Wicked Second National Tour Review 3/8

[SoFarAway]

Posted: 3/10/09 at 7:26pm

I'm making another thread because people were ridiculous in the first. Really guys. I mean that it's a review so this is very long. It should answer some staging and character questions, and anything left unanswered can be answered by me (hopefully) if you ask.

There are a few references to Katie Rose Clarke and Carmen Cusack throughout.
____________________
Barbara B Mann notes:
*40 people at the first lotto. I was not expecting that at all. It's only going to get worse I imagine.
*80% of the audience was 50 years of age or older.
*Everyone that won the lotto was older than me lol and I'm a college student. So no crazy flailing teenagers at BBM as of yet. lol I'm sure that will change. :]
*The lotto guy and the director of the theater both raved about the cast, and Helene especially. They love her.

Full Cast (as expected)

NOMTW and Shiz
-Helene's voice is fairly low, but not extremely so. When she talks, at times her voice is high and at times it's lower.
-She looks regal, honestly. I wrote on scraps of paper and that was the second thing I wrote down.
-One thing I really loved - When Helene gets out of the bubble and greets the citizens, one citizen got on one knee and bowed before her and Helene cupped her chin and lifted her head up so she wouldn't have to keep her head down. Really, really nice.
-Marcie sings along to Dear old Shiz.
-Helene does not react to Elphaba. Some Glinda's gasp or cover their chest - Helene does nothing.
-I'm not the biggest fan of Helene's wig. It's sort of long and just curled at the end.
-Marilyn is sweet. Almost too sweet to be Morrible.
-When Elphaba tries to introduce herself to Morrible and Morrible screams, Helene laughs. At Elphaba's expense. This is where I started noticing the Katie-Helene differences. I didn't like that she laughed at Elphaba.

TWAI and WITF
-Oh my. I didn't know too much about Marcie going into this show but she absolutely blew the roof off. I was honestly in awe. She's very different from Carmen where she'll just riff on a random note and it sounds amazing and you think why hadn't someone else tried that?
-I love how excited Marcie acts on "Why not? I'll reply..."
-Helene holds her hands up in a very dainty manner when they start singing.
-Helene slows down the "Unusually and exceedingly..." which is quite funny.
-Both get very close to each other when they're singing.
-I'd say the chemistry is definitely there except for the fact that during one turn they came centimeters from knocking faces.
-Near the end of the song Marcie put her hand in Helene's face and they kind of laughed. Helene stood on her toes to try and be taller. In reality they're about the same height.

Class and DTL
-Okay, so the bitchiness I was talking about - Helene's tone is really mean when she says, "It's Galinda with a Gah..." I didn't care for the tone of her voice there. Then again, book!Galinda isn't that nice to Dillamond in the beginning, is she? So many times I saw how Helene's Galinda resembled Maguire's.
-When Dillamond says the line with "colorful," Helene laughs. Again, I felt, at Elphaba's expense.
-Colin is an awesome Fiyero. I apologize, but he's not feminine. I like the more masculine Fiyeros. He's got a great voice, too.
-While Katie has this adorable obnoxious laugh after "shallow," Helene simple goes "Ha..hah"
-Helene twirls her hair in various places which is cute.
-Kristine says "Galinda incouragarized him" for Boq asking her to the dance. lol
-After Helene and Colin dance, once they go to the side, Helene kept messing with Colin's tie to make sure it was straight. lol
-When Elphaba comes out with the hat Helene runs off to the right side of the stage and just stands there before finally running back to grab Fiyero and go to the left side of the stage.
-Helene stands away from Colin and just watches Marcie dance.
-Now again, Katie will cry in this scene because she feels so bad. Helene just didn't seem as sincere. I believe that she was and she wanted her character to be, but there was just something about how she delivered her "I feel awful" line. It was as if she had a conscious and even she couldn't let someone suffer like that.
-When Helene went to dance with Marcie someone on stage gasped really loud.
-They dance close together. Helene grabbed Marcie's hand a looked at their hands for a few seconds and then up at Marcie for a few more, and then they finally went to the back of the stage. These two like each other, they definitely do. It's just not enough to change Helene's Galinda... at least not yet. She has a very good Galinda... it's just different from what I know.

