Kate Reinders...- Page 2

[Lavinia]

Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:26pm

I'm sorry, I loved Kate when I saw her play Glinda in Chicago, but I am tired of them bringing in people who have already played the role. They need to expand their casting instead of just shuffling people from one production to the next. I saw the tour production in San Francisco, and now there is no point to see it on Broadway, as it is almost the exact same cast.

[Sparklesss]

Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:50pm

I thought about that the other day...how difficult it seems to get to those roles (Glinda and Elphie)because looking back a lot of them start in the ensemble/understudy..then hopefully up to standby...then into those roles and it takes years. I'm guessing the girls just really want the roles or they're tough roles to fill and whoever fills them perfers to use them.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 1:48am

well, part of the reason you go on tour or play another city is in the hopes you're invited to broadway. MOST of the time, not in every case...
also, its easier to plug someone into the broadway company after they have played the role and are "seasoned"..not to mention much more economical!
do you realize how much each of those costumes cost?! to have to make a whole new set of costumes, and thats what they do, would be silly when there is someone "waiting in the wings" who is more than qualified to join the Broadway company!
i am all for shuffling, personally..i never would have made it to broadway if i hadn't been shuffled!! Kate Reinders EARNED this.
i am thrilled for her and she isn't even my very favorite Glinda!
PLUS..the show will be different with her and Eden doing it. the chemistry always changes when one of them changes. honest!

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:18am

I congratulate Kate on getting the chance to come to Broadway (I will be seeing her in the show July 11th,) but I can say that I personally am not happy about her being Hilty's successor.

I have "heard" alot of Kate as Glinda, and for me, her performance was just.... boring. Her vocals were fine and she is even funny where she needs to be, but her performance never transcended being mediocre. I felt like she didn' take the role anywhere. Where as Kristin and Jennifer and Megan and Kendra have all done things with the part that were original and fresh, Kate just kind of did nothing with the material... she never came into her own basically. It wasn't that she was bad, because honesty she wasn't, but her performance was just very "amateur" to me.

I am willing to give her a fair chance, however, and hope she improves.

Updated On: 4/18/06 at 09:18 AM

[AugustusGloop]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:11am

Well for whatever reason, somethingwicked, Kate was directed that way. She was never allowed to take the liberties with the role that other actresses have been afforded. I personally think it works, that Glinda does not have to be broad and campy to be funny and endearing.

Part of what made Kate an excellent Glinda was her chemistry with Ana Gasteyer. In real life, they're great friends, and it translated to the stage. It was a refreshing change from past Glindas/Elphabas, whose backstage conflicts are no big secret. So it will be interesting to see how Kate plays against someone new.

And yes, Kate would be a perfect choice for Elle Woods...and she knows it.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:24am

August, I don't know about that. I have also seen and heard Kate's understudy, Sarah Jane Everman, and she makes much more of the character than Kate ever did.

Considering Joe Mantello directed all three production of "Wicked," I have a strong feeling that, if Kate wanted to, she could have done alot more with Glinda. And if she WAS directed that way, my only guess as to why is that maybe she isn't a natural comedian like the others that have played the role. See, alot of what Kristin and JLT and Megan and Kendra did came from THEM. They weren't DIRECTED to make Glinda that way.. they made her their own. That is something I feel Kate never did.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:26am

The one thing I think is pretty crazy about illegal recordings is that people think they can make judgements about performances from them. As if someone nervously palming a recording in the auidience can actually capture what a performer is doing... well enough for you to make a judgement on that performers interpretation... is pretty hilarious.

kmc

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:29am

KJ, I am not basing my opinions on Kate only on bootlegs. I also saw her live twice and her understudy live once.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:06pm

I took your statement

"I have "heard" alot of Kate as Glinda"

to mean that. Sorry! Def didn't mean to offend. But it was more of generalized statement. People DO do that though. It's pretty niave.

kmc

[LuvUrBatBoy]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:08pm

Just to add my 2 cents:

The whole stand-by gets the lead role thing isnt true at all. Saycon didnt get Elphaba when Shoshana left. Laura Bell Bundy didnt get Glinda when Cheno left. The producers can get whomever they want to take over roles (ie: JLT coming out of nowhere to take Galinda.) And if this rule were true, poor Sean McCourt would have been given something better to do years ago. His wizard was by far the best Ive seen out (Vereen, Garrison and Grey were the others)

[anne3]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:14pm

I don't know, but it makes sense to me that they recycle people. They use people who have proven themselves. Everytime you bring in someone new there is a worry that they may not be able to handle themselves. So they try people out as standbys or out of town. Wicked doesn't need big names to sell tickets. But they do need solid performances. And they are going to get them by being loyal to they actors they already use.

