This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Quincy Brown: I keep trying to be Audra and Patti. Like the angel and devil on your shoulder.

[0:05] Kevin Bianchi: Literally, Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald. All day, every day in my life.

[0:12] Quincy Brown: I'm Quincy. And I'm Kevin. And this is Sentimental Men. We're here to talk and maybe scream about our favorite women in musical theater.

[0:21] Kevin Bianchi: So tell me, Ernest. How much have you seen of me?

[0:28] Quincy Brown: Cinematically.

[0:29] Kevin Bianchi: The roms. The coms.

[0:31] Quincy Brown: The rom-coms.

[0:32] Kevin Bianchi: The dramas.

[0:33] Quincy Brown: The tramedys.

[0:34] Kevin Bianchi: The straight-to-DVDs.

[0:36] Quincy Brown: No, really, Ernest.

[0:38] Kevin Bianchi: No, you know what I'm obsessed with is...

[0:41] Quincy Brown: That was rude. That was pretty fucking rude.

[0:47] Kevin Bianchi: What's the... I've been listening to the cast recording, which is good.

[0:52] Quincy Brown: I'll go on record and say, in seeing Death Becomes Her live, I had a hard time appreciating the score.

[1:02] Kevin Bianchi: But in listening to it on cast recording, I am finding it very, very enjoyable, clever, and well done.

[1:09] Quincy Brown: And I'm wondering if I'm having a hard time understanding people when I see shows now.

[1:14] Kevin Bianchi: Like you think your hearing's going?

[1:18] Quincy Brown: That or the sound on Broadway is bad? Am I Patti LuPone now?

[1:21] Kevin Bianchi: It could be a little of each. It could be.

[1:24] Quincy Brown: I feel like in the shows, kind of every musical I've seen this season, I haven't really appreciated the score in real time.

[1:30] Kevin Bianchi: Maybe Happy Ending I saw, and I loved, but the score didn't sit with me.

[1:34] Quincy Brown: And then I became obsessed with the cast recording. I was listening to it in Korean before the Broadway one came out.

[1:39] Kevin Bianchi: Anyway, all to say I've been obsessed with the Death Becomes Her cast recording in the last week.

[1:44] Quincy Brown: Do you feel like it also maybe has to do with, like, in the theater, you're taking in so many other things?

[1:50] Kevin Bianchi: Like you're taking in the visual of the production, you're taking in, et cetera, et cetera. So then being able to just, like, focus on...

[2:02] Quincy Brown: I also think in, like, Death Becomes Her's case, it's a very wordy, fast score, which is just tough in real life.

[2:08] Kevin Bianchi: But then when you're listening to it with pristine mixing and everything, you can catch a lot of the wordplay and comedy.

[2:14] Quincy Brown: For sure. I agree with you there. It's a very witty set of lyrics.

[2:21] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. Speaking of Death Becomes Her, should we talk about the Tony Award nominations for which Death Becomes Her is nominated?

[2:27] Quincy Brown: Yes.

[2:29] Kevin Bianchi: My takeaways about the Tony nominations, I'm not necessarily surprised by any of the shows that were, like, the most nominated shows.

[2:41] Quincy Brown: Mm-hmm.

[2:43] Kevin Bianchi: My main thing that I was ruminating on when the nominations came out was, like, wow, this season was so busy that, like, days had gone by and I would be like, oh, this show that didn't get any nominations that I completely just, like, forgot about because it was...

[3:01] Quincy Brown: This season has felt so long and so packed full of stuff that it's, like, I wish in some cases that the Tonys were more like the Oscars where the categories can get bigger than the fixed amount of nominees.

[3:17] Kevin Bianchi: I agree. Because I do feel like this was a season where, like, we really could have afforded some additional best musical nominees, best actress nominees.

[3:28] Quincy Brown: What's interesting is, like, everyone's been saying that, but then I'm like, last season everyone was saying we had a million musicals open and it was the most packed season ever.

[3:35] Kevin Bianchi: Which maybe it's just the new normal. Because things don't run as long these days, so everything can just flood in.

[3:42] Quincy Brown: Because the business of Broadway sucks and you need to make a million dollars a week to run and no one can do that.

[3:47] Kevin Bianchi: And no one can afford tickets, but the tickets have to go up because the running costs go up and this business model is failing.

[3:53] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[3:54] Kevin Bianchi: Smash should be nominated for best musical.

[3:57] Quincy Brown: Okay.

[3:58] Kevin Bianchi: Robin Hurder should be nominated in the leading category.

[4:02] Quincy Brown: Say it louder.

[4:03] Kevin Bianchi: That was my take. Everything else, like, yeah, everything kind of played out the way that you would expect it to play out.

[4:09] Quincy Brown: What category would you say are you the most excited about?

[4:13] Kevin Bianchi: Ooh, what category? I mean, I have been on the tip of my seat, not the tip, the edge of my seat, about the best actress race, like, since last summer.

[4:26] Quincy Brown: Did it pan out the way you thought it would?

[4:28] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, more or less. I was nervous about Hilti getting in because I felt like the smaller awards were not recognizing her.

[4:35] Quincy Brown: I was very curious going into, like, awards overall, how Death Becomes Her, how the two ladies were gonna... Were they gonna cancel each other out? Were they both gonna break into categories with one over the other? Because that really is like an Alphabaglinda situation where it's like, these are two equally sized roles that, like, maybe one over the other, maybe the plot would consider one of them a main character over the other, but size-wise, it really is a two-header.

[5:12] Kevin Bianchi: So bummed that Idina wasn't nominated.

[5:16] Quincy Brown: That's what I'm talking about. Like, we could have used some extra nominees this year.

[5:20] Kevin Bianchi: When Idina gets shut out, when Sutton Foster gets shut out.

[5:22] Quincy Brown: No Sutton Foster, no.

[5:23] Kevin Bianchi: Right, it's tight. These are the girlies who get Tony nominations for thinking about being on Broadway.

[5:30] Quincy Brown: Yeah, no Idina, no. Sutton also is another one. It was like two days later where I was like, wait a second.

[5:35] Kevin Bianchi: Then I wonder if Mattress was running now, if there would be differences in these nominations.

[5:44] Quincy Brown: Are you team Audra or team Nicole? Or team Jennifer? Or team Jasmine? Or team Megan?

[5:48] Kevin Bianchi: Ask me in a week when we've seen... Oh yeah, we're seeing Gypsy today.

[5:55] Quincy Brown: And I'll see Sunset soon after.

[6:00] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my God, you haven't seen Sunset either?

[6:02] Quincy Brown: I know, I know.

[6:03] Kevin Bianchi: Quincy, don't. Don't make me feel bad about it.

[6:07] Quincy Brown: I have a hot take.

[6:08] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, tell me your take.

[6:09] Quincy Brown: I think the best actor category I might be most excited about because it's such a crapshoot. In my mind, I think Jeremy Jordan should win.

[6:23] Kevin Bianchi: I kind of feel like Jonathan Groff is going to win twice in a row.

[6:27] Quincy Brown: That would be a slay. I just feel like he's getting such stellar notices and the momentum is there. Even though Floyd Collins I thought was really beautiful and Jeremy's giving a really fantastic performance and deserves a Tony Award at this point. But yeah, I kind of think Jonathan Groff might pull off two years in a row.