Popular
-Oh Helene, your time to shine. First of all, the set is much smaller. Some things have to be pushed on stage. The two beds were very, very close together. I couldn't help being thankful that Katie wasn't there because she'd kill herself with the lack of space.
-Before the scene started Helene went over to touch her shoes. lol
-When she says the "Fiyero" line she jumped off the bed and stretched her leg out really far behind her, and then jumped back next to Marcie.
-After the "I just told you a really good one," Helene flops on her bed like she's dead. lol She doesn't move.
-Rubs Marcie's back while she tells her story.
-Helene takes her hand and "woosh"es it in front of Marcie's face for the "tomorrow" thing.
-Helene grabs Marcie's chin to put the lipstick on her.
-Spazzy jumps across the stage. lol
-After Helene finishes singing she got on the bed and hugged Marcie. Aw.
-More Helene spazzing. Her toss-toss is like Annaleigh's. *sigh* She tosses and then flips her hair and does that laugh thing. I'm not a fan. Katie goes "YES!" because she's excited she actually tossed her hair right hahaha Marcie, though, is great at doing the hair tosses.
-When Helene got the wand from her dresser she poked Marcie with it, but I think it was by accident because Marcie was rubbing her arm. lol
-When the frock doesn't change Helene blows on her wand and then wipes off the tip with her dress.
-Oh my, the "You're beautiful." Book!Galinda. Helene said it so that she was honestly shocked at how beautiful Elphaba looked. She couldn't believe how beautiful she was, and how she hadn't seen it before.

Class and INTG
-Marcie tried to toss her hair AND do the laugh afterwards, so when Colin comes he fakes the toss AND laughs as well. Absolutely hilarious.
-Again Marcie will riff in different places and it sounds so good. She's just got such a voice.
-You see the bridge over the stage but the actors can't walk on it. Helene and Colin come frolicking out to the right of the stage while Marcie runs off the the left.
-At the end of the song Marcie tilts her head up to the rain and then hangs her head. Loved that.

Train Station and OSD
-Colin passes Helene on his way to Marcie. Oooh. He finally turns around and grabs her and then she does a little "Heh."
-After Helene says her "Oh, me too," she goes between Colin and Marcie and puts one hand on each of them. I adore that. She goes through her whole speech like that until she does her "Glinda" thing.
-Helene gives Colin the hand a-la Katie, just not as mean. lol
-Marcie is an Elphaba at the train station, perfectly so, where she's shocked at Helene hugging her and a little hesitant to hug her back. She does and their hug is very, very sweet. Helene basically jumps into Marcie's arms.
-They hold on to each other when they pull apart (hi C and K), which I love. Marcie is actually the one to grab Helene's hand when they're pulling out of the hug. Another very sweet hug and they hold hands waiting to run off stage.
-I'm impressed with the costume change since things just started, but they were right on time.
-Again, they hold hands.
-Marcie riffed on "enjoy." Again, what? But it was gorgeous!
-Before Marcie does her speech with "I want to remember..." she stares out into the crowd and plays with a strand of her hair. I loved that. When Helene went over to her Marcie grabbed her hand.
-They don't hold hands going out to Wizomania, but once they go on stage they held hands and then broke apart to dance.
-Small stage, no pretty vines going off to the sides - No mass of green lights. You only have the green lights from the stage. So sad.
-Marcie and Helene held hands after the picture and laughed before going to their respective sides of the stage.

Wizard and DG
-Helene holds onto Marcie and screams when the Wizard head starts moving. She tried to hide behind Marcie.
-Katie is so, so excited when she sees Elphie meeting the Wizard. Helene is excited, too, which I love. She has this big smile on her face.
-For "prove yourself," Helene smacks Elphaba's behind with her purse (hi Kendra).
-When Marcie is doing the spell Helene tries to go to her and Morrible makes her stop.
-When Marcie sees what has happened to the Monkeys she covers her face. I love that.
-Helene stays next to Marcie when she sings to her at the beginning of DG. She doesn't turn Marcie to face her. Marcie holds on to Helene and is very sweet in the way she pushes her away. I like that.
-Again, hello Marcie, your voice is amazing.
-Marcie covers Helene's hand on the broom.
-Marcie really grabs onto Helene when they're singing "I hope you're happy..." Not just her hand, she grabs her whole forearm. Very nicely done with their goodbyes and quite emotional.
-OMG Helene. Wow. Helene tries to follow Marcie back to the lift! I've NEVER seen that! She gets through the rolling doors!! When the guards come she turns around and they grab her. Major points for Helene.
-Amazing DG. I have a new voice to love. And the ovation she got? Insane. Ft. Myers fell in love right there.
-Helene puts her hand over her chest when Marcie flies, and then reaches out to her. Marcie reciprocates and stretches her hand out to Helene. Again, major Helene love there. So different from Katie, but I love it.

