Joel Grey: Just How Wonderful is his Wizard?- Page 2

[Broadwaylilhead]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 1:49pm

I was trying to be silly.. no one has a sense of humor anymore...

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:12pm

I admitt that I sometimes skip over Wonderful, Something Bad, and Sentimental Man on the Cast Recording. I enjoy Wonderful live. I think it is a song you need to see to enjoy, but not anything you are overly impressed by.

[NYCbabe3789]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:14pm

I enjoy SENTIMENTAL MAN live. They cut out several verses on the CD because of all the dialogue littered throughout the song.

I enjoy SOMETHING BAD live as well.

WONDERFUL always bores me, on the CD and onstage.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:19pm

the "baaaa" is just really annoying hahahaha even though he is a sheep.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:04pm

Disagree re Grey. He did the best with a very small role. Maybe this is why Morse dropped out.

My neighbor was in the show in San Francisco & opted out of Broadway to take another role. I haven' t asked him what part he was to play & see if the Wizards part was bigger in San Francisco

My wife wanted to know why they did not have "I'm melting" on the T shirt. She was told the phrase " I'm melting" is copyrighted & could not be used.When she melts she does not say it on stage. My wife, however did & a number of times I might add. She also, on occasion says it at home when least expected. I love her despite this

Updated On: 2/22/04 at 04:04 PM

[Fiyero5]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:21pm

YOU ARE ALL ON CRACK. Wonderful is a highlight and a very catchy song. At least I enjoy listening to it. It IS a show stopper. Last time I saw wicked (last tuesday) the song was so well done that NO ONE stopped clapping. It stopped the show. The song is nice and Joel's role is very important. HE IS THE WIZARD. For OZ sake people. I think Wonderful is wonderful... just my personal opinion. ; )

[Broadwaylilhead]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:25pm

Updated On: 2/22/04 at 04:25 PM

[Broadwaylilhead]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:27pm

Morse didn't drop out, he was dropped by the production team prior to Broadway and his contract paid out....the part was the same in San Fran- just some lines were rewritten for better clarification of some plot points.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:51pm

To Fyiero 5

Lest you get the wrong idea, my wife & I both liked the show, Mr Grey & the song in question.

By the way, at 57 to old to be on crack. The only drugs I take, by necessity are those for my blood pressure & for an enlarged prostate the size of Cleveland which will be microwaved this summer to reduce it & eliminate the drug I take for it. Isn't that, as the song says "Wonderful" ?

I do think, however, that the standing ovation he got the day we saw it was for his body of work & not for this small role. He was good in it but the show belongs to kristin & idina. He was the show in Cabaret & George M . Here he is merely an actor playing a part

Updated On: 2/22/04 at 04:51 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:53pm

"NO ONE stopped clapping."

Ever? Are they still at it?

[StateOfJade]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 6:10pm

Funny because I thought it was the only song in the entire score that was actually well put together and conducted.

[Fiyero5]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 6:18pm

Mr Roxy: My dad had prostate cancer. VERY FUNNY. ...not.

Finding Namo: OMG YES! THEY ARE STILL CLAPPING RIGHT NOW! THEY NEVER STOPPED!!

Think what you guys want but I feel that his performance WAS wonderful.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 6:23pm

I think you guys are just letting the 'wonderful' song fly over your heads. This is what I hate about younger Bway fans (can't say too much...I am one). They only like the new, catchy tunes and do not give the others any credit. "OMG OMG!!!! Hairspray is the most awesome musical ever!" when the only show they have seen is Hairspray. It gets on my nerves.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 6:24pm

I am sorry for your father. I had no way of knowing.

I made the comment because I have a condition afflicting many men. It is a shame that you have to watch what you say these days. So much for free speech

Again my apologies as it was not meant to make light of your fathers condition. I did not know . My apolgies . I wish him a speedy recovery

Updated On: 2/22/04 at 06:24 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 6:47pm

"Wonderful" is one of the songs that has the greatest connection to the Gregory MaGuire WICKED, as opposed to the Schwartz. I personally like its political import -- though the Bush Regime entendre "liberator ... or a traitor") laid a big egg both times I saw the show.

I think the song can't fully be judged, becauset the scene it's in lacks focus and emotional suspense. Both actors, Grey and Idina, play very LOW STAKES, as if the Wizard and Elphaba's getting together again is no big deal. The act starts with everyone screaming about her flying around like a green lizard, etc. Then she returns to the Wizard, and he turns his back on her, not remotely bothered by what she might do. Yes, yes, we know he thinks she's Jane Goodall, and not a witch, but he saw what she did to the monkeys--and he knows she loathes him--so shouldn't they be more WARY of one another? The scene should be a crackling 2nd showdown, but it's written in a too-glib, casual style. So his attempt -- and brief success at -- wooing her back, should be poignant, a turn in the plot. It's hurried, and the place where Holzman's book (and Mantello's staging) seriously drops the ball for me. So "Wonderful, " good, bad, or mediocre, can't land, because the taught emotional undercurrents are missing from the context for it.

Updated On: 2/22/04 at 06:47 PM

[NYCbabe3789]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 6:49pm

Good point Auggie...I agree that that scene is too casual for what is really happening, or should be happening. I think a lot of it is the writing though, and not Joel and Idina.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 6:51pm

Did anyone here see the show in San Francisco? How was Morse? And the other actors who got the axe?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 7:03pm

NYC Babe: You're right. First time I saw the show, I blamed the actors; 2nd time, I saw that if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.

I scratched my head, wondering why they didn't purposefully pack Joel's scene with more--particularly in light of what we learn later in the act. The Playbill article really isn't accurate. His performance is NOT a class in musical comedy, because the Wizard's role just doesn't register strongly enough in the text. He's so impotent from the first moment on stage -- what's missing is something that would explain how he charmed all of these people in Oz, including (SPOILER:) the lady briefly in the prologue, the life of whom he changed forever. You know, shouldn't the Wizard be ... a Harold Hill? If he's a meek little nothing, how the hell did he become the Wiz? That was revealed far more in the Maguire tale, but the lyrics of Wonderful don't fully explain this man, who we only see fleetingly.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 7:30pm

The story is about the 2 witches hence they have the meatier parts

[QueenS]

Posted: 2/23/04 at 8:20am

I don't like either of Joel Grey's major scenes and I'm not sure if it is a directional choice or a script problem.

The Wizard shouldn't be a cute little old man as he seems to be portrayed the night that I saw it. Both scenes had the exact same arc of "I'm a great guy; let me sing a lighthearted song to get you to side with me; then do something after the song that makes you realize we're not on the same side after all." Not interesting or effective.