This weekend, Wicked's Jordan Litz did the unthinkable. With less than half a year of training under his belt, he ran the New York City marathon the morning of November 2, right before jumping headfirst into two back-to-back performances as Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway.

The athletic feat was awe inspiring, with Litz capturing national attention as he was invited to appear on The Today Show, name dropped on Saturday Night Live, and plastered across marathon coverage across the city. 

For Litz, however, it was a simple act of proving to himself just how much he is capable of, in the name of raising money for Broadway Cares. Litz ran the marathon—his first—in 3:40:53, before zipping over to the Gershwin Theatre for a 2 PM matinee and 7 PM evening performance.

After a well-deserved Monday off to rest and recover, Litz caught up with Playbill to talk about his experience, his superhero wife Julie, and how training for the marathon reconnected him to his past as an Olympic level swimmer. 

How are you doing?!

Jordan Litz: I'm ok! It's been a lot. It's been very unexpected, but it's honestly been an honor.

This was your first time running the New York City Marathon, wasn't it? 

Litz: Yes, and I've never run a marathon anywhere else either. I have never run 26.2 miles, not even in training. The highest I got up to before Sunday was 22 miles. I really only took up running seriously this year, and I wasn't planning to run the marathon, but then I connected with Broadway Cares and became a part of their team, and one thing led to another, and here we are.

Do you have a count yet on how much you raised for BCEFA?

Litz: Just under $21,000. I think it's about $20,850.

Incredible! What was your life balance like, in terms of preparing for this? Did you decide to do this a year out, eight months out, six months?

Litz: I connected with Broadway Cares about six months out, so I started really seriously training about five months out. And it was tough trying to do eight Broadway shows a week, with a two year old, living in Jersey, commuting into the city every day... it was not easy. Most of my runs I had to do in the middle of the day in the summer, at the peak of the heat, when it's 95 degrees outside and 85 percent humidity, because my schedule just didn't allow for me to run in the morning like normal runners do, because I'd get home from the show at midnight or so, and then wake up with my girls and try and spend time with them, and only when Greta went down for her nap at 1 PM would I be able to go out in the peak heat of the day and do my runs. So I had great heat training under my belt—but I do not recommend training that way.

What was it that drew you to this particular way of supporting Broadway Cares versus something less time and exertion intensive?

Litz: Well, it combined a lot of my passions in life, which are Broadway and pushing the limits of what's physically possible for my body. I like to test what I'm capable of. I was an athlete all of my life, and it felt like a very natural transition to go from swimming and competing at the Olympic trials in 2012, to running. They're both aerobic sports, and I knew that running would be something that I could be passionate about, and not give up on. And I felt like people could rally around that with me. There's something special about running the New York City Marathon and then also doing Broadway at the same time that I think is just so special. It's so New York. I've never felt more 'New York' than on Sunday during that marathon.

Did you connect with any of the other Broadway performers that were running the marathon this year? I know Alaina Vi Maderal from & Juliet ran this year.

Litz: I didn't get to, unfortunately! We were all in different corrals. I think that the marathon this year broke the world record again for most runners in a single marathon; I think it was like 59,000 people. So even finding people that I knew personally was next to impossible, especially with no cell service out there and all of that. But hopefully after this, when all is said and done, we can start a Broadway run club or something like that to prepare for the next year's marathon together.

What was scheduling like with your wife Julie, in terms of being present as a husband and parent while balancing Broadway principal duties and marathon training?

Litz: The Broadway schedule is tough to begin with, but I will also say that, because I get to go in later in the day, it allows me to spend a good chunk and a good majority of the weekday with my family. I wouldn't be taking the train into the city until 3:30 or 4:45, whatever train was available. So I get to spend the morning with them, spend the afternoon with Julie while Greta is napping. The weekends are very tough though. Julie is a Wonder Woman. I cannot even believe how she supported me in this, and cheered me on, and really held the fort down in order for me to make this crazy dream possible. And now she's about to partake in her own marathon, if you will. We're due with our second child here December 18, so she's on deck for her own marathon here very soon, and then I will take on a lot more responsibilities than I've had for the past five months. 

The difference between one child and two is immeasurable, honestly.

