The Oz Curtain Drops On Stacie Morgan Lewis (Review for First Time Glinda)

[Parks]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:04pm

I just got back from seeing Wicked tonight. I opened my Playbill to find this small piece of white paper that had, "At This Performance... The role of Glinda will be played by Stacie Morgan Lewis". I was upset not to find JLT in this performance.

Seeing how I'd never even HEARD of SML, I couldn't imagine that she would be just incredible...I was wrong.

She was INCREDIBLE. I thought her voice was incredible. Her acting was great, and I would never have been able to tell that it was her first performance. In No One Mourns The Wicked, she was teriffic. Her performance was refreshing. I hate to say it, but sometimes JLT's voice gets on my nerves.
Her What Is This Feeling was normal. Nothing too new.
Popular was one of my favorite numbers (as it is for most people) at tonight's performance. Her voice was strong, and she gave it her own twist.
One Short Day-This song was great..until the part where Glinda and Elphaba are talking about "It's all so OZMOPOLITAN!" In that part of the scene, the curtain for Wiz-O-Mania is supposed to come down. It did, and in fact, SML was behind it. When it came down, she quickly grabbed it and got through it. I felt terrible for her because it feels awful to be on stage and know that you just did something incorrectly, and noticable to the audience. I looked around to see if anyone else was as shocked as I was, and there was only one girl sitting a little bit behind me who had this terribly shocked face.
Defying Gravity isn't really a big song for Glinda and I was paying attention to Shoshana the whole time.
Thank Goodness from tonight's performance reminded me of the Kristin's performance. Maybe even better. Kristin sang that song so wonderfully. I believe SML sang that song the best I've ever heard.
I'm Not That Girl-Never was a favorite of mine from the show... She did...well.
For Good was nothing special. It was a great performance, but it was the same thing I've heard/seen over and over.
Her acting was great. It was very impressive for an understudy. She filled in really well. Some of her acting could've been improved. When the...erhm...ending happens, she did seem upset at all. She just stood there acting like she was oblivious to the whole situation. Some of her lines could have been delivered a little bit better, but again-it was her first performance. She was THE best understudy I've ever seen (of the 7 or so that I have...heh..). I set my standards EXTREMELY high for Wicked, and I was not upset. I'll fix this up tomorrow-maybe.

Also, anyone know why Megan Hilty wasn't in tonight?

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 11:04 PM

[timote316]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:41pm

Hm, I didn't even know she was the understudy for Glinda. I knew she was for Nessa at one point, but not Glinda. Nice review.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:45pm

Glad she was great!

I am going tomorrow to the matinee I hope.

Do we know why JLT was out?

I hope she isn't sick again.

This show is pretty cursed.

[Blue J]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:55pm

Megan Hilty took a week or so vacation. I'm not sure why JLT was out. But glad to hear SML did so well for her first time! :) Updated On: 3/8/05 at 11:55 PM

[BJC899]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 12:01am

I met Stacie at a benefit and she is one of the sweetest/goofiest people. She had performed popular that night and did a nice job with it. My chorus teacher saw her Indie Film by ACCIDENT and it ended up with my chorus teacher getting a backstage tour from Stacie.

I"m so glad she did great, we're going to be hearing a lot from this girl in the future.

Thanks for the review!

[tspin6]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 10:43am

I was there too. Like you, I was disappointed that JLT wasn't in it and, then disappointed when Megan wasn't filling in for her. However, I so pleasantly surprised by Stacie Morgan Lewis's performance. She has an incredible voice, was funny and adorable and just kept getting better and better as the show went on. I was shocked when Carole Shelley announced that this was her first performance as Glinda. I would absolutely look forward to seeing her again in the role.

As far as why JLT wasn't there, I wonder if it had something to do with the weather and bad road conditions in NY. Just a guess.

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:06pm

You know, I wouldn't be suprised if JLT actually let Stacie perform. I know George has done that for Sean when his family was in town, so maybe it was the same circumstance.

[Jwei123]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:10pm

Glad you enjoyed her.
I LOVE discovering talent!

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:16pm

Anyone else her Saycon went on today? Anyone catch her?

[Jwei123]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:20pm

saycon went on today? WHAT!?!?!

[MissNY]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 3:24pm

Saycon should still be onstage actually, so reviews wont be coming in yet. Shoshana isn't performing at today's matinee and since Kristy is in toronto, that leaves Saycon to perform...

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 6:18pm

Megan's on vacation for a week, and then will be out of town next week (I'm assuming what she means as town is NYC). So I think she'll be out for 2 weeks. But I'm sure she needs this vacation.

So glad you liked Stacie! She's a really nice girl.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 6:51pm

I met Stacie at this thing in Union Square B&N for Wicke dweek... she sang Popular and it was HYSTERICAL. And she's really sweet.

[ShuQ]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 6:55pm

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT SAYCON?!?! Anyone heard anything yet?!?!

Great review BTW...good to hear she's doing a good job filling JLT's shoes.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 6:56pm

Don't worry, ShuQ.

When someone has a review about Saycon, you'll know. There will be a swarm of threads about it.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 6:59pm

Defying Gravity isn't really a big song for Glinda and I was paying attention to Shoshana the whole time.

Don't you mean Saycon? How was she?

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 7:01pm

Stacie was on last night. Saycon was on today and will be on again tonight. JLT is back.

[commasplice]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 7:01pm

Don't you mean Saycon? How was she?

Parks was talking about yesterday's show, which Shoshana was in.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 7:05pm

Whoops. Sorry about that.

[Mirama]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:12pm

So did anyone else see Stacie's performance, or hear anything else about it?