Carmen Cusack on in Chicago last night

[little sister]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 11:52am

Carmen Cusack was on as Elphaba last night in Chicago.
I was most impressed with her acting, but her singing left a lot to be desired. She has a nice belt, but her soprano is, well, strange. I'm not sure how I would describe it to except to say that when she went into her upper register I couldn;t understand a word of what she was saying and she sounded strained and airy. Definitely the weakest of the Elphaba's I have seen, although her No Good Deed was somewhat redeeming after a very hesitant, stiff Defying Gravity and Wizard and I.
Seems like this might have been her first time on, though. Does anyone know? If so, maybe the timidness was opening night jitters?
At any rate, having not seen the Chicago company in over a year, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Rondi Reed, Heidi Kettering, and Gene Wygant are still fresh, the ensemble is still excellent and the new Fiyero (sorry I forgot his name, Brad Bass, maybe?) is the best I have seen, aside from Derrick Williams.
Erin Mackey is obviously enjoying being the full-time Glinda, so much so that she seems to almost slow down the pace to milk her laughs. It is a little bit irritating, but she is very capable in the role and has done some nice things to differentiate herself from previous Glinda's that I have seen.
Having seen the show four times now (and I think this is probably it for me as this ticket was a Christmas gift, and I think I have seen the show two too many times at this point!) I still think the best part of Wicked are Susan Hilferty's costumes. I think that they are just incredible and watching them for three hours is just breathtaking and thrilling even the fourth time around.

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 11:56am

Thanks for the review! I believe you saw Carmen's first performance as Elphaba. Because Dee has been out, they've been alternating understudies (Dan'yelle and Jennifer) until Carmen was fully prepared to perform. Hopefully, she gets better!

[musicalsFan]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 11:58am

Yes, first time.
Dee Roscioli in her fan website message board wrote that she was sick and that maybe Carmen will get to be Elphaba during this time along with the other two understudies.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 3:19pm

Very interesting!

I saw Carmen as Fantine a few times shortly before Les Miz went to Shanghai, and although I liked her voice, I found her acting to be quite cold. I was a little puzzled (that isn't quite the right word) to hear not only was she back in the US, but standing by for Elphaba.

[Carpet Stains]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 7:57pm

Hmmm, I have seen Erin Mackey. I don't think she's milking her laughs.

What I percieved her to be doing was slowing down so people could understand the humor, and understand her so that she wasn't talking over laughter.

I didn't find it annoying. I actually liked that about her.

But anyways, thanks for the review, I'm glad I got to hear how Carmen is doing.

[HumATune]

Posted: 1/6/07 at 9:02pm

Wait what? Carmen Cusack is standby Elphaba? Let's just say I can't imagine her in that role.

And yes her Fantine was way too hard-ass.