What do you think of Shoshana?- Page 3

[liz328]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 11:04am

BobbyBubby -

I must say, your first post in this thread is the best description of the show I have heard. As someone who LOVED Wicked the first time I saw it (and everytime I saw it after that with the original cast), I am embarassed about the new cast. I KNOW that there are more talented Broadway performers than those currently on stage at the Gershwin. Your comment about Jennifer Laura Thompson was right on the mark. While some people have told me that they prefer her performance to Kristin's, I felt like I was watching a Saturday Night Live parody (except less skillfully done)of Kristin's performance the entire time. Shoshanna was mediocre; at least on the night I saw it she hit most of the notes. And David Ayers...arrrrghhh. That was unbearable.
My primary complaint about the new cast is that, after I saw the original group, I recommended the show to a number of friends. Many of these people are finally going to New York now and want to see Wicked to see why I liked it so much. It embarasses me that they will see such a half-assed performance. It's like the producers and the directors realized that they couldn't match the original cast, so they just gave up completely.
THANK YOU for finally verbalizing what I have been thinking for two months now. Now excuse me while I go hug the OBC recording... Updated On: 3/4/05 at 11:04 AM

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 11:08am

I think Shosh is amazing! Lots better than Idina in my opinion.

[Katecab99]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 11:53am

shoshana is not my favorite performer of all time, but considering the fact that she had to fill idina's shoes (HUGE, well-deserved tony winning shoes), she has to be given some kind of credit. although i don't particularly like the way that she plays the character of elphaba and although i think she lacks in stage presence, she has a very good voice. for those of us who are long standing idina fans, no one will ever be as good, but we have to deal with what we are given.

as far as JLT is concerned - i think the girl is amazing. although she portrays glinda in a much different way and doesn't have the same type of voice as kristin, she has fantastic presence and a very beautiful voice of her own. i am so bummed by the fact that she's leaving soon (hopefully she will extend for a month, even though i already have a ticket for her last show...)

i think the bottom line is that very few of us (although i'm SURE there are exceptions, don't freak out on me) on these boards could do what these two girls do 8 times a week. and for that reason, they deserve recognition for their work and talent.

and as for stephanie block - she is wonderful!! i can't wait to see the tour, but more importantly, i really hope that she makes it to the gershwin to play the role someday! she would be the closest that it could get to having a talent as amazing as idina play elphaba. Updated On: 3/4/05 at 11:53 AM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 12:02pm

You know guys, supporting your opinions would help. I see a lot of praise for Shoshana Bean, but it’s never really much longer than an “I love her” or “She’s great”. Support your opinions, and you might find more people chirping in.

Indeed, I found a lot of the replacements to be an embarrassment. Not that they don’t have their own talents, but some of the just seemed very lost up there, or more specifically, coasted by on what they thought they had to do to be successful. Jennifer Laura Thompson is talented, with a good voice and some comic timing, but she just doesn’t utilize it in Wicked. I hate when actors “phone-in” performances, as they call it, and Thompson’s performance, at least when I saw it, was a definite example of that. Bean’s performance was full of the amateur gesturing that you often see at a community theatre. You know what I’m talking about, a lot of arm movements, half extended arms, and weird facial features. What I liked about Idina, is that she gave a complete performance-a thru line for her character and allowed the audience to fall in love with her. Bean is unable to do this, and instead plays Elphaba from song to song, resulting in a half-baked performance, again, similar to amateur theatre. She’s not a bad singer, she just doesn’t know how to use her voice to evoke emotion and sympathy from the audience. She would be a great pop singer, or even more specifically, great on American Idol or in the background of some pop/R & B group. It didn’t help her that David Ayers is one of the most incompetent singers/actors around. Seriously, I covered my ears when he sang “As Long as You’re Mine”. I’m not even kidding. Ugh.

Posted: 3/4/05 at 12:13pm

I saw one of her first performances. I also had seen Idina twice. I loved her performance and think she deserved the Tony!

I think they both are powerful singers and put a GOOD personal spin on the songs.

Why I liked Shoshana is that she was totally her character. From her first entrance, I believed that she was shy and insecure underneath and just portrayed harsh as a way to deal. In the book scenes with Dr. Dillomand (sp?) and with Feiro (sp) and the lion cub, I believed her.

As the show progressed, I saw her changing and becoming stronger and "wicked"-for all the right reasons. During No Good Dead there were strong choices to become what she did.

And...just for conversation...why do so many posters have to say X is way better than Y...Y sucks! I love going back to see shows and seeing new actors make new characters come to life.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:35pm

I've seen Shoshana four times as Elphaba and was one of the people going into the show having had very high expectations as the vibe around her on this board and from friends couldn't be ignored.

She disappointed me. Her voice is good but nothing special in my opinion. For example, out of the four times I have seen her she had to interrupt notes such as 'again' at the end of No Good Deed and pick it up again because she simply didn't have the 'strength' to hold it for that time. I also think she sounds nasal occasionally.

