Interview: BOOK OF MORMON on Tour Actress Alexandra Ncube

THE BOOK OF MORMON has been playing to sold out audiences throughout North America and has been receiving rave reviews. Alexandra Ncube plays the part of Nabulungi, a young, full of hope girl who wants to find the good in everything. BWW recently caught up with Alexandra as she prepared for their return visit to San Antonio, Texas and the Majestic Theatre from December 15-20, 2015.

Let's start out by finding out a little more about you and how you got interested in musical theater.

At a very young age, my family brought me to see THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in Arizona at the Broadway house that we have there. I was instantaneously terrified and smitten and I couldn't stop listening to it. I was always trying to get the guts to listen to the overture that scared me so much at my grandmother's house. Ever since then, I have always been drawn to the arts and when my sister and I were growing up, my mother would put us in a summer camp that was theater based. We would perform at the end of camp. My love continued to grow and I pursued it in high school then I realized I had to figure out a major in college. I went to a high school that really encouraged kids to do the math, science type study path. So I decided to try to go into science and it was immediately the wrong path. It was not resonating with me and I decided to audition with the music school to pursue musical theater but I was not accepted. I panicked for a moment and realized I could try the theater school and was grateful to be accepted into there. It was really a blessing in disguise. I had an incredible experience in my major and then decided I wanted to perform full-time and I performed around Phoenix for a year and then stumbled upon THE BOOK OF MORMON audition it took about a year to get. on the road. It was a really intense learning experience to begin the series of auditions and I was grateful that it bore fruit in the end. I've been with the show a little over one and a half years.

I noticed you recently were married. Congratulations. How has that been being out on the road all the time? Does he get to come with you?

We spent the first year about which was a challenge but we got through it and it really strengthened our relationship. I feel like we can get through anything now because we got through long distance and we got through planning a wedding on the road. We've pulled it off and had an incredible time. He goes back and forth from Arizona to wherever I am on tour and spends time with me. We both signed up for adventure and our life pursuits so we are grateful.

What do you enjoy most about being out on the road?

There's so many things. I love the idea of having a family, a body of co-workers and friends out on the road where we can see all these places that I would never have thought to travel to on my own dime. It's an amazing opportunity for self-exploration as well because I was thrown into this completely different lifestyle of not having roots and the same surroundings. It's cool to see how we develop into these nomads who go from place to place and figure out your own strengths and what you really love and what you really care about.

Tell us more about Nabulungi and how you got the role.

She is the daughter of the village elder and her objective is to save her village. She has been able to preserve her innocence through seeing so many horrific things happening in their village. They are terrorized by this general who is killing people at his own will whenever he wants and mutilating women and they are also living in poverty. She is still searching for the goodness even with all of that happening around her and she meets the Mormon missionaries who claim they are different than the Christians who usually come through. They have a different method of salvation. They tell her about Salt Lake City and she decides that's the magical land that she needs to travel to in order to have a better life. She's incredible. I love her because she's not just there to be the love interest. She has a very powerful mission in the show and a wonderful character as well. I submitted a video to get the role and was able to correspond with the casting director and it was incredible. I didn't think anyone would even respond. He said he would send the videos to New York and I was freaking out because I didn't hear from him. I thought that was great, he responded and I'll take that as a great experience and then a year later, came back and asked me to resubmit and then one thing led to another and I was in Los Angeles and then I was in New York City doing various auditions and working with the directors. I realized it was getting pretty serious and it took about two weeks from when I started to do the travelling and then I was in North Carolina for my first stop.

I heard THE BOOK OF MORMON was in Salt Lake City not too long ago too.

It was incredible. It honestly could have gone either way. We went in with no expectations. We had to hold the show when Elder Price rings the doorbell in the beginning for about 15 seconds because of the applause. It was cool. We added so much time into the show. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea. It's very in your face and everything's not carefully handled. It's very interesting to hear the feedback especially from the Mormon community. We have a mutual respect. I enjoy when the missionaries are outside. I haven't seen them in a while. But, I really enjoy talking to them and hearing about their experience and it's an incredible thing they volunteer to do. I love that they have advertisements in our program about the book is always better. It's wonderful. Salt Lake City is incredible. The Temple is incredible.

What advice do you have for anyone thinking about getting into musical theater?

Figure out if you are the person and really trust yourself. Remember that when you go into the audition room, the casting director wants you to fit the role. He or she may not seem that way, but they're also a person that has a complicated set of thought processes like we do. It's just a matter of going in there and performing a show like you've been prepared for. It's only a little three minute show, but it's a show in itself that you can be prepared and proud of. When you're studying for musical theater, it's all about getting as many tools in your favor because you never know when a special skill is going to be used. I think it's important to have good work ethic and have a lot of drive. If you're not proud of your work ethic, it's not going to be very successful for you in this art form. It's a lot of hard work and there's an element of rejection that has nothing to do with your talent level. It's just you weren't the right fit for this moment but that doesn't mean that you aren't to find a fit in the future.

THE BOOK OF MORMON opens on December 15 and plays through December 20, 2015 at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. Get your tickets before they are all sold out by going to the Majestic's website.

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