened on Broadway in 2003:

Galinda: And, Elphie-- is it alright if I call you Elphie?
Elphaba: Well, it's a little perky.
Galinda: And you can call me "Galinda."
Elphaba: That's what I've always called you.
Galinda: Let's not quarrel.

"How free are you to interpret the role of Elphaba?"

2010-07-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

I recently received a letter asking me to explain the process of creating the role of Elphaba. To what extent was I free to interpret, it inquired, and to what extent was I supposed to "stay within the lines"?

This struck me as a great question. While my knowledge is circumscribed to my singular experience embodying the lean-green Elphaba Thropp, my process of learning the part is something which I'm pretty sure occurs within most long-running shows for which there are actors who come in as replacements and/or understudies.

Basically, this means I'm going to speak with authority on a subject of which I have limited knowledge. Because I'm a BLOGGER, damnit, and that's what BLOGGERS DO! YEAH, BLOG KEG STAND!

So, the short answer is: creating a role that's already been, well, created (sometimes many times over) is a give and take. There are fundamental "givens" -- incontrovertible facts of the story and of the original production that cannot change -- and there are...um, "takens" -- places where you can find room for more creative interpretation.

As an actor (and not just one who joins a cast as a replacement) it is your sworn duty to stay faithful to the script and make choices that support the story as its written. This is your job, boiled down to the essentials. Tricky extra bonus task: if you are not a member of the original cast, there is an added layer of "givens" -- which is to stay, choices that were made in the original staging of WICKED (through the collaboration of its original creative team and its original actors) that have -- through the months or years -- been maintained and upheld. These givens, like the script and story, are non-negotiable.

(Whoa, can we take a second to acknowledge how I'm totally on a double-hyphen punctation mark joyride? It's outrageous -- and I'm not going to stop.)

Anyway, my early Elphaba rehearsals involved my writing down and walking through a basic blocking skeleton. This blocking skeleton came from the original staging of WICKED. I found my way through a series of beats and acted out the physical movements that accompanied them. It was then up to me to find a way to make these physical movements grounded in my own sense of reality. From there, the character began to grow.

So those are the blocking "givens," but what about the less-aptly-named "takens"? As a replacement cast member, you can, as I said, find little moments of "freedom" or "playtime" in the space between the "givens." For example, a blocking direction might be something like, "turn away and cross to six right*," but it's up to you to figure out the "action" or "intention" of the moment -- which is manifested in, say, how you carry yourself, or how you choose to inflect the accompanying dialogue.

Are you with me? Too much actor-ly speak going on? Hang on, let me just put on my turtleneck and adjust my beret real quick before I continue.

(*Oh, and about that Cartesian blocking terminology, "six right": there's a number line across the front of the stage that serves as a guide for the actors. This way we keep the stage pictures clean and consistent.)

Before I conclude this abstruseness fest, I should address briefly the question of vocal freedom, or, more pointedly: "Elphaba riffing." I often get asked why I choose to do the riffs (or alternate melodies) I do, and the answer is threefold: 1) I do what my music director says sounds best in my voice, 2) I do what I am capable of singing at that particular performance, 3) I do what I'm allowed to do. Number 3 is furreal: there are certain riffs that the creative team deems wack because they compromise the truthfulness of the storytelling. And this is not the creative team's way of being tyrannical or stifling: it's merely their way of ensuring that actresses stay faithful to the original score and the original story.

In a word, when it comes to riffing, the rule is: diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, but the story ain't no jokes. (See how I added that last part? It rhymes. I told you I'm an artist, this beret is not just for show.)

And that, my friends, concludes one of the longest and most convoluted blog posts ever. Well, except if you are still considering vintage Unnaturally Green: posts like this or this or, yikes, this.

I'm going to go to bed, whereupon I will weigh the likelihood that the loud noises I am hearing are early Fourth of July fireworks and not gang crossfire.

Ah, sweet repose,
Felicia.

Fact of the Day #9

2010-06-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

The liquid in the mysterious lover's green elixir bottle is Scope (as in, the mouthwash) (in which there is also a green glow stick). While WICKED was being developed, the creative team tried a variety of liquids, from dish soap to colored water, but Scoped proved the greenest and most luminous!

Filed under: pointless but fun.
Filed also under: just like all Facts of the Day.

Fact of the Day #8

2010-06-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

My first New York gig out of college was "The Jerusalem Syndrome" at the 2008 New York Musical Theater Festival, where I shared the stage with Chandra Lee Schwartz, who currently plays Glinda on the First National Tour of WICKED. Chandra played a character named Rena, a feisty young nurse who's infatuated with a soap opera star.

In November 2009, one month before I booked WICKED, I reprised my role in a scaled-down, revised version of "The Jerusalem Syndrome," this time alongside Julie Reiber, former Elphaba Standby in WICKED's Broadway company, who came on to replace Chandra as Rena (Chandra was, at that point, already touring as Glinda).

The extra kicker: I myself had actually performed the role of Rena, way back in the day, during the summer before my senior year of college when "The Jerusalem Syndrome" was first being developed as just words on a page. In later drafts, the creative team decided to recast me as Lynn -- a character who, incidentally, hallucinates that she is God. (Long story.)

Lucky for me, the casting change meant I had the good fortune to meet Ms. Schwartz and Ms. Reiber later on down the line.

FATE! Or something like it!

Farewell, Eden, Kendra and Nic

2010-06-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

Just watched Eden Espinosa, Kendra Kassebaum, and Nicolas Dromard's last show. I am emotional! But what an exhilarating experience it was to see the three of them onstage tonight. And the audience (which included me and Libby) was so fantastic! Parts of the show felt like a rock concert, there was so much applause and cheering.

Anyway. Eden, Kendra, and Nic: you will be sorely missed.

Okay, I'm going to go eat my feelings and have nachos and a quesadilla.

Fact of the Day #7

2010-06-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

At the end of "Defying Gravity" Elphaba conducts the orchestra and ensemble singers with her broom! That way everybody does the final cutoff at the same time and the actress playing Elphaba can hold the note for however long (or short) she wants to.

Like Monday-night football, except not football

2010-06-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

For as long as kicklines have had kicks in them and been in lines*, Monday has been the Broadway theater performers' day off.

*I wanted to evoke old-timey musical theater, but obviously this is an awful sentence and I have no way to verify it. For all I know, the 8 shows per week schedule has been in constant flux, and the Monday night off-day thing is only a recent development. But I'm going to run with it.

In any event, because of a strange and unusual change to WICKED's traditional schedule, last night we did a show. And, hey-o, I got to go on as Elphaba! What are the odds, right? Here is a photo of me backstage being happy about it, but also with a Monday-induced weird and crazed look in my eye:

In retrospect, it seems that WICKED's Monday show may have offended the theater gods, because apparently last night's show was unprecedentedly loopy, and not just because I was depleting all my energy taking weird and crazed photos of myself.

What was loopy about it? Well, there were the little things, like that I almost wiped out right before the second high-belted "Fiyeroooooooooo" in "No Good Deed," or that my dear friend Alyssa Fox (Elphaba understudy, who now performs parts of my former ensemble track) actually did wipe it out during the Ballroom Cross (I know from experience that the dress she wears is insanely unwieldy...especially on a Monday!), or that for some reason the makeup on my chin kept spontaneously disappearing, such that our makeup designer Joe had to retouch me every time I walked offstage ("where is your chin?!?!" he kept saying).

And then there was the Oz Head set piece. Apparently there was a kink in the set automation sequencing, and as the Oz Head rolled out for "Wonderful" in Act Two it hit the monkey grate overhead and nearly toppled over! Luckily, it didn't end up tipping, and Tom McGowan, our Wizard, had time to dash out from behind it. But it also didn't continue its automation, and so was turned around the wrong way during the ensuing scene. Not a show-haulting deal in the end, but if you've seen WICKED you know that there are some crucial ways that the Wizard interacts with the set piece. So it was a challenge, to say the least. But Tom, consummate professional that he is, handled it like an absolute champ -- especially considering how shaken he was by the Oz Head almost falling.

So I hereby bestow the Inaugural Unnaturally Green Award for Monday-Night Bravery, Resilience, and Recuperative Stage Craft to Tom McGowan, one of my absolute favorite people in the world, and who I'm so glad is okay! (Seriously, he is a totally awesome dude.)

With that, I am off to drink a half cup of coffee, in which I shall pour some quarter and quarter.

Glad it's Tuesday,

Felicia.

Fact of the Day #6

2010-06-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" fits along near perfectly to the music at the end of the Ozdust Dance. Because what else says friendship and acceptance more than Whitney Houston?

Also: I'm going to eat a banana at precisely 6:30PM tonight.

Fact of the Day #5

2010-06-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all! Check out this neat-o fact-o!
5. In "Wicked" the musical, Elphaba takes a train from Shiz to the Emerald City, but the map of Oz curtain at top of the show depicts no train tracks between the two locations!
Filed under: continuity oopsie.
Aren't you relieved to have learned this life-changing bit of information? Yeah, I thought so.

Fact(s) of the Day

2010-06-18T02:26:00.001-07:00

1. According to swing makeup artist Rob, who subbed in for Joe last week, I am the sweatiest Elphaba he's ever encountered.
Also, I am writing this from my Blackberry. Booyah! Also, it's really late and I should be sleeping. But instead, I offer you facts 2 through 4, all of them exclamatory:
2. Elphaba's prop lunch is a Lemon Zest Lunabar; at intermission, I really eat it!
3. If I don't pee during "Dancing Through Life" in Act 1, I have no other chance to use the restroom for the rest of the act!
4. The hat Galinda hands Elphaba before the dance has a flower on it, but the one Elphie wears to the dance does not!
This Blackberry is dangerous,
Felicia.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Blogging On-The-Go!

