WICKED Australia starts previews today...- Page 2

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 2:21am

Very nice theatre.

During Priscilla (which ran just before WICKED) they replaced some of the chandeliers with disco balls...it was an interesting touch!

Should be interesting to see how different it looks now that it's WICKED.

I also really like the Princess theatre- it's a beautiful theatre (not AS extravagant as the Regent). I feel the only thing though that lets down the Princess is the Usher's and FOH staff's vests! UGH! Terrible looking things.

Sean

[alterego]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 2:35am

My favourite is always Her Majesty's. Big musicals just aren't the same for me unless they are at the Maj. The Princess' auditorium always seems slightly down at heel, and the Regent is a barn of a joint.

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 2:37am

I'm not a Maj person- I've had bad experiences with both Miss Saigon and Spamalot there. Miss Saigon especially for the amount I paid for the ticket.

Regent is very big- but how big is the theatre that WICKED is playing in New York?
Watching Ugly Betty the other night (...my Mum pointed it out, I wasn't actually watching it) the foyer seemed massive there too.

Sean

[musicaltheatrefan3]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 2:41am

The "Ugly Betty" episode was shot in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles production. The Gershwin Theatre (New York), seats 1935.

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 2:43am

I had a feeling it was too big to be New York...unless it was Radio City or something I didn't think there were that many large size theatres in New York. They all seem to be pretty similar looking to our Princess or Her Majesty's.

Sean

Updated On: 6/27/08 at 02:43 AM

[musicaltheatrefan3]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 2:44am

Nah, it was at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 11:28am

All the big musicals used to play Her Majesty's until the Princess was renovated then there was a move away from the Maj, but since it's renovation thankfully the musicals are coming back and I'm so glad. I've yet to won over by a show at the Princess.

Did anyone go to the first preview tonight?

[lfae]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 8:19pm

I was there, and it was beyond fabulous. The first thing that struck me was how enormous the set is - it seems to extend a lot further around the sides than the one in the Gershwin. I've seen Wicked over a dozen times over the past four years, but when I walked into the Regent last night I was *stunned*. Also, during the show I noticed a LOT of lighting effects and detail to the scenery that I had never noticed before. I can't figure out if they really went all out, or if I just...never noticed all that before. (Am I really that vague? I've sat front row at the Gershwin and never noticed that much detail!)

In place of the Priscilla mirror-balls are quaint little lamps.

The cast are among the best I have ever seen. For me, Amanda Harrison (Elphaba), Lucy Durack (Glinda) and Maggie Kirkpatrick (Morrible) trump all others I've seen in those roles. ESPECIALLY Lucy - girl was born to play Glinda! She is a constant joy to watch, and it's so apparent that she is having a ball herself!

Rob Mills (Fiyero) I found a little wooden, but I really think he's going to be awesome - come on, it was first preview, I'm not going to pass judgement that hastily. His and Amanda's voiced blended SO gorgeously as well...although she did drown him out a little, hehe.

Penny McNamee is a phenomenal act 2 Nessarose - very bitter and angry and a little bratty. I didn't notice her much in act 1 - sweet, but she didn't come to the fore until Wicked Witch of the East. And then, *whoa*.

No major screw-ups, either. Bubbles worked, gravity was defied, one or two minor line flubs but pfft, that can happen any time.

Oh and the monkeys fly out over the 7th row of the stalls - I was seated there and they were right above my head!

[defyinggravity42694]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 9:39pm

Someone uploaded Defying Gravity from the first preview...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tpMFataqcPM

[alterego]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 11:01pm

That's probably as close as you'll get to an Australian Cast Album.

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 11:15pm

I REALLY like that Elphaba. Her vibrato is gorgeous. Seeing all the recycling they do, maybe we'll eventually get to see her here in NY.

[wicked4l]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 12:34am

lfae, what kind of changes or things did you notice differently in the show with the set? I love the set and i just find it amazing to watch it work during the show.!

[stage_door76]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 3:40am

Alterego, don't be too quick on the cast album front.


You just might be in for a surprise there

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 4:59am

Sounds fantastic!

That's the best version of that song I've heard for a LONG time.

Wonder what the understudies are like?

Sean
Updated On: 6/28/08 at 04:59 AM

[alterego]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 7:58am

If you'd been there tonight tostralia2 you would have found out. Just had a call from a friend at interval to tell me that the understudy Galinda is on. Bit early for that isn't it? And on a Saturday night!

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:13am

I think you're informant is wrong, it should be Elphaba's understudy. Amanda has a throat infection and required an understudy to go on. At least that is what I heard from within the Wicked camp.

That was possibly why I made the hint.

Sean
Updated On: 6/28/08 at 08:13 AM

[alterego]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:24am

Tonight? My "informant" would know who he is talking about, so that surprises me.

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:28am

Maybe they've replaced both...

[alterego]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:30am

For anyone to be off this early in previews is a concern.

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:41am

Amanda sounds great.

I'm glad that Helen Dallimore didn't originate the Aussie Wicked. When I saw her in London, she just really didn't do it for me =S

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:47am

Better now though than during the actual season- that's what we have previews for! It could still be Lucy, you never know, my contact may have been in a rush with other things on their mind and typed a wrong name. Who knows! All will be revealed soon I guess. Still interesting to know how the understudies are.

It's Anthony Warlow all over again! And that came out very positive in the long run, so this should be similar.

Tell you what Amanda sounds brilliant in the recording...it would be a shame if I missed her in it.

Honestly a few months ago I thought little of WICKED then I started to get to know some people involved in it and suddenly I am actually excited to see it.

Helen is down the road in the flopped Boeing Boeing.

Sean

Updated On: 6/28/08 at 08:47 AM

[alterego]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:51am

Isn't it weird that Helen Dallimore is in BOEING BOEING at the Comedy while WICKED is previewing a couple of blocks away at the Regent? On top of that I watched on cable last night the 2006 Command Performance and there she was with Idina Menzel and the London WICKED cast performing.

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:54am

I remember when both Helen and Idina were in Sydney at the same time sometime last year!

OH BOY! did that get people in a spin! Rumours flying everywhere!

I think more than anything about WICKED I've picked up the sudden interest through the tech side, the sheer scope of how big the tech side is. I'm interested in lighting mainly but seeing all the backstage stuff is awesome.

I almost got into bump in to take a look- I wish I had.

*sigh*

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:54am

Question:

Is Helen's actual voice her Glinda voice (it was like Australian trying to be Anglo-American...I was not a fan) or...was it just that, she's Australian and can't do the Glinda voice so it came out like that?

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/28/08 at 8:57am

Not sure...

And don't really want to see Boeing Boeing to find out.

Unless anyone's got a free ticket?