Litz: That's what people say! They say zero to one is an absolute gut punch, that you can never plan what that experience is like. One to two is really tough, but you've been through it before so you can prepare, and then anything over two just adds to the chaos—you'll be fine. But this is definitely something I needed to do before baby two.

What was it that helped power you through this race, especially having only trained up to 22 miles? When you got to that final four miles, where did you find the energy? What was your psychological fuel?

Litz: There were so many things on my mind over the course of three-and-a-half hours. Twenty-six miles makes you go through so many different stages of negotiating with yourself. The piano came down on me at mile 22, as I was coming out of the Bronx. My hamstring completely locked up on me, and I considered walking off the course, because I could barely walk, let alone run four more miles. But then I thought about all of the people... I had put out something on social media the day before, asking people if they saw me on the course to yell Elphaba's big "Fiyero!" from "No Good Deed" at me as I was running down the street. Hearing them shout that at me got me through those last four miles, up Fifth Avenue, through Central Park to the finish line. You have no idea how many Fiyeros got me through those last four miles. Every single time, it was a little jolt of "You can do this, there's no way you're not going to finish this marathon for them." And then, the added pressure of SNL making a joke the night before about me doing the marathon, and then two shows, and then dying. I had to. There was no way I wasn't finishing the marathon and then doing two shows.

It wasn't just a matter of finishing the race and getting to the theatre though, was it? Once you've finished the race, don't they make you keep walking for a few miles for safety purposes?

Litz: Yes, but because New York Road Runners understood what it was that I was trying to accomplish, they let me do it my own way. I did some press afterwards, and then I walked through the press area and out the side to Central Park West, so I didn't go out the normal exit with the other runners. That said, I did walk from the 20 streets down from the finish line to the Gershwin, because it was going to be faster than trying to deal with the subway or or any sort of public transit. I met up with my wife at Columbus Circle, I sobbed into her shoulder for a couple of minutes, we took a quick picture (which I look horrible in), and then she walked with me to the theatre with our daughter Greta.

Does Greta really understand what it is that you've done?

Litz: She was watching at the finish line. But you know, she's two, and I don't think she really knows what made it different from any other race. But when she's in high school and college, I hope that she and her future sister can look back at what I did and think "I can do anything. My dad ran the New York City Marathon, and then two Broadway shows back to back. We are not limited."

Walk me through the two shows. I'm sure your dresser had a whole cavalcade of remedies ready for you.

Litz: Oh man, Stephen. My dresser Stephen Lieboff was a true superhero that day, he had set up everything in my dressing room. He had grapes and chips and bananas and all kinds of different stuff, and even had a gold banner that said, "You did it!" with streamers hanging from the ceiling. And then he had a little finish line taped up in my dressing room, so I ran in through the finish line, which was so cute. And then I hugged him, and I cried for another five minutes. And then, finally, like 15 minutes before the show started, I was still standing there in my racing kit shoes—hadn't even taken my bib off, hadn't even taken a shower yet—and I realized I needed to start prepping to do Fiyero and Broadway. So I quickly took a shower, and stuffed as much of that food in as I could—honestly, the only thing that I could really get into my system were bananas and Gatorade. Those were the only things that I could eat quickly enough to get into my system, to get calories going. And [Jennafer Newberry], our standby Glinda, as I was walking to the stage to make my first entrance, she took a great video of me just in sheer utter disbelief that I was about to do "Dancing Through Life." That's one of my favorite videos of the day.

In terms of managing the two shows after the marathon, how did you handle your body's come down? What was your blister situation?

Litz: You know what? This is gonna blow your mind. In 26 weeks of training for this marathon, I did not get a single blister, not one time. And I think the reason is that I was so concerned about it, that I took really good care of my feet. I made sure to buy anti-blister socks. I researched the crap out of my shoes. And I had three shoes in rotation throughout the entire time training. I had one race-day shoe, one easy long training–day shoe, and one tempo-day shoe. And they were all tailored to exactly what I needed them to be used for. And you know—the nitty gritty—I made sure my nails were perfect clipped, I stayed well groomed and listened to my body. I think that was the big difference that kept me from having any sort of feet issues. I was very fortunate.