2010-06-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

Hey, look! I'm blogging on-the-go! I've composed the above photo such that it reflects this in the most obvious ways possible: I'm sipping an iced coffee, there's a whimsical café menu reflected behind me, it's sunny, I'm chipper, and I'm waving to you. If that doesn't say "on-the-go" I don't know what does. Except maybe if I did this:

Why should anyone care that I'm on-the-go, and what the heck does that even mean? Friends, it is with this post that I am declaring a new commitment to much more frequent, "on-the-go" blogging. In the interest of frankness, I've graphed out what I anticipate this will mean, in terms of content:

Now, it's not that I'll strive to post rubbish, I'm merely acknowledging the realities of swimming along with a constant stream of compulsory online chatter. I'm just taking my cues from other social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, where even yours truly will, on the regular, post stuff like, "I'm going to the bathroom" or, "Hey, look, a hair in my salad" (with accompanying photo).

So, with respect to blogging, why the sudden shift now? Well, friends, I have recently acquired a new, baller G, spiffity-diffity Blackberry that is so awesome it has even emboldened me to invent new words like "spiffity-diffity" to describe it. It is from this veritable Trident of Technology that I shall access my Blog and relay to you everything you could ever possibly want to know about WICKED.

My hope is to commit to, at the very least, something called "Fact of the Day," which is pretty simple and self-explanatory: for at least as long as I'm performing in WICKED, the Fact of the Day will disclose something WICKED-related. Examples:

"FACT OF THE DAY #34: During the end of the Act 1 Wizard's Chamber scene, after I (as Elphaba) run off stage left with the Grimmerie (before the "Defying Gravity" scene and song), the wig supervisor pins my hat down more firmly onto my head while my dresser hands me water and a throat coating spray called "Entertainer's Secret." It is during these moments that I have about ten seconds to breathe and regroup before the big Act 1 Finale."

"FACT OF THE DAY #PI: If you're a cast member who elects to be in the "Birthday Club," stage management and cast members celebrate your birthday during intermission that day. After it's your birthday, it's your job to buy a cake and other celebratory accoutrements for the cast member who has the next subsequent birthday (e.g. Kendra Kassebaum (our Glinda) got me a cake, I got Greg Haney (our Chistery) his cake...and so on...)."

My Blog will still, of course, comprise much more than these li'l ol' Facts of the Day, but on days when I don't have much time or I want to do other stuff like have a one-person dance party to Chaka Khan in my apartment, the Fact of the Day will suffice.

Okay, off I go! I'm just so, like, on-the-go, I can barely sit in one place for more than five or ten minutes.

On-the-go,

Felicia.

My grandma, the original Baller G

2010-06-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

Hi friends. Having trouble sleeping tonight. Found out yesterday that my grandmother passed away and, well, yeah. It hurts.

I hesitate to get personal on a blog that has heretofore been dedicated to my professional life, but a few thoughts won't hurt. I know my grandma liked to brag about me, so now I get to brag about her!

My grandma, the indomitable Yolanda Cocozza, was such a Baller G. She was someone you'd swear would live forever. She seemed afraid of nothing. Never a shrinking violet, a truly unstoppable lady. She taught me to paint, about light and dark shading, about three-dimensions, how to make an S-curve with a paintbrush, she showed me short-hand and it made absolutely no sense, she cooked me egg noodles, pizza and doughboys, bought me thin-sliced American cheese, cranked up the radiator so it warmed my toes while we chatted and sat on swively high chairs, she collected People magazines, we reveled in its trashiness, she let me play incessantly in my grandfather's reclining chair, told me, over and over, not to touch the water in her birdbath, sent me cards, addressed them in her feminine, perfect handwriting, came to see me in my shows, lower, middle, high school, college, she chatted with me on the phone, got my sarcasm, knew when I was being a pill, she did crosswords, went to see crass movies like "Knocked Up," complained about them, but kept going anyway, she was a loving mom, wife, grandma, the whole shebang.

What a cool lady, right?

I miss you already, Grandma Yola, and if you were here I would hug you tight! And then we'd chat, about...anything, really: current events, my job, how you like my hair blonder, and love that my boyfriend is so tall, and I would laugh and tell you you were oh-so-feisty, and it would be the best.

Thanks for everything, Yol. I love you.
--Felicia.

My three-show weekend!

2010-05-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

During the lovely Eden Espinosa's mini-break this past weekend, I was scheduled to perform as Elphaba for all four shows (two Saturday and two Sunday-- we recently began a new schedule in which there's no Wednesday matinee, but instead an additional Sunday evening show at 7:30). And, well: three outta four ain't bad!

One of the coolest parts of the weekend was our new Elphaba understudy, Alyssa Fox (what's the difference between an understudy and a standby?), made her Elphie debut on Saturday night in front of a fantastic crowd! I was out sick so I didn't get a chance to see it, but I've heard nothing but great things, like that she knocked the you-know-what off the you-know-what and took everyone's you-know-whats home with her. Yeah, that's right, I'm mixing metaphors. The point is: CONGRATULATIONS, ALYSSA!

This weekend also presented a few other interesting firsts: it was my first time performing as Elphaba in front of family and friends, my first time performing alongside our newest cast member Stephen J. Williams (who heroically jumped in and made his debut Sunday night-- one day earlier than planned! (this happened because we were short several ensemble members Sunday night (if you were there, you probably recall Stephen as the Ribbon Dancer in "One Short Day" (or should we call it "One Day Short... Of His Original Debut" (or "One Guy Short"? (I thought I had a better joke forming, but it died in childbirth)))))), and finally, it was my first time calling out sick when I was supposed to play Elphaba!

Calling out of a show is so hard to do! It felt like one of those scenes from a space movie where the astronauts think they have lost nearly all their oxygen and they're debating over whether or not to eat one of the other passengers.

Actually, it felt nothing like that. But the astro-cannibalism analogy was meant to evoke the challenge of having to predict some impending doom without being certain that it's impending. You know what I mean? Like, I sang Elphie during the matinee on Saturday, but it was so taxing for me, physically and vocally that, heading into Saturday night, I had to gauge whether I could do it again. Whether I would want to do the show again while feeling so under the weather (because, believe me, singing Elphaba is not something you can just fake your way through!). I had to decide what was best for the show. And the world. (I wrote that last sentence just to sound like an astronaut (Though I do not want to sound like a cannibal (It would be awful it you found out the truth about me (Don't you love this new parentheses within parentheses? (I know I do)))))).

In all honesty, calling out of the show was really hard to do, but after having done it I knew I had made the right choice. I was able to rest up and perform both shows on Sunday, and I did so without feeling like I was going to collapse the entire time. And Alyssa got to bring down the you-know-what and take no you-know-whats!

Thanks for listening, friends. And thank you to everyone who came out to see the show this weekend! You all rock.

Alrighty: off to hang out with my family because they're still here visiting! Yip!

You-know-what,
Felicia.

A million apologies! (BUT HOPE TO SEE YOU GUYS THIS WEEKEND)

2010-05-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

It's been two whole weeks since my last post! I feel nothing but boiling, festering guilt, tantamount only to that of Catholics the world over. (I was raised Catholic, so I'm allowed to make this slightly controversial analogy. And I get extra points because once I participated in a dramatic reenactment of the birth of Christ during Christmas mass. I was the Virgin Mary and my older brother played Joseph. My costume was a heavy sheet of blue felt that had no arm holes, so all I could do was hold my hands in prayer and nod my head. Luckily, I decided to make my Virgin Mary very agreeable and very holy. It was one of the weirder things I've done, and not just because my brother was playing my husband.)

In any event: I do have a good excuse for not writing! One is that I got pretty darn sick over the past week (including on my birthday, May 16 (boo hoo!)) and, as we've all known at one time or another, it's basically impossible to be productive once you decide to live in your pajamas, eat peanut butter from the jar, and watch YouTube videos of people falling off ladders on repeat.

But, for those wondering, I am 100% better now after having rested, spiked my protein intake, and gotten my fill of schadenfreude.

But sadly, I must cut this post short, as tonight I am planning on an early bedtime. Tomorrow begins my truly insane weekend! How so, you ask? Well, if you must know, I'm probably going to be spending a lot of time at the theater this weekend... doing theater-related things... acting and singing and stuff... and my family's here to see it. Want more info on what exactly I'm talking about in sloppily cryptic drivel? Email my webmaster at felicia@feliciaricci.com!

More soon! I triple million infinity promise this time!

Goodnight, little chickadees,

Felicia.

How I prep for my Elphaba shows

2010-05-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

Using basic reasoning and even the most rudimentary aesthetic sense, the answer to this past Tuesday's trivia question was letter D: Conan O'Brien should shave his beard. Which would hopefully leave one to deduce that letter C was false. Which would leave one to further deduce that on Tuesday I went on as Elphaba! Hooray!

Also, anyone who disagrees with letter D should look at this:

To elaborate on letter C, I will now post a time-stamped account of how I prep for an Elphaba performance. My goal is to indulge in the inconsequential nitty-gritty details, everything from when I warm up to how long it takes me to get my makeup on to when and how often I go to the bathroom. Well, maybe not that last part. But maybe. (There could be, like, an optional "For Unsqueamish Eyes Only" post addendum, kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure novel when you can either enter the castle unscathed, but without the princess, or wade into the swamp, embracing a life of infamy and destitution, in order to find true love.) (Except that this is not at all what it will be like.)

Presenting, the premiere installment of: SURPRISE! YOU'RE ON AS ELPHABA! (May 4, 2010)

1:06PM Wake up. No idea where I am. Find I am lying in a bale of hay, surrounded by what look like empty egg crates. There is a pickle on a string that has been doused in lighter fluid. Reach in my purse for my cell phone-- it's been stolen! In its place there is a note, scrawled in red ink: "If you want your phone back, call this number." Clever girl.

