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Special Episode: Allison Bailey on life in the bubble and building her cabaret debut
00:19:25
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- [00:02]
Alison Bailey
I'm gonna pull over and ask that man for directions.
- [00:05]
Matt Timminini
Hi there.
- [00:05]
Alison Bailey
We're looking to get to the campground.
- [00:07]
Matt Timminini
Well, you're gonna take a left at the old oak tree end of this here road. No, I'm just kidding. Let me get my phone out.
- [00:13]
Alison Bailey
How are you getting a signal out here?
- [00:14]
Matt Timminini
T Mobile and US Cellular decided to merge. So the network out here is huge. We're getting the same great signal as the city and saving a boatload with all the benefits. Oh, and a five year price guarantee. Okay, here's those directions.
- [00:26]
Alison Bailey
Actually, can you point us in the direction of a T Mobile store?
- [00:29]
Matt Timminini
America's best network just got bigger. Switch to T Mobile today and get built in benefits the other guys leave out plus our five year price guarantee. And now T Mobile is available in US Cellular stores. Best mobile network based on analysis by Oogle of Speedtest Intelligence data 2H2025 bigger network. The combination of T Mobile's and US cellular network footprints will enhance the T Mobile network's coverage price guarantee on talk text and data exclusions like taxes and fees apply. CT T mobile.com for details. Welcome to a special interview episode of Broadway Radio. My name is Matt Timminini. On today's episode, I am in conversation with somebody that you very well might have seen in a pink or blue dress descending from a bubble somewhere across the country or even in New York City sometime over the past decade. And that is the delightful and wonderful Alison Bailey. Thanks to some pandemic interruptions, Alison has been a part of the Wicked family for nearly a decade now and in fact she is currently doing a two week run with the national tour in Pittsburgh. I talked to her just a couple days after that started last week, but the reason we're chatting is because she's going to be making her solo cabaret debut later this month at 54 below. She's going to be doing a show on February 23rd at 7pm and she's gonna be joined by a number of friends, including her former Wicked co star Talia Suskower, a college friend who has gone on to be quite a social media sensation, Lauren Pally and one of stage and screen's most delightful stars, Casey Cott. In our conversation we talk about living in the world of Wicked for as long as she has. How that has changed over the last couple years with the release of both Wicked films, how she keeps her distinctive southern draw out of Glinda's very prim and proper voice. But then of course we also talk about what it's like to build a cabaret show, your first one ever, and to focus it on the stories and the songs that are most important to her life. Alison is an incredible talent and an even more wonderful person. I'm really excited for you to hear this interview. But also, of course, I will have information in the show notes on where you can purchase tickets to see her. Casey, Lauren, Talia in concert at 54 Below on February 23rd. All right, with all that out of the way, here's my conversation with Alison Bailey. Well, Allison, this has been quite a hectic week or so for you. From what I understand, you're back in the bubble in Pittsburgh, right?
- [03:05]
Alison Bailey
Absolutely wild. Yes. I had my first show the other night in Pittsburgh. I'm back in the bubble for 12 shows, which is really exciting.
- [03:15]
Matt Timminini
How was this? Just like they needed somebody short because you and Olivia Valli came in together for like two weeks. This just kind of come up out of nowhere. Was this planned for a while?
- [03:26]
Alison Bailey
No, this has been planned for a while. I believe the witches had this already pre planned maybe in their contract. And so we've known for a bit, which has been really exciting to be prepping for and something to really look forward to.
- [03:40]
Matt Timminini
You mentioned prepping for it. Now you have been. I mean, you've been with Wicked in different capacities for like, what, six something years? Like, how much prep goes into getting back ready to be Glendified?
- [03:53]
Alison Bailey
That's a great question, Matt. It's on. It's kind of unreal. I'm on year 10 of Wicked, which is 10.
- [04:00]
Matt Timminini
Oh, my God.
- [04:01]
Alison Bailey
I was on the national tour for six and a half years and with COVID Yeah. And then went to Broadway. So, gosh, we are already. We're working on year 11, which is wild. We actually didn't even have a rehearsal. We just jumped in the bubble. On Tuesday. I had a quick bubble ride just to get a feel for it and make it feel like home. But we just jumped right in and it was incredible. It was so much fun and everybody was so welcoming.
- [04:32]
Matt Timminini
Yeah. I'm sure it does feel at this point after a decade, that it is coming home in some sort. And I would imagine that even though people come and go from the tour and come and go from Broadway, that there are at least some familiar faces, if not at least the familiar costumes are there as well.
- [04:48]
Alison Bailey
Absolutely. And it is. It's Wicked's almost a revolving door. We're so blessed and so fortunate that you know that they keep calling us to come back in and jump in. And we have a lot of Friends that have turned into family. So it's good to see familiar faces.
