In My Dressing Room... Zizi Strallen
In our new feature, theatremakers reveal five essential items they keep backstage. Zizi Strallen, currently starring as Glinda in Wicked at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, talks Giverny Masso through her dressing-room essentials. Photos: Troy David Johnston
My nebulizer: “My dresser and I call it my vape. I use my nebulizer all the way through the show, before the show, after the show... Old theatres are very dry buildings, there’s not much they can do about that. [The nebulizer creates] cold steam, so it hydrates the vocal cords.”
A picture of my grandma: “My grandma always dreamed that I would have ringlety, curly hair. I’m gutted that she never got to see me in my blonde wig because she would have loved it. She was my dance teacher – my teacher for everything – so I always talk to her. She’ll tell me to try harder!”’
Glinda-style cushions: “I have loads. I have a cushion on the sofa with Glinda from the movie, and I also have a little pink fluffy cushion that says: ‘Am I the drama?’ I was given a lot of pink stuff by fans when I moved in [to the role], so I’ve decided to go full pink with the dressing room.”
Marks & Spencer sweets: “We have a set time in Act II where Madame Morrible [played by Sarah Ingram] and I sit backstage, and we call it our ‘Colin time’, because we’ll always have sweets from M&S like Colin the Caterpillar Softies.”
My pink yoga mat: “Stretching and rolling is a big thing when we’re doing eight shows a week. With Glinda, I’m running around all the time. And it sounds really silly, but doing the ‘toss, toss’ [Glinda’s signature hair flip] over and over can hurt your neck! So, it’s good to warm up properly.”
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