[6:43] Kevin Bianchi: Has that ever happened before?

[6:44] Quincy Brown: It would not be in the same category, right?

[6:47] Kevin Bianchi: Was he supporting for Merrilee?

[6:48] Quincy Brown: No, he was lead.

[6:49] Kevin Bianchi: He was lead? I couldn't remember.

[6:51] Quincy Brown: That would be a big slay. I do think Nicole, if I'm going off the zeitgeist, if I'm just going off of my vision, almost like a prophecy, it does feel like this is Nicole's year. The buzz around it, like this is her debut. This is like she waited her whole life. She trained for however many years old she is to get to this moment.

[7:16] Kevin Bianchi: Is an interesting story in the way that Audra is more like this is a fucking victory lap for her. Like this is like another step in her incomparable career.

[7:30] Quincy Brown: So they really are coming at the award from two different places. I think Audra gets Actress and Sunset gets Revival. I think Alt is campaigning. Nicole is campaigning harder for sure, but it ultimately I think is campaigning for the show.

[7:47] Kevin Bianchi: And that's interesting.

[7:49] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I think Audra gets Actress and Sunset gets Revival. I think Sunset gets, or I think Nicole gets Actress. Gypsy gets Revival. And I think Joy gets Actress because people are going to say, I'm not voting for Audra. I'm going to vote for Joy.

[8:07] Kevin Bianchi: Overall, I'm very excited for the Tony Awards. I think that this batch of shows is going to make for a fun night of viewing. Like the performances that we're going to get. Cynthia Erivo is hosting. Maybe we'll get the Wicked trailer during the Tonys.

[8:25] Quincy Brown: No, did you see this June 4th in theaters? Theaters are running the Wicked movie again with the premiere of the For Good trailer before.

[8:34] Kevin Bianchi: No, I did not see that.

[8:36] Quincy Brown: Which to me, I'm just like- Clear my schedule. Wicked marketing has really been top tier from day one. And like this is such a smart idea to put the first movie back in theaters.

[8:43] Kevin Bianchi: Totally.

[8:44] Quincy Brown: Play the trailer before so people definitely have to go. Like it's just all really chef's kiss in my opinion.

[8:53] Kevin Bianchi: It's great. Can I get it on my AMC app? Because I already paid for that.

[9:00] Quincy Brown: Yeah, June 4th. I wonder if we're going to get it online simultaneously or if you truly have to go watch that thing in the theater.

[9:06] Kevin Bianchi: I'm sure we'll get bootleg versions quickly. But yeah, maybe it'll be like a day later or something.

[9:12] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[9:12] Kevin Bianchi: So I don't know. We'll do that on June 4th. It's that time of year again. We've got our leaks out of CinemaCon.

[9:19] Quincy Brown: Except for you failed us this time.

[9:22] Kevin Bianchi: We haven't gotten a video leak this year. We've just gotten written descriptions.

[9:26] Quincy Brown: No video leak, unfortunately. But we also have the new poster and we have a description of the trailer.

[9:34] Kevin Bianchi: The trailer opens with cracking windows around Galinda in the Emerald City.

[9:40] Quincy Brown: Elphaba, I know you're here. Just come out before the monkeys spot you, says Ariana Grande.

[9:47] Kevin Bianchi: This is between us, the wizard and I, says Cynthia Erivo.

[9:52] Quincy Brown: I would scream.

[9:54] Kevin Bianchi: I would scream. That's incredible. I can hear the line deliveries, you know what I mean? Like it's just...

[10:02] Quincy Brown: And that's going to be our new, like, you're green.

[10:05] Kevin Bianchi: I am.

[10:06] Quincy Brown: Like that's going to be this for us this year.

[10:09] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, keep reading.

[10:10] Quincy Brown: Okay, sorry. Elphaba writes our wizard lies in the sky with her broomstick.

[10:26] Kevin Bianchi: Fuck yeah, she does. That is so... That's gaggy. That's why you make a movie out of this, to add shit like that.

[10:34] Quincy Brown: An angry mob with pitchforks. The song For Good plays.

[10:40] Kevin Bianchi: I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason.

[10:43] Quincy Brown: Sing it.

[10:44] Kevin Bianchi: I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason.

[10:48] Quincy Brown: Sings Ariana Grande.

[10:50] Kevin Bianchi: Cut straight to, who can say if I've been changed for the better, says Elphaba.

[10:56] Quincy Brown: Then they harmonize together.

[10:58] Kevin Bianchi: We see an overhead shot of Dorothy walking the yellow brick road with Fierro and Bach and the class pet in their act two forms.

[11:10] Quincy Brown: Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

[11:12] Kevin Bianchi: The pair sing together. Trailer ends with Cynthia Erivo saying, well, I'm off to see the wizard.

[11:17] Quincy Brown: Another moment with which I would scream.

[11:20] Kevin Bianchi: I can't wait to hear that line reading.

[11:21] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[11:22] Kevin Bianchi: I'm off to see the wizard.

[11:23] Quincy Brown: I think it's going to be more indignant than that.

[11:26] Kevin Bianchi: Additional details from Variety. Elphaba is seen studying the sacred text known as the Grimmery. Glinda can be seen adjusting her crown as she is taken under the wing of the wizard and Madame Marable.

[11:38] Quincy Brown: Another line reading I can already hear in my head. The wicked witch can't ignore us forever, Marable growls.

[11:45] Kevin Bianchi: The wicked witch! Listen, can't hide forever. The footage also features glimpses at Glinda and Fierro's wedding, the terrifying flying monkeys and the shot of the foursome going down the yellow brick road.

[12:05] Quincy Brown: You're the only friend I've ever had, Elphaba admits to Glinda, and I've had so many friends, Glinda replies.

[12:11] Kevin Bianchi: How is she going to say that line?

[12:13] Quincy Brown: How is she going to say that line?

[12:15] Kevin Bianchi: But you're the only one that mattered.

[12:17] Quincy Brown: Can I get dark for a second?

[12:19] Kevin Bianchi: Well, so also we changed that last line. We tweaked it.

[12:21] Quincy Brown: Yes, it has been tweaked.

[12:23] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, you can get dark for a second because it seems like this movie is about to get dark for a second.

[12:27] Quincy Brown: Well, so I was at work the other day thinking about this, and you know in the show they like sing For Good, everyone's wiping their tears, and then Elphaba's like, I gotta go. She pulls the thing across and then she goes and melts.

[12:44] Kevin Bianchi: Whatever that moment is in the movie, do you think she's going to turn back and give Ariana one of these?

[12:52] Quincy Brown: And then she'll do this, and then yeah, yeah, yeah, crying.

[12:59] Kevin Bianchi: I can see it already in my head.

[13:00] Quincy Brown: That's cute.

[13:01] Kevin Bianchi: It'll destroy me.

[13:02] Quincy Brown: This got me really excited.

[13:04] Kevin Bianchi: Me too. It feels like they're giving us a lot in. Didn't one of the write-ups say that we also hear No Good Deed in the trailer?

[13:11] Quincy Brown: Really? I didn't see that.

