Review-Wicked Tour 1/7/07

I was able to see Wicked last night in Providence, RI. I'd previously seen the show in NY on two opccasion (once with the Original Cast, later with Bean/Hilty Summer '05 Cast).

Lately, as has been pointed out by many, this musical has been recycling its casts in its three (and soon four) productions the past year and a half. Unfrotunately, it has made the show's reputation seem a bit gimmicky and uncentered. The OBC back uin 03/04 was a well-centered production, with freshness around every corner.

Last year, with the casting of Julia Murney for the tour, they seemed to be going back to their roots, hiring a qualified actress never in the show previously. Although she herself will be recycled in NY, the splash she apparently made on tour has not caused an uproar for the recycling.

All I can say is that I'm glad they seem to again be casting for quality.

Sorry for all that pre-review babble, but it's important for me to set up how I felt about the show last night in relation to it becoming more "focused" again...

The tour retains much of the Broadway set design, albeit a tad smaller (especially in Providence, some scenery didn't even fit fully on the stage, ie backdrops, but nothing obtrusive). The orchestrations sounded fine with the smaller orchestra as well. Ultimately, all of the fantastic physicality of the show is in tact here.

Promoted from her standby slot, Victoria Matlock is (upon this writing) entering her second week as principal Elphaba. I have some mixed feelings about her portrayal, she sometimes seemed to be trying too hard to be effective, but the majority of the evening with her was lovely. She seems to be trying to make the role more her own than that of Shoshana Bean and Julia Murney (both of whom she understudied this past year). She had a lovely singing voice, but her range isn't the best, and she often times struggles with the lower notes.

Christina DeCicco is 100% fresh blood to Wicked, and she gave a dazzling performance as Glinda. Some really great acting, and singing, on her part, and it was only her eighth show! She did an amazing job of developing the character and making her journey more believable than I'd seen it done before. She was a thrill, and well worth the price.

The supporting cast was mostly fine. Alma Cuervo and P.J. Benjamin were great as Morrible and Wizard, respectively. Deedee Nagno Hall was a strong Nessarose. The same, though, can not be said for her husband Cliffton Hall, as Fiyero. He had a great voice, and seems very talented, but the voice was not "strong" enough for him to have that leading man quality that the role needs to get by, seeing as how it is so underwritten.

To conclude, I had a marvelous time on my third trip to this show, and was thrilled to see some real acting take place, much of which seemed out of focus with the Bean/Hilty cast (admirable and enjoyable as they were).


ETA:

The Providence Performing ARts Center, where I saw the show, houses roughly 3,200 people...not once did I hear a cellular phone go off, rude eating, talking, etc... Pretty interesting how 1,300 or so in Broadway theatres can't contain themselves, though.

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Updated On: 1/8/07 at 03:46 PM

Thanks for the review! Glad you liked Christina DeCicco.

Funny, I just logged on to write about the afternoon show yesterday.
The Providence Performing Arts Center is absolutely beautiful. I'd just like to say that first.

Cliffton Hall as Fiyero:
ThanksToPhantom, I would love to just copy and paste what you said. He seems like hes got a good set of pipes on him, but it wasn't as developed as it could have been.

Josh Lamon as Boq:
He played well. His voice was surprisingly strong. He was a cutie and won everyone's sympathy. :)

Victoria Matlock as Elphaba:
First of all it seemed like her microphone had tech problems. Her Mic was the quietest mic of the entire show. In the beginning of the show she acted as if she was still living in the shadow of Shoshana and Julia. That caused her character to appear thin and underdeveloped. She seemed to be singing somewhat like a little girl in chorus her voice sounded VERY young. I thought a mix between Jenna Leigh Green and Shoshana Bean. Her singing was riding the Quality Roller Coaster, weak at times, very strong in others.
The character was not believable and I was unimpressed by her...
Until Act Two
I'm not sure what happened during intermission but Victoria embraced Elphaba as her own and allowed to make her voice be heard. she was singing with confidence, acting her heart out. The sweet little chorus girl finally graduated!

P.J. Benjamin as The Wizard:
Played a fine Wizard, his voice was soothing to listen to and his acting was dead on.

Alma Cuervo as Madame Morrible:
This. Woman. Is. Hilarious.
GLINDA:Can I touch it? (referring to the book longingly.)
Long pause
MADAME MORRIBLE:whisperedNooooooo.
I was laughing so hard! Oy.

Deedee Nagno Hall as Nessarose:
Bravo Deedee! Deedee was Power House for Nessa. I was floored and just so enthralled when she sang anything. In my honest opinion I thought Deedee and Victoria should have switched roels. Her singing was right on the money throughout the show and Nessa was so realistic.

Christina DeCicco as Glinda:
Honestly, (and I wouldn't be surprised if I get crap for this) I have Never particularly cared for Ga/linda. Well, thats all done with now. Christina DeCicco had me sold completely. Her character was so believable and strong... "Deeply shallow" if you will. Her voice was absolutely perfect, not nasal, manly, or too breathy. I've seen 3 Ga/lindas before this performance, and where she may have not been the funniest, she was the most believable. Hands down. In my book, she was the star of yesterday's show.

Technically:
The audio was a bit awkward sounding. Elphaba's mic was very quiet opposed to every other main actor's mic. The ensemble was very quiet as well, during Good News and Thank Goodness it was very obvious that there was something not right with the sound. Also you could hear Tromping around in the first 5 or so numbers, but that was shortly resolved.