- [05:05]
Matt Timminini
Well, that leads us nicely to talk about your upcoming, I guess, solo cabaret debut, which is kind of wild to think about, right?
- [05:14]
Alison Bailey
Wild. Absolutely wild. I am so excited, so beyond excited and really looking forward to it. I've sung at 54 for many years in different concerts in different capacity, but this is my very first solo show.
- [05:28]
Matt Timminini
Yeah. And you are having some friends and, you know, maybe chosen family as well. Some from the wicked world, some not from the wicked world. When you were going into, like, craft this first solo venture for yourself. I know you talk about in the notes for the show that, like, you want to tell the story of your life. But first, how do you figure out what your life is, let alone what parts of your life you want to share? Because, like, that's a tough thing to do in whatever, 80, 90 minutes, however long a 54 show is these days.
- [05:59]
Alison Bailey
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm an open book, and so I think about songs that have shaped me. I look at different chapters of my life and some songs that I sang in college, some songs professionally, and then kind of base it off of my guests, too. What's their niche? For instance, Lauren. Lauren Paley, she went to college with me and she loves Disney. She sings Disney on TikTok and Instagram. And her little girl, she's not going to be in the concert, but she sings Disney for a little girl all the time. And so really try to base a lot of my songs also, too, on who my guests are.
- [06:35]
Matt Timminini
So is that more of a collaboration? When you were. When you're talking to your guests, like, so what do you want to do? What can we do together? What would sound right for both of us? What fits our vibe as friends? How does that part of the whole. The whole ordeal work?
- [06:47]
Alison Bailey
Yeah, absolutely. We. We think about. It's supposed to be fun. You know, the goal is for the audience to leave the show humming the songs. Hopefully some of these songs are very familiar to them and songs that have resonated with them for over the years, too. But, yeah, it's more of a collaboration. You look at your guest and you're like, what would be fun to sing together? So I can say my guest will be able to see some Disney coming from Lauren and I.
- [07:14]
Matt Timminini
Okay, well, you've got you and Lauren. Obviously, you and Talia have the wicked connection. You guys have sung together. I mean, are we going to get just like a standard Glenda Elphaba song? Are we changing things up a little bit? With U2. What are we getting out of that? That witchy pairing?
- [07:29]
Alison Bailey
Yes. I do think you will see a wicked tune from Talia and I for sure. We might mix it up a bit. We're kind of on the fence of maybe adding another song too, but you definitely will hear some wicked. She's chosen family. She's like my sister. And so it's fun to be able to sing with her and in just a different environment and not on, you know, a big stage, in more of an intimate setting.
- [07:53]
Matt Timminini
Yeah. Well, we'll wrap it up because we'll just go through all of your guests here. You've got Casey Cott coming in. Okay. Other than the fact that I know our mutual friend Amy is also friends with the extended Cot family, Like, what's the connection with you and Casey? How did this pairing come together?
- [08:08]
Alison Bailey
Yeah, absolutely. I've been a big fan of Casey for years. I watched Riverdale before I even knew Casey. But I actually am really good friends with his sister Carly. Love Carly. She's chosen family. And then I got to know his wife Nicola. She's absolutely incredible. One of my dearest friends and through her got to eventually know Casey and big, big fan of his. Loved him in Moulin Rouge. So talented and just so excited to be able to sing with him.
- [08:36]
Matt Timminini
Okay, well, all right, we've got the special guests. We talked about them, but what about your stuff? When you talk about the songs that shaped you both personally and professionally? Obviously we've mentioned lots of musical theater stuff, but know there's going to be some things from outside of the musical theater canon as well. Where are those roots for you, both artistically and musically, but also personally in terms of what you want to show the audience about your life and your musical tastes and all of those things?
- [09:02]
Alison Bailey
Yeah. So something really funny about me is that I grew up in Pensacola, Florida, which is right in the panhandle. And I grew up actually singing in a country band. So besides singing at church, that was kind of my first experience of singing in front of people with a live band. And so I grew up singing country country. So I'll have a couple of country songs in my set list. I'll have a pop song in there. Just some songs that have been near and dear to my heart. Actually, my pop song is my parents wedding song, which is kind of special.
- [09:34]
Matt Timminini
Yeah, that's great. So when you are going back and forth and singing country and pop and then musical theater as well, not just in life, but like in a concert like this, are those different parts of your voice, or is it like, do you have to sing them all the same style, or are you able to kind of bounce back and forth between the genres, to give a different tenor and timbre to your voice and. And kind of present it in a different light?
