Alexandra Billings on Joining "Wicked" and How "Transparent" Ended on a High
Known as Davina, the best friend of Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) on Transparent, which wrapped up last year, Alexandra Billings is a trans trailblazer who has made her presence known in various media. In 2018, she was a scream in Broadway’s The Nap as a one-armed, malapropic, transgender mobster named Waxy Bush. Now she is the powerful Madame Morrible in the long running smash Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, oh, my!
By sheer sorcery, I conjured up an interview with Billings, and we covered it all.
Hello, Alexandra. I enjoyed you as Waxy Bush in The Nap. That was quite a characterization.
Thanks! It’s was super fun.
Are you the first trans actor in Wicked?
That’s not really true because trans actors have been around for eons. All we know is I’m the first trans person who’s been open and lives in a time when I’m able to speak about who I am and my history. We should just say, “I’m a trans actor and I’m in Wicked,” instead of putting in numbers. It doesn’t mean it starts here. The movement, the revolution, the dialogue, the conversation don’t have a beginning point. It’s been going on for generations. It’s like saying gay people didn’t exist before Stonewall.
And it doesn’t matter anyway as far as playing the character.
No. It shouldn’t anyway.
Transparent series finale premiere.
Morrible has witchy powers, yes?
Yes! She’s the one that creates the tornado that brings Dorothy to Oz and causes all the hubbub.
There would be no Wizard of Oz without her. Do you feel she uses her powers for bad or good?
She uses her power to get what she wants and then other people can decide whether it’s evil or not.
And it’s a fun show to do?
It’s a dream. Every day I go to work, I am thrilled. It hasn’t always happened in every show. I can’t believe my life right now.
Does the show still feel fresh? It opened in 2003!
It feels brand new, and I’ll tell you why. They have an assistant director who’s not kidding. We rehearse. These kids have been doing this for years. We still get notes, have sessions, and new people come into the show all the time. Tonight, we have a brand new Elphaba, who’s making her Broadway debut, and a brand new Fiyero, and we rehearsed with them. I’ve been in a million shows and I have never been onstage and heard the kind of sound that comes from the audience at the end of this show. It’s like being in the middle of a sporting event. That’s a tribute to the amazing cast, but also a real homage to the assistant directors and the director because they keep everyone fresh. No one’s phoning it in. No one’s backstage having a smoke and pulling a ripcord, and I think it shows.
Let’s go from the world of applause to the realm of mass condemnation. I know that you dislike the idea of “cancel culture,” which I totally get.
It doesn’t make sense. It’s a ridiculous thing to say. Nothing can ever be canceled. We don’t have that kind of power. Things only go away when we start learning that we need them or we don’t, not if you make up a word and put a stamp on it—that’s not gonna make it go away.
And you feel that, on some level or other, we’ve all done stuff, right?
Sure.
Did you ever have a dark period?
I don’t think so. Maybe.
You hinted at something on Instagram. Like maybe you’ve done naughty things?
Yeah, maybe.
What—shoplifting? Come on, tell it to the judge!
Here’s the thing. I think all of us, including myself, need to look at our lives and be grateful for what we have and spend less time worrying about what we don’t because success in our country right now adds up to “whoever has the most coins wins,” and that’s ludicrous and a waste of time.
I like that answer. I think you should be in a beauty contest.
I think you’re right.
From left: Alexandra Billings and Transparent co-star Trace Lysette.
Did Transparent end well for you?
Funnily, it ended great because we did the very thing we wanted to do. The musical was our collective farewell, not only to the show but to Maura and her journey. We got to call the shots, meaning everyone in the cast and all the writers had a say.
But wait a minute. Jeffrey Tambor, who left the show after sexual misconduct allegations in 2017, was not part of it.
No, no. He could have given himself the great gift of honesty when that happened—come out, admitted what he did, admitted responsibility, took ownership, and changed the conversation. But that’s the decision he made. Like cisgender men who are accused, they go into immediate denial and that’s where Jeffrey stayed. The show began with a celebration. There was a lot of fear and trepidation, but there was a sense of celebration. That’s how the show ended. Whether Jeffrey was going to come to his senses or not, we weren’t going to go out defeated, and I don’t think we did.
Do you want to continue to do theater, TV, and basically all media?
If someone calls and says, “Do you want to do this thing?” I get in a cab and I go. Who knows? I think the older I get, the more I want to try my best to be of service to other people and less about ego. How can we open the portals for trans people and have more conversations about LGBTQ people and produce more opportunities?