Act Two

Thank Goodness and WWOTE
-I can't see her facial expressions and that's always a clincher for me in terms of Glindas. I can only go by her acting.
-Colin is awesome in this scene. When the citizens are going on - "I hear she has an extra eye..." - he looks at each person who sings about Elphaba. He's obviously not happy with what they're saying. While this is going on Helene was kind of fidgety. She had a hand across her chest.
-Helene does a different sort of note for "true" in the song.
-I could hear it in her voice that she was upset, so I was very happy with that. If I could hear it other people who can't see her face know that Glinda is upset with how things have turned out.
-Helene cut the end note short.
-I love how Kristine gets to her feet. I know it may seem frivolous, but most Nessa's lift that one leg up after they've fallen over and they're trying to stand, and that's it. The other one follows suit and she stands. Kristine, though, lifts that first leg up and then positions the second one under her as well before she stand up.
-Ted dropped the knife when he saw that Nessa could stand. It clanged on the stage. lol
-Marcie's head was down while Boq was singing to Nessa, but once he mentioned Glinda getting engaged Marcie lifted her head up to look at them.
-Marcie is very caring to Nessa, like Carmen, when she grabs her head with her hands and kind of strokes her hair.
-Marcie pushed the wheelchair behind the closet for a few seconds and then pushed it over to a curtain that hangs on the stage. I kept watching to see if the curtain moved but it never did. A different change somehow, but it worked.
-When Marcie was going to leave Kristine whimpered, "Please don't leave me." I loved that.

Wizard and INTG Reprise
-Marcie's voice is pained when she says, "Don't you think I wish I could..." but then angrier at "No one believed in you more than I did." Understandably so.
-Marcie yells/sings "Fly Monkeys!" really loud. Aw.
-Marcie nearly got stabbed by a wing. Thank God we avoided that disaster. One Monkey was dancing around her and she yelled out "Oh!" and turned away quickly.
-Marcie points her broom out at the guards and Fiyero in self defense, drops it when she recognizes Fiyero, and then points it back up again when Fiyero silences her, as if perhaps she's wrong and it's not the Fiyero she remembers. ("Fiyero you frightened me. I thought you'd changed...")
-Marcie meets Helene halfway in the hug.
-Helene is very angry at the situation with Elphaba and Fiyero.
-Katie stands and stares off in the direction Elphaba and Fiyero went; Helene walks forward to the front left side of the stage and just stares out sadly. She doesn't want to confront Morrible and the Wizard and tries to turn away from them. She kind of brushes Morrible off when she asks if Elphaba had been taken into custody.
-Oh Helene. After Helene delivers the line about using Elphaba's sister she hangs her head. I love it. Awesome acting by Helene.
-Very beautiful INTG. You could see Marcie and Colin already on stage waiting to come on and do their song.

ALAYM, Catfight, and NGD
-Colin, again, is wonderful. I don't like the grabby Fiyeros and he's nothing but gentle. Very sweet. Their voices blend nicely as well.
-When Marcie comes out with "What a touching..." Helene is very angry in her first few lines. Very.
-However, once Marcie kneels down to pay her respects Helene goes "Elphie? Ohh Elphie..." It was so sweet. She caved. The anger completely melted away and the "ohh" was especially lovely.
-When Helene goes through the twister story she sounds as if she's just making things up as she goes. lol
-There's something about the way Helene says, "Don't you see? He..." It's like she knows what's going to happen to this man she had really cared for, and even though she didn't mean for anything to happen to him something is going to happen, and it's her fault. It's like she's seeing right before her eyes how her mistake is folding out. Elphaba has run off and Fiyero is in custody.
-So there is no stand for the Grimmerie. Poor Marcie has to hold the Grimmerie in one hand, meaning that she can only use one hand to act out the spell. When she's done she closes it and hands it to Chistery who has huddled off to the right part of the stage. You can see him.
-Awesome performance. I'm still so, so impressed with Marcie's voice. I could literally hear people gasping around me.
-Marcie riffed on "Again."
-Marcie threw her hand out to the front of the stage at the end of the song and then left pretty quickly.

