Why Ellen Harvey Thinks Madame Morrible Is the Best Role in Wicked

Madame Morrible. MM. Flip it around... you know the rest. Ellen Harvey has the absolute pleasure of playing the alliterative antagonist in Wicked on Broadway—just one character in a long line of roles absent of a first name. Harvey spoke to Broadway.com about the enduring power of Wicked, her love of wigs and the importance of attainable and accessible theater.

Can you tell us about your first experience with Wicked?
I saw the original cast twice. There was nothing like it. What I still feel when I see it is that you see everybody and every department doing their absolute best. Coming into the production after 23 years and seeing how well maintained, how sharp, how powerful, how energetic they continue to be in terms of recognizing the importance of the story, the power of the story, the level needed to execute that show every night from every person on that stage is tremendous, but it also has this enormous heart. It's a feel good thing and a wonderful thing to be a part of.

What attracted you to the role of Madame Morrible?
Come on! She's the best part in the show as far as I'm concerned. She's a brilliant villain and I love doing that. It's rich. She can also be funny, which I'm putting a little bit into as well. But the power of someone who—when they get power and you can see her progression and you can see her thinking that she's untouchable—when her fall happens, it's so rewarding because she's so awful to both our young leading ladies. She's delicious. It's wonderful.

Tell us about the stage door reception for you after a show.
I experienced this in Mary Poppins as well when I played the evil nanny, another crazy villain character. The little kids are just dying to meet the person who was so mean. It's so delightful. That's the same thing at Wicked. There are a lot of young people who come and are dying to meet the baddie. Then they see that I look like a normal human being.

What’s a throughline between Wicked and some of your other credits?
Also with doing Mary Poppins, the impact that this show has on young people. I don't think it ever intended to necessarily be geared towards specifically young people, but it is amazing to me how many young faces are out there every single night and just eating it up. That, to me, is the best part of my job because we are making an impact in someone's life and we are having them experience what live theater is at its best. I'm always thanking young people. I always ask them, "Is this your first Broadway show?" And they're like, "Yeah." And I say, "Well, we thank you for making us your first and please come back and see more Broadway shows."

In your mind, what are the first names of Madame Giry and Madame Morrible?
Actually, my entire career, if you look at my resume, no one has a first name. I was Miss Andrew, Miss Hannigan, Miss Jones, Madame Giry, Madame Morrible, Mrs. Lovett. I kid you not, my whole career has no first names, except when I did Joanne in Company, and that was just a first name. I did come up with a first name for Fräulein Schneider and it's somewhere written down just in my notes. I don't remember it off the top of my head, but it seemed right because she was such a human being to me and I just felt like I needed to know in the back of my mind. But with Madame Morrible, no, I haven't.

Are you in touch with any of the performers who have previously played this role?
I know many of the actresses just because we've always gone in for things together or we've been friends of friends, but I'm not in direct contact with anybody right now who has in the past. I should call somebody up and say, "What was your first name?" There's something though that's very powerful. It keeps it in a sense of mystery. It doesn't make it so personalized. Also the onomatopoeic sound of Ms. Madame Morrible. If you broke it up and said, Madame Eloise Morrible, it makes her sound much more friendly.

Longtime viewers of Broadway.com vlogs know that you speak Swedish. Has that ever come in handy in any of your Broadway roles?
I did Present Laughter with Kevin Kline in 2017 and I played Miss Erikson, who is the Swedish chain-smoking housekeeper. The audition process was an absolute blast. When I had my final callback with Kevin, I said, “I am Swedish.” So everybody knew that I could do this. They allowed me to bring elements of that to the role. Instead of saying the word "yes," they allowed me to change it to the Swedish word, which is "ja." I was able to incorporate little bits of language here and there. As far as the accent was concerned, it was absolutely 100% real. That was one of the most wonderful experiences. Not only working with the genius of Kevin Kline who was a masterclass, but it was something amazingly different. I actually got to bring so much of my own self, own language to this piece.

You’ve gotten to wear so many fierce looks over the years. Do any costumes in particular stand out?
Susan Hilferty, who did the costumes for Wicked, did our costumes for Present Laughter. There was a final scene where I check on [Kline] and say goodnight. We were trying to find a scarf for me and I said, "I actually have this beautiful scarf that my Swedish grandfather gave me before he passed away. What do you feel about me wearing that?" She was like, "Absolutely." So the scarf I wear in the final scene was given to me by my Swedish grandfather probably 30 years ago. I love that I got to wear it and it was authentic. Susan thought it was just fantastic. Doing that show was phenomenal, both in what I got to do, but also being part of that incredibly talented cast.

