Interview: Christina Wells brings to life 'Mama' from CHICAGO at Theatre Under The Stars

One of the most fun people I've had the pleasure to speak to, Christina Wells currently lives the dream as a professional singer and motivational speaker. Now she's playing "Mama" in the national tour of Chicago.

This is a first for me. I've never actually interviewed someone where right before the interview I was listening to them sing on Spotify.

(Laughs)

Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.

Can I ask a little bit about your background? What led you to this moment of coming back to Houston Chicago?

Yeah. So my name is Christina Wells. I'm 47 years old. I've been a nurse for 18 years. I'm a single mom. I actually grew up in Pasadena, Texas, right here in Houston. I did some community theater and ended up winning a local singing competition called "Pride Superstar." From there, I ended up making some videos that got onto social media and I made my way onto America's Got Talent. I was a semi-finalist in season 13, which was 2018, and from there the doors kind of opened up. I started getting opportunities to sing and perform in Houston. Then I did a lot of motivational speaking. I talk about believing in your dreams and chasing after them.

I was in The Little Mermaid at Theater Under the Stars (TUTS). And I told my agent "I think I''m ready to take this to the next level. I want to make it to Broadway." And she was like "Well that means you got to go out there and start getting seen by people." So I started auditioning for a bunch of stuff and next thing I knew I was cast as Matron "mama" Warden with the 25th anniversary national tour of Chicago.

Well, I think you answered all my questions.

(Laughs)

What was it like being on America's Got Talent? As far as I know, you had no major professional credits up to that point. Am I correct in saying that?

Yeah, no, I wasn't at all a professional singer in any way or form. I'm not a trained performer. Singing has always been a passion of mine. I auditioned for the celebrity judges and kind of kept on keeping on.

How did you know you were ready to audition at that time?

I don't think I did. I don't think it really works like that. I think that sometimes you do things because it sounds exciting or scary. I had auditioned for a lot of other talent shows over the years and have always been told no. America's Got Talent was a little bit different because they have talent scouts that looko for people that are right for the picking. Somebody who's interested in trying to pursue something but hasn't yet. They can kind of help their dreams come true. And so I've had this video, family viral. So they said "come audition." I laugh about it a lot because I thought it was kind of a joke.

I used to beg and plead with the universe to let me be a singer when I was younger. And now that I'm in my 40s and I'm older now, all of a sudden it's gonna happen.

I was shocked when I found out you're in your 40s. I'm 26 and you make me look like a grandpa.

I appreciate that compliment. A lot of people think I'm younger.

You have this youthful energy about you. Especially since your TikTok game is on point.

Thank you once again. Thank you. I tell people I try to make myself as stackable as possible.

How did you come to you sing the national anthem at professional sporting events?

During the pandemic, the LGBT Chamber of Commerce asked me to sing at Pride night of the US Rockets game. Then I signed on for a few consistent Rockets games and then a couple of months later they asked me to sing at the Astros. Well, then I was like, "You know what, I want to try to sing at all the professional sporting events in Houston." So I emailed the Texans I was like, "I'm a Houston native, I'd love to come and sing at the Texans." So yeah, I've been doing my rounds like that to sing all the national anthems I could find.

That is the most Houstonian thing I've ever heard of.

(Laughs)

You know, Houston means a lot to me. I think that the city of Houston has shown up for me in ways that I just feel really grateful for. And I think there's something really powerful about singing the national anthem, and I feel like my voice makes people feel feelings. I don't think that I'm the best singer of all time but I think my voice kind of ushers in emotion.

I feel like when I sing the national anthem, I inspire a sense of pride. I love the idea of getting to sing at these big sporting events filled with Houstonians and make them feel that feeling in your tummy. You know, like when Whitney Houston sang at the Superbowl, and everyone got chills and felt really proud of America.

How'd you get involved with motivational speaking?

On America's Got Talent, they interview you after each episode. So all the articles that mentioned me would say "She has this great voice but her message" and I would be like "what message?" When I came off of the show, I had 55 emails asking me to perform for events all across the United States and every one of them asked me to speak.

I was like, "Why do they want me to talk? What are they wanting me to talk about?" People want me to talk about my journey and talk about the fact that I'm older. I talk about my weight a lot because it's been a big hurdle in my life. Well, I guess I'm a motivational speaker.