Alright, let me start again, furreal.

9:45AM Wake up, think something along the lines of, "I WANT PANCAKES. Oh, and, huh, it's been over two weeks since I've been on as Elphaba! I hope I still know my lines."

10:15AM Ask my boyfriend if we can run lines together. "Only if you pay me in movie tickets," he says. Just kidding, he doesn't say that-- he yells it. Just kidding, he agrees, happily, saying, "What could be better than playing Madame Morrible-- again. I will switch up the accents and make her German." He also doesn't say that. But he does agree and is probably medium to very happy about it.

12:15PM Pack up a pair of totes and towels before we head to Yerba Buena park, where we will lay out and recite WICKED in its near-entirety. Before walking out the door, I hear my phone beep. Behold! A text from Eden Espinosa! "It's all you tonight, girl. Have fun!"

Gulp.

For the record, Eden is super cool and elects to text me herself, but not all principals are expected to do this for their standbys. The more standard protocol is for an actor to notify stage management if s/he is out, and the SM will then call the standby and/or understudy. But hearing from Eden herself gives me more time to prep. Plus it's sweet to get a text from Eden Espinosa because she's, um, Eden Espinosa.

Anyway, back to 12:15PM. Although at this point it's probably more like 12:16PM. So, I'm excited -- way excited -- and think to myself, good thing I had planned to run my lines today! Nervous laughter, nervous laughter.

2:32PM Finish running lines, forget a few "ohs" and "wells" but overall okay (yes, my lines have to be word-perfect)! I guess I do remember everything. Phew. Review stage management blocking and acting notes from my last Elphaba performance. Since I haven't had a chance to rehearse in between shows, each new performance functions more or less like a rehearsal, in the sense that you have to take all your notes and try to apply them, live, in front of an audience. Double gulp.

4:02PM Take a shower, warm up in said shower. Make the water extremely hot so it steams my face off. Not literally. But it does open up my sinuses. I usually warm up for about fifteen minutes, ending with my favorite belter warm up, where you sing "hand me my hat!" on ascending arpeggios. The trick is to keep going as high as possible, or until your neighbor yells "I DON'T HAVE YOUR HAT," whichever comes first.

4:20PM Obviously I do not dry or style my hair, as I will be getting into pin curls and a wig in the not-so-distant future.

5:05PM Dinner! On this particular day I eat spaghetti and chips (CARB FEST, USA). I take care to eat rather early so that nothing heavy is sitting in my stomach during the show. So even if, as in this case, I have a massive Italian-Mexican sampler, as long as its early enough things should be a-okay by the time the curtain rises.

5:30PM Head to the Orpheum Theater, wearing a bad-hair-disguising hat, to enter the WICKED lottery on behalf of my boyfriend, who can't go himself because he is at work. That's right-- I played the lottery for my own show. (Without getting into too much detail, it's more cost effective for me to do this (we do have a staff discount rate, but it varies depending on the show, and the seat location is often not as good as the lottery seats).)

5:43PM Enter Orpheum through the stage door, drop off my stuff in the Elphaba dressing room. As the Elphie Standby, I have my own dressing room downstairs that I share with the Glinda Standby, Libby Servais, but on the nights when we're on, we use the principals' upstairs dressing rooms. All our costumes and other accouterments are swapped in by our dressers.

5:47PM I paint my nails green using the 50-seconds-til-dry nail polish we keep stashed in the Elphie dressing room.

5:59PM Lottery time! Run into a handful of delightful WICKED fans, including the inimitable Joe Weinberg, who runs my fan page and is an all-around cool dude, and Bettie, theater aficionado. During this exchange, I am drinking from a massive 1.5 liter water bottle, the goal being to finish it before 7:30PM. I realize that it is completely uncouth, but hydration trumps decorum. Oh, and I end up winning the lottery! Very fun and silly.

6:21PM Back in the ol' dressing room. I am rather early for the 7:30PM call, so I chill out on the couch and have a delightful chat with Kathleen, the Elphaba dresser (blog article on her coming up soon, by the by). Libby arrives a few minutes later-- it turns out she's on as Glinda! AAAAH STANDBY CRAZINESS AAAAAH!

At precisely 7:00PM I eat a banana. This is very important, as it is the last thing I will eat before the show begins. Here is something you should know about me: I love bananas. I ate a banana one hour before my WICKED audition and before my callback. Now, I'm not making any crazy claims-- all I'm saying is, I got the job, and I think it was because of the banana.

7:05PM I pee.

7:08PM More water, lots and lots of water.

7:20PM I take the last ten minutes before the official Elphaba prep starts to do some warm-downs ("I'm Not That Girl" gets rather low (E below middle C!)). I also change out of my real-person undergarments and put on my costume undergarments, which include a green leotard and a black bra that holds my two...microphones. (YES-- I wear two microphones. And YES-- I wear a bra.)

7:30PM Our awesome makeup designer comes into my dressing room and begins the greenification.

7:45PM Mark, our wig supervisor, comes in and does my wig prep.

7:57PM I suck on a Ricola. TMI? Nah.

8:00PM At the places call, I'm just about ready. One more trip to the bathroom (the Elphaba leotard unsnaps on the bottom, so I can still do this, ya know. TMI! I know, I know. I promised you could choose your own adventure, but I definitely lied about that).

8:05PM Show begins. I usually sing along to the opening number from my dressing room, alternating between my old ensemble vocal part and Glinda's high soprano solo.

8:12PM Right around the time when everyone sings "GREEN!" in unison, I make my way backstage and enter upstage of the clock drop from stage right, retrieving my suitcase, which has been preset just in-stage of the wing.

8:15PM And then... GO!

Okay, well. I hope this post was at least moderately enjoyable. I'm sorry it was so indulgent, but then again I am not sorry, because the indulgent part of me is just like, "I indulged, that's what I did."

Indulgently yours,
Felicia.

One of these is true.

2010-05-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

1) I am from Detroit, Michigan.
2) I was cryogenically frozen in 1931 and have only recently been thawed.
3) Tonight, the role of Elphaba will not be played by Felicia Ricci.
4) Conan O'Brien should shave his beard.

I am going to look like this, supposedly

2010-04-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

How do standbys stave off the soul-sapping boredom of spending countless hours backstage? That's right: we WORK IT OUT.

Yesterday, Libby Servais and I, along with our other dressing-room-dwelling compatriots (i.e. swings in the female ensemble) WORKED IT OUT backstage to Tracy Anderson's Mat Workout DVD.

Tracy Anderson (at left), trainer and fitness guru to the eternally lithe Gwyneth Paltrow and Courtney Cox, has developed a workout method that apparently utilizes "accessory muscles" and makes you "really small."

I, however, would summarize her workout DVD thusly: it transported me back to the time of middle-school dances where everyone would stand around in concentric circles, vaguely keeping time through head bopping and knee bending. But you could never just commit to this simple repetition, because your sisyphean goal was, through rhythmic dance, to insinuate yourself into a spot that was of acceptable closeness to the center-most ring -- where the coolest, hottest, and most limber kids were gyrating and pulsating in ways you had only ever seen before on MTV or in documentaries about the nineteen sixties. And then you would try to imitate them.
This was exactly the feeling I got when I did Tracy Anderson's DVD workout. I had no idea what she was doing, or why, or how, but she seemed so cool and hot that I couldn't help but try to imitate her. She didn't even really say anything the whole time, except things that were either unapologetically obvious ("this is really good for your body") or unapologetically shallow ("you're going to be so small when you are done with this workout")

If this is all it takes to make a workout video, let's get the cameras rolling! Then again, maybe the single-most important prerequisite is that one be the grown-up version of those middle-school Planets of Hot around which we all used to (still?) orbit. Which, judging from my youth, I most certainly am not. (And I like it that way.)

Granted, the workout did leave me feeling outrageously sore, and encouraged me, in no uncertain terms, to shake what my mama gave me in ways I never knew possible. Just watch-- I'm probably going to end up doing the darn video again, and again, and again...because as resolutely critical as I am right now, the impossible dream of a Tracy Anderson-sized booty beckons me...

And the sisyphean dance continues...
Felicia.

FAQs and Coming Attractions

2010-04-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ahoy there, you rogues! Blimey, the winds have changed since we last set sail. We must once more take to the high seas, sing a bloggers' chantey, and dip our compass needle into the ink of a literary squid so that we might steer this sea scroll across the open waters of freedom.

I have no idea what incited me to attempt a nautical- literary- pirate-themed opening. "Ahoy there, you rogues" is actually a line from Peter Pan (the musical). I know this because I did the show in elementary school -- twice (Peter in fourth grade and Captain Hook in fifth grade). Just two of many gender-bending roles I conquered at tender pre-pubescent ages that caused serious social and psychological scarring (I can appreciate now the saintliness of my parents, who counseled me also through the Cowardly Lion, Mercutio, and Fagin, all before high school).

In any event! Today's blog post will answer some lingering questions I've received via the comments section of Unnaturally Green, Facebook, email, or in person at the stage door. I shall then close with a brief, though exclamatory, Coming Attractions! addendum which will give you a glimpse at some blog topics I've been cooking up in my little conniving blogger brain. (And no more pirate-ese, I promise.)

Frequently Asked Questions, Part Trois!

(There have, on prior occasions, been two other Frequently Asked Questions segments-- click here and here if you'd like to catch up.)

Q: For how long will WICKED's San Francisco Company run?
A: We've just received official word that our production will be closing on September 5. So get your tickets now!!!!!

