Interview: 'I Feel Like I'm Blazing a Trail': Performer Marisha Wallace on Her Amazing Career and Upcoming Solo Concert In London

Marisha Wallace will be bringing her “biggest ever headline show” to the Adelphi Theatre for one-night only on 11 March. Recently, we had the chance to chat with Marisha Wallace about her upcoming concert. We discussed her journey from the States to the UK, her return to the Adelphi Theatre after she performed there in Waitress and the creative process behind the show!

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So how did you first get started in the world of theatre?

I always wanted to be a singer, because I come from a family of singers. We were all gospel singers and musicians, but I was the first one to take it to the next level. I had an amazing high school teacher who said, “You're not like the other kids. I think you could have a career in this.” And I didn't even know what that looked like! So she took me to my first Broadway show, and pointed at Heather Headley, who was playing Aida, and said, “That's you. That's what you should be doing.” I didn't even know this was a job!

So she helped me get into school, and I still didn't really believe it was a job, so I was like, “Let me get a teaching degree, just in case.” I got a teaching degree, and then I auditioned for the music programme to be a music teacher. I didn't get in because I had a cyst on my vocal cord, which I found out after I didn't get in. Then I had to go through a surgery, and it was terrible - I thought I was never gonna sing again.

I was only seventeen at the time, and then they said, “Well, what about musical theatre? You can wait a year to heal your voice, and then you can audition for the musical theatre programme.” So I did! 300 people auditioned, they picked fifteen people and I got picked. And that's how it started, which is crazy! It all came out of having this terrible thing happen to me, and then the best thing happened. 

It's strange how that happens! And so you started in the States, and then you moved to London?

Yeah. I worked in college a lot as well because we had a summer stock. But then after I graduated, I worked cruise ships, dinner theatres, theme parks, regional theatres around America, and then I got my big break with The Book of Mormon national tour. That's where I met Casey Nicholaw, who was my mentor and took me everywhere he was going. And then he gave me my first Broadway show, Aladdin. And then it just snowballed from there, which was crazy!

So what inspired you to bring this concert to the West End?

Well, I have been out here for nine years in December, and I feel like my journey is very different and inspiring because a lot of people don't think there's any other place to go outside of Broadway, and they don't think that they can be anything but what the industry tells them that they can be.

I was definitely the random black girl singing soul for a very long time. I made good money doing that, I thought that was it for me. But in the back of my mind, I knew there was something else. And then something else came, and I made this amazing career here in London.

It hadn't been done this way in a long time and I feel like I'm blazing a trail. I want to tell the story of how it all happened, but then also inspire other people that they can do it too. If there's something - it doesn't even have to be performing - that you want to change in your life, don't be afraid to take the risk. Sometimes just saying yes and not being afraid will take you to some incredible places. I've done some amazing shows here and played some amazing roles, so I thought, “What about a night where I get to sing all the songs that you know me for?” All the ones that you remember me for, the ones that changed your life and the ones that you were like, “Oh, that moment was the moment I fell in love with Marisha,” so we're going to do them all in one night! [Laughs]

What's the creative process like for putting together a concert like this?

Well, I've taken the team from Guys & Dolls, which is pretty amazing - Tom Brady [Musical Supervisor and Arranger] and James Cousins [Choreographer with Arlene Phillips]. Tom Brady is going to be the MD, and James Cousins my creative director.

We got together and started going through what kind of story we want to tell. And I was like, “Well, let's just tell the story of how it all happened, how I went from a hog farm to singing for the King of England!” How did we get from there to there, but through songs. We want to make it feel now and new, but then I also love to hearken back to Judy Garland at the Palladium, or “Liza’s at the Palace,” those old musical theatre concert shows that were very popular back in the day, that were iconic. That's what we're trying to make.

The concert is going to be at the Adelphi, which you previously performed in during Waitress. What is it like returning to that theatre?

When I did Waitress, I had just finished Dreamgirls. That was my second show in the West End, and it was the first one where I was like, “Oh, I'm actually living here, I'm actually going to do it!” And it was the last show I did with Gavin Creel before the pandemic. It just has so many memories and it's where I healed myself.

When I first came over, I came over in a hurricane - I was going through a divorce, I was the alternate in Dreamgirls, then I was the lead in Dreamgirls . . . It was a tornado! So Waitress was like a resting place where I could heal. So it's going to feel like going back home, being back there. After all this happened to me, to go back is amazing.

