Kendra Kassebaum

[on doing eight shows a week on the Wicked National Tour] "It definitely is a challenge because I came to Glinda through more of an acting standpoint. I never really trained to be an opera singer or anything like that, so that's been definitely a challenge. But right now I'm at the point where I feel really good in the tour. I'm having fun. I'm not having to think about the singing technique. Now it's fun six months into it." Show less «

I was finding that I would get obsessed in the beginning of the tour. I was doing these 40-minute warm-ups, just giving myself a workout, and I came across a wonderful speech pathologist in Chicago, and she was like, "Kendra, just warm it up a little. Save it for the stage." Mentally, I always thought that singers spent all this time warming up, and some of them do because it's what they have to do, but I found for me, I just have to check if everything's there and then just go out and do it. Show less «

[Talking of her experience in Assassins] "That was probably one of the highlights of my career, coming to work and seeing Stephen Sondheim standing there. It was such a small, intimate gig. You felt like you were doing something really important, especially during the time of the election. You felt like you were part of something a little bit bigger, contributing something. That's the best way I can explain it. It didn't seem like a commercial musical theater moment. It felt more artistic." Show less «

[on Wicked's popularity] I think it's universal with humans that sometimes you just don't quite fit into the mold of what people or society wants you to be. I think anytime you see an underdog, you want to root for that person. And I think that's why it's huge with a lot of young women. Show less «