Can AVENUE Q beat WICKED? Your thoughts... — Page 4

It's interesting to read people's comments about Idina's acting abilities. I have seen two different women portray Elphaba and they both approached it very differently.
The way I see Idina play the part is as a cold, cynical, "Daria-type" girl who hides her emotions inside and struggles with them until Defying Gravity when she finally lets herself free.
Eden Espinosa played the part very different. Eden's Elphie was a bookish, geeky girl who wanted desperately to be accepted but during Defying Gravity realizes that she doesn't need to be.
I don't think one approach was nessasarily better than the other, but they did provide a sort of kalidescope of how the part could be played and yet both reached the same end.
For me, the problem with Wicked's book is that after Defying Gravity, Elphaba's character doesn't really develope. Act One was her metamorphosis and Act Two is Glinda's. And it really should be Elphaba's story throughout. I truly love Wicked very much, but if I had any critiques on the show, I feel almost like it could have gone through a tad more tweeking on 1.)The script 2.)The ensemble numbers.
"Now it's up to you..."

wicked was fun, but i conceed its problems.

avenue q seems so well constructed and smart, and i gathered than from the cast recording alone- im going to see it on the 12th

ive also read the book, and while i dont expect the show to not stray from its original material at all, it was riddiculous how easy they made it for everyone. i dont care what people say about that thread, i agree with whoever suggested that sondheim could have made the musicalization of wicked brilliant.

I've been saying that since I first heard they were making it into a musical - Sondheim seemed (to me) the only choice for a writer of this kind of material. He could have done so much with this book. It is absolutely the kind of thing he does best. I think (and I know I make lots of enemies saying this, but I'm entitled to my opinion!) that Stephen schwartz writes some cute pop-ish stuff, but he doesn't have the cojones to write what a score like this needs. I've never been a fan of his shows, but, taken out of context, some of his songs are fun and likeable. Sondheim has no equal.

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Most of the nominations that Ave. Q receieved are their awards. Meaning they don't have a chance at a lot of them, but the nomination alone stands for something. Does that make sense?

I would argue that Avenue Q has a solid shot at 3 of the categories: book, score, musical. Score and book are obviously firmer, but don't count of the musical category.

As my grandpa used to say, ya never know.

Okay dude you just SUCK. First off, if you had read the book that Wicked was based off of, you would understand the set perfectly. The big clock in the background and the dragon overhead is, of course, the Time Dragon Clock. And Wicked is way better than some piece of crap musical that makes no sense. Wicked will win everything and I'll laugh in your face when it does.

All right, no more sugar for G(a)linda.

I honestly cannot wait to see WICKED in a couple of weeks. So much contraversy over the book and score, etc! Personally, judging from the CD. I think that the music is very well-written and easily memorable.

WICKED is, momentarily, the IT show of my high school. Everyone's reading the novel and buying the CD.

The Clock of the Time Dragon only makes sense to people who read the book. It has nothing to do with ANYTHING else that is happening on stage - that is one of the major problems with this show - it just doesn't know what it wants to be. And the changes to the book are too jolting - it tries to be to commercial and appeal to the masses (which I guess it does, seeing how popular it has become) but it did nothing for me other than to introduce me to Idina's wonderful voice, give me a chance to see Kristin Chenoweth do the kind of thing she does best, and thats about it. I just didn't like it, and I MIGHT have liked it if I hadn't read the book first and been expecting something completely different.

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robbie - did you just contradict yourself or did I? I said that the dragon makes no sense unless you've read the book - if I were sitting there in the audience and had not read the book, all night long I'd be wondering what the f**K the dragon's presence indicated...it is never mentioned in the show and just hangs there rather un-ominously above the set - meaning nothing. I just don't understand the design of the show in general and wish it had followed the book a lot more closely.

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I think Glinda mentions at the beginning something about the Time Dragon Clock told the exact time when the Wicked Witch died. And every now and then they'd say something like "wait just a tick tock". Other than that, no reference.

ok Robbie - I think I misread you or something...its been a LONG day...OY.....and I still have rehearsal after work tonight - Crikey!

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