The theatrical Land of Oz sets up shop once again in Philadelphia with the return of “Wicked,” the globally popular musical based on the best-selling novel by out author Gregory Maguire, June 27-Aug. 4 at the Academy of Music.
“Wicked,” which has won numerous awards, including a Grammy and three Tony’s, tells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, from her birth up until her fateful conflict with Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The production is still going strong since its debut a decade ago, with seven productions running worldwide.
“Wicked” is somewhat of a yellow brick road for two out cast members from the upcoming Philadelphia production.
Brandon Rubendall, an ensemble cast member and understudy for the role of Fiyero, and Kevin McMahon, who plays Elphaba’s father, said they are excited to be part of such a successful stage production.
“I’ve never been in anything like ‘Wicked’ before, where you come to a city and the show is already sold out and the audiences are screaming and really excited to be there,” McMahon said. “It’s truly a unique experience. It’s thrilling to be a part of it.”
For Rubendall, “Wicked” is just another highlight in a career that has included being a backup dancer for Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and, most recently, Beyonce at the Super Bowl halftime show.
“I feel very fortunate to be part of it,” Rubendall said about “Wicked.” “Besides being on stage with Madonna, my passion truly is theater. That’s something else I just fell into because the option presented itself to me. ‘Wicked’ is one of those dream shows that I never in a million years thought I’d ever be in. Now I feel like I can do anything. I’m known as a dancer, so to be able to do this, now I feel that I am unstoppable.”
Rubendall, a native of Reading, was also in the original cast for superhero rock-opera “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark,” which had a number of high-profile production troubles, delays and accidents.
Accordingly, he said, said being a part of that show was both a curse and a blessing.
“That experience was the worst experience of my life and the best experience of my life. It put me on the map. Had I not done that show, I would not be here or have done half the stuff I would have done. So I’m so thankful for it. But it was the hardest thing I have ever experienced as a performer and person. Because I was an original cast member, I was there every day, and to watch stuff happen behind the scenes and know the truth and to hear what the press was saying — some of it was true, some of it wasn’t — was really hard. At one point, I stopped watching TV. It was so hard to endure. To watch the whole world want us to fail, it was really hard. But, three years later, it’s still going and doing great. It was hard but it was also great. It was a cool thing to be a part of and legendary because everyone wants to talk about it now. You can’t be mad at that.”
Both actors acknowledged that audiences can’t get enough of “Wicked.”
“It’s just the perfect show,” Rubendall said. “It has a little bit of everything for you. It has the drama, it has the comedy, it has catchy tunes, and the visual aspect of it is stunning. All together, it works as a perfect show. I feel like it speaks to everyone and that’s why it can stand on its own two feet for so long.”
Added McMahon,: “There is something iconic about ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ It brings people back time and time again. We have a lot of repeat audiences, which is why we are so successful. There are few musicals in the canon that can do this: ‘Les Miserables,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and now ‘Wicked.’ It’s become part of our collective consciousness and that is why people keep coming back.”
McMahon also said that fans of the book might be surprised if they come to the show.
“I find that people have not read the book,” he said of the theater-going fans of “Wicked.” “I read it back when it first came out. I think some of the adults have read the book but the kids certainly have not. The book is very different than the musical. What I like about the musical is that it has taken the core of the book and twisted it. It’s kept its integrity but the book is very dark and political and that’s not transcribed into the musical so much.”
Added Rubendall: “People are very surprised at what the show is. I have not read the book. I feel like you can’t really compare them because they changed it so much to work as a musical. People are surprised at what the show is and how good it is.”
Like Rubendall, McMahon has a career outside of theater as a singer, with his debut solo album of pop standards, “Mirror,” available online. He said being a part of the “Wicked” cast is giving his singing career a boost.
“It does help,” McMahon said. “I see people are buying it every once in a while on Amazon or iTunes. It must be from ‘Wicked’ because people read about it in my bio and check it out when they see it.”
Rubendall said being able to perform in both theater and pop circles has its advantages.
“When I‘m doing musical theater, I present myself to the cast as a pop dancer, which is a cool thing because you can do both,” he said. “When I do back-up dancing, I say I’m a musical-theater guy because they are like, ‘What are you doing here?’ So I play the other end of it because it gives you street cred, as crazy as that sounds, because people don’t do both. You either do one or the other. There are a handful of us that can do both worlds.”
By the way, since Rubendall had a unique perspective, we had to ask — who gave the better Super Bowl halftime show, Madonna or Beyonce?
“They were both my bosses at one point in my life, but I have to go with my girl Beyonce,” he said.
Rubendall said that unless something extraordinary presents itself to him in the pop universe, he’s sticking with theater for the foreseeable future. “That is something I’ve always dreamed of,” he said about touring with world-famous pop divas. “The fact that I was able to fall into this world without even trying was really cool. But for me, New York knows me as a dancer and my dream role is Fiyero and now I’m covering Fiyero. I realize that anything is possible. You have to pick and choose. Yeah, you can do it all and I’ve done it and that is great. Now I want to present myself as a singer and be a leading guy. So because that is happening right now, my focus is on being a singer and a leading guy, so I have to hang up those dancing shoes for a little bit. The Super Bowl, they called me out of the blue. I didn’t audition for that. If something like that happened, maybe I would do it again. But I feel like the dreams that I had that I never thought could happen, happened. So I’m going to let that be and push forward as a singer.”
The Kimmel Center presents “Wicked” June 27-Aug. 4 at Kimmel’s Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-790-5800.