Soap Opera Digest

Be Our Guest

Lisa Locicero (Olivia, GH) reminisced about her journey through ABC Daytime as a guest on Digest’s podcast, Dishing With Digest.

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screen test with Michael Easton [ex-john; now Finn, GH] for ONE LIFE TO LIVE, preceding GENERAL HOSPITAL, that’s what the timing was. I flew to New York to do a screen test with Michael Easton for the role of some sidekick cop of his. [The show] made that role recurring, gave it to someone else and then wrote for me the role that I eventually did play, which was Sonia Toledo Santi, which was probably best forgotten in the tomes of soap opera history. I believe that role was voted the worst-written role in the history of daytime television or some damn thing. I think they had to clear the decks on the writing team after the Santi thing! There was a swing for the bleachers and it just didn’t work out for a number of different reasons, maybe not the least of which was me playing Puerto Rican!

Digest: After Sonia came and went, you did try for GH again but as Kate Howard, the role that initially went to Megan Ward.

Locicero: I remember leaving [the audition] thinking, “Well, something good happened in there .... ” They said to my agent, “We’re going to go another way with this one but we swear we have something better for her coming up very shortly .... ” I believe what they had in mind was maybe bringing me back as Brenda, which as we all know would have been literally the biggest disaster. I think even as much as I wanted to be on the show I would have had to say, “That’s a bad idea. I won’t do it.” Do you know what I mean? I mean, you would be an absolute idiot to take that on. No one is Vanessa [Marcil, ex-brenda] and certainly no one is Vanessa and Maurice [Benard, Sonny]. But [then-head Writer] Bob [Guza, Jr.] created Olivia for me and wanted to do this “son of Sonny” thing, which I think is what Kate was going to be about originally. They wanted to see more of a rough Brooklyn presence to be the mother of Sonny’s son.

Digest: Were there people you were starstruck by in the beginning?

Locicero: Well, obviously, Maurice. My first scenes were with Maurice ... Certainly walking in that day and going up to that bar set and doing those scenes with Maurice was, like, otherworld­ly. You can’t not be in it when you’re working with him. You feel what’s coming out of his eyes [and] there’s a reason why he has held people’s attention to the level that he has for this many years in this character. I mean, how many other people can

you say that of? Very, very few .... Finola [Hughes, Anna] now is one of my best friends. But the first time I ran into her there, I was like, “Oh. My. God.” And, of course, Tristan [Rogers, Robert]. I’ve told this story so many times, but he had been prewarned that I was a super-fan [and] he came walking up to me. In my memory, it’s like slow motion, I’m sitting there with my husband, and I’m just hyperventi­lating, probably snot coming out of my nose. My husband said, “What’s wrong with you? Just say hi.” And he couldn’t have been nicer.

Digest: Tell us about working with Wally [Kurth].

Locicero: You couldn’t get a better everyday partner. He likes to run lines, he likes to work, he likes to play with stuff, he’s funny, he’s respectful and he’s so talented. The fact that he’s also a singer pushes us into the Nurses’ Ball every year, for better or for worse.

Digest: For better!

Locicero: Well, it’s definitely fun for me, not necessaril­y fun for the viewers. He’s a treat. And being part of that world and that storyline is just yet another bucketlist item .... You’re like, “Oh, right. I’m a Quartermai­ne now. I can sign my pictures ‘Olivia Q!’ ” Like on the day of the wedding, I’m walking down the aisle in a wedding dress and Genie Francis [Laura] is looking at me? Like, what? Tell that to yourself when you’re 12!

Digest: What does it mean to you that 2020 marks the 25th anniversar­y of your daytime debut?

Locicero: It’s really lovely when I think of it like that. It’s not like the character is always at the top of the totem pole in terms of importance on the canvas, [but] Tristan said to me one time when we were off at a fan event having a drink at the hotel bar, he said, “Listen, kid. You’re not always going to be the front of the storyline. You’re not always going to be at the top of the heap. You learn your lines and you come in and you do your work.” [I] do think that the powers-that-be appreciate — and maybe that comes from the fact that I’ve been watching this all my life — that I never say, “My character would never do this.” What if they did? It’s my job to figure out a way to make it so that she would do it, to justify her doing that thing. As human beings we’re all capable under the right circumstan­ces of just about anything, whether we like it or not. There have been a couple question marks where I’m like, “I don’t know if she would.” I go, “Well, let’s see what happens if she does do it!” That [25-year milestone] is really nice. I look at those numbers and I say, “Good for me.”

To hear the full podcast, listen on Spotify, or go to itunes, Google Play or soapopera digest.com.

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 ??  ?? First Up: As LOVING’S Jocelyn, Locicero was paired with Randolph Mantooth (ex-alex). “He was so good to me as an artist and as an actor and as a partner,” she praised.
First Up: As LOVING’S Jocelyn, Locicero was paired with Randolph Mantooth (ex-alex). “He was so good to me as an artist and as an actor and as a partner,” she praised.
 ??  ?? Forget About It: Her 2004 stint on OLTL as Sonia (pictured with Kamar de los Reyes as Antonio) is “probably best forgotten in the tomes of soap opera history,” the actress said good-naturedly.
Forget About It: Her 2004 stint on OLTL as Sonia (pictured with Kamar de los Reyes as Antonio) is “probably best forgotten in the tomes of soap opera history,” the actress said good-naturedly.
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Scorpio Moon: It’s a dream come true for Locicero to share scenes with her childhood crush, Tristan Rogers (Robert). “These writers are sort of having fun with that as a thing. That’s just a joy,” she enthused.
Scorpio Moon: It’s a dream come true for Locicero to share scenes with her childhood crush, Tristan Rogers (Robert). “These writers are sort of having fun with that as a thing. That’s just a joy,” she enthused.
 ??  ?? So Happy Together: Locicero feels blessed to have tied the on-screen knot with Wally Kurth (Ned).
So Happy Together: Locicero feels blessed to have tied the on-screen knot with Wally Kurth (Ned).

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