I'm a big fan of Rocky and the whole time I was doing my research. I was like this is like Rocky, but with music.

It's true. And I actually did a parade and we performed at the steps in Philadelphia where Rocky ran up the stairs. I very much connect to that idea of the underdog and someone that you don't exactly expect. I think that's what I am proud of. I'm an ordinary woman and I have had opportunities to do extraordinary things. I think we're all capable of doing extraordinary things when we believe in ourselves.

So once it got started, things really picked up.

I mean, the minute the door was open, I started running and I don't think I'm gonna be done running until I get to the place where I'm like, "Okay, we got here guys. We did it."

The thing is that I'm very driven. I can be relentless. You don't get a lot of opportunities to make your dreams come true. I don't think that happens all the time for everybody. I tell people all the time "I'm gonna take this 15 minutes of fame but I'm gonna fan it and try to make it an hour."

Can I ask about your original music?

So I do have original songs. I have a song I wrote called Ready or not. I do a mix of covers that I produced and kind of change up and make them my own and then my own originals.

So we should probably get to the main topic.

Chicago!

Can you talk to me a little bit about the process of getting involved with the Chicago tour?

I have a few agents. I have an agent for speaking, an agent for corporate events, and I have an agent for musical theater. Whenever I did, The Little Mermaid, I reached out to my agent. I was like, "How can I get more opportunities?" and she's like, "Well, people don't know who you are in the New York market. That's where they're booking tours and Broadway shows. So you need to start auditioning for everything in that market, even things we wouldn't do. That way people can see you and know that you're a player." So I started auditioning. I auditioned for the 1776 show, auditioned for Hairspray, auditioned for all these shows, and I started getting callbacks and opportunities for them to see me. Then the Chicago audition came and they liked me.

Can you talk about your character, Matron "Mama" Morton. Do you like her? Do you root for her? Is she a good person to you?

She's a wonderful person. Yeah, of course. She's a good person. I think there's a misnomer that just because she's a woman who makes sure that her needs are taken care of just as much as she takes care of others, that's somehow negative. I laugh about that with society because when a man is a strong businessman, we're like, "Oh yeah" but when a woman's a strong businesswoman, we're like, "Ooh, she's evil." She takes care of her girls, those girls are murderers. She's not dealing with knitters.

So she's making sure they're taken care of but she makes sure that she's taken care of as well. And she loves those girls. I think that's something people forget. Mama's not just called mama because she's a woman over a bunch of other people. It's because she's a mama to these people. She takes care of them. She protects them. Yeah, I root for her every day. She wins in my stories.

How many performances have there been?

I think we're in the 120s.

What's it like doing that same character so often?

I have never done a character this many times. It's definitely different. I think the most I've ever done a show is 21 times. Something happens when you're on stage whenever you're in the beginning stages of a show. You almost black out. Things slow down the more you do a show. You can really look around and see the audience. I'm able to make different choices. I'm able to find a way to make it fresh. Logan Floyd plays Velma Kelly, we will be like, "Oh, you know, tonight we're singing about this or tonight we're talking about this in our scene."

What's it like traveling across the country with such a large ensemble?

It's actually fun. I mean, I know everyone has this image of like a bunch of people fighting in a family type of thing. But you know, during the day everybody goes out and we explore. We have friend groups that have kind of developed but we all get along and we love each other. Logan and I have developed a really close friendship. We're a touring family.

Any favorite cities you've toured?

Atlanta was really awesome. Houston is my home for sure. That was the one thing about getting cast in the tour that I was a little sad about. If I go on a tour, I can't do any shows at TUTS. So when I saw that we had two weeks here, prayer answered. I was going to be able to come back and be in Houston and share the show with my city.

Do you have any advice for somebody who might be early in the game wondering how they're going to make it?

I think anybody who wants to do something, if it's in theater, if it's performance, or maybe even if you're young and you're trying to decide if you want to be an entertainer or if you're if you're older and you're like "I'm an optometrist, and now I wish I was a tap dancer." Like do it. You don't have to do it on Broadway to be doing it. You can go and take a class at the rec center at your YMCA. You can go and join a community theater group. You can do the talent show at your church, but just do it. Just share your talent. The thing people forget is long before Simon Cowell said yes to me. I said yes to me.

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