[13:12] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, it feels like they're giving us a lot to work with, which also I'm like, there's a lot to expand upon in Act 2, so I imagine because they're giving us all the textbook parts of Act 2, there's so much more that we aren't seeing that they must be sitting on.

[13:29] Quincy Brown: I think too, based on how faithful Part 1 was, if I were the people deciding these things, you would want to make sure that we felt like Part 2 was going to be as faithful. So I can see, and based on these descriptions, it's like-

[13:45] Kevin Bianchi: I don't think it will be.

[13:47] Quincy Brown: No, I know. That's what I'm saying though, is they're showing us all of the things that are like, look, here's the stuff you recognize. Here's For Good. Here's the I only have one friend joke.

[13:57] Kevin Bianchi: You know.

[13:59] Quincy Brown: To give us For Good is kind of a wild move.

[14:02] Kevin Bianchi: I know. I mean, I guess it's the title of the movie, so they're gonna have to use it.

[14:08] Quincy Brown: And there's two new songs. I'm just like, I'm very excited for the music of Part 2.

[14:15] Kevin Bianchi: The new songs are gonna fit each of them, obviously, because they're for them.

[14:21] Quincy Brown: But just like, having now like really absorbed their performances from Part 1, Cynthia is gonna destroy No Good Deed in the most complimentary way.

[14:34] Kevin Bianchi: Ariana's gonna fuck up, thank goodness.

[14:38] Quincy Brown: Fuck up.

[14:40] Kevin Bianchi: Also in the most complimentary way. And then like, we're gonna have the blessing of the two of them singing For Good.

[14:47] Quincy Brown: And two new songs.

[14:49] Kevin Bianchi: And two new songs.

[14:50] Quincy Brown: And Wicked Witch of the East on cast recording finally, on soundtrack finally.

[14:55] Kevin Bianchi: I hope Wicked Movie don't leave that off the soundtrack.

[14:57] Quincy Brown: Do not. We've been mad about it the first time for 22 years.

[15:02] Kevin Bianchi: And maybe March of the Witch Hunters with all the former stage alphabas in London. It's like, I want all of it.

[15:07] Quincy Brown: As long as you're mine, let's not skip over that. That's gonna, I mean, that's gonna be the bisexual awakening of an entire generation of little theater babies.

[15:18] Kevin Bianchi: I hope we get Jonathan Bailey chest.

[15:21] Quincy Brown: Well, you know, it's like if they were gonna give it to us in Part 1, they'll have, surely they'll give it to us in, like if they were gonna add a gratuitous moment for it, it feels like at the very least, we should get,

[15:34] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[15:34] Quincy Brown: We should get open shirt for as long as we can.

[15:36] Kevin Bianchi: I'm getting kind of sad because this, this like movie hour is coming to an end soon.

[15:41] Quincy Brown: Don't do that.

[15:42] Kevin Bianchi: Don't.

[15:44] Quincy Brown: It's May, Quincy.

[15:46] Kevin Bianchi: So far on the horizon for so long.

[15:48] Quincy Brown: And now it's like, yeah, but remember last year, how like once it started, once it kicked off, it was whirlwind and then done. There was no time to stop or think or look around.

[15:55] Kevin Bianchi: And it feels like we are about to, on June 4th, we are about to enter that whirlwind again.

[16:01] Quincy Brown: And then it'll be over.

[16:05] Kevin Bianchi: And then they'll announce Wicked Part 3.

[16:08] Quincy Brown: Elfie, the prequel.

[16:10] Kevin Bianchi: And then the Peacock Limited Series, Fanny and Shenshen.

[16:13] Quincy Brown: Kevin, who are we talking to today?

[16:16] Kevin Bianchi: Ah, Quincy. Today we are talking to Mira Ruiz from Brazil.

[16:22] Quincy Brown: The, the, the Brazilian Elphaba.

[16:27] Kevin Bianchi: The Brazilian Idina Menzel. I'm going to go ahead and say it.

[16:30] Quincy Brown: Wow.

[16:32] Kevin Bianchi: It's like really insane. A lot of you have been asking for this interview for a very, very long time. And we are very excited that it is finally coming to fruition.

[16:44] Quincy Brown: And what's crazy to me is like, I think we were, last episode we were talking about like, we can't believe how long we've been doing this podcast. And this is a moment where I'm like, we've been doing this podcast long enough that this woman has done two different productions of Wicked for us to have spoken to her about.

[17:02] Kevin Bianchi: And two literally different productions.

[17:03] Quincy Brown: Different productions.

[17:04] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[17:04] Quincy Brown: Because she has done a replica, the original replica production of Wicked in Brazil, and then came back in 2023 to do a non-replica production, which is where we all saw that, those bootleg videos of her crazy flying scene in Defying Gravity. And is now back in Brazil in 2025 doing Wicked again in a different non-replica production than the last non-replica production.

[17:31] Kevin Bianchi: A non-non-replica.

[17:33] Quincy Brown: She has played Elphaba in three different, different, capital D, different productions of Wicked.

[17:39] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[17:40] Quincy Brown: And on top of that, not to like get ahead of her resume, and on top of that, and on top of that, she has, she did the dub, the Portuguese dub for the Wicked movie movies, which is just like another layer of like, she has this singular association with the role that like not every actress can claim.

[18:07] Kevin Bianchi: She's probably God in Brazil.

[18:08] Quincy Brown: Can claim.

[18:10] Kevin Bianchi: She's gotta be.

[18:11] Quincy Brown: Probably laid down on the street for her.

[18:13] Kevin Bianchi: Imagine the Brazilian gays.

[18:15] Quincy Brown: I know.

[18:15] Kevin Bianchi: Yes.

[18:16] Quincy Brown: Like Lizzo's at pieces. Who cares?

[18:18] Kevin Bianchi: You know what I mean?

[18:20] Quincy Brown: Imagine, imagine she walks into a gay bar. You're in Brazil. She walks into a gay bar. They start playing Defying Gravity.

[18:28] Kevin Bianchi: Yes.

[18:29] Quincy Brown: Like she's gotta be the diva to these gays.

[18:34] Kevin Bianchi: She was so sweet and humble. We've already done the interview and she was so sweet and humble. And really like, honestly, very similar vibe to when we talked to Ariana was like, so many times when we spoke, when we were talking to her, I was just like, oh, you're just, you're a theater kid. Like you're just a theater kid whose literal dreams came true.

[18:54] Quincy Brown: She was quoting Patti LuPone and Audrey McDonald.

[18:56] Kevin Bianchi: Yes.

[18:56] Quincy Brown: You like mentioned something at one point. She's like, oh, from the variety interview of Patti LuPone.

[19:01] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[19:01] Quincy Brown: She like, she's, she is us.

[19:04] Kevin Bianchi: She is a sentimental man.

[19:06] Quincy Brown: Okay. Wait, go through her whole resume. Cause her resume is sent men coded.

[19:10] Kevin Bianchi: It sounds like we wrote her resume as fan fiction.

[19:14] Quincy Brown: So, okay. Her resume in 2010, this is all in Brazil. In 2010, she's in Mamma Mia in the ensemble Understudying Sophie. Already check Mamma Mia. Baby.

[19:29] Kevin Bianchi: In 2012, she was in Fame, um, which maybe the least sent men coded thing on her resume.

