LEADING LADY
After thrilling with her return to the West End stage, the US singer and actress tells us how she’s blazing a trail for unity and hope
On her first night back on the West End stage, Marisha Wallace received a standing ovation for her portrayal of Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray. But it wasn’t the applause – in the middle of the show when she sang I Know Where I’ve Been with a tenminute ovation at the end – that blew her away.
“It was the first time I hadn’t seen worry on people’s faces in a long time. I really love that I just saw joy. It was beautiful,” the US singer and actress tells hello! in our exclusive interview the morning after Hairspray’s opening night at the London Coliseum last month. “I sing this amazing song that is so powerful and pertinent to what’s happening right now. I love the fact I get to share this message of unity. This is a privilege, what we get to do.”
Her castmates, who include Michael Ball, Les Dennis – “the nicest, sweetest man” – and former EastEnders star Rita Simons, are family and “love each other”, says the 35-yearold, who is still pinching herself that she is in the production. “How did I get here so fast… on [their] level?” she asks.
But Marisha has more than earnt her place. Having appeared in productions such as The Book of Mormon and Aladdin, she was asked to play Effie White in Dreamgirls in the West End in 2017 while its leading lady, Amber Riley, recovered from pneumonia.
“I learnt the show in five days,” she says. “I was only supposed to be here three weeks. Then three weeks turned into a year, then a year into two years.
“You guys got me from the beginning,” she adds of Britain’s audiences.
Indeed we did – even the royal family. Last year, Marisha
‘Even now, there’s a little girl somewhere who’s watching me, saying: “Oh, I can do it because I saw Marisha do it”’
“I love the fact I get to share this message of unity,” says Marisha of her role (above) as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, the latest high point in an incredible career that has also seen her play Effie White in Dreamgirls with Brennyn Lark and Asmeret Ghebremichael (both below far left, with Marisha)
was asked to perform at the Royal Variety Performance after she recorded the song Tomorrow from Annie to raise money for artists affected by Covid-19. Suddenly she was performing for a virtual audience including Samantha Barks and Gary Barlow.
“I was running around screaming, like: ‘Am I dreaming?’” she says, laughing. “There was a video of the Queen watching it on her laptop. It was amazing.” Despite the impact of Covid, the last year has seen Marisha hit “amazing highs”. As well as raising £10,000 for the charities Make A Difference Trust and Broadway Cares with Tomorrow, she signed a record deal and won a part in Netflix’s Feel Good, alongside Lisa Kudrow. Now she feels as though she’s part of history by starring in one of the first big theatre shows to make a return after the lockdown.
But there is another side to her joy, too. Posting on Instagram to celebrate Juneteenth, a US holiday marking the end of slavery in the country, she wrote: “My great-great-grandparents were slaves so to see my face on a marquee of theatre in London means so much more to me… I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.” She tells us: “The story of Hairspray is about race and how we were segregated in the South. I come from North Carolina, which was the most segregated part of the South. My dad went to the first integrated high school. So to play this part means so much to me because I get to show this side of history and show just how far we’ve come. But we have so much further to go.”
After being rejected from music school due to a cyst and later having surgery on her vocal cords before her career even started, Marisha now hopes she stands as an inspiration to others: “Even now, there’s a little girl somewhere who’s watching me saying: ‘Oh, I can do it because I saw Marisha do it.’”
That also includes showing her support for Pride in London. “It’s really incredible to celebrate them and to give back. They need that celebration to say: ‘You are valid, you are worthy,’” she says. “A lot of my music does that and it resonates with a lot of those kids so, it’s really incredible.”
Hairspray is at the London Coliseum until 29 September. Feel Good is available on Netflix now.