- [09:59]
Alison Bailey
Yeah, and that. That's been a lot of prepping to that too, because the technique is always gonna differ a little bit in the different genres. You have to kind of access a different part of your voice, but I think it's all gonna still sound like me. Even though you go through different genres, it's all gonna still resonate there. You just have to access different parts of your voice and technique on that and that to be able to prep for and a challenge.
- [10:23]
Matt Timminini
Yeah. Oh, I'm sure. I mean, especially right now, as you're diving back into Glenda, as we're talking, you said everything's gonna sound like you. I think anybody listening realizes you do have a little bit of a southern twang there. So does Glenda ever end up having a little bit of a southern twang, either just because that's who you are, or accidentally, it kind of slips in when she's, you know, twirling the wand or flipping her hair or anything like that?
- [10:49]
Alison Bailey
I try to keep her as non regional as possible, so I really try to make sure she doesn't have too much southern tour, because Glenda's from the north. I will say, though, you know, just like, when somebody gets mad or excited, sometimes a little bit of their accent will come out. And maybe sometimes you see that with me. At the end of the day, my Glenda's me. There has to be a little bit of Allison in there, and so there probably is just a little bit of a twang that kind of shows up. But I do try to keep her as non regional as possible.
- [11:18]
Matt Timminini
That's good. That's probably as you're either going across the country or welcoming people into. Into the Gershwin. You want to make her sound as accessible to everybody as possible. I get that. But I'm always fascinated by people who do these shows and, you know, put this whole evening together. Because, yes, as you said, you're telling the story of your life and songs that shaped you, But I. To me, not being a performer, that sounds terrifying. Like, that just sounds, like, so uncomfortable. My skin is crawling just thinking about it. Like, obviously, it's much for you all. That's what you do for a living. But this has to be kind of a different experience than going up on stage as Glenda, than going up on stage, where you can probably see every single person in the audience at 54 below and being Alison 100%.
- [12:04]
Alison Bailey
And I've thought about this several times, and it honestly haunts me before I go to bed at night.
- [12:09]
Matt Timminini
Okay, sorry, but sorry to bring it up, Allison, I apologize.
- [12:11]
Alison Bailey
Yeah, yeah, no, no, I'm with you. I agree completely. Because when you're right, when you do a musical or you do a show or you do a film, you're playing a character. It's not Allison, it's not me versus the solo show. It's me. You know, and anyone that comes into the. The concert venue is expecting to just hear from me and not really anyone else. Sure, I'll be singing different songs from different characters, but yeah, it is a little daunting to think that I'm representing myself and. But at the same time, it's really exciting because I feel like this is just a window of being able to just get to know me as a person, and it's a great opportunity just to be able to share that.
- [12:52]
Matt Timminini
And I would imagine, you know, you have done many other things other than Wicked, but being associated with one show for so long, do you feel like there is still sides of you that even the industry and even, I mean, obviously fans, but especially, you know, some of your peers and your colleagues and your friends haven't even had an opportunity to witness yet?
- [13:11]
Alison Bailey
Yeah, absolutely. It's the biggest honor to be associated with Wicked, honestly, it really is. And I'm so, so honored to be a part of this family. But it is exciting too, to be able to sing, you know, different facets and different songs and maybe even from shows that have already closed. So, you know, they're not on Broadway currently, so we're able to kind of see that and have that opportunity to sing songs that we usually wouldn't get to.
- [13:34]
Matt Timminini
How much do you balance, as you're putting this set list together, things that you've done before and things that you might like to do in the future? Maybe it's already closed, but you never know when a, when a revival might be coming along for something both truly.
- [13:50]
Alison Bailey
I look at my favorite shows that I absolutely love and I'm like, oh, this is just my dream show and songs I love to sing. So I, I look at both and try to find that the, the goal is, though, for my audience just to have a well rounded show. I want them to be able to, you know, if maybe one genre is not their thing, we move on to the next and they kind of have a little Bit of taste of everything.
- [14:16]
Matt Timminini
So it's kind of like a little sampling platter of who Alison Bailey is for audiences. Yeah, yeah. A little a la carte action. Very good. You've talked about the fact that Wicked is a huge blessing, I would imagine, though, in this past, what, two years now, with the fervor around Wicked being even more like. That's gotta be something that. Even though very few people from the show itself were involved with the movie, but there's gotta be a sense of pride to see that expand from the behemoth that it already was to being a literal cultural phenomenon in all four corners of the globe.
- [14:51]
Alison Bailey
And how cool, because you're also reaching a whole generation that's never seen the show before. So the movie has been able to introduce a whole new crowd of people, either young or old, that have never seen the show. And then after they've seen the movie, they're coming to see the Broadway musical, or maybe they saw part one, the movie, and then they come to see the entire musical. So it really is.