[19:37] Quincy Brown: Yeah. I mean, I know.

[19:38] Kevin Bianchi: I know Fame is a thing.

[19:40] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[19:40] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. I got to go back, back to school.

[19:43] Quincy Brown: Oh yeah.

[19:44] Kevin Bianchi: Is that Fame?

[19:44] Quincy Brown: That's Grease 2.

[19:49] Kevin Bianchi: What's interesting. Okay. Now I'm thinking about this. Cause when we talked to her, she told us that she went to PPAS, which is a performing arts high school. Famously the rival performing arts high school to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia school where Fame takes place.

[20:06] Kevin Bianchi: And where Julia Murney went, right?

[20:09] Quincy Brown: Yes. Yes. Sure.

[20:10] Kevin Bianchi: Is that a fact?

[20:13] Quincy Brown: I think so.

[20:14] Kevin Bianchi: Oh yeah, that's right. She did go there.

[20:18] Quincy Brown: Okay, cool. Anyway, so then it's just a process now. It's literally like a loading sign above my head. Um, 2012 and 2013, she was in the ensemble of Shrek understudying Fiona in 2014. She was Nina and in the Heights in 2015. This is hysterical because she would have been like 22 at this point in, in, in 2015, she was Saragita in 2009, the Italian baby. Um, in 2016, she opens the, the replica production of Wicked in Brazil. Principal Elphaba off the bat, no tour, no standby.

[21:02] Kevin Bianchi: In 2019, she was on the TV show Desencantros.

[21:06] Quincy Brown: In 2020, she was the Portuguese dub for Frozen 2, um, for the voice of the mom.

[21:10] Kevin Bianchi: For Evan Rachel Wood, Evan Rachel Wood, former Audrey in Little Shop.

[21:44] Quincy Brown: Yes. Yes.

[21:44] Kevin Bianchi: I always forget. She can like sing, sing.

[21:47] Quincy Brown: You mean her vocal and show yourself doesn't do that for you?

[21:51] Kevin Bianchi: But I just, but it's like, cause that's not, I don't think of that as her. Cause I'm not like seeing her anyway.

[21:57] Quincy Brown: Um, in 2022, she played the role of Eva Peron in Evita. In 2023, Mrs. Wormwood in Matilda. Also in 2023, in the first non-replica production in Brazil, back as Elphaba. So that's like a full, how many years later? Like seven years later, she comes back to the role in a non-replica production. 2024, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. I mean.

[22:27] Kevin Bianchi: Is this the first Elphaba Elle we've talked to?

[22:30] Quincy Brown: Lucy Jones, but other, but these are the only two I can think of.

[22:34] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, okay.

[22:35] Quincy Brown: An Elphaba.

[22:37] Kevin Bianchi: Elphaba.

[22:39] Quincy Brown: Also in 2024, dubbing as we just discussed, dubbing the Wicked movie. And then 2025, she hung up the broom and she picked it right back up. We're back in Wicked as Elphaba. 12 years after her original run in a second and separate non-replica production.

[23:01] Kevin Bianchi: Seems like whenever Brazil has a musical theater show to put on, they just call up Miss Mira.

[23:04] Quincy Brown: It's like I said, she is the Brazilian Idina.

[23:09] Kevin Bianchi: A truly insane resume. And just crazy that she's played Elphaba in so many different variations.

[23:17] Quincy Brown: Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because it's like, you see like, I can't think of a good example right now, but like, you know how there's certain actresses who it's like, anytime a regional theater is doing like Waitress, it's like, oh, it's going to be one of these four because like they just do it everywhere. It's like wild for like your calling card to be Elphaba. Like in the professional production. Right. Like a production gets denounced and the whole country probably presumes it's going to be you. That's like astounding. That's a real level of power.

[23:52] Kevin Bianchi: It's really cool.

[23:53] Quincy Brown: Yeah. Yeah. This was a really great conversation. I'm excited for you all to hear it.

[24:00] Kevin Bianchi: Me too. It was fun to talk to somebody in a theater community outside of our own and just learn how that all works.

[24:09] Quincy Brown: Well, not to spoil the episode, but like, there was one point where she's talking about being in one show and auditioning for another and having to like fly back and forth and even just realizing like, oh, it's not like Broadway where if you're in a show, you're within 10 blocks of all of the other shows. Like the quote unquote Broadway in Brazil is like a spread out network of theaters, not a district in a singular city.

[24:37] Kevin Bianchi: Well, I was so excited for this conversation and now I'm excited for y'all to hear it. Let's get into it.

[24:43] Quincy Brown: All right, Mira Ruiz, thank you so much for joining us on Sentimental Men.

[24:50] Myra Ruiz: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

[24:52] Quincy Brown: You are our first non-English speaking international Elphaba on the podcast.

[24:57] Myra Ruiz: Wow. What an honor.

[25:00] Quincy Brown: So we start every interview by asking, how did Wicked the Musical come into your life as a person? What is your first touchpoint with the show?

[25:06] Myra Ruiz: Okay, so I was a theater kid. Like I had really big anxiety when I was a teenager as like teenagers do. And my mom put me in this musical theater workshop that was happening. I didn't know anything about it. I was a dancer. I was a ballet dancer.

[25:22] Quincy Brown: Where did you grow up?

[25:23] Myra Ruiz: In Brazil, here in Sao Paulo. I lived in for a while when I was little. I lived in Washington, D.C. because my parents are journalists. So they went to work there. That's how I learned to speak English.

[25:36] Quincy Brown: And so I was a theater kid and then she put me in this musical theater. And I always say that I was like, I found Jesus. That's because I used to dance and I used to do some acting. I didn't take any singing lessons back then. But then when I found musical theater, they did Mary Poppins. And I was like, what is this world? And I started listening to, as you do, especially in Brazil, there's no Broadway here. So I used to listen to the cast recordings. And I used to listen to Defying Gravity and all the wicked songs on the way to school, on the school bus. And I just remember the power that Defying Gravity made me feel as I was going to school. And it's such an awkward moment in life. And so Defying Gravity helped me with that.

And I remember listening to it like over and over and over again without ever thinking that I didn't even dream of playing it. I didn't even dream of doing Broadway back then. Because at that point, there was not even an assurance that the show would come to Brazil.

[26:37] Kevin Bianchi: So did it even feel like an option for you at that point? Or it was just not on your radar at all?

[26:43] Myra Ruiz: No, not at all. I was 16 years old. And then when Wicked actually came to Brazil, I was 22. So that was like six years. It's not a lot, but it's still a long time. A lot of things changed. And then, but then when I started doing musical theater, and I started sort of getting in the musical theater Brazilian world, I remember them talking about Wicked and they say that it's never gonna be in Brazil. Like, we don't have the cast for it yet. We don't have, we're not, we don't have the singers for it. We're not there yet in terms of, we were, actually we were. But people were like, because it's such a huge hit. We were like, I don't know who's gonna do it. Who's gonna play Elphaba? Who's gonna play Glinda? So there was a whole thing. And then like a couple years later, it was like, it was me.

[27:30] Kevin Bianchi: Can you tell us a little bit about the theater scene in Brazil and maybe how it's different and similar to the New York theater scene?

