Wicked - 5/31/06 - Review
Wicked - 5/31/06 - Review
#0Wicked - 5/31/06 - Review
Posted: 6/1/06 at 10:42am
This is my first review! Last night was Kate's third performance in Wicked. Full cast. The audience was GREAT (a whole slew of high school field trip kids were in attendance . . . I happened to be one of them 
). They laughed everywhere laughs should have been, and went wild over the big musical numbers. Kate got a huge entrance applause, as did Eden and Carol.
Onto the cast! -
Eden Espinosa - Eden can WAIL. She can get kind of scary, though . . . her facial expressions are kind of jarring when she goes for big notes. "Wizard and I" seemed to move a little slowly last night, but she nailed the ending. "Defying Gravity" was right on, but she seemed a little vocally tired by the end. "No Good Deed" was AWESOME . . . she did a really fun riff I haven't heard her do since San Francisco. Her acting is really, really solid . . . I was very surprised, because I wasn't going in expecting it (the acting) to be as good as it was. She threw a few of the jokes away, but for the most part had really good comic timing, and made a nice, distinct switch between Elphaba at Shiz to Elphaba at the end. All in all, I immensely enjoyed her, but had a weird (and unexpected) feeling of wanting to see Shoshana the entire time . . .
Kate Reinders - Okay, so . . . from what I've heard of Kate in the Chicago production, I haven't been in impressed. I went in last night really wanting to dislike her. I found it very difficult to do that. Kate is really, really awesome in this new venue . . . she really seems to have stepped it up for her new Broadway run. The beginning of "What is this Feeling" was a little off with Eden, BUT her comic timing was very, very good. She did some fun things I haven't seen Glindas do before, but in all honesty, I wanted her to be a bit funnier. She also didn't seem to be aggressive enough in some scenes . . . her aggression seemed really forced. Other than that, her vocals were pretty much perfect . . . I haven't heard all of those high mixed harmonies that she does with Elphaba sound as strong before. Her high notes were there, if not a little weak. She was pretty adorable, and I really enjoyed her.
Derrick Williams - Okay. I wasn't obsessed with him. He has a nice enough voice (he seemed to be straining a little last night), but his acting was kinda eh. He had a major crack in "ALAYM" that was very noticeable to the audience, but whatever . . . we all crack! Again, not bad, but not my favorite.
David Garrison - Funny, cute, pretty much perfect. "Wonderful" was great.
Carol Kane - LOVED her! A truly, bizarre, hysterical, and frightening portrayal of Morrible, which is everything the role should be. Carol was excellent, and I enjoyed every second that she was onstage.
Robb Sapp - Adorable. Vocals weren't as strong as I thought they were gonna be, but I wanted to eat him up.
Jenna Leigh Green - Gorgeous. Her acting was dead-on, she was stunning, and her vocals were awesome. I wish they would let her understudy Elphie on Broadway . . . last night made me realize just how little Nessarose actually does.
Sean McCourt - LOVED Sean . . . truly made Dillamond an interesting character.
The ensemble was pretty on last night, they seemed to be really into the show, and Marty Thomas' reactions to Elphaba in the Dillamond classroom scene made me pee a little . . Okay . . . that's all I got . . . :)
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#1re: Wicked - 5/31/06 - Review
Posted: 6/1/06 at 10:48amGood review. Thanks.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#2re: Wicked - 5/31/06 - Review
Posted: 6/1/06 at 11:58am
This was a pleasure to read. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! 
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
showtunesguy89
Swing Joined: 6/1/06
#3re: Wicked - 5/31/06 - Review
Posted: 6/1/06 at 12:03pmI haven't seen Wicked at all yet. And I've been dying to see Eden Espinosa on stage again, lol. I saw her in Brooklyn and she was freaking amazing. Anyways, your review encourages me to watch it right now, lol. Damn. I MUST see it!
maybe1day
Chorus Member Joined: 5/4/06
#4re: Wicked - 5/31/06 - Review
Posted: 6/1/06 at 12:18pmthanks for this review. i'm seeing wicked for the first time in 3 weeks (my first time in nyc!) and i was a little leery seeing a cast that was new (sho is one of my icons and the things i was hearing about megan were awesome). you helped me out a lot!
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