Q: Will you be staying with WICKED for the rest of this run?
A: Unless President Obama, Hugh Jackman, and/or Michael C. Hall personally invite me to join them for an extended Skeeball-Slash-Hip-Hop-Dance-Contest on a Caribbean Island or equivalent, HELLZYEAH I'M STAYING WITH WICKED.

Q: Can we see some photos from that ironic glamor photo shoot with Glinda standby Libby Servais you blogged about?
A: Alright, I surrender! To recap: that's Libby's Jessica Simpson-brand hairpiece I'm wearing, and, yes, when detached from my head it resembles a long-haired Weimeraner.

Q: Heya, if I want to send you mail, to where should I address it?
A: I love getting mail! It is fun! You can send it to

The Honorable* Felicia Ricci
c/o Wicked San Francisco
1178 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

*This part is optional. If you wish, you can make up your own titles-- including, but not limited to: "Mademoiselle," "Doctor," "The Artist Currently Known As," etc.

[Addendum: 1192 Market Street works, too-- 1192 is the box office and 1178 is the stage door.]

Q: Will you write back?!?!?!
A: But of course! It might take me a little while, but write back I shall! The only minor caveat is that if you request a signed photo I don't yet have official WICKED publicity shots, so you might get something ghetto-fabulous, like me giving you the thumbs up. But it will be signed, and it will be me. And, I assure you, if ever I get a WICKED promo shot, I will make them available to all of y'all.

Q: Have you been on as Elphaba since your crazy first week?
A: Why, yes, I have! Despite a long dry spell, I had the privilege to perform Elphaba this past Wednesday evening (April 21).

Q: What was that like, and did you do alright?
A: To be honest, it was kind of nerve-wracking! It had almost been three weeks since I'd been on, and, since I'm new to this whole standby business, I had all kinds of doubts about whether I would be able to maintain the role on my own, without actually performing. But, as luck, and a little bit of guts, would have it, the performance went off without a hitch! It was a total blast. And I think things will only get easier. You see, normally, there are upkeep rehearsals for understudies and standbys, but since the creative team in San Francisco has been busy rehearsing Alyssa Fox, our new Elphie understudy, I hadn't had a chance to run any of the materials this month-- at least, not officially, in the rehearsal room. I do, nonetheless, have a regimen of running through the vocals every few days or so, and I warm up vocally everyday. And, as I've tweeted, I have the good fortune to have a boyfriend who will run my lines with me when I need a memory refresher!

Q: Did your boyfriend do this of his own free will?
A: Yes.

Q: Did he do this of his own free will?
A: More or less.

Q: Is he really that muscular?
A: Yes.

Q: And he cooks, too?
A: Yep.

Q: Whoa.
A: Why, are you jealous?

Q: I was just asking. I'm the "Q" remember? I'm supposed to ask the FAQs.
A: Oh okay, cool.

Q: How long does it take you to get your Elphie makeup off after a performance?
A: It usually takes around ten to fifteen minutes. There's a shower in the Elphaba dressing room, and I hop in right after the show. Per the recommendation of former standby and current Second National Tour Elphaba Vicki Noon, I use Neutrogena Original Cleanser. It works like a charm!

Q: Should I wait for you after your Elphaba shows, or do you not come out?
A: I will always come out, do not worry! It's usually five past the hour when I finally emerge, un-greenified-- but emerge I shall! I don't duck out another entrance or anything. It might be misleading, because a lot of times the security guards will remove the velvet rope from in front of the stage door before I come out.

Q: What about when you're a standby and not performing?
A: I do indeed leave the theater early, although sometimes I'll stick around to watch the show. You can tweet at me to ask if I'll be around... though, most of the time, if I'm not performing, I don't hang around the stage door afterward.

And that concludes this edition of FAQs... MORE SOON! PROMISE! And, now, briefly:

Coming Attractions!

Here's what to look for in upcoming Unnaturally Green posts:

1) An in-depth discussion of standby upkeep, specifically vocal health. I'm hoping to do some sort of video blog about this... but it's still a half-formed idea-fetus. So this might take a while.

2) A description of backstage goings-on, from the wardrobe department to the wig room.

3) A profile on Kathleen, the illustrious Elphaba dresser who is SO FRICKING AWESOME. Being the Elphaba dresser doesn't just mean helping with costume changes: this woman is a veritable superhero-- wielding water bottles, portable electric fans, vocal sprays, lozenges at the drop of a (witch's) hat, climbing up and down ladders, staircases, and trap doors, setting props, wiping my nose... You will be amazed!

And, on that note, I must depart.

Until next time, my friends, I remain,
Felicia.

Hey, look, I'm in the Yale Daily News!

2010-04-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

Check it out-- the Yale Daily News, student newspaper of my alma mater, published an article about my being in WICKED, called "Behind the scenes with a Broadway witch." It basically reiterates some stuff I've discussed here in the blog, but via over-the-phone unpunctuated ramblings. It seems that when I talk I really really like to use the word "really."

Really,
Felicia.

Miracle at the Orpheum: First Flight Fusilage

2010-04-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

So remember that time when, during my Elphaba debut, I broke the broom right before the end of "Defying Gravity"? As luck would have it, a very generous special effects higher-up heard my story, took pity on me, and decided to let me keep part of the broken broom! Behold! The top half of my Elphaba broom!

According to my calculations, this is the very same prop broom that has been used since WICKED's opening in Los Angeles three years ago, having passed through the greenified hands of such Elphaba greats as Eden Espinosa, Teal Wicks, Vicki Noon and others! If you look closely, you'll find green pigmentation stuck in the wood's grooves, that, presumably, is from the green makeup painted on Elphaba's hands:

Even better, the special effects coordinator man, named Chic, likened my miraculous first flight to the Miracle on the Hudson, and included in his package to me the following notes (click to enlarge):

Special thanks to our head props dude, Kyle, for passing along these wonderful goodies! As you'd probably guess, said souvenirs will be displayed proudly over my fireplace, except I don't have a fireplace, and since I am New York-based, I probably never will.

Ever yours,
Felicia.

San Francisco: Love Me or Leave Me

2010-04-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, ye Shining Beacon of Rolling Hills, Liberalism, Organic Produce, Full House! Envelop me in your sunshine, whisk me to wine country, sail me in a boat of dreams 'cross the golden bay of prosperity!

Wait, uh, hang on, let me just check the forecast first-- hmm, sunny, but with a chance of rain, off and on-- so should I bring both my light hooded jacket and my umbrella? I need to walk sort of far to the train, and I don't want to get too hot, so I'll have to layer and carry my extra layers with me in case the wind gets chilly. And once I get inside the train there's no air circulation, so I don't want to start sweating on the upholstered train seats... And if I'm going to walk the hills I'd better wear my sneakers, but I don't want them to get drenched-- maybe I can pack my rain boots just in case? Oh, but that's so much to carry...and I don't have a car, so maybe I'll just hail a cab on the way if it starts pouring. Dum dee dum dee dum, walking down the street, oh crap, it's drizzling, and hard to carry all this stuff-- taxi! TAXI! Taxi. Taxi? Where are all the taxis? Are there taxis? I could call one, but then it'd take about fifteen minutes to arrive... I might as well just keep walking and put on all my layers. Man, these city blocks are really huge, and I have to pass through long stretches of abandoned buildings in between neighborhoods. Weird. Man, it's pouring now. Oh, sweet, there's a taxi! Taxi! Phew. Do you take credit card? No? But there's a credit card machine right there near your windshield. No credit card today? Because it's the weekend? But, sir, it's Thursday. Okay, okay, fine, just take me as far as five dollars will get me. Down to the end of the block? But that's, like, thirty feet. Sure, fine. Just drive! At least I can escape the rai-- hey, look, it's sunny again.

So begins just about everyday I spend here in San Francisco. At the risk of sounding curmudgeonly (too late?), I will posit the following opinion: living in San Francisco is like being in a relationship that vacillates between the two extremes of infatuation and give-me-back-my-stuff hatred. And I can say with confidence that anyone who has had to endure the wrenching unresolvability of said relationship middle-ground will, in a heart's beat, prefer to come down on either side. Doesn't matter which-- just quit the dallying. Hot summer or cold winter. Love me, or leave me!

For now, I will leave it at that-- a whiny account of San Francisco's weather, but this blog post will beget further posts, ones in which I will more ploddingly parse apart the source of my disenchantment with the city, homing in mostly on its imbalances and stratifications, as manifested in its wide socioeconomic spread, its neighborhood disparities, its public transportation system (or lack thereof), and, as this post suggests, its bizarre and disconcerting weather.

Maybe I just need a nap.

Curmudgeonly yours,
Felicia.

Bittersweet Board-dom

2010-04-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

Let's get one thing straight: I love my job. It is awesome, and thus far has felt like a delicious hybrid of childhood fantasy, extreme sport, mental-endurance test, and adoption by an ever-expanding, kooky creative family.

Let's get one other thing straight: sometimes it is boring. But that's okay. Lots of things that are awesome can also be boring, like the Discovery Channel, or any novel by Victor Hugo.

As Elphaba standby, it is my job to be available at a moment's notice should our leading lady get sick or, for whatever reason, call out mid-show. On days when I'm not performing (which, for the past week, was everyday), I have the privilege to wile away my hours in a shared dressing room with the impossibly delightful Libby Servais, our Glinda standby. But that's not the only thing we share! We also share laughter, tickles, secrets, rainbows, bunnies!

