Tea with Wilma!

In the weekend Westend Wilma teased that he was off to spend the day getting a sneak peak behind the scenes at rehearsals for Rachel's upcoming Live at Zedel gigs & that he'd be sharing some special interviews and bits and bobs with us soon.

Flying off for a sneak peak at rehearsals for @racheltucker1's tour today and to have a chat about life after @WickedUK! pic.twitter.com/jKOnXZKPEr

— West End Wilma (@westendwilma) February 24, 2017

Just had my own private @racheltucker1 concert watching her rehearse for her upcoming @LiveAtZedel shows. You're in for a treat if you go! pic.twitter.com/HOaHtZknHp

— West End Wilma (@westendwilma) February 24, 2017

Yesterday we were treated to the "Knowing Me, Knowing You" round of questions with Rachel.

 Then today we got the full length interview with snippets of Rachel rehearsing 'I'll Cover You.'

Stay posted to @Westend Wilma on Twitter, the official website & subscribe to the Youtube Channel as there is supposed to be 4 videos from their day together in rehearsals. So we've only seen half for now. Can't wait to see what else we've got to come.

Rachel chats to Gay Times about all things 10th Anniversary & more.

In the lead up to #Wicked10 Rachel took a break to chat with William Connelly about coming back to play the green girl on the West End, how her Elphie has evolved & so much more... it's well worth the read over on GayTimes.

"Welcome back to London… Rachel: Thank you!

Is it nice being back? It’s absolutely brilliant! God, it’s such an honour to be back for a start. This is a role that I hold very dear to my heart and it has taught me a lot, given me a lot, and to be asked back for the 10th anniversary is HUGE!

There really is no play like home… YEAH! [Chuckles]

How long before your move to Wicked on Broadway had you been playing Elphaba here in London?  If it’s 11 months per contract including rehearsals, and I did three contracts here in total, that would make it 2 years 9 months in London with the last six months pregnant with my son which was another challenge. Heck, not only did I sing Elphaba eight times each week but I did it pregnant! [Laughs] 

You then moved to New York to star in Wicked on Broadway. How long was that for? A year but actually in the show for 11 months. It was actually 10 to begin but I was extended for seven weeks before joining the London production again now for another five months. That’s not far from five years in total as Elphaba when I’m all finished in January."   To read the full interview please click through.

Rachel & Carrie chat to Tyler Mount

Almost 2 weeks ago, Carrie St Louis, the current Glinda to Rachel Tucker's Broadway Elphaba posted a tease on her Instagram, at the fact her & Rachel had just recorded a fun interview with Tyler Mount for his Playbill Vlog. This was enough to get us very excited about the interview.

@racheltucker01 and I had our Wicked way with @tylergmount for his @playbill vlog today! Episode coming soon! 💚💖 #neverhaveiever #witchtakeover #thesilliest

A photo posted by Carrie St. Louis🙆🏼 (@carriestlouis) on Apr 7, 2016 at 4:24pm PDT

Then as if that wasn't enough to have us dying to see this interview, last week Rachel posted a group of photos from the interview on her Facebook..

 

Today Tyler teased that the video would finally be released ...

Find out about the time @WICKED_Musical's Elphaba AKA @racheltucker1 pooped her pants on today's episode! TODAY AT NOON!

— Tyler Mount (@TylerGMount) April 18, 2016

Get all the details on Glinda's AKA @carriestlouis CRIMINAL past - specifically what she stole from her dentist office. TODAY AT NOON!

— Tyler Mount (@TylerGMount) April 18, 2016

Then suddenly the wait was over & we got to see his fabulous Vlog with Rachel Tucker & Carrie St Louis, so without further ado..

We couldn't help but Gif the last few moments for you all.. so enjoy these wee gifts for you all.

Rachel on 'Show People' with Paul Wontorek

Earlier today Broadway.Com shared this weeks episode of "Show People" and lucky for us their guest was Rachel Tucker. Click through to check it out or watch below.

"Wicked Star Rachel Tucker on Green Ears, Belting Lessons from Tina Turner & Being Saved by The 'Lord'"

This is such a fabulous interview with Rachel, just finished & already need to watch again. It's funny I was just thinking today that there had not been enough proper interviews with Rachel since she started back in Wicked & then boom.. here we go.

Must apologise for my lack of updates on the blog recently, there's been so much happening & then my own little trip to New York to see our green girl in action. There's been incredible new promo pictures posted recently & i've been waiting patiently for them all to be released before sharing in a blog post, but have been Tweeting/Instagramming & adding to our Facebook page as soon as I become aware of them. So if you're not already following us on those please do click through & join us.

Also will be running a few competitions soon to win a couple of Playbills from Wicked on Broadway, so keep an eye out for those on Twitter, as soon as I decide what you'll need to do to enter.

