- 11 months ago
Olivia Valli and Andie Summers Chat About 'Wicked'
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00:00there we are now we're recording hey olivia valley it's so good to meet you very nice to
00:08meet you too thank you for having me once again i'm so happy to be here yeah this is really
00:13exciting so i actually i think i saw you in philadelphia uh for pretty woman were you here
00:19for that yeah yeah that was fantastic it was a big night out um for my husband it was we were
00:26celebrating his birthday that is like one of his favorite movies and uh and my best friend her
00:30birthday is right around the same time so we did a double date we went out for dinner and went to see
00:33the show and it was fantastic oh thank you i'm so happy that you got to celebrate your people uh with
00:40us thank you yeah i mean you i don't know that you could ever really get used to that but you must love
00:46hearing those stories because what you do really makes you a part of of big events for a lot of
00:53people right i love it it is i i really mean it when i say it is an honor because you could choose
01:00to do anything else but you choose to spend your evenings with us on really big days on really
01:06important days and it's something i um i really don't take lightly because i know that like especially
01:14for touring shows you it is the thing you look forward to you save your money to go and like you
01:21make your plans to go and so to carve out time like that is is really um really wonderful for me
01:30so i i love it i love love hearing these stories it makes me so happy so we get to invite you back to
01:38the philadelphia um for another really awesome show and it's a show that i haven't seen yet um although i
01:45love theater i know and that is everyone's reaction when i say that so i'm really excited because i'm going
01:49to take my son and we're coming to see you in wicked yay i'm so excited you two are going to
01:55love it it is my favorite show of all time even if i was never elphaba in my life i would still say
02:02that that's awesome okay so um first let me just say this because we want to make sure that everybody
02:08knows that they can go and see it too it's going to be in philadelphia for an entire month november
02:12first through the 26th at the academy of music on the kimmel cultural campus and you can get tickets
02:18by clicking kimmel kimmelculturalcampus.org and we're going to have everything in our website and
02:25stuff so it's really easy for everybody to find and get their tickets um but tell me about the show
02:29what makes wicked so special you know i was just saying this um to somebody else wicked is generational
02:36you know like you're taking your son and i know people who their moms took them and now they're
02:43going to take their kids like this and then those kids are like and when i have kids one day i'm going
02:49to take mine like it is something that everybody looks forward to not just because it is this incredible
02:58amazing story but everybody has felt at one point like the underdog everybody has felt like they were
03:05different or misunderstood whether it be the color of their skin or their gender or because of the
03:11things they like or the things they don't like that are really popular and unfortunately there are people
03:17who are bullies out there but there are more people out there who root for somebody who rises above
03:24and you get to see somebody struggle so much and then you get to see them find their power and i think that
03:33everyone can relate to that everybody wants to find their power everybody wants to find the thing that
03:40makes them special that makes them celebrate themselves and and um follow their own voice and so i think
03:49you know you see two very powerful women in really big roles which is not something you see often
03:57um and i think that you get the opposite ends of the spectrum you get what womanhood means
04:03differently like either it's super feminine or it's very tough and all are beautiful and you get to see
04:10unconditional love uh through friendship and you get to see understanding and you get to see i could go on
04:19about this show but you also get to see musical theater history being made i mean how many times do you see
04:25a woman flying 14 feet in the air belting one of the greatest songs ever written for musical theater
04:31like you can't get enough of it it's it's that's what makes it so special you really just can't get
04:36enough of it there are so many things you can see over and over and over again and it's like
04:40it is still just as magical as seeing it the first time around yeah that's really awesome we're really
04:47looking forward to it and you brought up so many good points that i never really thought about um
04:50you know i'm a i'm obviously a woman and um and i'm a mom to two kids so my oldest is a daughter
04:57she's um turning 16 in january and you know like that's that's a really big coming of age kind of
05:04time in her life where she's starting to find her own power and her own strengths and all of that and i
05:10it's beautiful that there are two like you said seemingly opposite opinions of what being feminine and
05:17being a woman is and yet they're both equal right it's not like one is better they're both equal
05:24they're just different yes and that's exactly what it is they're just different and it makes me laugh
05:29when i see like not laugh it makes me like kind of giggle when i see like team elfie or team glinda
05:34because like the team is the both of them yeah because they need each other and they need um
05:41you know we need one another we are we are a uh we are a mankind that needs one another
05:50and we can't do things alone and you know i think that that's also a really special message
05:57too is like what friendship can do for us and what unconditional love for one another can do for
06:02us especially between two women i think that that is like not something we see often we usually see like
06:08like like there's always the weird undertone of like competition in in a lot of things i see
06:17and this is just two women who just love each other no matter what and they're going to be there for each
06:25other no matter what because that is what friendship is and that's what that bond is i love that um i saw a
06:34lot of that support and togetherness um at the taylor swift concert were you able to see any of
06:39the eras tour i um all my friends went so i saw through all their instagrams
