Wicked at The Kravis Center Through April 9

By Scott Holland

The Broadway sensation Wicked will be in Palm Beach at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts through April 9.

Wicked looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emeraldgreen skin, who is smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.”

With a thrilling score that includes the hits “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good,” Wicked has been hailed by The New York Times as “the defining musical of the decade,” and by Time Magazine as “a magical Broadway musical with brains, heart, and courage.” NBC Nightly News calls the hit musical “the most successful Broadway show ever.”

The new touring cast includes Lissa deGuzman as Elphaba, Jennafer Newberry as Glinda, Natalie Venetia Belcon as Madame Morrible, Fort Lauderdale native Christian Thompson as Fiyero, Timothy Shew (The Wizard), Boise Holmes (Doctor Dillamond), Tara Kostmayer (Nessarose), and Kyle McArthur (Boq).

It was a pleasure to sit down with Lissa deGuzman (Elphaba) for this exclusive Hotspots interview:

At what age did you begin performing?

As a young child I did a few plays when I was in 5th or 6th grade, but then I took a big break as I was a big sports person and focused on soccer and basketball. It wasn't until sophomore year in high school when I picked it up again. My brother was always into theater, so I grew up going to shows, and he inspired me to audition for the high school musical, and here I am.

What was your first paid gig?

It was after my sophomore year of college and I worked at a summer stock theater, Highlands Playhouse, and I did Little Shop of Horrors, Pippin and 9 to 5. I remember being so excited that I was a professional and getting paid to do that.

When did you know performing would be your career?

I remember my junior year of high school, I was doing “Seussical the Musical,” and I loved it but my goal was to go to school for Dermatology. After the show my director pulled me aside and told me if I buckle down, I could make this a career and that was all I needed to hear to commit to making this a career. I was so excited, and he helped me tell my parents. That's when I knew I wanted to make it a career. In my senior year of college when I decided to fly back and forth to New York for auditions is when I knew I was doing the right thing and I could make this a profession.

Wicked and Elphaba are so iconic, is there extra pressure playing this role?

Yes, and its pressure I put on myself. Our team at Wicked do not give us any pressure and they do a really great job making sure each Elphaba is individual and comes from them, so its unique.

How hard is it to get in the green all the time?

I have gotten so used to it. Its actual not hard anymore, it's kind of soothing. We have it down to 15 minutes. I use that time as a centering technique.

Other than this one, what has been your favorite role so far?

It’s hard because I got to play Jasmine in Aladdin, but I think my favorite role was in King Kong. I was the understudy, but when I was on stage I got to play next to this gigantic puppet on Broadway. What's your fantasy role (a role you haven't played but want to)?

I would love to play Euripides in Hadestown, Is it hard being on the road all the time?

Once you get the hang of it, it isn't. I think everyone should be challenged to live out of two suitcases and learn what things you need and what you don't need. Also, I love the cities and trying the local foods. I have seen this country way more than most people have and I think that's really special. How well do you and your castmates get along?

We get along amazingly; I am really lucky to be working with these people. It makes the whole process so enjoyable. After almost every show they show up in my dressing room (as I am taking the green off) to say good night to each other.

Describe yourself in 3 words?

Spitfire, easygoing, and good-listener. What do you do for fun?

I like to cook and bake…banana bread is one of my favorites. I also love different teas. In addition, I love Yoga and stretching.

What should our readers expect from this touring company of “Wicked”?

They should expect an amazing time. This show is for all ages and has something in it for everyone. It's a story of two women who would normally not be friends and their journey becoming friends and going from girls to women. It's a different perspecti ve to the Wizard of Oz. You can expect to come and laugh, and cry, and feel amazing at the end.

For more information on Lissa, you can follow her at: Instagram.com/lissadeguz For more information about WICKED, please visit WickedTheMusical.com.

Tickets in Palm Beach start at $63 and will be sold exclusively through the Kravis Center Box Office window or by visiting the official Kravis Center website Kravis.org or by calling the Kravis Center Box Office at 561-832-7469.

By Chris Azzopardi

On Zoom, where I recently met with Cara Delevingne, my '90s-retro, rainbow-speckled buttondown was, to my surprise, the first thing that came up.

“Nice shirt,” the modelactress told me, gushing when I mentioned picking it out of my closet in honor of just how queer “Planet Sex” is. The six-episode Hulu docuseries, which features Delevingne as sexcurious host, is still gayer than even the gayest rainbow shirt; within the first few minutes, Delevingne is judging a queer twerking contest. In fact, the entire series, dedicated to the “sexy queertastic people of the world,” is devoted to investigating various realms of queerness — and in doing so, illuminating parts of Delevingne's own sexuality as a queer genderfluid person. Over the course of the series, she attends her first-ever Pride festival and, with the help of Gottmik, the first openly trans performer on “RuPaul's Drag Race,” transforms into a butch drag king.