Will get to catching up on some of the important things that belong on the blog for you guys asap & hope to do some little write ups about the Wicked shows I saw whilst over there & just how much Rachel's Elphaba has evolved. She was out of this world in London & now over on Broadway with the opportunity to revisit this character, she's completely blown her own bar out of the water & truly does live in the 'skin of Elphie' as Paul mentioned above. I'd been trying to find a way to describe how she just 'IS' Elphie & he kind of hit the nail on the head. I could honestly babble on for hours about how 'perfect' her Elphaba is but i'll save it for when I can make it make sense. Just know that if you have NOT been to see Rachel on Broadway yet, you need to get on it. Break out the piggy bank & make that happen.

For your information: Rachel will not be performing on the following dates & has tweeted that her contract is up on 19th June 2016, so honestly guys, get those diaries out & start planning.

Inside Kara's dressing room with Rachel

At the beginning of the month Playbill.com shared an interview "Go Inside Kara Lindsay's Dressing room for Girl Talk with Rachel Tucker." It's a fantastic interview & our first real glimpse of Rachel & Kara's friendship off stage.

"After only three weeks in the show together, it's clear that Broadway's newest Elphaba and Glinda, Rachel Tucker and Kara Lindsay, respectively, have a bond that will last "for good." Tucker, who played the role of Elphaba for over 1,000 performances in the West End, joins Lindsay, who rose to fame in the hit Disney musical Newsies and has been playing the role of Glinda on Broadway since December.  

The two leading ladies were squealing with excitement backstage at the Gershwin Theatre after reuniting in the hallway moments before the interview. Lindsay had just taken a few personal days off from the show and arrived at the theatre directly from the airport. The two actresses were giggling, hugging and catching up while we settled into Lindsay's dressing room to talk about their journey with the show, maintaining their personal lives and who the best Fiyero kisser is."

Playbill.com 

This is such a fun interview & what makes it even better is the photoshoot that came along with it. To view the gallery on Playbill.com, click here.. or scroll below. We love them so much, we're just going to post them all in full, because they are beautiful. Credit goes to Monica Simoes. We're going to put a few of the interview questions in between the pictures but for the full interview please click through

Theatre Mania Chats to Rachel & More..

 TheatreMania caught up with Rachel recently to chat about opening as Elphaba on Broadway, how she fell in love with the show & much more..

New York Theatre Guide Interview & Vote Rachel..

New York Theatre Guide's Hayden Thomas caught up with Rachel recently to talk all things, Elphaba, The Last Ship & the future of Reality TV/Musical Theatre crossovers... read a snippet below & then click the image to read the rest..

Exclusive interview with Rachel Tucker

Recently we had the great honour & privilege of having a chat with Rachel at The Bridgehouse theatre in Penge, about her upcoming return to playing the green girl, but this time in Wicked on Broadway.

 We asked all the questions we thought you'd want to know & maybe a few extras. This was our first time interviewing someone, let alone a Westend & Broadway star, so go easy on us!

We can not thank Rachel enough for giving up her precious time to chat with us, it means a lot that she is so generous to her 'fans' & wanted to take time to do this for us. Thank you from the bottom of ours hearts Rachel, you truly are one of a kind & it was a pleasure to chat with you & share a tiny moment of what is such an exciting time. We are so proud of you, you are living the dream & it's so inspiring to watch!

So without further ado.. one ridiculously long (24 mins to be exact) but hopefully informative interview with Broadway's next Elphaba: Rachel Tucker....

Radio Interview with Sting... featuring Rachel

So it seems we missed this last week, but thanks to a fan on twitter, we've finally seen it. It was posted on WNYC.org on the 25th of Nov 2014..

An audio interview from The Leonard Lopate show, with Sting, joined by Fred Applegate & Rachel Tucker. The interview starts with a lovely clip from the show sung by Rachel before delving into some interesting questions to Sting, Fred & Rachel. Give it a listen below guys.

"16 Grammy winner Sting tells us about his debut as a Broadway composer in "The Last Ship" a new musical inspired by his own childhood. In a close-knit English seafaring town, life revolves around the local shipyard. But Gideon Fletcher dreams of a different future, and sets out to travel the world. He returns home years later, only to find the shipyard's future in grave danger.Fred Applegate and Rachel Tucker, who star in the show, join us in the studio. The Last Ship is playing at the Neil Simon Theater."                                                                                                                  WNYC.org

Now then we couldn't very well do an update with out a picture of Rachel now could we? How's about we share THAT picture which had us all very jealous of Rachel, you know the one we're talking about.. you know from that time when she met Meryl Streep... *jaw on floor*

(This last one's a little grainy, but click here for bigger but watermarked image..)

"Ahoy, Meryl! Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep boarded The Last Ship at the Neil Simon Theatre with Sting and his crew on November 25, 2014."                                                                                                           Photographer: Bruce Glikas ©  Broadway.com

We are ever so curious to know how Rachel reacted & frankly we want to know what Meryl thought of the show?

Also just in case you've missed it in the news lately.... STING is officially joining the cast of The Last Ship for a strictly limited run from Dec 9th - January 10th 2015,
Thought we'd share this video from CNN reporting on the news, as it feature's lots of the great clips from The Last Ship, with Rachel.. I mean Rachel on CNN.. we kinda feel like that's a big deal..