In all seriousness, much of being a standby consists of inventing ways to amuse oneself, while staving off the sting of existential uncertainty. Some of Libby's and my recent Standby Activity Brainchildren include: 1) Buy complementary Snuggies and/or Slankets, one pink, one green, to lounge around in, and to 2) wear in ironic glamor photo shoots; 3) Learn guitar (as inspired by the song stylings of former Elphaba standby Carrie Manolakos (look for her upcoming solo album!), who used to regale the cast backstage with her lovely tunes); 4) Shampoo, comb and style the blonde Jessica Simpson hair piece Libby inexplicably owns in order to 5) wear it in ironic glamor photo shoots; 6) Learn French (I have so far completed one beginner lesson with Rosetta Stone!); 7) Draft a handwritten letter to Vanilla Ice and see if he writes back; 8) Work out to Jane Fonda and/or other aerobics videos that were shot in the 70s so that we look fierce in our 9) ironic glamor photo shoots; 10) Play lots and lots of board games.

Item 10 happily comes with a fun assortment of photos, snapped during the time Libby and I played a two-day long game of Scrabble. Because we are insane, we modified the rules to make them relate to WICKED: Player A earns five bonus points if, within five seconds, she can use Player B's word in a line or lyric from WICKED. Example: "share" -- "and we're happy to share our ending vicariously with all of you" -- or, "Quox" -- "I've heard of an ox, a professor from Quox." Rinse, repeat.

The game was an epic journey. We laughed, we cried, we took photos, which I will post below. Oh, and I won. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, LIBBY! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ever yours,
Felicia.

(Click to enlarge.)

Part 2: Elphaba Debut Redux

2010-04-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

When we last spoke I left you with an outrageous cliffhanger, in the style of ABC's LOST, except I will not invoke misaligned space-time continua and/or bodysnatching as a means to resolve it. (In fairness to LOST, I haven't watched it in a while, so it may have in fact improved since I abandoned ship last year.)

Tangent much, Felicia? Right. Okay. So.

First day as a standby. I'm psyched because, by all viable accounts, being a standby means taking up French, or taking up knitting, or taking up French knitting (like making berets and such) to pass the time in between performance gigs -- which, after three months of crazy rehearsal and cross-continental travel while working for WICKED, is, in my opinion, truly exciting. (There it is again: dramatic irony!)

Presenting: Part 2! Which begins around...

Tuesday, March 30, 8:25PM

I'm sitting in the audience near the front of the house watching Act 1 alongside the delightful Libby Servais, our Glinda standby. If you're a cast member taking the night off to watch, you get to wear an extremely stylish "All Access Pass" lanyard around your neck, which, like all officiated displays of toolishness, is both fun and embarrassing. We're getting a kick out of the whole affair, taking great joy in seeing our friends perform their talented little butts off.

The rule about being a standby is you always have to be accessible to the stage manager, in case there's a glitch or you're needed backstage. This means either being in your dressing room (where you can hear the intercom pager) or having your cellphone handy. While sitting in the audience, I am equipped with the latter.

Eden Espinosa (our dazzling Elphaba) sings "Wizard and I." She is, as per usual, amazing, but I notice that she doesn't hold out the final note the usual duration. No biggie, she'll power through. "Loathing" happens, and is swell. The classroom scene, and "Something Bad," all great to watch. Dum dee dum, WICKED is such a great show! I think. La dee da, I'm in the audience, la dee da, this is a breeze! Then, right before "Dancing Through Life," when Eden has the chance to be offstage for a bit, I get a text. It's from my stage manager.

"Come backstage, please."

Um.

Eden is sick and doesn't think she can finish the show. The plan? Replace Eden as Elphaba mid-way through "One Short Day" (or, the Emerald City song). There is an ever-so-brief moment after the train station when Elphaba and Glinda run off up right and do a quick change to emerge in new costumes in time for the Wizard's Chamber and, eventually, "Defying Gravity." Eden will run off, and I will be poised to run on, as if nothing has ever happened... Such is the plan.

But first, the greenification! Getting green takes somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes, so, as soon as we get word that Eden is going to call out for the remainder of the show, the makeup, wig, and costume team, which comprises three or more people, sets to work on me immediately.

The atmosphere in the Elphaba dressing room was surprisingly bustling, bordering on frenetic. As I wrote in an earlier post, "it takes a village to raise an Elphaba" -- and (as I've seen, now that I've done the role five times total (yep, that's right, more on that soon!)) so much of my pre-stage-time prep relies on the finely tuned craft and coordination of the "Elphaba team," as it were.

The good news? All the dressing room activity on the night of March 30 didn't afford me a single moment to freak out. Rather, it forced me to carve out my own space for focus while still maintaining the ability to talk, interact, even joke around with everybody in the room. All in all, I think this was advantageous, because it primed me to be active, and in the moment, and just to take the plunge; I didn't psyche myself simply because I couldn't -- I had no time to dwell on the situation or get hyper analytical about the challenge that awaited me.

And, yes, indeed, it was a challenge, and there was much doubt. Particularly menacing, I thought as they speckled my face and neck with green, was the fact that I had to make my entrance only moments before the most vocally challenging song in the show ("Defying Gravity"), which is, on its own, difficult to sing, but even trickier if you have to do it while standing on the levitator (the contraption that makes Elphaba fly), a feat which I had done only once before at my put-in. Anyway, I was nervous, to say the least.

But, yep. I went on! And I did it. I did it! At this point, a straight-up linear narrative won't be the best way to capture it... so let me instead write down little bits from here and there...

Presenting: Glitches, Challenges, Discoveries, Tidbits, Revelations from My Elphaba Debut!

Breathe. Just breathe. Seriously, Felicia. Breathe.
Whoa, the lights onstage are bright. This is good... I almost don't see the audience! I almost forget they are there!
Almost. There are hundreds of people watching. Thousands?
I have never rehearsed with Kendra Kassebaum, our Glinda (had rehearsed only with Libby and Alexa Green, the Glinda understudy). This is exciting and forces me to stay in the moment. Kendra is fantastic to watch, and it's even more fantastic to perform with her. I step outside myself momentarily to admire her talent... then remember to get back into character, foo.
In order to set the green makeup, our makeup artist has to use a ton of white dusty powder; as such, it's important not to breathe in as he applies, in case this should accumulate in your throat and dry you out before singing! Retouching happens frequently in the wings, particularly after rigorous songs like "No Good Deed," or ones where you have to rub faces, like "As Long As You're Mine."
On a related note, Nic Dromard, our Fiyero, has to endure my nerve-induced sweatiness, and, moreover, its collateral green-makeup rub-offage. (Sorry, Nic!)
Backing up to "Defying Gravity".... Getting into the levitator before I fly has always been really tricky for me. It's something that comes only with practice and repetition. Why is it so hard? Well, it's a multi-step process, that involves 1) moving your wig hair to the right to make sure it doesn't get caught as you 2) unhook your napsack on your right side, stage right of the levitator, 3) move center to step onto a tiny platform that's about as large as a laptop, all the while 4) sweeping your cape over the whole contraption with your left hand and holding the broom in your right and then 5) using your lower back to push a switch back to close a pair of metal clasps in front of your abdomen. This all happens in a matter of seconds.
I am extremely nervous moments before this occurs. My mind is racing through steps 1-5 and, as I walk upstage to execute, I forget a crucial preparatory measure, which is to hold my broom vertically as I move in order to clear the narrow width created onstage between two "towers," or shelving unit set pieces. The cost of this minor oversight? I BROKE THE BROOM. It got caught horizontally between the set pieces, and I, determined not to miss my cue, just kept walking upstage toward the levitator unit. And then... craaaaaack. Broken broom.
I performed "Defying Gravity," and it was pretty alright! Intimidation factor of high belting was offset by my desperate attempt to hide the fact that I was holding a measly broom tip that closely resembled a dustpan sweeper. Not exactly Act 1 Finale material. But I made due!
My costume includes a green leotard that colors my arms and shoulders green during Ozdust and Popular. The material is HOT. And makes me sweat. A lot.
Jumping to "No Good Deed," the dark horse, and therefore most sinister, song Elphabas everywhere must endure. It has a million high notes, comes late in Act II, after you've already been singing millions of songs, AND, in the case of sit-down productions like San Francisco or Broadway (as opposed to the national tours), requires that you exit stage R and then literally sprint backstage, down the stairs, under the stage to the orchestra pit, where a caged elevator awaits you to bring you up through the trap door in time to belt out a high, atonally pitched belty scream. You have to do all this while wearing a thirty pound dress, and you must simultaneously undo your hair in the back by removing a small bobby pin.
After doing it myself, I totally take Eden Espinosa's advice to heart, which is to practice singing "No Good Deed" after running up and down stairs. Hot damn. It is hard. This will be one of my main goals as standby, to keep up with this vocal beast even if I'm not performing the role nightly.

There are, of course, many more details-- too many to list! During my first week as standby, I performed the role five times (er-- four and three quarter times), and it was thrilling! I will, assuredly, return to the topic of performing Elphaba, but will try to parse apart the different aspects into more manageable chunks. For example, some people have asked pointed questions about the experience, and I'd like to allot one post per answer (for example, someone asked me what I do for vocal maintenance and to stay healthy between performances, and I can expound for a while on that topic!).

In the meantime, please feel free to comment below or email my webmaster at felicia@feliciaricci.com. Thank you, all, for your support and enthusiasm! I so appreciate the wonderfully encouraging responses I've gotten so far. Again, forgive me for my sporadic blogging, but know that I will continue to try to keep you all abreast of my various Elphaba-related whereabouts.

As always, thanks for reading, and until next time, I remain, humbly,
Felicia.

You couldn't make this shiz up

2010-04-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

Here it is: a recounting of the ridiculous journey that was becoming Elphaba Thropp in WICKED. I can't promise anything except completely overblown babbling in which there is no discernible causality or sense of a narrative through-line because, gosh darnit, there are just so many details, I don't know that I will ever be able to string together in a way that makes sense.