[27:39] Myra Ruiz: We've had musicals in Brazil, like since the 70s. We have this great actresses who used to do musicals, but then we didn't even have like the proper microphones. And it was just all, we did it. We had Hair, Bibi Ferreira, who's like one of the biggest musical theater stars in Brazil. She's been doing it for ages and she really started it. But like really big musicals started coming to Brazil in the early 2000s. I think Les Misérables was the first one. And I have this, I have a friend of mine who told me she auditioned for it and people didn't have like the proper material to audition. So she auditioned to Les Mis, she sang Janis Joplin.

[28:24] Kevin Bianchi: A natural fit.

[28:25] Myra Ruiz: We had no structure for that, but then very quickly musicals became a hit in Brazil. And then it just grew and grew and grew to a point where like, I think we're the third or the fourth biggest musical theater producers in the world. So it's a big, it's not close to Broadway, of course, but it's a big thing here. I think because music is such a big part of Brazilian life. I don't know if you saw the Lady Gaga at Copacabana.

[28:50] Quincy Brown: Oh my God, crazy.

[28:52] Myra Ruiz: Like we do, we like music. We like singers come here and they always say performers that like Brazil is like one of the best places to perform because we're like very passionate. So I think musical theater has that because it's, even though it's not in our culture as it is for Americans, we like music and music really speaks to our soul. And I think that's what happened because like now we have a lot of musicals. It's a big thing here.

[29:19] Kevin Bianchi: And you studied theater in New York, right? How did that happen?

[29:21] Myra Ruiz: Yes. So when I started doing, studying theater here, but just like as a hobby is for like the anxiety, like I said. And then my dad went to live in New York because he was a journalist and he was working there. And I found out about the school that was called PPAS, Professional Performing Arts School, if you guys know that. And I saw it online and I was like, oh wow, what a dream to go to that school. But you have to audition to get in. I was just getting into lessons. I didn't even know anything about anything. So I went there and I got an audition like by myself. I emailed and I did, I was like 15 years old. It's kind of crazy to think about it. And then I got an audition. I went to Barnes and Noble. I found this one minute monologue book. I just went through it. I was like, oh, this is fine. I memorized the one minute monologue. I sang On My Own from Les Mis. And I went on audition and the director said right away like, oh, okay, so you can start on Monday.

[30:21] Quincy Brown: Wow.

[30:22] Myra Ruiz: Just like that. And I'm like, yeah, no, I was horrible. It's not like I was like a huge, I don't know why he did it, but well, maybe he saw some potential. I don't know for sure, but I was just starting out. And then I did start school on Monday. And then I learned so much because even though, like I said, here we have a lot of musical theater being there, the school is like right next to Times Square. So I was like a huge theater kid, theater fan going into like a school. And then I remember like the kids who were playing Billy Elliot at the time, they went to that school because it's the school where a lot of theater, the kids who need more flexibility with their time, the Broadway kids go there. So to me, it was like being Disneyland of Broadway. And I learned a lot and I started getting into lessons.

[31:10] Quincy Brown: And what was the question?

[31:13] Myra Ruiz: How you ended up in New York.

[31:15] Quincy Brown: Oh, yeah. So that's how I went to school there. And then later I came back to Brazil and I started doing some musicals. I got into Mamma Mia, which was my first musical. I understudied Sophie. That was such a, and it's the actual like, we have franchises. I don't know how you say that in English, but like musicals that actually like have the set and the costumes, everything, they come straight from Broadway here. It's like the same thing.

[31:37] Kevin Bianchi: That's how we could, yeah, the replica.

[31:41] Myra Ruiz: Yes. So it was a Mamma Mia replica and I played Sophie. But then I still needed more. I felt like I needed to study more and more. So I went to New York again and my dad was still living there at the time. So that was like something that was accessible. And I went to Lee Strasberg just for acting.

[32:01] Quincy Brown: Wow.

[32:01] Myra Ruiz: Because for me, acting is just such a huge part of it. So important that we don't forget about the acting in musical theater. Because here sometimes when kids study, they focus on the singing and not the acting. And so I went, I wanted to, okay. So I really wanted to study acting. And I think that was a big difference, especially in getting Elphaba later. I think that really helped me.

[32:24] Quincy Brown: Do you feel like your background as a dancer has helped you at all with Elphaba?

[32:28] Myra Ruiz: I think background as a dancer helped me with everything in life. Just the discipline that it gives you. And I went to a very strict, the Royal Academy of Dance, like the part of that here in Brazil. So I had teachers from there. And I think the discipline that it gives you, even though sometimes it can be a little too much, especially with like body image. And it gave me a little, it did give me some traumas that are now sort of solved. But the discipline of it all and how it's like always be on time, always do your, the discipline part of it definitely helped me with the work ethic. And it's, there's nothing like it. When you see someone who's an actor first and a dancer first, I think the dancer in that part, I feel like it stands because it's just very professional.

[33:17] Quincy Brown: So when was the first time that you saw Wicked live?

[33:22] Myra Ruiz: It was when I was 16. I was living in New York, going to school there. I always listened to the music and everything. And my dad took me to see it.

[33:29] Kevin Bianchi: And do you remember who you saw?

[33:30] Myra Ruiz: I've seen Wicked like six times now. I can't remember who, I do remember. It was a comedian. She was on Arsenal.

[33:37] Kevin Bianchi: Anna Gasteyer.

[33:38] Myra Ruiz: It wasn't Anna because I know who-

[33:40] Kevin Bianchi: Nicole Parker.

[33:41] Myra Ruiz: It was Nicole Parker. Yes.

[33:44] Kevin Bianchi: Excellent.

[33:44] Myra Ruiz: I saw Nicole and it was great because she was funny. And that was like such a great, it's such a great thing to add to Elphaba. We can get on that later. But like, because sometimes, so I remember really, really liking the character. And then when Defying Gravity happened, it's like such a cliche to talk about it. But I really, really, at the end, I have photos of that moment actually. When it, when at the end of the moment, I turned to my dad and I said, that's what I want to do with my life. That's what I want to do in life. I really did say that. Not literally. That's not what I, I didn't mean literally.

[34:14] Kevin Bianchi: But you did.

[34:18] Myra Ruiz: I just meant, I just meant like, I want to move people like that. And then I really remember that was a turning point for me. Watching Defying Gravity was a really big turning point for that teenager. But little did I know that it was going to be literally Defying Gravity.

[34:33] Quincy Brown: You are the Brazilian Elphaba. Walk us through how the first time, the first time you booked the role, how did that happen? I imagine Wicked finally coming to Brazil was a big deal and everyone was going in for it. Tell us about how that happened.

[34:44] Myra Ruiz: Okay. So when I was doing Nine, I was playing Saragina in Nine, which is like a weird casting to cast me, but then they had the movie and they had Fergie. So it was like a 20 year old girl doing like, anyway. So I was playing, I was doing Nine. And then I started sort of had like sort of making it like booking bigger roles for the first time. Like I was doing ensemble and understudy for a long time, which I think is such an important part of doing theater is just really understanding how important it is to be in the ensemble and do the work and be an understudy, how much that teaches you about everything. And so I was doing that. And then the auditions for Wicked came and then they sent me the email. And here it's like, since it's like smaller, they already sent me the, like, you can audition for Elphaba straight away. Like I didn't have to do an open call or anything.

