Just back from Wicked in Chicago...- Page 2

[zoran912]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 3:44pm

I really wish I could get up to Chicago to see Ana Gasteyer. I love her version of "The Stuff." So superior to the LA Cast Recording. I love the G that she takes at the end. So mindblowing incredible. I'm sure her Defying Gravity is much the same. I want to see her so badly!

[PJ]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 4:49pm

Hopefully her interpretation will be brought to the Gershwin someday.

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 4:54pm

I have heard clips of her Elphaba and she can definately pull it off vocally.

[MissNY]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 4:55pm

I'm really excited to see this production, must head to Chicago soon. Right after seeing Kate Reinders in Good Vibrations, my friend and I both said, she would be so perfect for the part of Glinda, I can't wait to see her.
I'm disappointed though that Kris wasn't very good. I never saw him perform as Fiyero, but I had heard great things about him. And I think he's such a great guy. Maybe he'll improve...

[brdwyalicia04]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 6:20pm

I agree that "Fiyero" is a terribly written part, but I don't feel Norbert fell flat in that role. HE made it all worthwhile. :)

[Elphabuff2]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 7:59pm

They need to take Fiyero out of the show altogether. Dillamond can do "Dancing Through Life" and Elphaba can just pull up an audience member or the conductor or something for the surprise ending...whatever, it works either way.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 8:13pm

I actually don't think Kristoffer Cusick is a really good singer. During the taste of chicago concert, his voice sounded better suited for the role of Boq.

[Sally]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 8:29pm

I'm seeing it Tuesday, July 5, and can't wait. This will be my first time, and I'm glad to hear that the new cast is good!

[WishfulThinker]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 11:18pm

I can't wait to see it! It's nice to finally have Chicago get a little recognition.

Ebonic_Singer - where did you find sound clips of Ana as Elphaba? I'm dying to hear them!

[TragicFlaw]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 12:13am

I posted a review of first preview the day after I went elsewhere but never posted one here. It seems people are interested, though, so I figured I'd bring it on over. It's long and nitpicky but was all true at the time.

....

Last night, I attended the first preview of the Chicago sit-down cast. I'll say right off the bat that I am a tough critic of the show now, but it was only first preview! (I keep saying that to myself so you're going to hear it *a lot.*) With that, here goes!

A few random things: The trap doors are back, and that's exciting. I missed them during the tour. Also, the costumes have changed again! There are little changes to most of them and there are quite a few completely brand new ensemble costumes, including a floor length man's skirt (perhaps to keep company with the short one in shiz?). There is smoke again in the time dragon, which was also missing during the tour. Unfortunately the projections are still there but I guess since they are now on Broadway as well that they are here to stay. No giant witch hat in the opening.

The ensemble in this cast was pretty strong, I felt. They were producing a good sound and their dancing was quite nice as well. Apparently I've been told that the same guy who played Elphaba's father on tour is now the guy who plays him in Chicago, and he's a little odd but fine.

Kate Reinders as Glinda was *quite* good, IMO. Her singing is in general pretty strong and she wears the part wonderfully. I did not enjoy her Popular as much as some of the others I have seen, but she did add some goofy operatic vocals in a couple of parts that got some good laughs. I know that in time she will grow into this part perfectly. In last night's production, she definitely held my focus the most.

Rondi Reed as Morrible... I'm not really sure how I felt. She sings the part, which is nice, but... I don't know. She just wasn't really scary or anything. Perhaps at a later date I'll have stronger feelings one way or another.

Gene Weygandt as the Wizard. Blech. Boring boring boring boring. Actually, he dances more than any Wizard I've seen so far, but I still was nodding off during his songs. It's just a poorly written role, IMO. Can't really remember how I felt about his voice so I guess it was fine.

Heidi Kettenring as Nessa. I didn't like her at all. She doesn't sing very well and I really needs to work on her acting.

Telly Leung as Boq. He is the tallest Boq yet. Much taller than short Kate, and Asian which is actually nice. However, and this is just my opinion, but he was incredibly flamboyant which made his role difficult for me to believe.

Steven Skybell as Dillamond. You could actually understand him! Yay! He seems to really have a good handle on how to still enunciate and project through the mask. I didn't hate his song and it looks like he's really putting a lot of care into his portrayal which I appreciate. I enjoyed his performance.

Kristoffer Cusick as Fiyero. Again, I believe this is a very underdeveloped role, but this performance was the worst I have seen of the 4 different actors who have done it. Does anyone know if he has gone on as Fiyero before?? It was...painful. And he looks old.

Last, there is, of course, Ana as Elphaba. Where to start... This was only the first preview, but to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Vocally, this woman can SING. When she wants to. It was like she *didn't* want to a lot of the time, though. She was so weak just so meek throughout her entire performance. It didn't make any sense. Her energy was very low, and actually so was the whole show. Perhaps she was sick, but who knows. She never stopped moving the entire show, really. Anytime she spoke, her body was flailing all over the place to the point that it was beyond distracting. Also, she never showed *any* emotion almost the entire time. I think she smiled maybe twice, but otherwise just gave everyone this really blank stare the entire freaking show. She has no chemistry with anyone which is a big problem, and... I don't know. To think of this lady who I've seen do all these goofy things on TV and then see her in this show and she does *nothing*... It was very strange. Especially when she goes to sing Defying Gravity... nothing. Still on that same blase level as everything else. She never got her feet covered either so you could see her standing there and she cracked very loudly on the highest note (nerves?) so it just wasn't very good. As Long As You're Mine was probably her best song. I think that with some work, she will definitely improve. Vocally I think she's fine. But it takes more than that to carry this role.