Flashback! to February 17, 2010. At this point I have been performing in the ensemble of WICKED for exactly 12 days and feel more or less assimilated into my 3F track. I wake up and head to Boogaloos, my favorite brunch spot (incidentally, I went there again today (as in, the day I am writing this (to confuse you, I will use present tense to recount the distant past and past tense to recount the present) and spotted Adrian Grenier of "Entourage" and "Drive Me Crazy" fame), when, lo and behold, there is a voicemail from my agent, Ann Steele. "Call me." Feh, I think. It is Wednesday. I have a show in a few hours and need to stuff my face with lemon cornmeal pancakes. But she's probably just checking in and being generally pleasant...alright, fine, I will call! Conversation goes something like:

"Hi Ann! It's Felicia!"

"Felicia-- great. Do you know you're flying to New York City tomorrow morning?"

And so it begins. Turns out, our then-Elphaba Standby Vicki Noon had just been hired to be Elphaba on the second national tour of WICKED, but the news hadn't been released yet, and the hiring/casting/business-y-type powers-that-be were scrambling to find a replacement in San Francisco. Hence the whole flying me to the New York thing.

The rest of February 17 goes something like: stuff face with lemon cornmeal pancakes, perform two shows, go to sleep, wake up at 4:30AM to catch a 7AM flight to New York, fly on said flight, check into hotel, meet baller pianist friend Justin at studio to practice Elphaba audition material, nap from 3AM-7AM, head to studio at 9AM to warm-up, go to 11:20AM audition. Then: audition.

Why fly to New York City to audition for a show you're already in, Felicia? Good question, rhetorical device. WICKED the musical comprises a series of companies -- among them San Francisco's sit-down, the first and second national tours, and Broadway (among others) -- which are all overseen by a main creative team, the same creative team that conceived of the original production when it opened in 2003 (we are all, therefore, the "Broadway production of WICKED"). These creative team folks perform periodic "maintenance" on various creative elements, whether that's rehearsing with current cast members or casting new actors as replacements. They do not remain on site during an extended run -- in other words, there is no San Francisco company director; we are performing the direction of Joe Mantello (original director), which may be purveyed by him personally, or by his assistants. As such, I needed to fly to New York to audition for the main players in charge of casting for WICKED.

Phew. Long explanation. Anyway. I auditioned. Sang "The Wizard and I," "Defying Gravity," "I'm Not That Girl" did some scene stuff. Was finished by noon. Caught a flight out of JFK that evening. Didn't hear anything for a week. Finally... yep. Got the call! Yip! More adventure begins...

Apparently, according to my stage manager, I began the "accelerated Elphaba rehearsal track," whereby I learned the role a bit faster than I normally would because of the somewhat extraordinary circumstances of Vicki leaving so precipitously. The good news was, from the beginning, I was contracted to learn Elphaba for my ensemble understudy track, and so had already learned all the music and a bit of the blocking.

All of this culminated in my March 26 put-in rehearsal (from which I posted those crazy greenification photos), which was beyond insane. It was that day that I realized that being Elphaba, from a practical standpoint, is as much about doing lots of scenes, songs and high belting as it is about keeping your head in the game, pacing yourself, and, in the most basic sense, remembering to breathe.

Flashforward! to a few days after my put-in rehearsal, a.k.a. March 30, a.k.a. my first day as a standby (also Alyssa Fox's, who replaced me in the ensemble, debut). To contextualize this a bit: in the few weeks between Vicki's departure and my assuming the role of Elphaba standby, Carrie Manolakos (from the second national tour of WICKED) came in to fill in as temporary standby. During Carrie's entire time here, she didn't go on once for Elphaba-- which is to say, from the moment Eden Espinosa began performing on February 28, she didn't miss a single performance.

So I waltz in to my first day of standby work happy as a clam, eager for a little respite. Because, precedent would suggest, I would, for the most part, just be chilling out. To kick-off my extended stay at the Hotel of Leisure I decide to wear a nautical-inspired blue and white sundress and to straighten my hair in the most elegant of fashions (only salient insofar as contrasts my usual aesthetic, which is to wander into work looking like I'm wearing pajamas). The point is: I am psyched. The stage manager welcomes me, saying, wryly, "Welcome to your first day of guitar lessons." (Meaning, with so much leisure time, standbys take up other hobbies to pass the time.) We share a chuckle.

Can you sense the dramatic irony building?

And like all good storytellers, I will postpone the climax until the next time. It is, after all, late, and I am determined to eat a bean salad.

But I'll give you a hint: SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AND IT INVOLVES ME GOING ON AS ELPHABA MID-ACT 1!!!!!!!!

More soon!!!!!
Felicia.

My first two-show day: check!

2010-04-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

I survived!!!! I sit here typing in a huddled heap of sweat and tears with flecks of green makeup stuck in my ears and around my nails. But, ya know what?? I did it! It would be an understatement to say that I was just a little freaked out at the prospect of performing two shows today. But, alas, 'twas done.

Long, indulgent ridiculous blog post soon to come, pending a little down time to gather myself and rest up (I had originally planned to recount last night's adventure tonight, but instead I had to go on, so had to postpone).

In any event, thank you to everyone who was there for me today and tonight, and for the kind words I've been getting via email, Facebook, Twitter (that's right, I am now a fully-functioning member of the 2010 E-Community). You are all so nice!!!!

Love,
Felicia.

Elphaba news--

2010-03-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

Check this out:

http://twitter.com/EdenEspinosa/status/11380622772

Powers of deduction suggest that I might be going on in the very near future... But you didn't hear it from me!

AAAAHH,
Felicia.

What? I just made my debut?!

2010-03-31T00:25:00.000-07:00

So, here's a funny story: on my first day as the new Elphaba standby, I went on midway through Act I.

That's right, friends: tonight was my Elphaba debut.

How do I feel, you ask? Like I just drove a flaming eighteen wheeler down a labyrinthine, unpaved road into a snowbank, while blindfolded and with the parking brake still on. Which is terrifying but, let's be honest, exhilarating. I'm sure we all did something resembling that when we were in our early teens.

What does this mean for Unnaturally Green? Well, dearests, expect a full recounting come tomorrow night, at which point I expect I will have some down time to reflect on the insanity that is being an Elphaba standby. In the meantime, I've got to rest up, massage my poor, startled larynx, and try to get some rest in case I have to go on for the matinee.

As always, I remain your humble friend,
Felicia.

Greenification!

2010-03-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

One thing is certain: it takes a village to raise an Elphaba. Yesterday afternoon, before my Elphaba put-in (what's a put-in?), I underwent my first official transformation from pasty white Irish though mostly and implausibly Italian girl to one who is UNNATURALLY GREEN! And, let me tell you, I had a lot of help: Basically, beginning at one half hour before the show, our makeup designer and wig supervisor, along with a handful of other helpful folk, enter the Elphaba dressing room to preen, paint, prod, prepare, and do other things that start with P, maybe even play piano. It was thrilling! But also kind of strange. Like being the main attraction at a weird interactive zoo.

In any event, my übermensch boyfriend was there to document the whole experience! So, behold! I give you: the GREENIFICATION! (Click on photos below to enlarge.)

Can you scream for 17 seconds? Try it, suckas!

2010-03-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

In what will be perhaps the most underwhelming Unnaturally Green post ever, I will now recount the time I had to scream into a microphone for 17 seconds. Okay, here I go.

On second thought, the context might actually interest you (especially if I pepper in irrelevant details). It turns out that Elphaba's cry as she melts (um, I may have just given away some of WICKED's plot... but, c'mon, if you haven't seen The Wizard of Oz yet you deserve such ill-treatment!) is actually a sound cue, pre-recorded by each actress, and swapped accordingly should a standby or cover fill-in.

Yesterday morning, at the lusty hour of 11AM, I sauntered into the stage manager's office in the basement of the Orpheum Theater to record my own patented version of le scream. I was wearing a black Lululemon hoodie, the one with the thumb holes. Super comf. I hadn't showered. One of our illustrious sound men came in, attached some wires to a bunch of doo hickeys, opened and closed some applications and such, and then instructed me to scream into a microphone for 17 seconds. And then I did.

But, to milk this story for all it's worth: a few nights prior, our production stage manager David gave me a CD with three "sample screams" on it, courtesy of former Elphabas-- which, combined, comprised a delightful minuet of pain and agony, which I played back repeatedly on my iPod as I strolled along the sunny hills of San Francisco. Very profound. Or just weird.

Because it turns out that, A) there are many ways to scream (variations in pitch, volume, vowel, gurgliness), B) the Elphaba scream is really fricking long when taken out of context. (See post's affronting title.)

Fast forward back to Wednesday morning. I screamed. There really is nothing else of interest on which to report. Basically, I screamed, it was long, it took a lot of breath control, and I'm not sure if it sounded like the cry of someone whose flesh was melting or someone who was doing vocal warmups before their high school production of "Pippin." Upon my debut, I shall formally submit this Blog's comment section for your scream judgment and criticism. Because clearly it is a riveting topic that should garner pages and pages of more discussion.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH,
Felicia.

Allegory Postponement, Diversionary Q&A

2010-03-10T01:41:00.000-08:00

Hi again Everybody!

First off, thanks for all your wonderful words of encouragement! Although, officially, I must respond by saying something like, I haven't the slightest idea what any of you are talking about. I have neither confirmed nor denied any new information as of late.

Regarding the pending stick-figure allegory: Because I own a positively Jurassic MacBook that has, in its comedic slowness and incompetence, undermined all of my technological undertakings since sophomore year of college, my Photoshop doodlings have taken longer than I expected (each time I try to save a new frame the darn program quits on me). I could say more, but if this post were merely comprised of unrelated, tangential information, I would continue by telling you about how I just ate couscous with raisins while watching Zach Galifianakis clips. And then where would we be? The point is: stick figure adventure still in the works.

