00:00What's it like working with an all-black cast?
00:02It is everything.
00:03You don't have to explain the isms, the struggles.
00:07We get to, like, you know, just do as we do.
00:10What's good, everybody?
00:11It's your boy, Avery Wilson, and I am here with Essence,
00:13getting ready for the yellow carpet for The Wiz
00:15opening on Broadway.
00:16Let's go!
00:23What am I most excited about being in my first Broadway
00:26show, Being The Wiz on Broadway?
00:31I guess I'm excited about being part of history, legacy.
00:34You know, there's so many people that have came before me
00:37and so many amazing, talented men that have played in this role
00:40of the scarecrow.
00:41Now, when people look up The Wiz from this point on,
00:44it'll be Avery Wilson and Hinton Battle
00:46and Michael Jackson and Elijah Kelly,
00:49just amazing names to be in company with.
00:51So I think that's the most exciting part,
00:53is that I get to do that and be a part of history
00:56and really make my stamp.
00:57But then, I think as well, to be able to stand in a spot
01:01where I don't have to hide myself in any way.
01:04I get to act, I get to dance, I get to sing,
01:07I get to literally play and make choices that I want
01:10and show people who I am outside of just a voice
01:13because there is so much more to me than just that.
01:15How do I want my scarecrow character to be perceived?
01:19As he is, he's not the smartest person in the group,
01:25but he's also not, you know, I guess the weirdest, dumbest person either.
01:30You know, he's loving, he's kind, he's very, I don't know, he's very progressive, honestly.
01:37You would think someone that is getting cursed to not have a brain or to not have thoughts wouldn't be as progressive,
01:41but I do, at points in the show, hold the whole hero group, which is us four, together.
01:47And, you know, sometimes I make some decisions or choices that aren't really favorable in the moments,
01:53but they never stop loving me, so it allows me to still stay in the confidence,
01:57though I don't have certain things.
01:59I absolutely warm up, um, I have a mat in this room that I, a yoga mat that I do headstands
02:12because I just like my whole body to be warm.
02:14I do some yoga, um, I don't know, we talk a lot in backstage to get us prepared.
02:20It keeps, it keeps us honest and it keeps the family, um, the family, you know, vibe here.
02:25But I do a lot of things that I think make me just feel at peace and calm and happy,
02:29um, to go on stage to play the role.
02:32How do I fully channel my character on stage?
02:35You know what? I think I just, art imitates life.
02:39I don't forget my story, which is, you know, adjacent, I think, to this character.
02:45So I, I pray when I'm on the pole before the trees open up,
02:50and I make sure that I just am very thankful and very grateful for this moment.
02:53And I really inject my true, honest, um, experience of life into this moment,
02:59you know, to think about the moments that I didn't feel like I was winning,
03:03or I did feel like I was trapped or, you know, the moments, the great moments too,
03:06where I felt like people in my life that cared about me came and saved me.
03:10What things did I do to prepare for the scarecrow role?
03:13I watched a lot of footage.
03:15Um, I watched hit in battle and Michael Jackson specifically, um,
03:19because I think the beauty of being a part of a show that you are necessarily
03:26bringing back as a revival is that you get to freely create as you want.
03:30You get to shape it so that the people that come behind you have something to look at,
03:34like I had in Hinton and then Michael Jackson.
03:36Um, so yeah, I watched a lot of footage.
03:39I watched the movie 10 times over.
03:42Um, and then after a certain point, after I watched the stage show,
03:46and then I watched the movie, I just stopped watching them because I had to also
03:49respect where things came from, but then also give myself room to inject myself.
03:54I relate to my character so much.
03:55Um, the scarecrow is truly someone who, in the group of us, of the heroes, the lion,
04:02the tin man, and Dorothy, um, he doesn't have a brain in that way, but he's not not smart.
04:07You know, the thing, he believes in his smartness, but it's hard for some people to see.
04:11Um, and that's only because he's been trapped in an environment where people have
04:16created this space to, for him not to believe, you know, for him not to think that he can.
04:19Um, I do have a backstory in this, um, production.
04:23You know, I was a scientist before and I feel like, you know, I'm not a scientist,
04:26but I do scientific things, uh, whether it be music or not.
04:30But yeah, I connect to him because he got out of the environment that was holding him back.
04:35And for so long, um, in my music career prior to this and just in life period,
04:39I felt like I allowed a lot of people in my environments to trap me or to create that prism
04:45in my mind to think that I couldn't or I can't.
04:48So to be here and to have to live this over and over and over again every night is really
04:52just a testament to me to let me know that there is possibilities on the other side of
04:56what people deem you or what they allow you to have for sure.
04:59Woo. What's it like working with all black cast? It is everything. You don't have to explain the isms,
05:06the struggles. Um, we get to like, you know, just do as we do. We, we are the curators of
05:12everything, all genres of music, all cultures, all styles. Um, we, like I said, we, we talk at each
05:21other. We talk about each other. We talk to each other. We lift each other up. We just have fun.
05:26Um, and I think it's great when you're in a space where there are people that
05:29can identify with your bottom line.
05:41How am I staying focused for my Broadway moment? You know what? I'm just staying in a real space of
05:46gratitude, um, that I'm here and that not even a year ago, I wasn't even thinking about Broadway
05:53or thinking that I was able to do so in my mind. Um, it's a challenge, you know, doing eight shows
05:58in six days. It is because people say, you know, eight shows in a week. It's like, no, in six days,
06:03take a day off literally out of that. You get one day off on Monday. Um, and it's, it's, it's a grind.
06:09It's kind of like the Olympics, you know, it's like you train and you train and then you get into the
06:12space where it's like, you can't, you have to just show up every day. I don't get to fake the funk.
06:16I don't get to lip sync. I don't get to, I mean, even if, even if I'm sick, if I'm not sick enough,
06:20I'm not going to call out, you know, it becomes this, um, this push every single day. And I'm so
06:26grateful for that. So I think the preparation of all that kind of gets me in the space every day to
06:30just go for it. What's it like going from performing solo to going to perform with a cast?
06:37It's actually a lot of fun. Um, I don't have to put the whole story on my back,
06:42which I am an important part in this story, but it's not all about me. So I get to play off all
06:47the different energies in my cast. Oh my God. They're so amazing. Nichelle Lewis, Kyle Freeman,
06:52Philip, um, Johnson Richardson, just it, they are honestly, they're my friends in real life,
06:59but on stage they become my family in another way because of our, uh, characters that we have to play.
07:05And we find that in each other newly every night. So I'm just grateful to have people around me that I
07:12believe in and then that believe in me. What other Broadway shows I like to be casted in?
07:15If dream girls ever came back, I would love to be casted in dream girls. You know what?
07:19I don't really want to put a cap on me, but dream girls is the answer, but I don't want to put a cap
07:23on me. I want to express myself in many different ways. You know what? Let me speak this into existence.
07:29Hercules, when it comes, I want to be Hercules. Um, and I think it's coming in like a year from now. So we'll see.
07:43You
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