In this ShowbizU interview, host Tim Kashani asks Broadway actress Alli Mauzey how she keeps a demanding eight‑shows‑a‑week role fresh for both herself and the audience. Mauzey explains that new cast members break stagnant habits, prompting her to listen anew each night as if it were the first performance. She acknowledges occasional rut moments, but stresses resetting to basics and focusing on active listening to keep reactions authentic. When asked about the physical demands of singing, Mauzey likens vocal work to athletic training, emphasizing a solid vocal technique honed since junior high, consistent warm‑ups, and a teacher‑guided regimen that lets her maintain vocal health while still enjoying life outside the theater. The conversation highlights practical strategies—cast turnover, active listening, routine resets, and vocal athleticism—to sustain freshness and stamina in a high‑frequency Broadway schedule.
Doing a show, there's the glamorous side. You get to wear the pretty costumes and put on the makeup, but you're also doing it 8 times a week plus rehearsals plus press events or whatever they need you to do. How do you keep the role fresh?
What's helpful, we just had a turnover in the cast just now, so it's helpful when you get new people, I think, because it kind of breaks you of any stagnant habits, I guess, because someone else is bringing something to the table. I really think the best thing is you just have to every night remind yourself to listen, to just really listen as if you're hearing it for the first time, because that'll change your reactions. And it actually just makes it so much more fun if you don't even know what's gonna happen that night. And I find for me the best way is to really listen to the words and kind of how and what the actor is saying to me, you know? Because it's tricky. I feel like that's one of the trickier things is to not get in a rut, you know?
And people are paying a lot of money. It might be their first time seeing it. And you want to give them that experience.
And I think even if you do have nights or moments in the show where you feel like you're kind of stuck and you're going by rote, that's OK if you know that. You know it's not happening every night, and it's not like you're doing it on purpose, but there are days when it's just a little harder. But just know, like, you know what, tomorrow night I'm just going to go back to the basics and just listen.
How do you keep your body, your mechanism in shape for all of this? I mean, you're singing some pretty tough stuff there.
Yeah, and you know what, 8 times a week. And I feel— I look at it as a sport. I don't think it's any different than an athlete training for their specific sport. I'm a huge fan of technique, vocal technique, and I still think you can be like a fresh and raw, you know, singer with emotion and still have a solid technique that allows you to get through 8 shows a week. I've studied with the same teacher maybe since junior high, and I just kind of know my warm-ups and kind of how to get my voice ready for a specific show. And I'm grateful for that because I'm actually able to have a life outside of it. I can go out after the show, you know, I can maybe not get as much sleep as I would like the night before, but because I have a nice strong vocal technique, I can, you know, be fine and still sing the show. It's funny, I always thought when I'm doing like Wicked or stuff, I was like, I feel like my— I'd be more likely to like break a limb or something like that than I would like have like vocal problems, you know?
Well, that's good. Yeah, it's probably good that you picked Glinda because a lot of the Elphabas unfortunately have had to deal with some of the—
It's hard. I mean, the roles are hard. The roles are really demanding. You know, I've talked to other girls who play Alpha too, and they're just like, they think of it as— some of the girls think of it as a sport too. And you gotta know in parts of your shows you don't have to push so hard. And if you're having an off day or you're sick or you feel something's not right, don't push. And you kind of learn how you can still have a great show and not push.
