The current portrayal of Glinda in Popular.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:03pm

I am not really a fan of the way Glinda is so cracked out now during Popular. It seems like ever since Hilty played her it is a much more over the top performance. I mean yes Chenoweth and Kassebaum had moments but it wasn't like spastic like it is now. I don't know if any of this makes sense. Like I think less is more and there are certain times for it to has crazy stuff just not the whole performance.

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:14pm

I do tend to agree with you, that being said, I believe the happy medium can be found in Annaleigh Ashford. One performance that the "less is more" approach didn't work was with Erin Mackey. She has a great voice, and is better suited for other roles, she was fantastic in Anything Goes. Check out those clips on youtube! Katie Rose Clark was also pretty good! People have come to expect the "cracked out" performance at the expense of the vocal performance, which I'm never a fan of. I prefer to listen to the sung straight recording. I guess we have to remember "art is subjective".

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:15pm

Agree with the OP!

[JRybka]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:35pm

I thought Megan's was the best version. IMHO.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:49pm

I found Hilty's 'Popular' to be just fine, especially because she became so much more grounded in the second act. THAT is where 99% of the current Glinda's fail IMO.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:51pm

Yes, I agree. I think that Hilty has one of the best journeys as Glinda and why I am able to take her Popular, even if it got kinda crazy towards the end of her run.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:52pm

I thought Kassebaum was the worst ever. I got seasick watching her, with the way she would shake and shimmy throughout the entire song, and I saw her three times over the course of the tour and she worse and worse as it went on.

Updated On: 8/3/12 at 03:52 PM

[GrandAsTheCanyon]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:56pm

I saw the second national tour yesterday, and I was actually really impressed by how ``normal`` Jeanna de Waal was during that number. She did a few cute funny stuffs, but she was not over-the-top at all and just seemed like an average prep trying to give advice.

On the other hand, I thought that they need to tone down the cattiness during the early Shiz scenes (from Dear Old Shiz until the beginning of Dancing Through Life). I understand that most Shiz students are supposed to be airheads, but they are still university students, not middle school queen bees. I'm about the same age as the characters and, from my personal experiences, people tend to ``bitchface`` and reject you more than they tend to directly laugh at you. I saw the first national tour in 2008, and the performances were a bit more dramatic and mature back then.

[Starship]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 6:46pm

My all time favorite is definitely Mauzey.I've heard mixed reviews on her performance but after seeing her on tour in February, I can say that she definitely beats Ashford and Hilty out of the water comedy/acting wise. Vocally though, I can't make up my mind between the three.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 6:49pm

May I ask what "cracked out" means? Does is simply mean over-acted?

I agree that when the humor is in the actual lyric (as in "Popular"), less is usually more from the performer. Otherwise, you end up with a competition between singer and material in which nobody wins.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 6:57pm

Cracked out as in "seemingly on crack." The unbelievably giddy, goofy, bubbling-over-with-quirky-wacky-energy Galindas that you've probably seen lately.

G(a)linda may not be the world's smartest person, but we're never given signs that she's explicitly dumb or childish. If anything, she's rich, popular (duh) and decidedly AVERAGE, but along the musical's journey to superstardom, somebody decided "go younger, go dumber" and turned Act 1 into a Disney Channel tween-com.

If anything, and this is a rare use of this next phrase, Galinda should be "more Glee:" keep the silliness rooted in a constant and consistent tone of dry wit that is never dumb, just a little strange and a little sarcastic.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 7:01pm

Thank you, darquegk. I don't live on the East Coast and haven't seen multiple Galindas. But I know exactly what you mean and it's entirely unnecessary with that song.

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 12:50am

I find Alli Mauzey to be the best Glinda, personally.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 12:52am

BALLGOWN!!!!

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 1:31am

I vote Katie Rose, but I haven't seen all of them. Katie Rose paired with Mandy Gonzalez on Broadway was freaking magic (easily my favorite pairing); when I saw her on tour in LA earlier this year with Mamie Parris I thought she overpowered Parris a bit, but still incredible. Mauzey just came through San Diego and was excellent as well...

[tphiliboy152]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 1:31am

Has anyone on here seen Katie Rose Clarke as Glinda? Saw her 3 times on Broadway and loved her every time. I think maybe the performance of Popular is a little more ditzy is because there have been so many different Glindas now that each one needs to do something a little bit different that isn't copying some of the earlier ones.

[wicked4l]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 3:10am

Yeah, I wish the majority of the Glinda's stayed more grounded, but I often forget that this scene takes place after a big party and the sun comes up during the number, so Glinda isn't probably the most...ummm...well she's probably drunk.

[broadwayrob]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 8:49am

As much as I've moved on from this show, *and I don't mean that in a pretentious way, I just got kind of bored with it after a while* I would have to say that Jennifer Laura Thompson is easily my favorite Glinda that has existed. While she does bear resemblance to the original Cheno-style, IMO she was the perfect balance of "cracked out" and grounded. Love her in practically everything she does though.. so I may be a bit biased.

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 10:27am

I liked Hikty's overall portrayal but do agree that her Popular did often lose its sense of reality in the name of laughs. That said, she always *did* get the laughs and the number was always a crowd pleaser.

And, I agree that Katie Rose Clark was the most believable and best actress I have seen in the role.

[sorano916]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 10:34am

Sidenote: is Jeanna the first British Glinda in the US?

Posted: 8/4/12 at 11:12am

Laura Woyasz was the best G(a)linda I've seen! Having seen Katie Rose Clarke, Kate Fahrner Megan Hilty and Jennifer Laura Thompson.

Updated On: 8/4/12 at 11:12 AM

[GrandAsTheCanyon]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 11:45am

I LOVED Katie Rose Clarke as Glinda. Super funny when needed, but perfectly heartbreaking in the more ``dramatic`` scenes. She's one of the few Glinda's who actually shows how much she truly cares for Elphaba. It's insane that she hasn't been cast in any other shows ever since she joined Wicked, she should be a much bigger star.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 6:34pm

but along the musical's journey to superstardom, somebody decided "go younger, go dumber" and turned Act 1 into a Disney Channel tween-com.

Commendable note. There is a marked difference between the original cast and how these scenes are presented today.

[tphiliboy152]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 9:17pm

GrandAsTheCanyon: Katie probably hasn't been cast due to the fact that she probably didn't audition for anything else. She was with Wicked for maybe about 4 1/2 years on and off between the 1st National Tour, Broadway, and then the tour again.

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 9:42pm

"along the musical's journey to superstardom, somebody decided "go younger, go dumber" and turned Act 1 into a Disney Channel tween-com."

SO TRUE. I first saw it for my 14th birthday less than a month after it opened and have seen it seven more times since. Glinda's descent began with Kendra Kassebaum on tour and Megan Hilty on Broadway. I last saw it about two years ago with Mandy Gonzalez and Katie Rose Clarke. They were both good, but Katie's comic timing was way off and the show as a whole felt like a theme park attraction. It's a shame.



Updated On: 8/5/12 at 09:42 PM