In the meantime, how about some Diversionary Q&A?

Q: Hey, Fel, if there were a parallel universe in which you were the new Elphaba Standby, when would you be making the parallel-universe switch to from parallel-universe ensemble to parallel-universe standby?
A: What a preposterous query! I will, momentarily, indulge in this outrageousness: if this parallel universe happened to adhere to the Gregorian Calendar, I suspect I would become the new Elphaba Standby around March 30. And everyone would be upside-down and weightless, because that's what happens in parallel universes.

Q: Hey, Fel, how did you get your Equity Card? [submitted by Alethea]
A: I got my Equity Card through WICKED! Before starting my job here in San Francisco I was a veritable theatrical fetus, stewing around in the career-equivalent of amnio fluids, without an umbilical cord. But now I am Equity! Yay.

Q: Hey, Fel, do you have any idea what brand of boots Elphaba wears with the Shiz costume? [submitted by Jessica]
A: This answer shall, in a future post, beget a much longer discussion, but for now I will say: all of the shoes in WICKED are custom-made to each actor's feets. But I can, like, sell you my boots if you want. Just kidding. Sort of. (Meet me at the stage door tomorrow night; bring cash and gummy worms.)

That's all for now! More soon!

Ever faithfully yours,
Felicia.

Plog Bost

2010-03-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

My Dearests,

It's been one whole week since my last post, and for this I hang my head in shame. [She hangs head in shame.]

The truth is, the gears in my conniving little brain have been devising a way for me to break to you some substantial news, without violating any WICKED-purveyed confidentiality rules...

So: later tonight I shall submit to you on this Blog a text-less rendering of said late development, which shall depict highly stylized stick figures engaging in a fantastical allegory. I will call this, tentatively, and cryptically, "Edventures in Alphaba," or "Relicia Ficci Takes a Stand(by)," with the optional, and somewhat less cryptic, subtitle: "I May Or May Not Be the New Elphaba Standby."

More soon.

Hearts and rainbow people,
Felicia.

The Great De-Boq-le

2010-02-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

[Guest post today, dear readers! Join my good friend, the preternaturally ostentatious Etai BenShlomo, as he spins a narrative web of novelistic proportions. And more from me soon! Lots of stuff in the works. --FR]

Salutations, friends!

As an avid follower of this Blogospheric Imaginarium of Dr. Ricci, I was thrilled to be personally invited by the one and only singer slash actress slash part-time gangster Felicia Ricci to contribute my very own guest post!

So, greetings, readers! I’m Etai BenShlomo and I’m currently playing Boq in the San Francisco (aka Kiamo Ko) Company of WICKED! I officially joined the company about 3 weeks ago (I replaced Eddy Rioseco), and have been having the time of my life. It’s been a wild ride on the WICKED train thus far, and I’m so looking forward to the adventures ahead!

Since I have neither the wit nor intelligence nor talent to match the phenomulous bloggage of my friend and next-door neighbor Felicia (“phenomulous” was my lame attempt at a WICKED-like, Ozian phrase a la “thrillify” and “gratitution”), I thought I would devote this post to a certain incident that happened to me recently that you may find interesting or funny or perhaps horrifying.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society (“Are You Afraid of the Dark?” anyone?), I call this story:

THE GREAT DE-BOQ-CLE

So it was Tuesday. I had just come off of an incredible birthday weekend…turns out 23 is not much different than 22, but still a reason to celebrate I suppose…and it was just about the filthiest day in Northern California you can imagine. Now, don’t get me wrong, I ADORE San Francisco, but I have to say: it is not quite the California I’d seen in the movies. Needless to say, when it’s sunny, it’s perfect…but I’ve realized that’s a little more rare than I had anticipated. Ah well.

Anyway, weather like that has a way of putting me in a lazy mood, so I spent most of the day sitting on my couch watching “The West Wing” and playing Wii. Very productive. Dinnertime eventually crept up on me, and being the lazy fool that I am, I wanted to exert the least possible amount of effort in attaining my sumptuous feast. So, of course, I slogged through the filthy rain and wind about for about 30 seconds to Jay’s Cheesesteak, a little hole in the wall around the corner from my apartment building. Rebel that I am, I decided to defy convention and order a cheeseburger as opposed to a cheesesteak (GASP!), and here was my fatal flaw: I ordered it medium rare. Can you see where this is going yet?

So, flash forward a few hours: I’m feeling good, I’ve got some bloody cow in my belly, I’m pumped and ready for my first show of the week! As I get to the glorious Orpheum Theatre, all of the sudden I feel a slight wave of nausea come over me. No worries…I pop a Pepto Bismol and guzzle down some Ginger Ale. Done and done. “Places! This is your places call!” a voice sounds over the intercom. Even with the little bit of filthy nausea (you might notice the word “filth” show up in my vocabulary quite a bit – it happens to be one of my favorites), I felt totally capable of getting through the show.

I think it was right around when Glinda was getting back in her bubble in “No One Mourns the Wicked” when suddenly everything started to kind of move slowly and my legs started to feel less and less sturdy. Still, I soldiered on. Around halfway through “Loathing” my stomach started churning and tying in knots. “Just…Keep…Swimming” the Dori in my head kept telling me.

And then came the dreaded “Ozdust Ballroom.” After spinning DeeDee (our beautiful and insanely talented Nessa) around a few times, right when Elphaba entered the scene, I started feeling a cold sweat, then came the dizziness, and then the heinous, FILTHY nausea hit me again like a torpedo. Code Red! Code Red! Following Nessa, I nonchalantly made my way off-stage and ran to the nearest restroom as I could feel that ill-fated cheeseburger coming back up. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the restroom. I will spare you the gory details, but picture me in full Boq attire sprawled on the floor off-stage right, my face buried in a trash-can. Oy vey.

Now, let me explain: besides going on-stage and completely blanking on your lines, notes, lyrics, choreography, or whatnot, I am totally convinced that getting sick on-stage is the ultimate actor’s nightmare! And it’s especially painful since I love performing in WICKED so much…to be on-stage, wanting to have fun and be in the moment, all the while contending with a vengeful cow hell-bent on wreaking havoc upon your insides…well…it sucks!

Thankfully, the WICKED staff was incredibly gracious and helpful – they immediately got my understudy, Jeremy Kocal, ready to go on and called me a cab. Jeremy is a total G and I hear he rocked Boq. Unfortunately, I was unable to witness any of his brilliance, as I was at home, lying on my couch, shivering and sweating away whatever poison was in that cursed cheeseburger.

The moral of this story? Never, EVER eat at Jay’s Cheesesteak on 21^st and Valencia. That’s right, Jay – whoever you are – I hope this blog post puts your filthy establishment out of business (though I hear you make a mean cheesesteak)!

Thank you to Felicia for letting me purge this story all over her blog (pun intended and enforced). And, O Readers, although I know it probably did not expand your already vast knowledge of the inner workings of WICKED, the story does illustrate the utter insanity that is live theatre. Literally anything can happen!

Though I have neither the discipline nor patience to maintain a blog of my own, I’d be happy to write another guest post (this time it will be both filth- and vomit-free) if ya’ll enjoyed this one (why did I just type “ya’ll”? I’m a little Jewish boy from Florida, though I suppose some people consider that the South – I just consider it the phallus of America …Oh well, too late now).

Good night, and hope to see you all – er, y’all - at the Stage Door!

--EB

Extreme Makeover: Dressing Room Edition

2010-02-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I published a harrowing image of my dressing room station as it once was: a veritable garbage heap of makeup, used Kleenex, and rotting food. Just kidding, it wasn't that bad. But indeed for the first two weeks or so my cubby-like sanctuary, in its disorderliness, resembled a college dorm -- so much so that, before I knew what was going on, I found myself striking up contrived conversations about life and purpose and eating microwavable macaroni and cheese when I wasn't hungry.

I have since seen the light, and, thanks to the wide availability of boutique-y, odds-and-ends-y, bric-a-brac-y, variety stores in San Francisco, I have purchased a great number of small trinkets that have helped to make my station spectacular! Behold! An After Photo of Felicia's Dressing Room Station!

Brief enumeration of said bric-a-brac (<-- I am obsessed with that phrase): a nifty black and tan-patterned placemat; a green coffee mug, a green makeup case, two green little candle holders (anyone notice a color scheme?) that have been converted to makeup brush/toothbrush/pen/bric-a-brac holders, a jewel purple coaster to hold my wig pins, and an eco-friendly stainless steel water bottle.

And that concludes today's post of self-satisfaction and adoration.

If it were legal I would marry myself,

Felicia.

Blogoscopic Fantasia 2010

2010-02-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Poor, Neglected Readers,

After a long and heartless winter, it is time for the flowering spring! In terms of blogging. Like, that was a metaphor: it's still February. Plus I have recently learned that there are no real distinctions between the seasons in San Francisco.

To my knowledge, I have in prior posts promised the following: answers to posted-via-the-comments-section questions, recounting of my debut, as well as Etai, Jody and Paul's, a link to a fellow cast member's blog, Elphaba understudying updates, thoughts on San Francisco, an espousal of the virtues of scented candles, general exuberance and/or irreverence. So, here I go....

Question and answer time!

Q: How does Elphaba's broom fly?
A: I don't want to ruin the magic, so let's just say it's really flying. Or it's on a string.

Q: When are you going on as Elphaba, Fel?
A: Because of WICKED rules, I can't publish this on a public site like a blog, but I've devised a way to let you know. When I have prior knowledge of an upcoming performance, I will post a link for you to email me, so I can tell you personally -- provided you (SCOUT'S HONOR) promise not to publish it on any other blogs. We'll see how that works out for now. I believe in honor, truth, beauty, human virtue, and the cleansing effects of watching A&E's "Hoarders."