[35:51] Quincy Brown: So I started auditioning, just, I didn't really feel any pressure. I didn't even think I could get it, but at that point I really dreamed about having, booking the role.

[36:01] Kevin Bianchi: And you had already established yourself as like a Brazilian belterist theater actress at that point.

[36:07] Myra Ruiz: Not just a little, I had done Nina and in the Heights. That was, I was starting because I was so young. Like, and they, they, there were a lot, a lot of other actresses who were bigger in the, who had more, I think more chances of booking because they were more experienced and they had done all of these other big roles and they were really talented. So I didn't really think that was an option for me. So I started auditioning and the first audition that I went in, actually, the first one was before the, the American director came. It was for a Brazilian. They did like the first, the first cuts. That was horrible. I started, I left crying. I remember walking the street, crying, just saying like, that was so bad. I'm so embarrassed.

[36:48] Kevin Bianchi: Do you remember what you had to do in the audition?

[36:51] Myra Ruiz: I think I just sang Wizarding Eye or something like Wizarding Eye. I don't know. It was just Wizarding Eye or Defy Gravity. But for some reason I was really, really nervous. So that was very bad. Left crying, walking the street. It was like a scene from a movie, like listening to the whole thing. Like I'm the worst actress in the world. And then when the next audition came, I, it was, her name is Fran. She was an associate director. And I remember she, after I finished the whole, we had to do Wizarding Eye, Defy Gravity, I'm Not That Girl, the Lion Cub scene. And I think that's it. It was like those, those four things every time. And we did that for a whole month. It was like a really, really big period.

[37:39] Quincy Brown: It's a lot.

[37:41] Myra Ruiz: A lot of, I went, I have, I had like, I think I had like eight callbacks.

[37:45] Quincy Brown: Wow.

[37:46] Myra Ruiz: It was a lot because they have, had a workshop. I think they really had to test to see who had the like, the endurance for that. So that first audition, I remember she, I did it and then she got up from the, what do you call that? The, where the director sits. She got up from her chair and then she came over to me and then she wrapped her, like her arms around me and then she walked me to the door. And that's not something you do, especially when you have like, you're not a star. Like I wasn't, I was like, no one, no one knew me and there was no reason for her to get up. So I thought, I think I did something wrong. So I thought, I think I did something good. So she got up, she hugged me and she said, so next time you come in on your next call back, I want you to do this and this.

And she, so she gave me specific notes, but like while hugging me, I felt like something, something very different from what I heard from my other friends were just like, oh, she heard me saying, and she said, thank you. Bye. Right. So that was, that was it. So I said, something is different. But as a Capricorn, I'm very like, don't think any, don't, don't like getting too much, but I was a little. I was starting to build something. So then, but I was doing a show in Rio and then I, so I had to fly back to Rio and then back to Sao Paulo. It was a crazy, crazy experience because I had to fly back and forth all the time to do the show there and then to audition here. That was really, really hard.

And then I remember when I went back to Rio, the girls were, some people were talking and addressing them and they said, well, I think you have really good chances of being like a second cover. And they said it as like a really great thing.

[39:19] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[39:20] Myra Ruiz: But I was like, so I just kept quiet, but I said, I don't think I'm up for a second cover. I think I'm actually up for the real thing.

[39:29] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[39:30] Myra Ruiz: But anyway, so that person said that and it really stuck with me and I said, that's not really true. But I was like, yeah. And then, because they said, because probably one of the, like the veterans are going to play it, one of the more experienced, of course, that would make sense. So when I went in again and again and again, and again, it got to a point where it was just like me and three other, two other actresses. And, but I remember that one of the auditions I made, like I made the, some people who were there cry with my, I think it was, I'm not that girl or something. I feel like I saw tears in the room. So I also thought, well, I think I'm doing something right. And then I, on my last audition before the final callback, I kind of didn't do, I didn't do very well.

I like, I took a step back and I just, I don't know if I was nervous, I was doubting myself, but it was not a good audition. So I got a call from the casting director right before the final callback. She said, what happened to you? You weren't so good today. Like you weren't, she was sweet. She was like, something, something was off today. And I said, I don't know, maybe I was tired. Maybe I was sabotaging myself. I don't know what happens. And then she said, come tomorrow for your final callback and just fire in your eyes and come to book it. You have really, really good chances of that. And so I just like, take a breath in. And then that was the final callback. And then I remember that was really good. And I got the call on the same day, a little later that I, that I got it.

[41:05] Quincy Brown: And what was that like after this long, arduous flying all the time, auditioning, you said seven or eight times. What did that feel like to finally get the prize?

[41:17] Myra Ruiz: It was almost like a relief. I didn't even celebrate. I was like, oh, like it's over. Thank God it's over because it was so, such a draining thing. But it's good to prepare me for what's to come after, which was actually playing the role. The auditions are already setting the tone for what my life was going to be like the next years.

[41:36] Quincy Brown: Yeah. So it sounds like you learned the role in English, just having grown up a fan of it and then seeing it on Broadway and then having to do it in Portuguese. What was it like, essentially relearning the role?

[41:48] Myra Ruiz: Another thing, I was really young. I was 22. I think I was the second youngest Elphaba ever to play it. I think the youngest was the, uh, Mexico then.

[41:57] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[41:58] Myra Ruiz: And I was, I think the second youngest, something, someone told me that. I'm not sure if that's true, but I think it's true. So it's such a young, it's, you're so immature. And I wasn't that immature because I'm a Capricorn. But you, there's nothing to prepare you for what's to come. So that was just, just wanted to say about that. Even vocally to start learning the role when you're that young, I imagine it sits differently in your chords now than it did then.

[42:22] Myra Ruiz: Yes. No, I'm definitely more in control now. I was not, I had some bad vocals in my, in my early days and that's all right. But I had really good days, but then some days I was out, I didn't have that much control over my technique and which, as opposed to now, which I really feel like I'm in my best era, Elphaba era, but that was really, really hard. Yeah, because singing in Portuguese, it's so, so hard because we, we speak from a different part of our instrument. Our voices are much like more here, more to the back. And then singing, especially Elphaba, you really need to use your mask. But then Americans, you guys speak here. You're like, your voices, it's in the right place for belting. Our voices are like, our voices are right for a bossa nova, which is like, it's like all the way here.

[43:15] Kevin Bianchi: So I had to, um, so I used to practice in English and then try to, uh, mimic the sound in Portuguese and find a place with the Portuguese vowels. So that is really a hard time that all of Brazilian performance, not just Elphaba we have when trying to, it's easy for us to sing a song in English. And then we got to Portuguese. It's like, I don't know what I'm doing. I've always wondered that. Cause even the words and sounds that you have to make are going to be different.

[43:34] Myra Ruiz: Yeah. Now that I have, like I said, more technique, I feel like my voice just, I can make it sit in the, in the, um, the mask more so I can just like, when, once it's there, I can put all the vowels I can. I, I already adjust automatically, but like 10 years ago, I didn't know how to do that. So I had to work vow through vow to like, how I'm going to do. So the end of a wizard and I, the wizard and I, so it's, I, I, it makes it, it makes it go here. It's saw and then, so it's just, it's not, yeah, it's back.