Someone mentioned on this thread that her portrayal of Elphaba is very different to Idina's, comparing Idina to being bitter and Shoshana to trying to be younger. This is very true and this is one of the reasons I had problems with Shoshana.
Her Elphaba never really gets upset, p*ssed, angry or anything, she never really shows any emotions and her voice doesn't do her any favours when it comes to bringing across these emotions either.

Her voice is a lof 'softer' than Idina's, so when she sings notes such as 'bring me down', they don't have this anger and emotion attached to it. Yes, she sounds good but I was hoping for a bit more force behind these notes.

Lots of people criticize Idina for over-acting on stage and therefore prefer Shoshana.
Yes, Idina was more emotional on stage but has anyone seen what Shoshana is doing with her arms during No Good Deed? They are all over the place... last time I saw the show I had 5th row orchestra and was worried that she'd poke my eyes out with them. She almost knocks herself out.

I'm surprised to see that JLT is not liked that much on this thread. I always found her performance to be spot on. Her comic timing is great, she's funny (although sometimes over the top) and her singing voice is lovely too. I prefer her to Kristin because I felt Kristin was playing too much 'to' the audience. JLT is obviously out there trying to make the audience laugh too but is less obvious in that attempt than Kristin.
The winking at the audience (one of Kristin's trademarks) really got on my nerves after a while.

Having said all that, I actually haven't seen the new cast and not seen Shoshana since January. A friend of mine who was as unimpressed with Shoshana as me saw the show again this week and mentioned how much Shoshana improved.
I definitely need to return soon as I'm curious to see how David Ayers and Jeffery Kuhn are doing.

QM

Updated On: 3/4/05 at 01:35 PM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:44pm

if you are sitting front row everything in theatre will look over the top. quite frankly, if it doesn't, something is wrong. The actors has to make all of her/his emotions big enough for the little old lady in the last row to see them.

I have heard clips of Shoshana and have seen the video on Bway.com. To me, even during DF and No Good Deed, she seems too young.

I hope that all of those who said Idina was bad, etc. see Shoshana and realize how good Idina was - how perfect. As Matt said, Idina made the role hers. That's what you gotta do.

JLT is also amazing because she acts the role instead of just being the blonde girl as KC was. Both KC and JLT are great. JLT is just easier to listen to.

Hopefully I will be going this week and will post a review.

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:39pm

I do love Shoshana's voice, though.

[Merrydothe]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:32pm

I think I posted a bit about this before. I really felt like I gave Shoshana a fair shot, I saw her a few weeks ago from the first row, so maybe my view is different. The night that I was there, her voice was absolutely right on. Every was note right on pitch-I was VERY impressed with her singing. Obviously it is very different from Idina, but I felt it was a very excellent change. She certainly doesn't have as much power in her singing, but theres something about it that I really enjoy. I liked her new little vocal turns in Defying Gravity, and her No Good Deed was just awesome. She makes singing those notes look so easy, and this was from the front row. They seem to just pop out without any wincing or pain in her face--refreshing.

This is where my compliments stop. I totally agree with what someone else said about her never getting pissed off about any of the situations that Elphaba is put through. I loved the fact that Idina played her as a bitter "Daria" type of character. Elphaba does afterall transform into the Wicked Witch of the West---I never got this with Shoshana. She remained innocent, friendly Elphaba through the entire show just wearing a black pointy hat. Didn't like it at all--and I so desperately wanted to love her so much, but honestly her acting was just okay. She doesn't fit well into the costumes either-but that doesn't really have much to do with it.

I saw Eden play the part this summer when Idina was out filming that movie, and she pretty much stayed true to the way that Idina portrayed it-in my opinion. I enjoyed Eden's singing probably even a bit more than Shoshana's actually now that I think about it.

Overall for me, if I could put Idina's acting and Shoshana's singing (based on what I saw on the 10th of February) that would be ideal for me. Perhaps not for everyone, but for me. I really look forward to seeing Stephanie when the tour comes to Philly! Updated On: 3/4/05 at 04:32 PM

[gravity87]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:34pm

Her vibrato makes her sound like a musical theatre Stevie Nicks

[Jwei123]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:36pm

no power behind her voice? wow

sketchy comments on acting, understandable, because she's being compared to idina, but just because she doesn't scream "defying gravity" like idina doesn't mean she has no vocal power. in fact, she has SUCH vocal power, it's quite astounding.

[Merrydothe]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:38pm

Sorry that was a typo, i just read it over and realized what I said---I wanted to say AS MUCH vocal power...sorry.

[Jwei123]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:40pm

*phew*...i was like WHAT is she talking about

[Merrydothe]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:43pm

HA! I'm sorry, I thought I caught all the mistakes the 2nd time though. Notice I said I would like Shoshana's voice in my ideal Elphaba? :)

[Benzy92]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 5:06pm

Shoshana is incredible not only as a singer, but also an actress.. She is far better in Wicked than Idina was.. not that Idina wasnt good :)

[msutton]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 5:16pm

Ive seen it twice, once with Idinia and once wth Shoshana, and while I do think that Idina was stronger in the role, I don't think that Shoshana was that bad. Her "I'm Not That Girl" was pretty awful, I must say, but her "No Good Deed" was far superior to Idinia on the CD or in the performance that I saw her do.

