"Jerad as Fiyero-He had an OK voice. Better than Joey McIntyre...but I would have preferred David to him. Jerad made Fiyero come off as being kind of gay."
When I did Grease in stock, we had these fake cigarette thingies that lit up at the ends and looked like cigs, minus all the annoying smoke. That being said, we smoked cloves in Cabaret, so who knows what they are using.
As long as you keep the fact that the show is "based" on the book in your mind, I definitely recommend reading the book first. A friend of mine didn't, and while she enjoyed the show, those of us who did read the book enjoyed things so much more.
I've done it a couple of times,actually. When I did A Chorus Line, I put it behind my ear, and when I did Grease, I put it on my guitar. Of course,both times it immediately went back in the mouth after the songs.
I just came from seeing Steel Magnolia's... I heard horrible bad things about Christine Ebersole, and unfortunately some of them were accurate. Frances Sternhagen is genius, and Lily Rabe is adorable. Rebecca wasn't on tonight, but her standby was great.