Macaroni Dad had a chance to chat with Emma, the new female member of the Wiggles, and Anthony (his favorite Wiggle, but don't tell the others).
The Wiggles! “Taking Off” World Tour will visit thirty-five cities throughout North America beginning in August. For ticket information please visit: www.thewiggles.com
Macaroni Dad - Emma So you are the yellow wiggle. Does that mean you are replacing Greg?
Emma Wiggle - No one can replace Greg. I’ve been fan since I was 3 years old, so it’s an incredible honor to be the Yellow Wiggle. We had a great year training with Greg and Geoff so I’m pretty comfortable now.
MD - Anthony eats, Geoff sleeps, do you have a “thing?” or is being a girl enough?
EW - Being a girl is enough. I have a great big bow so that’s sort of my thing. At shows we see girls coming dressed in yellow with bows. And the bows are the same size as mine, so they are absolutely huge on the little girls.
MD - How about Simon & Lachy, do they have a thing?
EW - Lachy is sleepy like Geoff. Kids say “wake up Lachy” now, so it’s a passing of the torch. And Simon is a trained Opera singer, so his amazing voice is his thing.
MD - Who gets to drive the Big Red Car?
EW - I do, I’ve only driven it on stage a few times, so it’s going to be excited to drive it more.
MD - So the “Taking off World tour hits 35 cities starting in August. Will Emma have her own bus? It’s a bit like a girl on the boys football team. How’s that going to work?
EW - (Laughs) No I won’t get my own bus. I’ve been on tour as Dorothy, and there have always been girl dancers, so we are sort of like a circus family. We travel and do everything together, so not so new.
MD - Anthony, how does it feel to have 3 new cast members?
Anthony Wiggle - It feels great. There’s this lovely energy, very much like when we started 20 some years ago. And I get to see everything through their eyes with a fresh new perspective. I love seeing the little girls dress like Emma, and musically it’s quite different with new harmonies and I get to play guitar on stage, like Murray used to do.
MD - What made you want to stay on?
AW - I never thought of leaving. I genuinely love everything about being a Wiggle, the travel, the music, seeing the children. We visit children in the Hospital and brighten up their day, just so much good comes from being a Wiggle.
MD - What’s the biggest surprise about having a girl wiggle onboard?
AW - The biggest surprise is how well and how quickly we all gelled. I am also surprised at how brave Emma is, she’s not afraid of the comedy we do or to put it all out there.
MD - Any last thoughts before we wrap up?
AW - Just that we are all very excited about the upcoming tour and we are thrilled that our new CD is doing great on iTUnes, it shows that the audience is taking to us like we haven’t missed a beat.