[44:20] Quincy Brown: So, but then you have to do, you have to adjust this instead of saw, you have to sing. It's going to sound the same, but you have to adjust vowels as you do in English as well. For singing for some, but here you have to do it in a lot of, um, in a lot of notes. Yeah. So that was a whole, a whole thing of adjusting that. And, and honestly, I adjusted throughout playing alpha, because I played it three times now in different seasons. So I, I've been, I've been adjusting it as I go.

[44:49] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. I was going to say, even like learning the show the first time after being so familiar with the original cast recording, and then coming back the second time, coming back the third time, letting go of the habits you pick up is challenging regardless, but to then do it with the same role at three different points in three different productions. It's so crazy.

[45:14] Myra Ruiz: It is crazy. It is. It's astonishing. It's, it's incredible. I think I've kind of, I just thought about something kind of a metaphor that, um, I've been letting go as I go, as I, as like years go by and I play alpha, but more and more, I feel like I've been finding my own voice as the character does. I've been finding my own voice. And as a performer to like, let go, especially of like, of seeing so many alphabets do it, of course, you, um, you start, you kind of, you have them in you and it's a great thing. And I still have all of these great performances from Dina, from the cast recording and all of the alphabets that I saw. But the best thing as a performer is to really find it yourself and, and put your own heart into it.

And I had a really difficult time with that because the original production in 2016, we had Lisa, our director, associate director. She was amazing. And she came here and she taught me the world and she, they have very, very strict and strong choices that we needed to make, but all the choices were so good. And they made so much sense that I'm not even complaining. And I still carry them with me. I wouldn't be able to play alpha, but without that original direction, giving me really the, everything that's happening with these characters inside their minds and inside their, um, their souls and everything. So that was really important for me to have. And I'm so grateful that I had to, that I was, that I was able to be in touch with the original direction. But then, especially as being like a 22 year old, I kind of, um, what's the word? Um, maybe a little stiff sometimes too stiff. Would that make sense?

[46:57] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[46:57] Myra Ruiz: My performance was a little, like, too much. I had, I had heard too much in my head going, this is what's happening. This is what's happened. I have to be here and I have to do this. You have to, yeah. Not just physically, but mentally.

[47:08] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[47:08] Myra Ruiz: And then now I've been finding more things, especially in the humor, especially in how, and here I do have to make a transition because Brazil, we have different humor. We have different physicality, different things work here. Um, and I have to find that. And Fabi was playing Glinda, um, in the first Wicked. She's amazing. And she did, she was my age when she played and she was my age now in 2016. So I think she was more of a, um, she had more of that. I want to do, I want to put some Brazilian twists in my Glinda and that really worked. And now, uh, I feel like I'm in that moment as well to like put my, not Brazilian thing, but like my, my mirror, my, my, I'm coming out more in the, in the world, um, more than ever, but still keeping the, the original and everything and all the, the directions that were given to me throughout the years. And I feel like I'm in my most free Elphaba.

[48:04] Quincy Brown: So just for our listeners, the first time you did Wicked, it was a replica production. And then the second time it was a non-replica. And this current run you're doing as Elphaba in Wicked is also a non-replica, but it's different than the last non-replica.

[48:19] Myra Ruiz: Exactly.

[48:20] Quincy Brown: So three completely different directions, three directors, three different sets, three different costumes, everything's different. And then on top of that, with the dubbing of the film, which we can come back to this, but then that I would imagine also had some very rigid guidelines for you to work within. Cause I saw a Spanish dub in Madrid and it felt like they were instructed to copy the inflection and riffs that Cynthia and Ariana did.

[48:51] Myra Ruiz: Yeah. Let's talk about the movie now and then we'll go back. Tell us about that process.

[48:55] Myra Ruiz: The movie was so, so, so, so special because Cynthia and Ariana, I did see an interview that Cynthia talked about with you guys, how she played an Elphaba that was a little, I think stronger and had more power since the beginning of the show. And the original direction, like I said, it was very much for her to be like, nope, she had power, but she was like more, she was supposed to be very aggressive and pissed off and angry. And which I do think she is, but Cynthia put it in a place where inspired me and I brought that a little to this because sometimes it bothered me how Elphaba was like being thrown around so much in the first half of the first act. And Wizard and I, we do see her power and we see her, what she's, it's the moment where we get to the audience can like, start liking Elphaba.

But the other moments I felt like she was just being thrown around. And then Cynthia brought a power to it, which really, really inspired me. So we did, when we did the dubbing, we did have to maintain everything that they did. The inflections here, we can change them a little. We don't have to speak the exact musicality that they speak. It has to work in Portuguese.

[50:08] Quincy Brown: Right.

[50:08] Myra Ruiz: So Americans end everything up. So, I don't know, let me think something. I am. So she said, you're green. And she goes, I am. And here I had to say, alguém vai dizer que eu sou. I am. Because that's what works in Portuguese. That's how we speak when we try to be ironic or something like that. So we did, we had an amazing director, Andrea, who, but also we have to be, we have to maintain what Cynthia and Ariana did in terms of their choices.

[50:48] Kevin Bianchi: And yeah, we can't totally change it. But that was so special to do because it was like, I was so, I had to watch them on a screen for hours and hours and hours doing the dub. So I really felt connected to them. And I felt like we're friends. They don't even know who I am. They don't even know I exist. But they definitely do.

[51:06] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[51:08] Myra Ruiz: It was such a crazy and fun experience. And they did such an amazing job, I think.

[51:13] Kevin Bianchi: Did you have to do Cynthia's live limb? I'm not that girl riff down?

[51:18] Myra Ruiz: Yes. And I do it on the show now. I do it on Wicked. And yes, yes. Because I thought it was so beautiful.

[51:24] Quincy Brown: It is.

[51:25] Myra Ruiz: So in Portuguese, it's and I do that. And I think it's just so, because it was one of the most beautiful moments for me. So I wanted to keep that in the, I don't do the defined gravity though because that's so like her.

[51:40] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[51:40] Myra Ruiz: And it's hard. But I might do it one or two, some days. But like that part, I really wanted to keep as like a part of her with me that I bring because.

[51:52] Quincy Brown: How do you feel like having now been in the show on stage before the movie and after the movie? Do you feel a difference in the audience reaction or the reception to the show?

[52:07] Myra Ruiz: Yeah, Wicked in Brazil was already like a crazy, crazy hit. Like, I don't know if you've seen the last day of Defying Gravity on 2016. Have you seen the video?

[52:19] Kevin Bianchi: So there was that. And then that was 2016. It was like everyone sang along and it was very spontaneous. And but it was and it was a big hit, but it was inside a bubble. Our Wicked Brazilian bubble. 2023 that already expended a lot. And it was like a bigger, even bigger hit. And we also have an ending. And also a lot of people see videos of like people recording the last Defying Gravity and singing along. That was just on the last show. And I always see like Americans go like, what is this? This is no, that's not theater etiquette. That's not how ever. And we always try to like, that was just the last special treat for the last.

[53:01] Quincy Brown: On Broadway, everyone's recording bootlegs on their phones and posting.