For those who care, Ana sounds *a lot* like Idina when she sings. Almost to a freakish degree sometimes, except in I'm Not That Girl, she can't really hit the low notes. She backs off them like a lot of people do on high notes so that you can't even hear them. Kate, although wonderful as she is, can not hit them either in the Reprise. Her final "girl" sounded like a deep belch or something. :-

Oh, and before I forget, Ana's makeup looked *awful*. First off, it looked like it was just slapped on because there was a lot of her natural skin showing around her eyes and the back of her neck, and also it appeared to be a completely different shade than usual. It was very clown-swamp monster-cheap halloween store-green, rather than pretty, transparent green. And, no offense to her at all, but she, too, looked much older than I would have hoped. I mean, as you age, even the structure of your face starts to change and there is really no amount of green makeup that can mask that.

Overall, I'd call this performance sub-par. The audience seemed to eat it up so perhaps I was just being too critical. I know I was nitpicking, but I've seen it enough with terrific performances that... eh. We will see how they improve over time. After all, it can only get better, right??

....

If what others are saying turns out to be true, then that's really good news, because it sounds like they are getting better already! Good for them!

[breakneckspeed]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:42am

Dude...

It was their first preview.

Good lord! Their FIRST time in front of an audience! If you want to write reviews -- this is not a fair time to judge anything.

Boo.

I hate reviews of first previews -- like "oh -- I got there first and THIS is how it is"...And yes, if you were positive it would be a bit different -- but it wasn't -- so this is my response...if you want to be hyper critical, go back after they've had at least a few days in front of an audience? Simply not fair.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:44am

You're kidding?? you were at teh same show as me?! and you didn't like Kristoffer?! ahh...Love that boy!

Glad you enjoyed the show! I know I did!

[Tirso de Molina]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:18pm

Tragic Flaw --

When you refer to Telly Leung as "incredibly flamboyant" in your review, is that a euphemism?! I mean, it sounds a bit homophobic to me ....

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:21pm

ahhh...I loved Telly! he was an adorable Boq! what a cutie!

[Aigoo]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:23pm

Telly's a great guy in general. A real people person...

[BWW Contests]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:42pm

Guys-- try a little less name calling.... we've been told a lot of the chicago cast reads these threads.

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:47pm

Telly, if you're reading this, I work for The Joffrey Ballet and you are welcome to be my guest at rehearsals, performances, dinners and just about anything else. PM me!

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:52pm

if the Chicago casts reads I'll continue to say what I've been saying:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING OUR CHICAGO CAST!! you all rock :)

[sabrelady]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:57pm

I know the response I had to Norbert as Fiyero. And only when I saw Derrick Williams in the part did I realize how MUCH work Norb did to actually create a character out of the shadow that is actually written.

[zoran912]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 6:57pm

Honestly, I think you are all being a bit too harsh. They are still in previews. You can't expect them to be polished and perfect already. I'm sure Kristoffer isn't even half as bad as you all are saying he is. I've heard him sing and I enjoy his voice. I'm sure that he'll grow into the role with more experience performing every night. Don't be so hard on him, or the rest of the cast. Wait until the official opening night before you judge.

[Susan4]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 7:02pm

I cannot believe that some people saw the same show as my husband I did! Kristoffer Cusick was amazing. Let me say it again...AMAZING!!! I never had heard of him before! His singing and dancing as far as I was concerned was the BEST part of the show besides the phenomenal music! This kid has talent oozing out of him and he CAPTURED the role perfectly! We are 51 year old musical theater fans and this was our anniversary present to each other. Our first show was seeing Yule Brenner in his final performance of "The King and I", so we do know talent when we see it! God bless this kids performance, because he certainly blessed him with talent.
Sincerely,
Susan Owens

[Benzy92]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 7:12pm

Hmm.. you said Ana cracked on DG on the first preview.. well I have a clip of DG from the first preview and she's dead on, no crack at all!

[loudasthehelliwant]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 7:24pm

Benzy has a clip... *considers killing Benzy for this, but realizes that killing you over the internet wouldn't work b/c I'd have no way to rob Benzy of the clip* Such is life. *le sigh*

I'm looking forward to seeing this production Wednesday. I saw the tour almost a month back.

[Susan4]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 7:30pm

Wow! If someone has evidence of no crack where it was stated there was, I think someone just got caught in an unethical review! First hand evidence is alway good. It sounds like some of the reviews of the "preview" (which- is that an oxymoron to review a "Pre-view"..let's think about it!) Reviews are meant to be done with critical thinking after the performers have a chance to develop the performance. Thus...preview....vs. time to REVIEW!

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 7:53pm

Susan...I love you! lol..I agree 100%...one talented man.

I'd heard him sing when I met him in NYC..but last night..I was just in awe! what a singer, awesome at acting such a hard role (hard as in VERY underdeveloped) and WOW he can dance too! ahhh...love that kid.