Tonights WICKED Blooper

Next week on Carol and Friends, Mrs. Zwiggins slips on a banana peel and Tim and Harvey can't keep a straight face. The audience pees it's pants.

---

Wow! From what I've been hearing, it seems these gals have a terrible time staying focused and in character... Not a good sign, so early on in the run...

Love,
Joshie

Oh dear...

---

One thousand people paid $100 to see a show. Not to see people goof off on stage. They are paid THOUSANDS of dollars a week to do a job. Broadway is supposed to be the top theatre in the country and probably the world, it NEEDS to be held to a higher standard then community theatre.

that's all they really want...

---

Bingo (as usual) Suleen.
Don't forget the closeups of Harvey grimacing in pain as he holds his laughter in!

---

I don't see what's so devastatingly wrong about playing up a blooper in a comic scene. It's supposed to be FUNNY. Would you rather Kristin just threw all sense of comic timing out the window, broke the comic reality, and made the scene become tedious?

-Wayne

You people need to lighten up. Really.

The template was set long ago. Because they had Kristin, the creators built up the part of Glinda, upsetting the balance of the story so badly that the show makes very little dramatic sense.

The message Kristin was semi-consciously given was: "You and your skills are more important to us than anything else so we are going to do our best to make your character as much a star as Elphaba." And her part IS a real audience pleaser.

So she gets to do whatever she wants. And the majority of people DO enjoy it because they feel they are seeing something special and they feel as if they are in on a private joke. They don't distinguish between Broadway, the Carol Burnett Show, or Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz breaking up EVERY SINGLE WEEK on Saturday Night Live.

And that's fine, for what it is. I'm just kind of surprised how artless Kristin's comments seem. They completely take the character out of the moment and time and make references to things like Thanksgiving and having a day off. No wonder Idina freezes. How do you come back from a reference to Kristin having a day off and not something clever that the character would say, IN CHARACTER? That's a skill that some actors have, apparently not Kristin.

I'd be pissed, but I'm still pissed I wasted 100 dollars plus huge service charges to see that show anyway.

---

Updated On: 1/14/04 at 08:33 AM

Of course you can almost hear Donna and Tonya whispering:
"Keep it up, silly girls. Keep it up!"

I was a part of the dreadful Shear Madness for a couple of years and in that show, if you were one of the unfortunate ones to see it, there was a kiss between the hairdresser and the cop that was made to look spontaneous, but it happened every night. The two actors "tried not to laugh" but in the end, broke up the whole cast and audience. To this day people tell me they saw the show "the night the gay guy kissed the cop and everyone broke up." Little did they know it happened the same way every night! And I always say "Oh, yea, I remember that performance! It was sooooo funny!"

Anyhoo, I am glad they found some humor in Maguire's dark book. I was hoping this show would not be too much of a downer.

---

I think Auggie and Namo are totally blowing this out of proportion. If you cannot deal with ad-libs and things of sort, that's fine. But Namo, you have already made clear that you don't like Wicked, so I think it is uneccessary for you to harp on the topic, and completely bash the show and its performance every chance you get. It's gets old and boring fast. Auggie, lighten up willya? Just bear in mind, that if you do plan to see Wicked, don't buy an $100 dollar ticket. Go to tkts.


Cheers,
The Balladeer

---

Updated On: 1/14/04 at 10:58 AM

I have stated before that I love a good f*ck up. But, at some point, you have to wonder when is the integrity of a show (even a sloppy one, liked WICKED) put at risk because the actors either 1) want more laughs or 2) lose their focus consistantly.

If one wants more laughs, find them in the book and the lyrics or staging. If they're not to be found there, they have no place in the show. Remember, no matter who gets the great reviews, the show is the MOST important thing, even if it's crap.

And to say 'people lose focus' is a bit disingenuous. Would like a surgeon to lose focus whilst operating on you? Yes, I know theatre is not life-and-death (except for Sutton Foster), but the point is, someone is hired to do a job, they should do it professionally and with integrity.

I, myself, would have probably laughed if I were in the audience. But to hear that this is becoming de rigeur for the lovely and talented ladies of WICKED is a bit distressing.

---