[53:04] Kevin Bianchi: And so on the end of 2023, we did we did the whole show and then we came back. Then we did Defying Gravity one last time so that the fans could stand up and sing along. It was so fun.

[53:15] Quincy Brown: Oh, that's cool.

[53:16] Myra Ruiz: And record and screen. It was like a concert. I felt like Justin Bieber. And then and then now after the film, it's crazy. It's like crazy because a lot of people who are not even there, they're just starting to be fans. And it's a great thing because it's bringing new audiences to the theater, especially here in Brazil. We don't have that much of a big theater culture, like going to the theater and then knowing the etiquette and knowing. It's a whole culture and we don't have that here as much we do. It's not as much as Broadway. So I think I think the movie is the movie is bringing a lot of people who have never seen have never been inside a theater before. And that is so, so great to have a lot of new people. But it's kind of big. Like I get I get stopped on the street like every almost every day. And I'm not a celebrity. It's not like I'm but I don't go out without someone asking, going, Mira, Mira, can you take a picture with me, please?

[54:18] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[54:19] Myra Ruiz: And it's so fun because it really became a part of our culture now. And it's a it's a big hit. We're like in 2023, I could go out on the street and no one, no one would recognize me. And here because of the movie, not just the movie, I think. I don't know what it is. I think it's just also because of it's a third time that Wicked is Brazil. I think Wicked is in Brazil. I think more and more people are just becoming fans of the show. So it is a crazy, crazy hit now.

[54:48] Quincy Brown: So let's talk about these non-replica productions. Firstly, do you have any insight into like how or why a non-replica production gets okayed to be done?

[54:57] Myra Ruiz: I think Steven Schwartz has to be has to be behind everything that's happening. From what I know, they he has to approve everything. All the sets, all the costumes. He was here all he was here 2016, 2023. And he was here when we when we opened 2025. So that was so great to have him here. And he's, of course, he's there to make sure that we or no director doesn't lose themselves and like just trying to make it different, probably to just to do it differently. So he's making sure that the heart of the show is there, which always is, especially because me and Fabi are so we have so such love for these characters. I think we help with like, yeah, so I think we help with that. And also all the casts that we had were so amazing and just really got into the story.

So from what I understand, Schwartz approves it. But then once it months, they approve it. The directors have like they're free to like direct the scenes how they want. But I don't know how it would be without having to blend up about who don't have the original direction in their hearts.

[56:09] Kevin Bianchi: So we do but we do change. We do change things. But not a lot, because everything makes so much sense in the original about why make change it just to change it. But when we do change things, it's more to make it, I think, more of ourselves. So more to the Brazilian culture.

[56:30] Quincy Brown: Did you have to re audition each production?

[56:32] Myra Ruiz: No, we were invited for the 2023 production to come back. And then this time as well. We were just they didn't have to audition.

[56:40] Kevin Bianchi: So you are just Elphaba.

[56:42] Myra Ruiz: Yeah. Someone's doing it. They're like, oh, get the alphabet, please.

[56:47] Quincy Brown: Okay, so you're flying and defying gravity shook the world. It felt like the first time those bootlegs started to come out. Can you take us through the logistics of how you fly in the non-replica production?

[57:02] Myra Ruiz: Listen, if Elphaba wasn't hard enough, now I have to wear a harness. And in 2025, I have to wear a harness throughout the entire second act because we also fly and No Good Deed.

[57:13] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my God, that's a hard part.

[57:16] Myra Ruiz: But like so for defying gravity, we have to wear harness and then I get clipped. Then I fly. But we don't have time. We only have time to put the harness on safely with like the time that we need during. One short day. And that last change. So when we leave, we do that quick change. We also leave another part number where they're doing the who's the. That part I leave and then I have like 30 seconds to put the harness on. And then we have a dress that's all like adapted to like it needs to have two big holes on each side because the harness is the thing that you clip here and here. But it's big and it's heavy and like weighs a lot. And then so we put a cover in the in the dress here so that during all of one short day.

And then when we when we meet the wizard and then all the beginning of the fine gravity before I actually fly so that you don't see the whole thing like the big harness there all the time. So that was something that we figured out in 2023. And then we kept this time. And then a dress is a clip that right before I get I go in to get clipped, I just open it. And then it goes down and then it reveals the actual thing that they need to hook it on.

[58:37] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, that is that is that the level of technicality that you want to do?

[58:43] Myra Ruiz: And then what does it feel like when you are because they zoom you around the theater? It's not like the cherry picker where you're just up and down.

[58:51] Myra Ruiz: No, it goes up. And then it kind of moves swivels. And then it goes for one time and then swivels again. And then it goes right at the highest note.

[59:05] Quincy Brown: Yeah, talk to us about singing while suspended as opposed to standing on a platform.

[59:12] Myra Ruiz: I've had my days. It's not always easy. So I had to adapt that part because you don't have your support, you don't have. But then I learned really getting technical with it. I learned that squeezing my butt cheeks gives me sort of the support that I need. So when I fly, my legs are going back because I'm and also they wanted to me to be wanted to have me actually on a broom. So that was also a fun part with it. So when you're I do. It's not her. She has nothing to do with it. I'm the one you want right before that. They clip this and they also clip the broom on my back.

[59:54] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, so you don't drop it.

[59:55] Myra Ruiz: So that it supports the weight and so I don't drop and like maybe kill someone. So that was such a hard part to tech. Yeah, we spent like a lot of time to like make it perfect. And so it doesn't take a lot of time and ruins the scene. And right now we're even faster with it. So then it took the broom. And then this part, I hold it. Wait, what was the question again?

[1:00:18] Kevin Bianchi: Singing while you're in the harness like that, which we've I've seen a lot of clips of Cynthia Erivo talking about this same thing of like when you're not standing, you have to find other muscles.

[1:00:27] Myra Ruiz: You probably have the closest of the stage of the most closest experience to Cynthia's defying gravity experience.

[1:00:36] Quincy Brown: Yeah, totally. When I heard everything, all the interviews that I saw her, I was like, I know, I know what she's talking about. And I have to do it Wednesday through Sunday. It's like, God, and I'm not Cynthia Erivo, guys.

[1:00:51] Kevin Bianchi: What was your reaction the first non-replica when you found out that that was going to be happening for the flying portion instead of the cherry picker?

[1:00:58] Myra Ruiz: I was so excited. Honestly, I was excited because we had time to actually we took our time for me to get comfortable with it. And also something that helped is when I need more support, because there's like a thing here on my belly. Sometimes I actually lean forward because it helps me. So I keep finding those places to support me. And I that's what I need time for that. So now it's my as my second time doing it. I'm very comfortable with it. Because it's even I want to say it's even better. It's not even better than singing standing. Of course, it's not. But there was also a hard thing with the original because the platform is so small, right? And it's not like you have that much support either, right? You can't like to be like this.

[1:01:45] Myra Ruiz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So up here, you're like, you're like, have to be very expensive on your feet down there like this. And that kind of sucks, too, right? So it's not that much harder with the harness. What was sometimes it gets a little scary. Sometimes when I realize like, I'm so up high and something like when I'm if I'm on a day where I'm a little more anxious because of something else, usually that day and define gravity