Also check out the teaser trailer  for Stings appearance in the show, below.. doesn't feature Rachel, but the fact of the matter is, Rachel is now going to be properly sharing the stage with STING... we assume she's just as excited about that as we are.

Post by The Last Ship.

Rachel Tucker on "Inside The Actors Studio"

Thanks to @krperry2 we've got a clip of Rachel on "Inside the Actors Studio" that was aired on Bravo in America on 23rd October.







It's wonderful to see so much publicity for The Last Ship lately. We Are trying to keep on top of it all & organise it all for you, so please do send us a tweet (@RTFB1981) or email if you spot something you think we need to see. Thank you again @KRPerry2

The Last Ship - Promo, Interview & the Official Trailer.

So we're going to be playing catch up on some videos, articles, reviews & interviews over the past few months, from The Last Ship. We've been scouring through the internet to see what we've missed & if we could find anything new.

Firstly we'd like to share this video interview from when Rachel was in Chicago for The Last Ship's, pre Broadway run from GlossedAndFound

Second video we'd like to share is one I just stumbled across today, it only has a very small snippet of Rachel, but it's still an interesting video to watch, to learn a little bit more about The Last Ship. It's again promo from the Chicago run of The Last Ship.

Thirdly, how about checking out the official Broadway trailer for The Last Ship

That's all for now, but check back soon for an update all about Rachel, Sting & The Last Ship's appearance on Jimmy Fallon's, The Tonight Show.

Rachel Interview -- June 2008

This is the second of two interviews emailed to us today by Michael from Belfast.

This interview is more recent -- last month in fact, and relates to Rachel's appearance on the judging panel in Bangor on 7th June.

Quite an interesting piece I'm sure you'll agree, and Rachel's comments regarding older men are absolutely spot on. Ahem.

As with the Oz interview below, there was no accompanying photo, so I've added this one by permission of the Citybeat site.

A big thank you to Michael for sending the links -- we're always happy to hear from our readers!

RACHEL TO JUDGE TALENT CONTEST

‘DRAINED’: Rachel Tucker

Published Date: 07 June 2008
By Staff reporter

NANCY reject Rachel Tucker is back home today – to judge a high-profile singing contest. The I’d Do Anything star from north Belfast touched down in her home city last night, and said she feels “drained”.

“I’ve broken out in spots, my throat’s sore and I’m achy all over,” the 26-year-old revealed. “It’s my body’s way of telling me it’s time to slow down.”

But it doesn’t look as if she’s going to take her own advice.

This afternoon, Rachel will be in Bangor on the other side of the table, scrutinising competitors in Citybeat’s Young Star Search talent contest.

Her fellow judges include Co Down teen Niamh Perry, who was also voted off I’d Do Anything, and Hollyoaks actor Gerard McCarthy.

And after a homecoming party at her family home tomorrow, she will travel back to London to pursue her dreams.

Rachel revealed that she has continued to sing for her supper ever since she was eliminated by music maestro Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.

“Literally the day after the show was over, I started getting calls to come and try out for upcoming productions,” she said.

“In the last few days, I’ve auditioned for Cabaret, Carousel, and Barry Manilow’s new musical, Can’t Smile Without You.”

Rachel’s still waiting by the phone for the results – a familiar feeling after five gruelling months on I’d do Anything.

Her hopes of landing the coveted role of Nancy in Lloyd Webber’s upcoming production of Oliver! were finally dashed a fortnight ago.

She had managed to get through to the final four, but composer Lord Webber decided to vote her off.

Blackpool singer Jodie Prenger was picked as the winner last week – after being backed by Rachel.

The brunette admitted: “I was gutted about being voted off. But there’s no bitterness. It obviously just wasn’t meant to be, and I really thought Jodie should win. Being on the show was also one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. It’s opened up so many doors, and convinced me to keep pursuing musical theatre as a career.”

She calls Lloyd Webber a “lovely man”, and said she is sure he will keep an eye on all the competitors’ careers.

“He was so generous, and no matter how he comes across as a judge, I know he really cared about all the girls,” Rachel revealed.

She now lives in London with fiance and theatre director Guy Retallack – who is 17 years her senior.

The couple met three-and-a-half years ago when Guy cast her in the touring version of the musical Tommy.

Rachel said there’s no issues over the age gap, and has revealed older men float her boat.

“Lads my own age have never appealed to me,” she has confessed.

“Older men are more polite, more thoughtful. They know how to treat a lady.”

Lucky for her then that one of her highlights of the I’d do Anything experience was cosying up to Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney at a red carpet movie premiere.

She said: “It was the showing of his new movie, Leatherheads, at Leicester Square and he was just lovely – really interested in all the girls on the show, and posing to get his picture with us.”

Her flying visit to Northern Ireland is the first time she has been home since I’d Do Anything finished.

But it doesn’t sound as if she will back that often.

She said: “I love coming back, but I’ve got my life in London, and I’m intent on making it.”