WICKED (Minneapolis) 7/12 eve & 7/15 mat.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 8:27pm

I saw the tour in Minneapolis for the 2nd time. I saw opening with regular tickets and then won the lottery for the matinee Saturday. Overall, I was very impressed with the show. I saw the original company in NY just before it opened and then a few months ago I saw it in Chicago. Probably the ideal way to experience Wicked. Bway, Chicago, then the tour.
Each show was scaled back a bit from the previous, which is to be expected.

The set seemed very tight in the Orpheum and I missed the effect of the side units used in NY & Chicago. A lot of the stage pictures seemed a bight squished, but nothing suffered.

We had a full company on Wednesday night and had understudies on Saturday.
Elphaba – Victoria Matlock
Fiyero – Cliffton Hall
Witch’s Father – Christopher Russo

Julia Murney – I loved her Elphie! Her vocals are top notch! I’m a huge Shoshana Bean fan and was very pleased with Kristy Cates in Chicago, and I’d put Julia between these two ladies.

Having seen Kristen on Bway, I was leary of all Glindas to come. I have to say, both here and in Chicago, I was more than pleasantly surprised. (I saw the understudy in Chicago, and could not find her name on the website – they don’t list the understudy for Glinda for some reason.) Freaking fantastic. Kendra is a riot. She has a dry take on the humor that I really like. Her Popular (and the scene before) had me in stictches. She killed me on the part between Glinda’s line writing home to Mom & Dad and before Elphie’s “Blonde”. Her mic was down and only those in the first few rows can hear her say – “I really don’t like her. I don’t!”. Then, Julia went to bump Kendra’s him and she missed it and they broke for about 2.5 seconds – hilarious! And overall, she has this inner laugh that seems to be constantly going during Act 1 was hilarious.

Alma Cuervo – A wonderful Madam M. – Spot on! I love her delivery on “WICKED WITCH!!!” – although it’s not as good as Rue’s version – (Just kidding – Thank you for being a friend). Cuervo is tops with me!

PJ Benjamin – loved him in “Chicago” and I love him as the Wizard. Perfect casting. He is so cuddly and cute and so evil deep within.

Sebastian – I understand why he has this role, and I get the fact that he appeals to a lot of people, but I don’t care for his Fiyero. I found more I liked in Cliffton who was more of a Kristoffer Cussick type. He matched with Kendra and Julia better vocally.

Kirk McDonald is the biggest dork in the world, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Victoria Matlock – I enjoyed her Elphie and she along with Julia had improved quite a bit since the previews I’d witnessed of them. She’d make a great Belle in B&theBeast. A GREAT Elphie. My guess is she goes on for all matinees but I’m not sure. I know she’s done most of them since she’s been here. It may be because of their schedule. They started last Wednesday and have no days off until they leave on Saturday of next week.

The lottery seems to be nicely populated.

It’s funny, but it still makes me laugh the way the audience reacts to the ending.

A nice little funny during the matinee was when the ribbon guy at the top of One Short Day comes on and does his thing. He was there, being all ribbony and the thing got caught around his kneck and he kept twirling. It was funny! Both Kendra and Victoria were cracking up along with the ribbon man.

I’m hoping to try the lottery at least one more time before the show leaves. And I’m still bummed that Shoshana and Megan aren’t here. That being said, I’m very happy we have Kendra and Julia (etc).

[WilliamT]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 8:33pm

BTW - sorry this isn't written too well. This is my 2nd time writing it (I lost the first one) and am super tired....

[ashley0139]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 9:02pm

Glad you enjoyed it, especially Julia (I'm kind of a fan ).

She’d [Victoria Matlock] make a great Belle in B&theBeast

This is so true! I'd never thought of that. I can completely see her playing that part superbly. I saw her the second night I saw the show in Atlanta (saw Julia the first) and was definitely impressed. I thought she has a little maturing to do, but she was great.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 9:07pm

My best friend was there twice this weekend and is/was sooooooo excited She basically said the things you did... Thanks for sharing

[WilliamT]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 8:55am

I agree - she does have a lot of maturing to do. She didn't seem as jaded as Elphaba should be. But with time she'll get there.

Something else I forgot to mention - the percussion for this show is fantastic! I was in the front row and sat right by the percusionist. Unfortunately, it's very overpowering right there. They don't have it curtained off or anything. So you get random blasts of whistles and bells and clacking water sticks. It all sounds very nice but at one point during Defying Gravity, he hit these big chimes and I was all, GET THE DOOR, I'M TRYING TO WATCH WICKED! GAH! Something that would sound great and you wouldn't really notice if in the right spot because it would all gel together nicely. But WOW, LOUD!

[AJ--Law]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 1:02pm

Good reviews William T.

I agree with you on the percussion thing too. :)

I saw it last Thursday and was very excited to see Julia. I thought she was great! With so many people saying such great things about her, I was glad to see her and most importantly hear her.