Has anyone seen the Wicked tour with Shoshana and Megan?

[JamesMacon]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 5:00pm

Has anyone seen the two of them in the Wicked tour yet? How were they? Did they do anything differently? Any reviews...
Updated On: 9/7/06 at 05:00 PM

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 5:11pm

Please post I'm eager to hear about this, too.

[MissElphie]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 5:30pm

I see it one month today.....
I'm so excited!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 6:20pm

I guess this means Megan won't be starring in LEGALLY BLONDE. Too bad.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 6:26pm

She was never going too. I think it was Laura Bell Bundy.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 8:06pm

Well, I live in Memphis and in the playbill to the last show I saw, it said WICKED was coming here. But it isn't one of the cities listed on the site.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 7:37pm

Where did all the Shoshana fans go? I thought for sure there'd be alot of posts about her joining the tour. I'm anxious to hear how it's going out there.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 7:39pm

check out the Seattle board for comments on the show...

[sabrelady]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 7:49pm

Oct 6 in Toronto.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 7:53pm

stupid question - where do I find the Seattle board?

[actormcfamous]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 10:49pm

I saw the show at a matinee last Thursday. I was incredibly excited to see the show - I'm not a big Wicked fan, but when I was in NYC last Thanksgiving I decided to go see it because Megan Hilty was a student with my voice teacher and I've only heard fantastic things about her. When we arrived at the Gershwin Theater last November, I was SO upset to find that Megan was out sick! When I found out she would be with the tour in Seattle, I jumped on the chance to get tickets.

Last Thursday, luckily, both Shoshana and Megan were in. As I said, I've never been a Wicked fan, but seeing the show on Broadway only made it worse. The ensemble was worse, and no one in the cast was very good when I saw it. Shoshana was alright, the Glinda standby (Stacy Morgain-Lewis) was almost as bad as David Ayers, and Ben Vereen phoned in big time. I didn't have very high expectations for the tour last Thursday.

Boy was I wrong.

Let me just say, regardless of having this weird connection to Megan and thus being slightly biased going into the show, she is BY FAR the best part of the show, hands down. She was absolutely brilliant; she is a superb actress and her voice is gorgeous - her soprano is amazing but I was blown away when she belted the crap out of parts of Thank Goodness.

I definitely enjoyed Shoshana's performance more this time. She was obviously very tired vocally, but I still found her voice too pop-y and I felt she riffed far too much - riffing can add great emotion, but I felt she way overused the riffs and thus they detracted from her performance. She did have a wicked (pun not intended) mix though, and when she wasn't riffing, I enjoyed her more belty range. Her acting was pretty good though - she seemed more "on" last Thursday than in New York.

As far as the rest of the cast, I was blown away by Alma Cuervo as Morrible and Jennifer Waldman as Nessarose. Both took very underwritten roles and made them memorible - Cuervo with her spot-on comic timing and Waldman with a fine set of pipes. The rest of the supporting cast was great - Sebastian Arcelus (Fiyero) took by far the worstly written and most underwritten character and made it memorable, and I really enjoyed Christopher Russo, who was on as the Wizard (PJ Benjamin is the regular).

Overall, I found the tour to be in a much better state than the Broadway production. The ensemble was, by far, a stronger vocal cast than the New York one, and the entire cast brings great energy to the piece, which is exactly what it needs.

[actor]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 11:00pm

I happened to be lucky enough to see Shoshana's last performence on Broadway and I agree with actormcfamous. She seemed to be taking more liberty with the riffs as she grows as a performer. Unfortunately, they are starting to cause the meaning and message of the song to collapse and disappear almost completely. Shoshana's last performence was great, but there was almost a riff at the end of every phrase, causing the audience to lose the tune of the song. If riffs are overused, they change the song almost completely.
Updated On: 9/28/06 at 11:00 PM

[misto625]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 11:03pm

Christopher Russo played the Wizard?? Wow this may have been the first time an understudy went on. David Garrison never missed a performance and as far as I know P.J. Benjamin had not missed either, so congrats to all three of them!

[Sillyism]

Posted: 9/28/06 at 11:25pm

I was lucky enough to see the show in New York and Seattle with both Megan and Shoshana, and I thought they were absolutely superb both times. I was so excited when I heared that Shoshana and Megan would be coming here to play the roles, and I was FAR from dissapointed.

Personally, I thought the riffs were okay. They didn't distract me from the tune of the song at all. And, Megan *Squeals* her voice was BEAUTIFUL and she had everyone laughing and clapping, as did Shoshana. Christopher Russo played the wizard at my performance as well and I thought he was very good. Everyone in the Cast made for a strong show in taking the roles and making them great.

I have the pleasure to see it again on sunday matinee *Thanks to Ebay!* and am hoping it is just as good. From other reviews Im glad to hear that the matinees have been just as good as night shows. Even though I will be third row from the top of the theater, I really doubt it could ruin such a great performance.

And despite what people say, call me what you will, I really like Wicked. I like the story, and I will admit perhap its because I haven't see 100 musicals in my life, but I still think its great entertainment.

Eeeee!*Love*