MOTWH, Kiamo Ko, and FG
-After Boq's speech Helene points her finger at Boq and yells, "What? NO! That's NOT how it happened." She was awesome.
-There is no side part of the stage where Chistery can perch. Instead, a stone-like well is pushed onto the stage (hello Maguire - Liir, Kiamo Ko, well). Chirstery huddles by the well and gives Marcie the note that way.
-Marcie drops the note in a bucket on the well structure.
-For "But I do. Promise me..." Marcie grabbed Helene's arms to try and make her understand.
-Helene's voice is beautiful singing here, as is Marcie's.
-Wow. Emotional. Right before Marcie sang "And just to clear the air..." she reached for Helene and brought her really close because I think she was starting to get upset. At this point, the Elphabas walk forward. I've only EVER seen one Elphaba NOT walk forward, or away, and that was Carmen on her last show because she wasn't going to let go of Katie. So for Marcie, she walks forward as planned but Helene walks forward with her, still in Marcie's grasp. Never seen that. It was so sweet. Marcie was patting Helene's hand in that part of the song.
-They never let go of each other through the rest of the song. Marcie, again, grabs forearms, not just hands.
-Both were emotional at the end so the hug timing was perfect.

Melting - Finale
-Helene's first "Elphie" was so hopeful. Painfully so. There's such innocence there like she was really going to see Elphie as the curtain was being pulled back. Because of that innocence Elphaba's "death" was even more heartbreaking.
-Helene imitates Morrible's accent when she goes to send her away.
-So the well that's on stage - Marcie comes out of an opening at the front of it. (Not the well itself lol)
-Their voices blend very well in the finale and Helene's notes were very pretty.

Curtain Call
Probably the sweetest curtain call I've ever seen. First of all, the stage is small so the doors don't even open all the way. Marcie and Helene can get through them, though. When they walked off to the side to bow Helene just kept putting her hands out to Marcie. Aw. Their hug was so sweet. They kind of ran at each other and Marcie was pulling Helene to her so much so that I think she lifted her off the ground. lol Marcie was dancing as the curtain was going down. lol Both girls are so excited to be there and perform. You can really tell.


So my thing with Helene. The thing is, I think Helene's initial acting choices make her transformation all the more meaningful. That's what I've decided. She's a very good Glinda. At least I think. She's no where near Katie, though, but I love Katie. I'll have a much better opinion of her when I can see her facial expressions throughout the show, but so far, well done Helene. :]

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 3/10/09 at 7:31pm

I'll say it again on here. Great review and so detailed. Can't wait to see Helene as Glinda and to see Marcie as Elphie again.

Ok so it was a lil different this time.

[brandontwin2]

Posted: 3/10/09 at 8:09pm

I am so excited to see this cast, but I think I am somewhat more excited to see their understudies.

[florida theatre kid]

Posted: 3/10/09 at 9:43pm

So glad to hear Helene was so great!! It's nice to see Wicked brought in some fresh, new talent with her.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 3/10/09 at 9:44pm

I saw Marcie on Broadway and simply adored her. From what is sounds like, it seems Helene is channeling a lot of Megan Hilty... the low voice, bitchiness, flopping like a dead fish etc.

[ChiSquared62]

Posted: 3/11/09 at 12:55am

bt2, you should be excited to see the understudies, as am I! Michelle (London...u/s Glinda) is the sh!t.

[provocation]

Posted: 3/11/09 at 4:40am

I saw Marcie in L.A. when she was stand-by for Teal. It's as if she's a new person when she's Elphaba. The difference between her Nessa and her Elphaba is astounding. She has such a gorgeous voice! I couldn't believe what I was hearing! After seeing Eden for the number of times I have, it becomes routine to hear some straining. With Marcie, there was very little.

I think I'm more excited to hear the stand-by and understudy for Elphaba, as well.

[snowskittle]

Posted: 3/12/09 at 10:22am

Wow that is quite a review. Thanks so much for posting such great detail. Hope you will post more in the future.

Thanks

[misselphabathrobb2]

Posted: 3/12/09 at 8:15pm

Thanks for the review! It was great that you really enjoyed Marcie Dodd who Is the bomb! :)

I have a question: was the musical second rate two the other productions? I'm kind of bummed if so since Wicked can't go lower then its standards! I mean, I would rather have them have the complete make over for the show and start later then not have it top notch! I hope it was just for that city!


Thanks again :)

[brandontwin2]

Posted: 3/12/09 at 8:50pm

Yeah, Michelle is my favorite Glinda ever.