Wicked Star Lindsay Pearce on Returning to the Role of Elphaba and Being Part of the 'Green Sisterhood'

As previously reported, Wicked will return to Broadway's Gershwin Theatre on September 14, and many of its performers will be stepping back into their roles. Lindsay Pearce will return to play Elphaba. She talked about coming back to the show with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek at Gallow Green on the season premiere of The Broadway Show. Elphaba is a dream role for Pearce. "I feel like I've been singing this music since I was 12.Inside the backseat of a sedan, screaming at the top of my lungs," she said. "It's very different to do it eight times a week."

Pearce spoke about taking on the demanding role of Elphaba. "She's intense. She's bombastic. She wears everything right on her sleeve—on those gorgeous shoulder pads, those gorgeous, tufty sleeves. I'd never done a full production of anything in New York. I'd never been on a Broadway schedule. It is not to be believed. It's nothing to scoff at. These people are Olympians. It's wild," she said.

Now that the show is poised to return to Broadway, Pearce is ready. "I feel a little more mentally prepared for it. I don't think I'm going to waste a moment. I feel like you can get really wrapped up in your experience of something and be like, 'It's really hard. I'm really sad today. I'm tired today,' Instead of seeing it as a drawback, I want to see things as an opportunity." She noted the stars that have come before her. "In the Gershwin, there's something really amazing about walking the same boards that Idina Menzel and Julia Murney and Stephanie J. Block—these titan females that have been in those boots, that have been in that levitator—it's amazing," she said. "There's this incredible green sisterhood of women that are just like, 'I know. I know what role you're playing. I see the green hairline.' You're never alone."

Watch the interview below, and head here to check your local listings for The Broadway Show. Hosted by Emmy-winning anchor Tamsen Fadal and powered by Broadway.com, it is the only nationally syndicated weekly theater news program.