06:44not exactly the same as being there but close yeah like i mean that was just it it was so cool to be
06:51there with my friends and and our daughters and um and just it it was an entire stadium of support for
06:58one another it was so beautiful it was so beautiful so it sounds like that's you know that's just what
07:03this show is about right just supporting each other it is and it's interesting you talk about taylor swift
07:08because um a lot of female fans will make us friendship bracelets like for and they took that
07:15from the eras tour which is really cool because we are living in this time of you know wicked's 20th
07:23anniversary barbie coming out like the eras tour coming out the renaissance tour being out and it is like
07:28you are just seeing people come together to support one another and i i think that that is and like
07:36love each other and understand each other and make the effort to do so and i think that that is also
07:43what wicked entails and to be a part of this era for us is really important for me and especially
07:50coming on 20 years on broadway i think that it's a really big deal and you know we're looped into this
07:57whole cultural generational thing that is happening right now and it's it just goes to show how wicked
08:04is really uh like that show it is the show that sets the tone for other shows i mean a lot of other
08:14shows also try to be like wicked spectacly really incredible story wise with incredible music
08:21and i think there is something to be said about the uniqueness of wicked and how it stood the test of
08:28time yeah that's awesome all right well you are someone who certainly understands what it is to be
08:34generational can we talk about your grandfather yeah he's the best you know i would say that too so my
08:44i grew up in a house that listened to him all the time my dad was such a big frankie valley fan um so
08:51i'm i'm this is making me cry like oh i feel like i'm channeling him right now and that too like you
08:58know it's i love seeing people love my grandpa in a way that moves them to tears because i feel the same
09:07way and you know i was just talking to him and i uh i'm in nashville tennessee right now and so i
09:13had just seen bob gaudio and his family who is like my family and we were all just talking about
09:19like generational things like how um music has transcended through the the times and how
09:26their music is still so relevant i mean like it's it's really beautiful to see people still
09:33love his music and love their music and have it be connected to something as sentimental and
09:42heartfelt as family because that's what they're all about and that's what i'm all about is family
09:46yeah that's awesome so and and you actually got to play a part um jersey boys so talk about that
09:55because you you played your grandmother i did i it was crazy i have been auditioning for jersey
10:03boys for seven years oh my gosh yeah and it was never the right fit never the right time i was too
10:09young i was too this i was too that and honestly i'm really glad it worked out the way it did wicked
10:15was my first job i was the elphaba understudy from 2016 to 2019 and then i did jersey boys and you know
10:22i had always been very careful about making my own path you know i got my agent through my senior
10:31showcase and i had been auditioning and i had told my grandpa stay out of my career i want to see if i can do
10:37this myself and um to be auditioning for seven years then to finally get it from me i was really
10:44thrilled about because i got it through myself and they told me that like thank you and they said they
10:50were like you're not here because of your grandfather or else you would have made your
10:54broadway debut at 18 like you are here because of you and it is your time and i wouldn't have had it
11:02any other way because my i'd always been auditioning for francine who is my aunt who had passed when my
11:09mom was 22 and my middle name is francine so i already have a piece of her um and i had finally
11:17auditioned for my nana and when i was in the room reading it for the first time i was like oh this is
11:23right this is her because so much of me is just like her we are really tough but we've got that
11:29ooey gooey center and we are the biggest love bugs but we're tough as nails we're jersey girls we are
11:36tough as nails and um i grew up with my nana and she was one of the people that it was like my mom
11:46and my nana were my the closest women in my life and i don't know what i would have done without them
11:50and so when my nana passed um i had always thought i really wish um that there was a way people could
12:01honor her life and when the musical came out it was fine but i felt like there was something missing
12:08and then when i got to do it i was like this was what was missing it was me wanting to honor her
12:14and it was the ultimate way to honor my family and their legacy and my nana and her legacy for me
12:21and how she shaped my world with my mom and so i i loved doing it every night but it was also really
12:30emotional every night you know it was a lot and i'm really glad i did it that's awesome well
12:38congratulations on all of it um i took my parents my husband and i took my parents to see jersey boys
12:43in new york and um my parent my dad was not he did not like the city like this was not it was a lot to
12:51get him there but we went out for dinner we went to the show and i told my husband like you can't sit
12:57between me and my dad because we are going to bring the house down like and we sang every word to every
13:04song and it was such a wonderful memory so look at that you just like carrying on this legacy of
13:10of meaning so much to so many people um so congratulations to that and thank you so much for
13:16lending your talents because you know like that's what theater is all about and we just appreciate it
13:21thank you it's really an honor it's an honor to do what i do and to have it be done at a scale like
13:27this it's i take it very seriously and i love it i love what i do well i can't wait to see wicket
13:34again it's going to be um at the academy of music you can get your tickets by visiting
13:38kimmelculturalcampus.org it's playing november 1st through the end of the month and um i just i
13:44can't wait to go so congratulations thank you again and i hope that you enjoy philly while you're
13:48here thank you so much i can't wait i love philly
13:51you
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