And when you ran out onstage, did muscle memory take over? Or did you have to kind of coach your body through?

Litz: Muscle memory totally kicked in. I've done the show over 1,500 times at this point. I guess this is a humble brag, if you will, but I'm the longest-running Fiyero in Broadway history, and I just relied on all of those performances to carry me through this. I have performed this show in every condition imaginable, whether it's with a messed-up ankle, a hurt foot. I've battled a knee injury for seven years now. I've pushed through so many different things. And Sunday, I just told myself that "You've done this show maybe in worse condition than you're in right now. So just trust and and believe that you can get through this day, too." I didn't actually need to modify anything. I have no idea how, but it was because of the support system that I had around me, from Stephen taking care of me that entire performance, to the cast lifting me up onstage. I was very fortunate.

Did the "No Good Dead" battle cry hit you differently after having people scream it at you all day?

Litz: Man, you know what? I did not even think about it in the moment, because I was being ushered off back to my dressing room to be put into Scarecrow. At that point, my show is basically over. I've done all the singing, I've done all the dancing, all of my heavy scene work is done. I don't have to swing in on a rope, or do anything dangerous physically, except kind of stumble in like a scarecrow, which was going to come really easy that day. The cry didn't even cross my mind at the moment, because it was such a whirlwind of celebration that I had survived that first show. By that point in the day, I couldn't even hear it anymore.

Did the production do anything special for you at curtain call?

Litz: We are collecting for Broadway Cares right now, and during the speech, Natasha [Yvette Williams], our Morrible, made a sweet little announcement about me running the marathon and finishing it 40 minutes before half hour call, and walking straight here. And then at the evening show, Brad Oscar also said something about me running the running the marathon in the morning, and then coming straight there and doing two Broadway shows. And that was so unbelievable to have someone like them call me out like that. The support that I had that day, and them cheering me when I came out to take my bow, it was an absolute dream.

How did you manage the between-show time? Did you take a nap and stretch out, or did you have to keep your body going to keep from fully crashing before the second show?

Litz: Well I definitely didn't take a nap. My wife and daughter came over during the in between to hang out with me. We had some dinner together. I sat with my legs up against the wall, and there's a cute picture that Julie took of me sitting with Greta's head in the crook of my arm, with her legs up against the wall as well, so we're both sitting there trying to drain the blood and pain out of our legs. I tried to relax as much as I could, but then, unfortunately, my adrenaline had worn off for show two, so I just had to dig really deep and find something within myself to get through it. And actually, it was one of the best shows I've done.

Were there any conversations with your covers about who would go on if you needed to make the last-minute call that you could not go on after the race?

Litz: I never talked to Travis [Taber] or Dan [Gleason], but our stage manager Peyton [Taylor Becker] was aware of what was happening, obviously. We didn't speak about it, but I'm sure that she had our understudies prepped and ready to go, just in case. But she also knows that in five years of doing the show, I've only called out a handful of times, so I think she trusted that regardless of what condition I was in, I was going to be able to get there and do the show and do it in a way that I would be proud of, because there's no way that I'm going to step on stage and and do a quality of show that would sacrifice Wicked's reputation, or my reputation. It's too important to me to miss, but it's also too important to me to do poorly.

The slack-jawed fan reaction to your choosing to do this reminds me a lot of the reaction people had when Cynthia Erivo did this while she was in The Color Purple. What is it that draws you to push your limits so far physically, while also pushing yourself so far artistically?

Litz: Oh, man, I've always been that way. I've always wanted to see—probably sometimes to the detriment of my physical and mental health—what the line is, whether it was in the pool or on the road or on stage. How far can I push my body, and what can I create to to satisfy this insatiable drive that I've always had? And hearing the comparisons to Cynthia Erivo is very, very cool. She ran the marathon in 2016 in just four hours, which is unbelievable, and then did the evening show of The Color Purple. But even though she only did one show, I feel like, because of the role that she was in, that should count for two Fiyeros easily. She's such a boss, and I'm grateful to share this achievement, as well as Wicked, with her.

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Photos: Lencia Kebede, Allie Trimm, and the Cast of Wicked on Broadway

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