You mentioned on social media that you have a deep admiration for wigs. Do you have an all-time favorite?
I love them all. I'm obsessed. They all are so different. That's like saying, "Do you have a favorite character?" Because to me—I'm sure designers are going to kill me for saying this—but two of the most important elements for me when I do a character are the wig and the shoes. The wig automatically telegraphs to the audience so much about the character. My wig in Wicked is so freaking brilliant. I love it. I put it on and I'm like, "Oh, there she is." I'm literally six-foot-eight in that thing. How it is built and how it is structured is spectacular. It is an absolute piece of art in my mind.

What’s one wig that was key to unlocking a character?
The Fräulein Schneider wig in Cabaret last year, because it had to feel real. It couldn't feel like a wig. The designers let me have a say. Bebe [Neuwirth] had it one way and I said, "I don't want that at all." I referenced a few other actresses from London and I looked at some other things, and the wig that we came up with was absolutely one of the most gorgeous things I've ever worn, because it was human. What was important to me was when she becomes vulnerable with Herr Schultz, we took it down. It was long. At the top of the show, my most important thing was that it looked like I had two seconds and I threw it up on my head. Then, when they took the pins out, it was this beautiful gray and white mane. It allowed me to feel vulnerable and young as the character. These last two wigs are the absolute polar opposite, but my God, both works of art. Both done by the incredible Jimmy Goode and Tom Watson's wig shop. Those are probably my current running two faves.

As someone with a long career of consistently amazing work, what advice do you have for aspiring performers?
Do as much stuff as you can that actually has nothing to do with theater. We are storytellers. We are the conduits for the words that have been given to us and we are full-fledged people. I never did musical theater in school, but I did other things outside of school. People that are the most interesting actors on stage are the ones that have the most interesting lives. That means, if you like canoeing, join a canoe club. Do you want to rescue puppies? Go rescue puppies. Read history, go skydiving, whatever those things are, because all of those experiences fill you up to create a very layered and interesting human being. We will have life experiences thrown at us that we have no control over, whether it's losing loved ones, accidents that happen to our bodies, whatever that might be. We don't have control over those things, but they inform us of an incredibly textured and layered person. I meet a lot of young people who say, "I want to do this." I'm like, "Great. I'm not telling you to do something else or get a second job. I am telling you to widen your interests and become a more interesting human being because that's the interesting stuff that gets brought into portraying human beings."

Wicked has such a serious fandom. Do you have a favorite fan experience?
It's lovely when people say to me, “When I read that you were going to be doing this, I wanted to come see the show.” There are people at the stage door who wait and make sure to tell me. I had a young man the other night say, "You came on stage and I recognized your voice. I realized you were in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and that was my favorite show when I was young." When people do want to come and see the show again because they are curious of what I'm doing with it, that is lovely. That is the biggest compliment ever. You do get people who will write letters to the theater and ask for a program or pictures and I am more than happy to send that because there are a lot of people who can't come to see the show. I'm proud to be part of the brand of Wicked. I believe very strongly in the message. Girl power. I love that there's a whole new generation that's coming. I look at these women who this show impacted 23 years ago, who have brought their children. And dads, not just women. I love being a part of it.

It must be so incredible to work with people who are at the beginning of their career as well as more seasoned professionals. 
I knew two people when I came into the show. Blake Hammond who played The Wizard, because we worked together 26 years ago on Broadway. And Maya Bowles, we had been in Cabaret together. But I realize as I get older, I don't know a lot of the younger people who are coming up into the world. I'm working with a whole generation of incredible dancers and singers that I had never met before. You feel like the old person in the corner, but it's really remarkable and I love getting to know them. Again, Wicked is one of those shows where everyone is at the top of their game, and it shows. The care and the precision at which they maintain the show keeps it fresh and alive.

Madame Morrible’s magical specialty is weather. If you could have a magical power, what would that be?
That's easy. The ability to pop tires. I would be so useful in car chases. If the FBI would just fly me in for a car chase, that would be so useful. E-bikes that decide they want to run over people on the street; if I had the magic power to just pop their tire, I would love it so much. I have actually thought about this. Not violently, just a slow leak so that people just have to slow down. So things have to go a little bit slower. It's all about road safety because we seem to have people on the road who have no safety good skills whatsoever.

Madame Morrible is what you might call a princess track. What are you talking about with colleagues backstage?
One of the things that we talk about nightly is the worries of our industry right now. We see shows closing around us that should not be closing. They are important. They are viable, but something is wrong in the model. I know that it's not just my generation, but it is the next generation that's coming up as well; that we all want to look for a way to have a healthy Broadway and to make it attainable and accessible to every person in every household, no matter how much money you make. Anybody who wants to have a discussion about this, I'll be on your board. It's too important. We are the storytellers. We are the people that encourage empathy and make you listen and sit and experience with a group of people in a room. I encourage artists and producers and theater owners to come together to find a way that we can move forward.

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