Q: Are you really going to genuflect when you meet Eden Espinosa? Will some sort of sacrosanct music be playing?
A: No one has actually asked this question, but the answer is YES.

Q: So you haven't yet met her?!?!
A: No! Our schedules have not yet overlapped, but soon, my dearests, soon! She has just begun rehearsing and will be going on starting March 2.

Q: Why didn't I catch you at the stage door, boo?
A: I've actually been swung out of the show quite a bit to learn my Elphaba stuff (more on this later in the post), so if you don't see me come out, I may not have performed that night. But, in truth, sometimes I bust out pretty soon after bows. The deal with visiting at the stage door is that I would love to see you guys, but most of the time when I come out there's just, like, a wall of people and general silence and puzzlement from the folks waiting to meet Teal or Kendra or other distinguishable character types, so if you would like to say hello to me, please do give a loud and prominent "Holla, Felicia!" so I know not to duck away in ensemble-induced humility ("humility" in the humble sense, not in the embarrassment sense). You can also email me that day to remind me that you're coming to the show, so I can be sure to look for you.

Q: How awesome/terrifying is it doing "Popular" with Kendra Kassbaum? I read an interview with Julia Murney once in which she said "I never know what she is going to do".
A: I haven't yet rehearsed or performed with Kendra (and probably never will, until I go on as Elphaba, as understudies typically rehearse only with fellow understudies or standbys (what's the difference, you ask? Read it here, man!)), but I do know from watching that she definitely does change it up night to night -- though not in huge ways, just in her delivery and sometimes in her mannerisms. Which, in my opinion, is exciting rather than scary! It's one of the things I love about Kendra as a performer: she is very much in the moment.

Q: Hey, you're on the official WICKED website!
A: I know -- not a question, but still totally fun news! Thanks for letting me know, Daniel S!

Q: Patty Duke didn't make her last performances, do you know why?
A: Don't have any insider info, and obviously want to respect Ms. Duke's privacy. I just know she was feeling sick. She did send the cast her love, and actually gave each of us little parting gifts with personalized notes. She is an amazing woman!

Q: From Peggy: "Saw the show today. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but... the idea is to NOT take out the lead like a bowling pin. Nice save on the Shiz entrance before fainting!!"
A: Bahahahaha! Debriefing: I run in and faint directly stage right of Teal at the top of "Dear Old Shiz" and one or two performances after my debut, my foot slipped on some of the gooey residue from Glinda's bubble machine in the opening (that stuff is slippery!), and I almost (repeat: ALMOST) fell into Teal. Yikes. But I saved it. Cuz I'm, like, profesh.

And that concludes this question and answer period. Hooray! Next: recapping of opening and first week.

Okay, so, imagine, if you will, playing dress-up in the most ornate costumes possible, along with 25 or so of the most talented people you've ever met, and then wandering into a fully-realized and developed Other World, where your every move is underscored by a swelling orchestra and surrounded by amazing, theatrical lighting. That, my friends, is what it's like being in WICKED. The first show was a whirlwind, and kind of trippy, particularly the Emerald City scenes when we're all wearing green glasses. Not only could I not recognize anyone else onstage, but it really messed with my depth perception. I have issues with this, as it is (you should have seen me during the single day I tried to be on the junior varsity basketball team), let alone when I'm wearing tinted specs.

I am proud to say that I didn't really mess up anything major or even minor that first time out. Interestingly, it was in subsequent shows that I found I had to get certain mistakes out of my system (Oh no! I didn't get my Wizomania ticket out of my bodice! Oh no! I forgot to change my makeup for Witch Hunters! Oh no! I almost knocked Elphaba over and ruined the entire show!). It's like each performance is a chance for one to get a sense of the range of things that could go wrong with his or her track. And once you've done it around fourteen times (as I have, at this point) you've more or less messed up all the things you could mess up. And now it's smooth sailing! It's still challenging, but now I feel like it's all so freaking fun because I have to worry less and less about forgetting what to do.

The one perpetual source of minor angst is my feeling like I could always, at any moment of any day, be working on Elphaba. And, the truth is, in my spare time this has been what I've been trying to do. Lines are more or less memorized. I've learned, at this point, the stage-y staging (meaning, minor dancing and big strokes of blocking) of all of my musical numbers. The two things that will continue to confound me (but which I shall overcome!) is: my need to fully flesh out a character that on the one hand adheres to the pre-established blocking but which is completely organic and real to me; my need to get Elphaba's vocal part into my voice so it's consistent and comfortable. For this, I have found a studio near where I live, and I plan to sing through the entire show (Elphaba's music, I mean) at least three times a week on my own. I also need to vocalize and do breath work everyday. The great news is our superfab conductor, Bryan Perry, is also a vocal coach, so working with him on Elphaba music means getting amazing tips on how to tame the beasts that are "Defying Gravity," "The Wizard and I," and "No Good Deed" (and, furthermore, developing the stamina to sing these within a narrative arc that also includes several other slightly less challenging, though no less important, songs). Sigh. But, no matter! I am up to the challenge. And one thing that will always be true is: no matter how challenging the work, rehearsing Elphaba is a FREAKING DREAM COME TRUE. I mean, come on! Up until mid-January the only place I ever sang WICKED was in the shower. Ya know.

Okay, what's next? Ah, yes: Etai, Jody, and Paul's debut-- and, also, since my last post: Libby Servais' (our new Glinda Standby) debut. For this I'm going to resort to a wash of uncreative, though genuine, praise: hooray, yay, yippee, everyone is great and talented! Huzzah it all went well!

Here is a link to Neka Zang's (Elphaba's Mother, Nessarose Understudy) super cool blog! She offers some deets on her various turns in WICKED, but it's also a bit more diversified in its content, and gives you some insights into her personal interests beyond the world of the theater. Coolness.

Thoughts on San Francisco: okay, going to save this for upcoming posts. Must keep SOME suspense, right?

Espousal of the virtues of scented candles: Dudes, I love scented candles. My favorite scents are vanilla and pumpkin.

What's to come next, blog-wise: Before-and-After photos and a descriptive recounting of my pimping out my dressing room station. Observe this Before photo, and imagine, if you can, Alexa Green's (whose station is to my right) temporary disdain for my slobbishness (that's right, I just invented a word, and that word is "slobbishness"):

Actually, looking at it now, it doesn't look so bad... but just WAIT until you see the After photos. You will marvel at how I have stricken a fine balance between organizational effectiveness and aesthetic perfection. Or you will just wonder why I take so many photos on my crappy camera phone. The answer is: I have a lot of time backstage in Act II after the ballroom cross and before Witch Hunters.

Okay, off to do some stuff. More soon! Flowering spring, yada yada.

This post was good for me, was it good for you,

--Felicia

Eden Espinosa will be our new Elphaba!

2010-02-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hi hi! Remember how I repeatedly used the phrase "blogoscopic fantasia" to describe today's post? Well, it's been postponed, slightly-- but for good reason! Today, beginning at 1PM I have my first Elphaba staging rehearsal (I believe we're doing musical numbers first) and, as such, I've been really getting my booty in gear with line and lyric memorization. Whether or not this is the expectation, I think it's way important for me to prepare as much as possible because, let me tell you, in becoming more acquainted with the script and score, I am realizing just how much of a beastly role Elphaba is, and I mean that in the best sense.

Oh, and this is SUPER FREAKING COOL: beginning March 2, Eden Espinosa will be San Francisco's new Elphaba! Such an honor and treat to be able to understudy her, after also having been fortunate enough to watch Teal Wicks, who is ridiculously, mind-blowingly great.

In breaking news from Dork City, last night I took a photo of a wardrobe rack on which both Eden's and my Elphaba costumes were chilling out, side by side Not sure if you'll be able to read the names unless you click on it, but nevertheless, behold!

That's all for now... But soon, my friends, so soon.

Off to memorize,
Felicia.

P.S. Oh, last night Halle Berry was in the audience! I thought that was kind of cool.

Post to say: I shall post soon!

2010-02-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers,

Forgive me for neglecting you! I shall in the extremely near future publish the electronic equivalent of reams of pages of content (as in, probably tonight, after the show). We (meaning the cast of WICKED-- which now includes ME! Yeah! Yeahhhhh!) have been unusually swamped because we've been having lots of rehearsals on top of performances in order to assimilate the throngs of new folk who have joined us (which, in addition to me, now includes Paul Slade Smith, Jody Gelb, Etai BenShlomo, and Libby Servais). Plus, some of the New York WICKED creative team is here to do some clean-up work on the pre-existing company. More on this shortly.

In the works, blog-wise, are: answers to your posted-via-the-comments-section questions, recounting of my debut, as well as Etai, Jody and Paul's (theirs was last night! woot), a link to a fellow cast member's blog, Elphaba understudying updates, thoughts on San Francisco, an espousal of the virtues of scented candles, general exuberance and/or irreverence.

I hope you will join me later for this blogoscopic fantasia.

That's right: blogoscopic fantasia,
Felicia

I did it!

2010-02-06T01:37:00.000-08:00

I survived! I more than survived, I had the time of my life. Thank you, everyone, for the kind words of encouragement-- you inspired me to do my best! Special thanks to my amazing family and my übermensch boyfriend for the cards, roses and fruit baskets galore! Special, special thanks to the cast and crew for being so ridiculously supportive, both tonight and throughout the entire process. I am such a lucky lady!

I will reflect in greater detail on the specifics of my debut at a not-too-distantly-future date. (There is so much to share!) Until then..

I must sleep....

I couldn't be happier,
Felicia zzzzZZZZZZZZ