And what is it like to prepare for a concert like this versus a full-stage production of something like Guys & Dolls? 

Well, this is all on me! [Laughs] There's no understudy for Marisha Wallace in a Marisha Wallace concert - it's just me! So I think that's the toughest part. And also, I'm playing Sally Bowles right now on top of it. So that's a challenge, to stay well and keep myself healthy so that I can deliver this concert in the best way. And we're going to make it into a live album, so that's going to be really special. So we want everything to be perfect, because we want to get the best album out of it as well!

So you mentioned being in Cabaret. How do you balance preparing for a concert and being in a show like that?

Well, I'm always doing four things at once! Even when I was preparing for Cabaret, I was in panto, and then when I was preparing for panto, I was preparing for Cabaret. So now, actually, the concert is the last of the big things that we had coming up this year. So now that I've got the first night out of the way for Cabaret, I can compartmentalise that and now I can just focus on the concert. But the concert is fun because I've been touring around the UK with my own shows for years now, so this is where I live, because I'm in control of everything - the costumes, the lights, which is a challenge, but also fun!

So you’ve toured around the UK as well as performed on the West End. How does it compare to performing in the States and on Broadway? Have you noticed many differences?

The height of the things that I'm doing is crazy, like singing for the King! I've gone on tour with Simply Red, Seal and James Blunt . . . I've done stuff with so many amazing people. The access that I have in London is very different to access that I had in America, which is really cool. But nothing is like Broadway, either. Broadway was where I cut my teeth and where I learned so much about my craft - it was just super legendary.

But I do feel like theatre is in the fabric of the culture in London. People start going into theatre from the kids all the way up. It's just a part of daily life, so there's this reverence for theatre that I really do love here. And Shakespeare, you can't get better than that! [Laughs] So I've learned a lot. I feel like I have the razzmatazz of Broadway and the groundedness of UK theatre in me as well. It makes you lethal to have both!

And you've done a panto, so you’re fully into British theatre now!

Full British theatre! There are differences. I do miss the hypeness of the American crowd. You don't have to do anything. You just go out there and they're like, “Yay!!!” British people are like, “Oh, okay, you've done something.” [Laughs] You’ve gotta earn it! They’re not giving it to you for free. And if you get a standing ovation here, you've really done it! I remember they were like, “They stood for you guys at the end of the show,” and I was like, “Shouldn't they stand?” And they're like, “No, that's big. That's major.”

Do you have any favourite songs you're looking forward to performing?

I'm doing “Some People” from Gypsy! I've always loved singing that music because I'm such a huge Liza Minnelli fan, and she did so many amazing songs out of context, like roles that she didn't get to play. So that's fun, because, hopefully, in fifty years, I can play Mama Rose, but I get to do some of the songs that I wouldn't get to play just yet. I'm looking forward to “And I’m Telling You,” some of the Dreamgirls stuff we're doing again.

I'm looking forward to “My Man” by Barbra Streisand - I do this really cool version where it's Ella Fitzgerald mixed with Barbra Streisand. And then some of my original music is in the show! I wrote a song for the show that's really fun and cool, so I'm excited to debut that as well. But it's a lot of musical theatre, some pop and then just some special things. I've been working on a musical and I am going to premiere some of that music as well!

What do you hope audiences take away from your concert?

I hope audiences take away hope and inspiration - you can do anything that you set your mind to. You might have all these obstacles in your way, but all of it is part of the journey of your life. If I didn't have those bad things happen to me, then I wouldn't be living my best life now. Every turn has led me to where I needed to go. Even though at the time I couldn't see it, it had to happen so that the next thing could happen.

And I have been shouting that message on my social media, but we can just celebrate in the room how far we've all come. A lot of my fans have followed me on my fitness journey, on my career journey, and we finally will be able to get together and say, “Look, guys, we made it!” A lot of my fans have been on journeys themselves alongside me, so together we'll be like, “Let's celebrate where we are and how far we've come,” so that's exciting!

And finally, how would you describe your concert in one word?

I’d describe it as “11 o'clock” because every number is an 11 o'clock number - I should’ve just called it “11 O'Clock” because all these numbers are big! [Laughs] We’re going to have to replaster the whole Adelphi again!