I prefer JLT to Kristin. I think she's a much stronger actress, and puts much more character into her songs. She milks the role for everything she can, and not in a bad way.

Ayers sucks, though. Off-key, no character, spoke-sung half of the stuff. He ruined every scene that he was in. His part of "as long as your mine" was worse than half of the singing i've heard in local high school productions of shows.

and the new boq sucked too. he added in things that weren't funny, really messed up some line deliveries, and was flat on half of his notes.

but i think george hearn, like JLT, is much better than his predecessor. joel had the tap going for him, but he didnt really have a character and his singing never had anything behind it. hearn makes the wizard seem almost like a complex figure at times, and it lends an greater air of believabilty to the whole show.

[wickedfiyeroofoz]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 10:23pm

"Her vibrato makes her sound like a musical theatre Stevie Nicks"
thats a bit harsh!....Im not a huge fan of shosh but im going to see her in late march as elphie...so i guess ill see....oh and is Jenna leigh Green in the wicked tour...if not was she supposed to be?

[liz328]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 3:09pm

Bobby - Seriously...your reviews...it's like you are reading my mind. I winced so many times during Ayers' As Long As You're Mine...it was painful.

As far as JLT, someone said she "milked the role for all she could" or something like that. I think that that was the thing I liked least about her. I felt like she stretched things out longer than they were funny. While I felt Kristin's acting, especially in numbers like "No One Mourns the Wicked" and "Thank Goodness" was subtle but clear enough that one could see Glinda's transformation, JLT made me really dislike Glinda. By the end, I couldn't figure out why Elphaba still wanted to be friends with such an annoying person (and utterly static character). Her singing was always on tune, but was never "pretty" or pleasant to listen to.

As far as Shoshanna, while I feel that she can be shrill occasionally, overall she was my favorite new cast member.

[Marlene]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 3:34pm

I've never seen the OBC...:/...though I did see the current cast about a week ago. JLT...absolutely love her. Her voice is very different then Kristin on the CD but I give it to her for acting. Though I honestly can't really judge Kristin's acting since all I've really see of her are clips from TV specials and recordings of like her on the Today Show and specials like that...and well there is so much more then Popular and For Good...Galinda wise...but Kristin seems a little bit stiff at points, going back on track to Sho.

Being a fan of the book and Idina's vocals...well Shoshana's performance really didn't capture the ambiance I was getting from the particular combo I had in my mind. I mean...the songs aside from no good deed were blah (and well the hand movements during no good deed were quite...well I'm speechless...though I do agree with the comment about her taking someone's eye out, though it's not the fact that it was over emphasized but it seemed really awkward.)...and as long as your mine made me like I don't know what...chuckle at the performance alot. I mean if I didn't think David was incredibly hot...there wouldn't be much going for him. And the chemistry between themdidn't quite work...because well it looked like Shoshana was going to smother someone with those arms of hers. She doesn't exactly fit the stature of the book description of Elphaba...and I hate to say...yes, it does indeed deter away from the performance, because she already has lacking vocals and she doesn't look the part. And well I didn't get the angry Elphie vibe from her...it's more like...hey...I'm a bit cynical.

Yes, Shoshana can most definately sing, and I did enjoy the performance...but compared to my limited experience of seeing parts with Idina in it...I really regret not getting around to it with Idina atleast. Quite frankly I think Kristin was a bit over hyped. (Though the whole height difference would have most likely added to the comic relief.) JTL...wonderful.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 7:46pm

Okay, so I just watched the Broadway.com video of Wicked behind the scenes, and I have to say, it doesn't paint any of the 3 principals in a good light.

I seriously think the casting people responsible for the new replacements don't care that they are mediocre. Notice how critics were not invited back to see the replacement cast, probably because they didn't need another set of bad reviews, or probably, even worse reviews than the initial production recieved. While most of the original cast got good notices, and the focus was on the overal structure of the piece, I think if this new cast was reviewed, they would not fair as well.

Really, the original cast brought a bounce to a flawed show. The music is serviceable but unverwhelming, and pails in comparison the the tight book.

Anyways, my point is, Bean is just awful in that video, which I assume was from an actual performance of the show. And Ayers, again, wow he is horrible. Bean just doesn't fill the shoes of Elphaba or Idina in any kind of competent way.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 8:08pm

I don't care for Shosh...I still want to see her!

I think the second cast (with Sean McCourt, Joey, JLT) is the best

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 8:15pm

I think she's wretched.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 8:16pm

Munk, you're being too kind.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 8:17pm

I don't feel like watching that bway video again (wasn't Carole hilarious?) but did she smile or something during some serious part in DG....?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 8:18pm

I think she's terrible, but I don't HATE her. Plus, I couldn't say anything truer or meaner that hasn't already been said.

BSO: What the hell are you talking about? That made no sense.