Mickey-Jo met the original West End GLINDA! | a chat with Helen Dallimore for WICKED's London Anniversary INTERVIEW
MickeyJoTheatre
Mickey-Jo interviews Helen Dallimore, the original West End Glinda, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the musical Wicked. The conversatio
Key takeaways
- Helen Dallimore's audition for the role of Glinda lasted approximately eight months.
- Dallimore describes working with Idina Menzel as a life-changing experience due to Menzel's kindness and talent.
Main topics
- Wicked 20th Anniversary
- West End Opening Night Memories
Notable quotes
It was a bit of a blur to be honest, like a bit of an out of body experience for me.
Conclusion
A nostalgic and professional retrospective on the legacy of Wicked and
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) This weekend, the musical Wicked celebrates its 20th anniversary in the West End, and ahead of those celebrations, I had the chance to meet the original West End glinder, Helen Dallimore. 20 years ago, Wicked was opening here in London, and you were opening the show as the original West End glinder. What is your prevailing memory from that opening night experience? Speaker 2 (0:22) Well, I think it was a bit of a blur to be honest, like a bit of an out of body experience for me. Luckily we'd had quite a few previews, so I had fewer nerves about the show itself. We all knew, I mean, obviously it was going to work. Yeah. Then I did, I think about just the kinds of people that would be there because all of, obviously all of London was there. There was so many celebrities and... fabulous sort of theatre people and I think that was just the idea of that calibre of audience that I was doing it for. And then of course we had a fabulous party afterwards and yeah, that was awesome fun. I remember the party vividly, you know, in terms of just looking around and going, well there's that celebrity and then there's that world famous star and like it was for somebody like me who'd come. all the way from Australia, you know, to be in that caliber of audience was kind of amazing. Yeah, Speaker 1 (1:23) yeah. This was three years after the show had opened on Broadway, already a huge success and a fan favorite. What was the audition process like? I assume this must have been a really sought after role. It Speaker 2 (1:35) was rigorous. Speaker 1 (1:37) So Speaker 2 (1:37) it was over, I think about eight months. I think I did half a dozen. auditions in that time and so I'd do an audition and then I'd wait and wait and wait for months and and I was sort of at that point where I'd I'd been living here for a while and I felt like you know things weren't really taking off as much as I'd hoped so I kept saying to myself well I'll just wait to hear about Wicked and then if that doesn't work out I'll go home and and then I kept doing that you know I was in a sort of um mixed messages relationship with the role. And then of course, when I got it, it was life changing. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 (2:17) And you got to do it opposite Idina Menzel, who had originated it, done it on Broadway, won the Tony Award. What was it like heading into rehearsals opposite her, returning to the role with you doing it for the first time? Speaker 2 (2:31) She was so kind and so generous and so ready to reimagine the show. And I think she had agreed to do the London season on the basis that they did get to revisit it and make it a new thing, which we very much did. So, I mean, I consider myself extremely lucky that it was her. Speaker 2 (2:57) just because of her talent, but because of her incredibly kind nature. And she's a real actress. Like she's the real deal. You know, when you're standing on stage doing