Jenae Pierre: Welcome to The Takeaway. I'm Jenae Pierre, in for Melissa Harris-Perry.

Brittney Johnson: I shall transform your simple frock into a magnificent ballgown. Is this on, honey? Do you want me to try? No. Just wear the frack. It's pretty.

Jenae Pierre: If you went to watch Wicked on Broadway this year, you probably witnessed the spellbinding performance of Brittney Johnson, who plays Glinda, the Good Witch. Last year around this time, Brittney made history as the first Black woman in that role, and a year later, Brittney and Glinda are still--

Brittney Johnson: [music]

Popular!

You're gonna be popular!

I'll teach you the proper poise

When you talk to boys

Little ways to flirt and flounce

Ooh!

I'll show you shoes to wear!

How to fix your hair!

Everything that really counts to be popular.

I'll help you--

Jenae Pierre: Now you've been playing the role for a bit. How do those very first times playing her feel now?

Brittney Johnson: Oh my goodness. That's a great question. I've been playing the role now for almost a year to the date, and my character has grown, so much over the last year. Partly I think because I've grown as a person over the last year. My understanding of her growth and her depth, all of her nuance, all of those things have become more intricate, and have added to how I play her.

Jenae Pierre: Tell me a bit about Glinda. Who is she?

Brittney Johnson: Glinda is a whirlwind. She starts off as a naive, somewhat selfish young woman who honestly, I do believe is doing her best in the world. Her best is to try to make sure that she is getting ahead. Not in any malicious way where she is trying to step on people to get ahead. Just that her belief her values at the beginning of the show are, whatever can uplift me is what is good.

Her values change throughout the show to prioritize friendships and to prioritize the well-being of the people that she loves. To realize that what is in her best interest isn't necessarily in the best interest of those around her. She experiences great loss, and guilt as a result of that loss, and has to bolster herself through all of that grief, and through all of that loss to then be a leader for the people of Oz. It is her story truly, her character arc is so intense when you really take the time to look at it. It's very intense.

Jenae Pierre: Yes. You started our conversation off talking about how you've grown with the character. Talk about how Glinda has changed over time as you've played her.

Brittney Johnson: Hopefully, all of us change every day. We're influenced by the things in our world that happen we're changed by them, and sometimes we're changed for good, however, you want to see that word good if it's changed for the better if it's changed permanently. I think especially post-pandemic, our world is so different and the ways that we interact with each other is so different. Even on that level, my portrayal of her has changed.

Did I answer your question?

Jenae Pierre: Yes. Totally. I want to go back though you talked about the pandemic. Broadway was gone for a long time. How did you spend those moments not on stage?

Brittney Johnson: That was a really tough time for a lot of artists, because there was no work for us. You could try to do theater via Zoom, but it probably isn't very good.

[laughter]

It was really tough. I spent a lot of the pandemic teaching, and it kept me connected to my artistry and kept me feeling like I was giving back to the community and keeping people excited to remember that they're still artists. Even if they can't perform maybe in front of people live, that performance and art should still be an important part of your everyday life, especially when you're an artist. When you're an artist, you're an artist. Whether or not you're doing it as a professional or not.

[music]

Jenae Pierre: Quick intermission here, more with Brittney Johnson on The Takeaway, right after this. We're back with Brittney Johnson, who made history as the first black woman to play the title role of Glinda in Wicked on Broadway. I want to go back to the beginning for you at least. What was the first Broadway show you saw that made you feel like, wow, this is for me. I want to do this.

Brittney Johnson: The first show that I saw on Broadway, actually in New York on Broadway was 110 in the Shade, with Audra McDonald. The entire cast-- it was a brilliant show, first of all, it was amazing to see an older classic musical. I didn't really have a breadth of knowledge about musical theater at the time. I went in blind. I really liked Audra McDonald. My mom and I are pretty obsessed with Audra McDonald [laughs] and so we wanted to see her on Broadway, so because it was my first show, I didn't really have a lot of context for what casts usually look like.

That cast was completely mixed up. It was multicultural diverse and because it was my first show, I didn't really think anything of that, except that I loved seeing somebody who looked like me play a title character and her voice. Oh my goodness. I don't know if you've ever heard Audra McDonald sing but-

Jenae Pierre: Yes, absolutely.

Brittney Johnson: -it's like angels singing. [laughs] To hear somebody singing, and especially a Black woman singing in a way that I felt my voice lent itself more to, at least comfortably. I can sing in all different kinds of styles, but I really had never been asked to sing that way. It was encouraging for me to see someone like Audra McDonald on Broadway leading a show able to sing like that.

Jenae Pierre: Now Valentine's Day is coming up, and I understand that February 14th has historically been an incredibly good day for you.

Brittney Johnson: [laughs] It has.

Jenae Pierre: Tell me why.

Brittney Johnson: Oh my God. [laughs] February 14th was my debut day as Glinda when I took over full-time. 14th was also the day that I played Anne Fontaine on the same day when I was in <i data-rte2-sanitize="italic">Les Misérables on Broadway.

Jenae Pierre: Oh, wow. I thought you were going to say something about some handsome man, but your Valentine's Days are great.

Brittney Johnson: I don't know Valentine's Days yet to come. We'll see what happened. Last year when I made my debut, it was the theater, truly. It felt like it was full of love. Not because of Valentine's Day. Just because I felt so supported. It felt like there were so, so many people in the audience who were just excited to be there, and excited to witness history and to support me on that journey. Yes, I still remember it vividly. [laughs]

Jenae Pierre: Brittney Johnson, Broadway actor, artist, and the first Back woman to play the title role of Glinda in Wicked. Brittney, thanks so much for talking with us.

Brittney Johnson: Thank you for having me.

[music]

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