For the Wicked/Idina lovers AND haters...

[ElphieZ]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 4:56pm

My friend went to the show last Tuesday...and at the show two amusing things happened. 1) The mics went out for both Idina and JLT after one of their hugs (something got ripped out) and they had to rush off stage momentarily and 2) Idina nearly tripped and ate it when she came out during curtain call. She laughed it off gracefully!

I figured this is the perfect post for the Wicked lovers, who would think the little anecdotes were cute, and for the Wicked haters, who would grin slyly at the thought of Idina almost falling on her face.

Enjoy!

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 4:59pm

hmm it must be interesting to eat your mic...lol

[magic8ball]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:02pm

In my most recent viewing of the show, the flying mechanism malfunctioned during "Defying Gravity" and Shoshana Bean sank back down to the stage as she was singing "...never gonna bring me down...". It *might* have been one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

[pab]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:05pm

And just think, if Ethel Merman or John Raitt was in a show and that happened, it would not be a big deal.

[Swiftynifty15]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:07pm

"And Nobody in all of oz no Wizard that there is or was is ever gonna bring me down"

She floats down

lol it sounds like something that would happen on a Forbidden Broadway type thing.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:19pm

What's a microphone?

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:22pm

"and for the Wicked haters, who would grin slyly at the thought of Idina almost falling on her face."

aw that's actually really mean lol


oh and are those little bead-looking things coming from their heads microphones too?.....

[Matt_G]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:26pm

That's pathetic that they stopped the show to fix their microphones! GOD, I would love to have lived in a time where that was considered unacceptable.

[magic8ball]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:33pm

"lol it sounds like something that would happen on a Forbidden Broadway type thing."

It was HYSTERICALLY funny.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:41pm

Matt_G, when Ziemba's mic went out last year during a performance of NEVER GONNA DANCE, she did not run offstage to have it fixed, rather, she performed the song without mic. Then again, she has the technique and vocal ability to handle that sort of problem. Old school.

[kim1061]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:42pm

hahahaha thats so funny!
and Shoshana went down hah! if that were me i wouldve said something like..jee i guess they can bring me down.
i hope to see some bloopers

[PJ]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 5:49pm

"Idina nearly tripped and ate it..."

Sally Brown, she they didn't mean that Idina almost ate her mic. Saying someone ate it is the same as saying they fell. Or in this case, they almost fell. haha

[TGIF]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 6:08pm

How come there are so many bloopers for one show? Is it that this is one of the most frequently viewed shows by posters on this board or it has now become a gimick that audiences are expecting when they see it so the give it to them?

The thing with Shoshana coming down during Defying Gravity is actually quite funny and ironic.

With the mics going out I am reminded when I saw Aida back in April. Lisa Brescia's mic went out during A Step to Far in the top of act 2. She sang her part without it, then when the light was off her she calmly walked off stage and got a hand-held mic. I do have to say though, despite her professionalism, none of the audience heard her singing without the body mic. I was in the first row still couldn't hear her. I always thought her voice was so powerful, but was that all just with the help of technology? My reason for brining this up is based on what Rath said. Ziemba was able to sing so the entire audience could hear without hte help of body mics and over the orchestrations? Impressive.

Updated On: 12/27/04 at 06:08 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 6:13pm

Yes, TGIF, that is exactly what happened. I was in the position to read the stage manager's report. No one from the front row to the very back of the house had any trouble at all hearing her. Ziemba has power and technique that the much-ballyhooed "belters" of today can only dream of.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 6:16pm

"oh and are those little bead-looking things coming from their heads microphones too?..... "

Yes.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 6:18pm

Good point, TGIF. It happens quite regularly that mics cut out and no matter how powerful the voice of a performer is you can hardly hear them past the first two rows anymore.
With today's technology the orchestra is so loud that the performers have no chance to be heard without a mic.

I saw Broadway Unplugged not too long ago. Everything was 'unplugged' including the orchestra hence the voices of the performers could be heard even in the last row of the mezz. Great experience.

QM

[TGIF]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 6:26pm

I didn't know if I should have given Lisa with the benefit of the doubt because I was two feet away from the orchestra with speakers right infront of me, but she was just as close and I barely heard anything.

"It happens quite regularly that mics cut out and no matter how powerful the voice of a performer is you can hardly hear them past the first two rows anymore."

QM, is it because that the orchestrations are getting so loud or that finding someone with that talent is getting hard and harder (or thier lack of trying to find people with that talent).

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 6:30pm

"It happens quite regularly that mics cut out and no matter how powerful the voice of a performer is you can hardly hear them past the first two rows anymore."

QM, did you read my earlier posts? If the voice is truly powerful and the technique is correct, the performer can indeed be heard.

[bwaymargie]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 7:02pm

"If the voice is truly powerful and the technique is correct, the performer can indeed be heard. "

I understand what Rathnait is saying and I think sometimes Idina sounds like she is just shouting...but how am I to know what shes doing in her diaphragm? On the other hand,one must consider it's probably near impossible to fill the Gerswhin, which is practically a barn and the largest house on Broadway...not to mention it's filled with squealing teeny boppers.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 7:09pm

Yes, Rathnait, I did read your post. I'm a bit confused by it though. You mentioned that you were fortunate to read the stage manager's report... so can I assume that you actually didn't see the performance you are refering to but were just reading about it?

I've seen hundreds of shows and seen dozens with mic problems (some with the biggest voices around). If your mic cuts out during a big song you might as well stop singing. You simply cannot hear them anymore.

TGIF, I think it must be due to the orchestration. There is still some amazing talent around but the orchestra tends to be over-amplified these days too.
They were talking about it on this Broadway Unplugged gig I mentioned. They had some of the most talented performers around and they were telling the audience how impossible it is to 'survive' without a mic these days, how impossible it is to compete with the dozens of mics for the orchestra.

QM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 7:12pm

No, I did not see the performance. But the stage manager's report is just that - a report. It reports on what happened at the performance. If that report states that her mic went out, yet she continued and was heard to the back of the house, then that is exactly what happened.

[Daniel3]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 7:20pm

I have never seen Wicked?

is it good?

is it made to be timeless of is it just eating off the Wizz cult

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 7:21pm

OK, you have a very strong opinion on this incident although you were not present. Never mind.

As I have said, I have yet to see the performer who can still be heard without a mic, competing against a full orchestra full of mics.

If Karen can indeed do it (which I continue to doubt) I will kill to get a ticket for her future project.

QM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 7:32pm

Yes, QM, I do feel strongly. I worked in the Broadway business for over a decade, so I know what a stage manager's report is, and that it is the purpose of same to let the producers and director know what happens at each performance. If a mic cuts out, it's important to report it. The consequences of that or any other problem are reported as well. I don't know why you have so much trouble believing something so simple.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 12/27/04 at 7:43pm

'I don't know why you have so much trouble believing something so simple.'

Erm, because I have seen it hundreds of times happening to other performers. And just because someone who I don't know insists on something I haven't witnessed myself (or herself for that matter, as she has only read about it) will not make me believe otherwise.
And... I don't know why you have so much trouble understanding something so simple.

QM