In our recent interview, Delevingne talked about how Hollywood affected her feelings on being queer, unlearning the shame around her sexuality, and why her identity now as a public figure is more authentic than ever.

How much did the current political climate right now play into just how queer and sex positive you made this show?

I think that's how I wanted it to be. Because I think queer under the umbrella, it all can mean anything. It just means being different, howev er way. Everyone is different; we are not all the same. We wanna fit in, we wanna belong. But at the same time we wanna be individuals. So I wanted it to include everyone. And I think in that is queerness. And I love that, that's my favorite thing in the world and I think leading with that, it brought me so much freedom. It brought me so much relief and love and, you know, it's where I learned how to love myself.

So from the bottom of my heart, that's what I wanted. I wish this kind of show existed when I was a kid. It would've made [it] so much easier. But I think the journey and the struggle and the adversity was something that made me who I am. But I just hope, especially in terms of people's families or when people watch this, that they can have conversations that may be tricky. Because they can at least find the right wording or identify with a person that they see. Can you remember something — a film, a TV show — that you clung to that really made you feel more comfortable with being queer?

I don't know. The thing is… I guess I sought a lot of, like, Elton John or musicians. But there weren't a lot of female ones. It was men. And so that still kind of made me feel a little… less. I mean... [laughs] Billie Jean King? I met her. I was 22, though. So, it was a bit late. But not really. I think a lot of the things I surrounded myself were like… I guess porn was the first time I saw two gay women. But it wasn't good, and it was definitely… they weren't gay. I got scared of it, because I probably liked it.

You are a big deal star. And this is important because of your platform.

I thought you were about to say, "You're a big gay." I was like, thank you.

You are a big gay. A big ol' gay.

As someone with a massive following, though, I was wondering what are your feelings on how you've seen yourself versus how the media has portrayed who you are when it comes to gender identity and sexuality?

I think a lot of the times in the media, I was playing a part, always. But I was comfortable doing that because it meant I could kind of keep my own life to myself. But then to be honest, I didn't really ever process or actually deal with anything. Or see what I was going through as I was going through it because inside I felt just confused and very lost, and very… without an identity, almost, because my identity was work. My identity was the parts I was given or the person I was meant to be or the brand I was working for. It wasn't really ever me. It was a whole, big old mess, really. It didn't really make sense. But then I think in the show, looking back on it, I realized how much I love being a woman. I am genderfluid, for sure, but I liked playing between masc and femme and all those things. And I just think the binary of gender was so constricted when I was younger. “Boys play with this and girls play with that.” And I didn't like what girls played with. But that didn't make me a boy. But I got confused within that because I just wanted the same opportunities. But again, I like to now decide when I really wanna be super femme or not. I like to be able to decide that because generally as a person I just like to be comfortable in what I look like and what I wear. But inside, I'm a woman and I'm sensitive. But I think it's a lot deeper than that. I have a lot of masculine energy in me. We all have feminine and masculine energy, every human being. So I think that was a big thing for me, because I did question it a lot. I was like, “Am I non-binary? What am I?” But I'm not. But I love anyone being and feeling how they [are]. I do think that gender is too binary. But then, for me, I was very happy to have my pronouns. It sounds like you learned a lot about yourself through making this show, and maybe got to the truth of who you are?

I guess especially in terms of relationships and kind of abolishing the shame. Which I didn't really have, but it made me realize how much I used to have and how much I hadn't dealt with it. And how much I just kind of brushed it aside when actually I was like, “What am I really looking at here?” But the narrative I had wasn't my own; it was other people's. So that shame wasn't really mine to hold and I had to give it back to the people who put it on me. You say in the show that growing up famous can stunt a person's growth, even when it comes to sexuality. I'm wondering specifically about Hollywood, because some people might think, “Oh Hollywood, it's so queer. It's a great place to immerse yourself if you're queer, to be accepted.” How did that affect your journey to discovering your sexuality?

It was not like that for me at all. One of my first experiences with it was actually Harvey Weinstein who said to me, “You cannot be with a woman.” He was just like, "We need to find you a beard." And I was like, “Who is this f*cking stupid fat man?” He wasn't nice. He was just a horrible man. Obviously we know that now. But he was like, "You'll never work. No one will believe you as a straight character." And I was like, “Oh, f*ck. That's bad.” So there was just stuff like that, especially I think as a model no one cared either way. But they weren't gonna celebrate it. I think it just stunts your growth a lot as in you don't have time to be yourself. Or at least I did not. I felt like everything that was happening in my life, emotions and things, I just had to shove it down and keep going. Which is no one else's fault but my own. I just… it was an easy way to run away from my stuff. What was the most valuable takeaway for you from the whole experience of immersing yourself in queerdom through “Planet Sex”?

