The Munchkin of Oz

Louise Russell

22Apr08


Anthony Callea and Lucy Durack are starring in the Australian production of 'Wicked', which opens in Melbourne in July. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt.


HE may be short, but 'Wicked The Musical's' arrival in Australia will be the first time Anthony Callea has played a Munchkin.

Ex-Australian Idol and It Takes Two performer Anthony Callea hit the promotion trail last week for the new-to-Aus musical, Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. The diminutive Callea plays a munchkin, Boq, who is in love with Lucy Durack's Glinda the Good Witch. The pair told LOUISE RUSSELL about the upcoming musical, which is already paying off its $17 million set with pre-show tickets totalling a box-office record breaking $7 million.

Q: So Anthony, how much have you been teased for playing a munchkin?

Anthony Callea: (Laughs) For once being vertically challenged has come in handy. I'm a tall munchkin.

Lucy Durack: They had to search pretty hard for the part - I'm only 5foot3 (160cm). So there has to be someone, ah, ... special for the munchkin.


Q: Tell us a bit more about your characters:

Durack: Glynda is a really fantastic role, she gets to sing all sorts of things, be a bit ditzy and go on a fantastic journey as well.

Callea: I play Boq, the munchkin who turns into something else by the end of it.


Q: Turns into what?

Durack: We can't tell, you we'd have to kill you.

Callea: It's the Lion, the Tin Man or the Scarecrow.

Durack: Or Toto. Or the Yellow Brick Road. Who knows?

Callea: It's an endearing character at the start, it's going to be a bit of a challenge for me ...

Durack: ... because he's really mean in real life.

Callea: (Laughs) Yeah, I'm a real bitch! I's more of an acting role than a singing role. I'm used to getting out on stage and doing my own thing. It'll be a bit of a challenge to go out there eight times a week and stick to a formula, on track, and not break out into The Prayer half way through the show.


Q: How many times have you both watched the Wizard of Oz?

Durack: Fifty times. My diet was Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz, and The Parent Trap. I really liked Dorothy, I wanted to be Judy Garland but she wasn't in this show so I had to settle for Glinda.

Callea: I'm not that much of a fan of it. Maybe three times.


Q: So what drew you in to Wicked?

Durack: The music. Stephen Schwarz (wrote the music for) Pippin, Godspell, Pocahontas and Enchanted. He's an Oscar winning composter and he's written the music for Wicked. The music we both just love.

Callea: I knew nothing about Wicked. They gave me the soundtrack and the script, I put it in the car and listened a few times over and over again. It's what drew me to this production, song after song, there's not one dud song in there. Usually in soundtracks there's quite a few duds.

Durack: You go from classical, to the big power ballad, to the funny song that's bubblegum pop. There's all sorts.

Callea: And the show, it's not all light and fluffy. There's dark moments, fun moments. It draws you on a journey, before the Wizard of Oz.

Durack: You find out how Tinman, the cowardly Lion and the Red Slippers came to be.

(At this point, Elphaba, Amanda Harrison, rings Durack on her mobile. Callea says Durack now owes him a slab of Corona for taking a phone call in an interview.)

Durack: The name Elphaba comes from the initials of L. Frank Baum, who wrote the Wizard of Oz. Wicked is the story of friendship of the two witches. How she became wicked, how she became green. Was she actually wicked? All those questions get answered in a very intriguing way.


Q: How gorgeous is the wardrobe?

Durack: It's incredible. The wardrobe and things you get to wear are just so fantastic, haute couture dresses. (Formula One driver) Michael Schumacher's wife, Corinna, watched one of the productions, and I wear this one dress - really cute, bright pink, ruffles, little straps. She apparently said `I want that dress'. They said, `no you can't have it'.

Callea: There's a few little costumes for Boq, munchkin like. Whatever it was I put on, it was the underpart of it and I viturally looked like an airbag or a crash test dummy.


Q: So you're not coming to Adelaide? Why should we go to Melbourne?

Callea: It'll be like a tourist attraction, you go see Federation Square, you go see Wicked.

Wicked The Musical opens at Melbourne's Regent Theatre on July 12.

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