Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
#0Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 1:50pmNot only will Saycon be on all weekend, but according to the box office, so will standby Katie Adams. Megan is sick...
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#1re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 1:55pmYep. Poor Megan! But I'm very excited for Katie!!!
BwayBaby18
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/19/05
#2re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/04
#3re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:12pmi 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)
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
#4re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:13pmWhy only a month?
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
#5re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:13pmIf you have the chance, go see Katie! I thought she was phenomenal...kind of has a Reese Witherspoon thing going for her.
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
PJ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#6re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
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.
#7re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:31pm
Katie's contract got extended. Fortunately she'll be around longer than just a month. 
#8re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:31pmActually Eden had a prior thing this weekend and thats why she is out....what you heard was probably nerves.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
PJ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#9re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 5:34pmNo, no. I was talking about Megan. Not Eden. She sounded phenomenal.
#10re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
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.
#11re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 8:41pmYou 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!
"I wrote a book: "How to Be Popular". Now I've put together a top ten list of how to help you:
-Elphie, everyday... shower. I mean, who knows? Maybe some of that green is gonna come off!
-Deodorant Elphie. No body likes a stinky witch!
-I think we've covered the hair, we'll get to that.
-Clean underclothes. That's all I'm gonna say.
-Look at your posture. That's no way to be popular!
-Bed made, room straightened. We've done that.
-Colors blended. Oookay.
-But the most important thing to have, to make yourself popular, is to keep your beautiful smile."
~Kristin Chenoweth in her last performance of the song "Popular"
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#12re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:02pmi LOVE it when standby's get it in their contracts to go on at least once a month! thats SOO smart!
#13re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:22pmHaha Andrew. I didn't know you could put that in a contract.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#14re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:24pmyou can put ANYTHING in a contract as long as all parties agree to the terms!
#15re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/14/06 at 11:32pmActually, 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!
"Free from what, Tracy? Free from what?"
#16re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
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
Broadway Star Joined: 6/9/04
#17re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/15/06 at 12:37amI 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!)
#18re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:14amI 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
Broadway Star Joined: 1/18/05
#19re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
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.
"...But Kungurtseva reels off multiple fouettes and the tape is stopped so she can take a bow. The Jester, an abomination introduced to Swan Lake in Soviet times, extorts applause from the audience. The cuts don't help the storytelling, the production is bare bones and they go for the '50s-style happy ending.
The audience cheers like mad at the end. It's the Russian ballet, after all..."
#20re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:27amOh Eden brings it up.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
PJ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#21re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:01amAs 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
Leading Actor Joined: 7/27/05
#22re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#23re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:28amEden 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.
#24re: Both Megan and Eden Out All Weekend
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.
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