I think how much community and support is important. How much we can't do this alone, anyone. Life, I'm talking about, generally. That through community and through connection, we can do the things that were not possible to do alone. And loving that and appreciating that. But also being vulnerable in that. I think a lot of times I would just show up kind of giving a surface experience [of] myself and it wasn't real. Because I was just so scared of being rejected and so scared of people leaving, I guess. But I love myself. I'm me. Messy, done up, all the things. It just makes me who I am. And if I love that then that's the most important thing. I think a lot of this is more to do with self-love. I was just in a place of complete discovery. I was like, “Oh, what do I believe about relationships? What do I believe about all of these things?”

Sometimes it's OK not to know either. It's OK not to know; it's OK to keep discovering. It's OK to question and wanna change. There were so many moments where I thought I had it all figured out or I wanted to so badly have it figured out because I was like, “Then I'll feel safe.” But the problem is it doesn't work like that. And sometimes you end up running into a dead end when you think you know it and you just don't. And it's OK.

Aside from “Planet Sex,” there's your part in “Only Murders in the Building,” where you play artist and gallerist Alice Banks, the love interest of Mabel Mora, played by Selena Gomez. Both shows feature queer representation, but “Only Murders” reaches people who may not see queer representation, or may not seek it out. That's why shows like that are so brilliant because it's not a gay show where people go, “Oh this, I know, it's 'The L Word.' We know what we're getting here.” I think that's why mainstream media and mainstream shows should do that more often where it's not the main two characters or the whole story is based around queerness. It's like, queerness is everywhere. So that's how a show should be. It should be slipped in and it should be a conversation and it should be a part of it. When we wanna make queer content and we push it very hard, it's gonna reach just other queer people and not what we want it to be: more normalized. So that's why I was so grateful for that show and I think it was such an incredible way to do it. What's it like to bring that sort of representation to the screen with one of your closest and dearest friends, Selena Gomez?

I mean, it's an easy day of work, isn't it? It's great. Especially when you love each other and I respect her so much as an actress and as a person. So it was just fun. It was great. And that show in general. Steve [Martin] and Martin [Short], everyone. It was just brilliant. I was basically playing myself too. Apart from I'm not that evil. I'm not a psycho.

Will we see you in the next season?

No, I wish. The lesbian went too overboard. I think people had complicated feelings about that relationship in that last season. Yeah, they did. It happens. I get it. Alice Banks is a nutcase.

>> This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicate, the national LGBTQ+ wire service. He has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.

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By

Dear Andreus,

I was recently getting to know this guy. It was obvious to both of us and everyone around us, that there was a spark. He was recently out of a relationship, so I was very careful not to push. I was just being present, and spending time with him, which he seemed to enjoy thoroughly. Even after three months, we didn't have sex, because I wanted to build on the friendship to see where it might go. He also seemed to be nurturing our time together. Suddenly, he gets introduced to someone else, and without even saying anything to me, starts to date the guy. This is after he told me that he didn't want to rush into anything with anyone. I don't know how to feel. Should I confront him, or just let it go.

Sincerely,

Antonio R.

Dear Antonio,

It seems like he has made a choice. You should not feel bad about that, because we are not always the perfect fit for the people we might like. Maybe the Universe has someone else in store for you. Being that he made this choice, I don't know that it is even worth confronting him about it. What do you expect to get from the confrontation? Also, it might be a good thing that this happened before you got in too deep. He clearly showed you his concern or lack thereof for your feelings. I have a personal philosophy, which is – “Never cross rivers for someone who would not hop a puddle for you.” Honesty, communication, and transparency are everything! I hope this helps.

Dear Andreus, I met someone, but both of us are not too long out of relationships. All my friends keep telling me that it is too soon, but I really like him. He says that he is getting the same feedback from his friends. We enjoy every moment we spend together, and it just feels right. Not that I am in a rush, but my heart tells me that this is it. What should I do?

Sincerely, Patrick M.

Dear Patrick,

Of course, rushing is never a good thing, because after a relationship we should give ourselves time to heal. That being said – only the two of you can determine your next steps. If it feels right to both of you, then it's not really anyone else's business to decide otherwise. Talk about it, decide what you want for yourselves. Maybe take it in steps, before making any major decisions (like moving in together). Spend a healthy amount of time together, and a healthy amount of time apart. Maybe get to know each other's friends. If it is meant to be, it will happen… whether that is tomorrow or a year from now. Best of luck to you both!