Audience?
NO Cell Phones.
No one was talking.
No running up and down the isles.
However.
The food was unbelievable.
My friend and i walked in to be seated and it is absolutely GORGEOUS! (Providence Performing Arts Center) so I'm taking in the sites and all when i look into the seats and there is a 40-45 year old couple eating McDonald's.
Not a drink, or a little cup of fries.
They have the bag, the cups, the burgers in boxes the little cup crate. Everything.
Its almost as bad as seeing a bucket of wings from KFC after intermission.
And there were very nice people in front of us (not sarcastically) who came back intermission with Pretzels wrapped in crinkly wax paper (as did the rest of the section), Reese's Pieces, Skittles, and bottled water. Well the bottled water was fine, but not when the girl was Squeezing like a plush toy each time she drank from it. This was going on up until if not after As Long As Your Mine.
Why would the people who own the theater sell those things with a crinkly wrapper like that? I understand money, yes, I understand, make a profit. But at least put the pretzles in a box or something instead of those wrappers!
Sorry, I know I sound like a complete jerk.

FINALLY...
In the beginning it felt a bit flat, lacking energy. As soon as, we, the audience got into it the entire cast fed off our energy and we got back what we put into it. It was the most dramatic change (energy wise) I've ever seen in a show.
Overall? It was a good show, great actors, I really enjoyed it. I'm glad I went!

Wow that was long...

Updated On: 1/8/07 at 05:16 PM

Thanks for the review! I'm planning on trying the lotto sometime next week since I was too late in trying to get tickets.

PPAC is gorgeous, and it'd be a shame if they closed it because of the casino. I've been going there my entire life.

Updated On: 1/8/07 at 05:23 PM

What? they're going to close it? Thats absurd.
My friend who I went with used to go to JWU and she told me if she stayed she would have graduated there! And they have a class that goes there and all those tours and everything!
Oh my goodness. How can you close such a beautiful theater? Honestly, I took a video clip of the inside of the theater because I thought it was so gorgeous!

Seriously, those Pretzels were driving me NUTS!

How long have they been allowing food in the seating area? Cause "my theater" The Bushnell in Hartford doesn't allow that..
I was shocked to see people with McDonald's in there.
In New York at Kiss Me, Kate I saw these two girls come in after intermission about 15-20 minutes late with a bucket of KFC and practically had a melt down.


SweetDisaster: If you don't get lottery next week think about coming to Hartford in November, it's a little less then a 2 hour drive.

I was just taken off guard. It was kind of a double take situation. Hmm... Sneaky theater goers! Tricky Tricky!

Oh! Thats the Poll for the week, I don't know if anyone noticed that to the right of the thread? It reads "Should Food Be allowed to be consumed at your theaters?"

I love Alma. Just as much as Carole. I think she's a fantastic actress with a great voice. She just nails Morrible. And who else loves her taking a drink after telling Glinda she has no idea why Elphaba asked her to be in the seminar. Pure genius.

Thanks Phantom and Almond Eyes for your very detailed review. A lot better than saying either, "I really liked it". The end. or, "it sucked." The end.

Glad to hear your audience was well behaved, too!

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I wasn't aware the amendment got voted "NO", and I'm glad. I wish I could get up to PPAC more often, because it has a great mix of broadway-caliber tours like Wicked and non-equity as well.

It's far....but it's like watching the show from the last row in NYC...which isn;t too bad, but it's hard to see faces from that last row. You'll have a great view of the stage, and that's great for this show.

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I mostly agree with ThanksToPhantom. I won the lottery in Providence on Wednesday night after my friend and I put our names in at the absolute LAST second (which upset some people, but that's not my problem).

Christina DeCicco was terrific. She has an absolutely glorious voice. I don't know if she did this at the other performances in Providence, but she went for (and hit!) both "Megan Hilty" notes: the high E at the end of the opening number and the high F at the end of "Thank Goodness." She was not too spastic (a la Kate Reinders) and she had the perfect blend of ditziness, beauty, and charm. I was thoroughly impressed.

Victoria Matlock reminded me very much of Jenna Leigh Green, whom I saw in Hartford, in her acting and her voice. I enjoyed her performance but, like ThanksToPhantom, I felt she was struggling with the lower notes. *SPOILER?* Also, I think she might need to work on how she works with the lift in "Defying Gravity." The mechanics of it were very visible and something else was wrong because it looked as if she was sitting on something rather than standing. I mean, instead of the front of the false dress being flat and looking as if she is standing upright, there was something wrong that made it look like her knees were bent as if she were sitting. I don't know; it just looked very odd to me.

Alma Cuervo. Fan-tas-tic. My favorite Madame Morrible, by far.

P.J. Benjamin was a delight as the Wizard.

I liked Cliffton Hall's Fiyero, but at points, his singing voice was sounding weak. I don't know if his mic was turned down or if he just needs to work on volume and projection, but I could barely hear him at times when he sang.

I loved K. Todd Freeman as Doctor Dillamond. I had never really felt strongly either way about the actors I've seen play the role before, but I found him to be quite entertaining.

DeeDee Magno Hall had a great voice, but her acting in the beginning seemed flat, as if she just wasn't in the mood to be onstage.

Adam Sanford was on for Josh Lamon as Boq. Absolutely adorable and had an excellent voice.

Other understudies were Philip Dean Lightstone as Chistery and Chelsea Krombach as the Midwife.

"The tour retains much of the Broadway set design, albeit a tad smaller (especially in Providence, some scenery didn't even fit fully on the stage, ie backdrops, but nothing obtrusive)."

The set was too big? Or was the theatre too big?