- [15:13]
Matt Timminini
And get it spoiled. Yeah. Get the second movie spoiled. Yeah, yeah.
- [15:16]
Alison Bailey
You do hear gasp. I mean, that's what's really fun, is that if they've not seen Part two, they hear gasp in the. From the audience because they're like, oh, that's how it ends. And it really is special to be a part of that.
- [15:28]
Matt Timminini
Now, let me ask, because the. The conventional wisdom for years around, like, making movies out of musicals that were still on Broadway is, well, if you put it, make it a movie. Like, people aren't going to come and see it on stage. I mean, looking at the grosses for Wicked on Broadway and then from the attendance on National Heroes, like, that doesn't seem to be the case. Are you seeing, even in this short amount of time, but are you still seeing the passion from fans in the audience that you saw before the films started being released?
- [15:57]
Alison Bailey
Absolutely. And if not more, I feel like the love is just continuing to grow. We're just having the show resonate in a different facet. And there's nothing like live theater. The movie's incredible, but when you come to see the show live, there's just a little bit of magic there, just being able to see it in front of your eyes.
- [16:15]
Matt Timminini
Yeah. Well, going back to 54 below on February 23, as people come down into the basement, as they sit in for the show, what are they going to learn about Allison as a performer, but most importantly as a person that they might not have seen either from seeing you on stage? Or following you on social media.
- [16:37]
Alison Bailey
Yeah. I really hope that they see a lot of my heart and my story of just where I came from, my journey of going to school and journey to Broadway and the national tour and also my future, where I want to go, what hopefully you see next from me. And I just want you to leave the night singing the songs in your head because I hope that they're catchy and I'm just really, really excited about this night.
- [17:04]
Matt Timminini
All right, well, I can't let you go without trying to dig down a little bit deeper. You said you want people singing the songs. Is there one song that you can tease that you are really excited to hear people sing or you are really excited to sing for people?
- [17:18]
Alison Bailey
Well, you might hear a medley of several of the characters that I love dearly.
- [17:24]
Matt Timminini
Okay.
- [17:25]
Alison Bailey
The duet that I sing, I will say I'll maybe go ahead and throw this out there. Casey and I will be singing Love is an Open Door and very.
- [17:33]
Matt Timminini
Oh. Oh, that would fit very well. Yeah, I see that for both of you.
- [17:37]
Alison Bailey
Very excited about that. I've always loved the musical Frozen, and I think Casey would be an awesome Hans. So really, really excited to be singing that.
- [17:49]
Matt Timminini
I will say. I. I live in Orlando. Like, I'm 10 minutes from. From Disney. So, yeah, so this is my favorite time of year because it's the Festival of the Arts and there's like, the Disney on Broadway concerts. So I love the idea of Broadway people who aren't necessarily associated with certain Disney shows singing those songs. So, like, even though this is not that, like, that gives me very much Festival of the Arts, Epcot, American Pavilion vibes. Like seeing two great Broadway talents singing a song that I otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to sing.
- [18:19]
Alison Bailey
Exactly. And same. That is the dream. First off, I love Epcot. I'm being a Floridian myself. I grew up on Disney, so Disney is near and dear to my heart. But there's nothing better than being able to hear Broadway songs in Epcot with all the incredible food. But, yes, I do love a Broadway Disney crossover there.
- [18:39]
Matt Timminini
Yeah, I. I've already been to the. I think the. The third and fourth pairings start next week or later this week. I already did Adam Jacobs and Isabel McCullough and then Sierra Boggess and Jelani Remy, so I've already seen them this year, so it's a good season.
- [18:53]
Alison Bailey
Oh, my gosh. That's incredible.
- [18:55]
Matt Timminini
It's great. So I. I love that. Those are. These are great. So. Okay, we'll wrap it up with this 54 below walk away Feeling Good songs they've never might not have heard you sing before, but what do you want them to take away that they can hopefully keep with them until they see you next time on stage or on screen or anything that you're going to be doing in the future?
- [19:17]
Alison Bailey
Yeah, honestly, I know it sounds cliche, but I just hope my heart shines through that. I'm such a welcoming person and I'm just excited to be able to invite them in for a 70 minute show and just kind of get to know me and my heart and and just share a little bit of joy along the way.
- [19:37]
Matt Timminini
I think we can all use a little bit of joy these days and so this is a perfect time for it. Well, congratulations on everything. Enjoy your two week stint in Pittsburgh and getting back into the blue and pink dresses and all of that and have a great time at 54. I hope it's as magical as you imagine it'll be.
- [19:58]
Alison Bailey
I cannot wait. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.