Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 1:50pm

Not only will Saycon be on all weekend, but according to the box office, so will standby Katie Adams. Megan is sick...

[MLE]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 1:55pm

Yep. Poor Megan! But I'm very excited for Katie!!!

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 1:59pm

Hilty better get well before Tuesday the 24th..... she is the only reason i want to see Wicked again...... Megan get well soon!

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:12pm

i wonder if megan is actually sick or if she is alowing them to fulfill katie's contract (she is only contracted for a month and is required to get to go on at least once in that time)

[emo_geek]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:13pm

Why only a month?

[JACXR71]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:13pm

If you have the chance, go see Katie! I thought she was phenomenal...kind of has a Reese Witherspoon thing going for her.

[PJ]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:30pm

She's gone on already for Megan.

This is the first real batch of absenses for Hilty. The only time she's been out was when she took two days off for personal reasons. Her attendance up until now has been spotless. And I did notice on Eden's opening night, this past Tuesday, she had a little something in her throat. She still sounded great, but there was definitely something going on.

[MLE]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:31pm

Katie's contract got extended. Fortunately she'll be around longer than just a month.

[emo_geek]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:31pm

Actually Eden had a prior thing this weekend and thats why she is out....what you heard was probably nerves.

[PJ]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:34pm

No, no. I was talking about Megan. Not Eden. She sounded phenomenal.

[admanrich]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 6:32pm

Megan definitely deserves a break even if she's sick.
She's been out maybe 5 times tops since May. Pretty impressive record.

[NJRae]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 8:41pm

You know, I saw the show on Wednesday and while I think Megan was phenomenal, I also thought I heard something funny in her voice a couple of times. Never having seen her before I thought maybe she just couldn't quite hit some of the notes but now hearing that she isn't feeling well it makes sense!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:02pm

i LOVE it when standby's get it in their contracts to go on at least once a month! thats SOO smart!

[SirLiir]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:22pm

Haha Andrew. I didn't know you could put that in a contract.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:24pm

you can put ANYTHING in a contract as long as all parties agree to the terms!

[HBG]

Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:32pm

Actually, Megan took off 2 days the weekend before Thanksgiving for personal reasons, but was out the rest of Thanksgiving week (until the Saturday after Thanksgiving) because she was sick. But she still has a phenomenal attendance record...I need to find out whatever she does to stay healthy, because Sho and David were sick a lot, and Megan never seemed to catch it. I hope she feels better soon!

[Anakela]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 12:21am

won the Wicked lotto tonight (Sat 1/14) for double understudy night- Saycon in for Elphaba, Katie Adams in for Glinda. I *loved* Katie Adams on the Wicked tour- I actually liked her a little better than Kendra- so it was so great to see her again! And Saycon, who I was seeing for the first time in this role- amazing. I love the... dramatics, is that the word that I am looking for? the emotion that she brings to the role of Elphaba. Her Act I is a little quiet, she wasn't doing quite the belting that I've seen/heard others do, but her looks, her mannerisms, she completely makes you root for Elphaba. And then remember what I was saying about the not so much belting? Well her No Good Deed- oh. my. god! So incredible. I actually found myself going "wow" during the song, because- well, wow!!

It looked like the One Short Day costume change took a couple of seconds longer than normal or something, as Saycon's "there are buildings..." line was sung while they were still offstage, and Katie ran out a couple of secs after Saycon appeared. But other than that small quibble the show was great! It was also fun to see Derrick Williams and Carol Kane again, and I really like the new Nessarose too.

AND, I finally got to see Ben Vereen as the Wizard!!

Although I am starting to feel like a jinx, as I missed Eden in L.A. and now I am missing her in NY too. :)

[GretchaSketh]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 12:37am

I was there tonight as well! It was an amazing show and really one of the best I've seen in a LONG time!!! I thought Katie's performance was FLAWLESS!!! She is a beautiful Glinda and really plays the role differently than other Glindas! It was my first time seeing Saycon and I LOVED her! I thought she was amazing. I actually liked seeing both understudies together! They are great together! If you get the chance to go tomorrow DO IT!!! I guarantee you, you WONT be diappointed! For the firt time in a LONG time I thought it was actually worth the $110!!! (this is excluding the tour of couse...well Stephanie J. Block! and a few of the other cast members!)

[Elphabuff2]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:14am

I am glad to know the two of them worked well together. It's amazing to think that chemistry, or at least the appearance of it, can develop so quickly (that wasn't meant to be so negative).

[stage_door76]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 3:08am

I'm really wary about seeing Eden and Megan together. I don't know why, I can't explain it.

I think I just have to get used to the combination. Hope the show stays in great shape this year after it's (debatable) decline in performance standard towards the end of 2005.

[emo_geek]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:27am

Oh Eden brings it up.

[PJ]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:01am

As I said in my review of the new cast earlier this week, the show feels brand new. Eden, Carole, Derrick, and Cristy bring the show back to life. It was on autopilot for a while, but now it's back and just as exciting as it was the day it opened. Eden is, in my opinion, the best Elphaba yet. And Megan Hilty makes for an outstanding Glinda.

[lfae]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:24am

Eden is, in my opinion, the best Elphaba yet.

It makes me so happy to read that :) (especially when it wasn't written by me )

[PJ]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:28am

Eden is legitimately my favorite Elphaba. I've seen all the actresses who've done the role in New York, except for Kristy Cates, and she's by far the best. No one, not even Idina, captured the character part of the role and sang the hell out of the score. Miss Espinosa does both of them flawlessly and she is in for one incredible run this year.

[Kev]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 9:38am

Agreed PJ. Wicked feels like an "event" again.

copied below are a few comments I posted elsewhere...

===
Caught the evening show on 1.11 (my 8th visit), and it was so refreshing...

Eden Espinosa has improved on an already solid performance. The go-round she's added more nuance to the character and is less "in the shadow" of Idina. She seems to have gained an even greater confidence in her performance, but not one that is diminishing to her character portrayal (Shoshana simply came on too strong character-wise for my taste and was pretty unsympathetic). Eden's Elphaba was intelligent and vulnerable, but capable of a bolder, edgier front when the role called for such transitions. Of course Eden's vocals were definite highlights; raw, rich, and limitless. Her "Defying Gravity" is always astounding.

Carol Kane fit Madame Morrible to a T (and it was nice to actually see the full-time Morrible this time *ahem). While her diction could be better, her line deliveries were sooo refreshing and she seemed to be having a ball with the role.

I can't say Derrick Williams is the strongest account of Fiyero (Norbert just set the bar so high for the thin role), but he's a definite improvement over the travesty David Ayers. Derrick hit his marks and exuded charm, a pleasant performance.

Cristy Candler is finally back where she belongs, and I found her much more effective as Nessa than Federer. Having caught Candler back when she was an understudy, it was lovely to see a more endearing portrayal. Her Nessa was genuinely thankful and heartfelt in the first act, and appropriately caustic in the second.

Overall, a fine time to revisit the Gershwin. I found all of the replacements to be improvements from their predecessors.