[admanrich]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 3:42pm

Actually Laura Bell Bundy was negotiating to take over, but they didn't offer her enough money so she left. I would say a majority of their casting is recycled, but there still casted new people (Julia Murney, JLT)

[Joshua488]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 3:47pm

Right. JLT was brought in because they couldn't get the standby (Laura Bell Bundy) to agree to a contract. I think the producers would rather stick with people who have already been in the show and are familiar with it rather than get someone completely new.

[Horton]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 4:06pm

If you ask me some of the best elphaba's and glindas they were not recycled. Look at Julia, or JLT!
Updated On: 4/18/06 at 04:06 PM

[anne3]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 5:40pm

Julia wasn't recycled... not yet at least?

[ElphabaRose]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 5:42pm

I have a feeling that Julia will be recycled. She leaves the tour around mid-September and Eden leaves the Broadway production in early October.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 6:15pm

I doubt it. When fans have asked her, she has been admiant with the fact that "Wicked" is a six month thing and a six month thing only.

[Lavinia]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 6:21pm

At the stagedoor after a performance, someone asked Julia if she would be going to Broadway. She just stared at them and said, "Ummm....no."

[Sparklesss]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:50pm

Augustusgloop, you said something to the effect of the backstage issues between the Elphabas and Glindas..what did you mean by that? I took it as some of the actresses haven't gotten along...

i heard that Ana and Kate made a promise that neither would do Broadway without the other...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 10:03pm

first of all who is laura bell bundy?
second..kate and ana made a promise to not do broadway without the other? i can see how glinda and elphie's might bond...well, they WILL be on broadway together..just not in the same show! LOL!!!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 10:15pm

I spoke to Ana Gasteyer the other day at the 3penny Stage Door. She said that she has no current plans to join the Broadway company, but they are talking about the idea.

[ElphabaRose]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 10:20pm

Andrea, Laura Bell Bundy was the original standby for Glinda. Her other Broadway credit is creating the role of Amber in Hairspray. The rumor is that she was asked to take over as Glinda when Kristin left, but her demands (both monetary and otherwise) were outrageous, so instead the producers got Jennifer Laura Thompson to take over.

[AugustusGloop]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 10:41pm

Sparklesss, it's an open secret among the theatre crowd that Kristin and Idina did NOT get along, especially after Idina won the Tony. Stephanie and Kendra didn't have many warm feelings for each other, either.

For example, a friend of mine has worked on both the touring and Chicago companies. He once told me that after one scene in the show, I believe the fight in Act II by Dorothy's house, Ana and Kate always used to walk off stage together, hand-in-hand. Kendra and Stephanie, however, always stormed off to opposite wings of the stage. I think that small act says a lot.

Yes, at one point Ana and Kate said they would not do Broadway without the other. With their on-stage chemistry and mutual professional respect, it's easy to understand why.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:27pm

It is impossible for them to walk off stage after the cornfield scene together hand in hand, because it segways into "No Good Deed" (aka the actress playing Elphaba never leaves the stage once she enters.) In fact, it is impossible for them to walk off stage hand in hand after ANY scene, because there is never a time where Glinda and Elphaba both leave together and the action continues. The only time that could even be possible would be after the Ozdust Ballroom/ "Dancing Through Life" sequence, but they both remain on stage for "Popular."

This is the first I have heard of a rift between Kendra and Stephanie. What else have you heard to support this? And I disagree with your statement in an earlier post, implying that other Elphaba/Glinda pairings let their off stage differences effect there work on stage. I assume you were inferring about Kristin and Idina, and I don't think they EVER let there differences outside the show transcend to their performances on stage.

[HBG]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:58pm

To add to what ElphabaRose said, Laura Bell Bundy will be playing Elle Woods in the workshop of Legally Blonde, which starts next week. She also played the role in the past workshop, and will most likely be offered the role for the Broadway production.

And to respond to andrew, Megan is not up for the part of Elle Woods...and she also doesn't want it. Too similar to Glinda...she wants to play a different role as to avoid being typecast.