Since she was a child and first saw Wicked on a New York stage in 2005, Celia Hottenstein always wanted to be Glinda.
“It’s always been a dream role,” she says. “I love comedy. I think her character is so witty and funny and extremely well written. And the costumes she gets to wear are absolutely incredible. She has a huge bubble gown that she starts the show with. One costume is better than the next.”
Wicked was supposed be back in Houston two years ago, in June 2021, but we all know what happened to national tours during that time. Now it has returned to Broadway at the Hobby for an impressive number of days, giving Houstonians a chance to see the fan favorite.
The musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwarta is based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked With of the West which, of course, is based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as well as the 1939 movie. It tells the story of the unlikely friendship between the green-skinned Elphaba and the most popular girl on campus Glinda who meet at Shiz University. A highlight of the show occurs at the end of the first act when Elphaba defiantly takes flight and soars over the stage.
Hottenstein wants people to know that Wicked shouldn’t be looked at as some sort of prequel to The Wizard of Oz. “It’s just sort of an alternate look.”
On Broadway, Hottenstein was in the Wicked ensemble and was an understudy for Glinda and Nessarose. She joined the Broadway company of Wicked in July of 2029and was with that company until she left for the tour in April of 2023. Being on tour as Glinda allows her to concentrate on her favorite character.
“Now I am getting to do this every day which is pretty incredible.
“It’s definitely different. This has allowed me to really find the character and not be so nervous. I think every time I went on in New York it was kind of an emergency situation. So I was so incredibly nervous and I rarely actually enjoyed my time on the stage. I just wanted to get through the show and that I didn’t do anything that messed up the show. And now I’ve been doing this on tour now for two weeks so I have about 17 shows that I’ve done on tour and so I’m getting into a groove.”
Not that doing her beloved role fulltime hasn’t had its challenges. “I’m still learning how to pace myself with Glinda. Can’t go out as muc. My social life has kind of been put on a back burner at least for now. I’ve found a lot of it is pacing in the show. Not necessarily my singing but how I speak, my dialog. Because if I get too excited, too yelly or screaming that affects my voice.”
“In New York I wasn’t singing alone every night so it’s different. “
Describing her character, Hottenstein says: “She’s a very fortunate and privileged young woman who has already gotten what she wanted in life up until we meet her. Everything has always gone her way. She’s the most popular girl in school’ everyone loves her and wants to be her friend. Throughout the show you see that she does try to do good and be good and she has a genuine heart.
“Elphaba is kind of an intrusion into her life. It’s the first time she realizes ‘Oh, I’m not getting what I wanted because this girl is here. She’s different and she’s not like me.’ But you see throughout the show that they build a really strong bond and friendship.”
Hottenstein grew up in the Scranton-Wilkes-barre area in Pennsylvania and got involved in theater from an early age.
“When I was 7 or 8 years old I was painfully shy and my mom and dad were trying to figure out a way to break me out of my shell. There was a friend of mine who was in high school. She was about 10 years older than me. She said to my parents ‘You should take her to the local community theater.'”
She auditioned for the Sound of Music in that theater and she started doing shows there. It was nonstop from there. She got a bachelor of fine arts from the Boston Conservatory and moved to New York City right after graduation. Almost immediately she was cast in the tour of Phantom of the Opera and went on tour four months later.
Hottenstein says music theater is particularly effective with a story like Wicked. “It allows the audience to see the story in a way they may not have seen it before. I think music is so so powerful.It touches people in a way that a film might not or a play might not or in a different way.
“Before I saw the show, before I joined the show, I would always just start crying during Defying Gravity. And I don’t know why. I think there’just something about the music and her singing it and the amazing special effect that just made me every single time start crying. I think music is very, very powerful”
People of all different ages can come to the show and it’s been running for 20 years. I think there are a lot of really universal aspects and themes that remain true. The message of friendship between the two women. Not judging people on first impressions. It examines the difference between right and wrong. It questions authority and not always taking what our leaders tell us at face value and I think all of these things are always applicable.”
Performances of Wicked are scheduled for May 31 through July 2 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday,, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 800-982-2787 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $54-$349.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
