WICKED- Broadway vs. Tour- Page 2

[antonijan]

Posted: 3/10/16 at 12:47am

any pics to show the differences? :P

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/10/16 at 8:42am

DEClarke said: "After having the 1st National Tour in Houston 3 times, they are bringing in the 2nd National Tour for it's 4th run here.
Interesting choice..."

That's because the 1st National closed.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/10/16 at 9:05am

Elfuhbuh said: "DEClarke said: "After having the 1st National Tour in Houston 3 times, they are bringing in the 2nd National Tour for it's 4th run here.
Interesting choice..."

 

That's because the 1st National closed."

 

LOL! I don't know if you noticed or not, but that post was from 2013.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 3:35am

i know this is carrying over from an older post

I would always suggest a broadway cast over a national tour....

The quality performer by performer is almost always noticably superior

I just saw the wicked 2nt tonight is SF, after having seen it on Broadway and with Idina in London

Lights years of difference in performance levels.

I'm an easy sell, and the touring cast was fine for what it was...

My only big issue was the current tour elphaba, who did a fine job on singing, makes an acting choice when she is playing "angry" to talk three times faster than normal. 

I do have a question for the professionals involved with tour casts.  It seems during the first few years of national tours the casts are ALMOST as good as broadway casts, but by the time (for equity tours) its the fifth or sixth time around there is a fairly noticeable decline in average talent in the cast.

One wquity actor told me that there are a number of levels of equity pay scale (i think he said five?) and how good the is will often depend on if they are paying the A scale, a C or and E.

Is there any way to look up for equity tours what the scale rank of the tour is?

Is the wicked tour still an A scale, or has it dropped? 

to me it feels like it might have dropped since the last tour i saw five years ago.....

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 7:06am

The only tours that are on Broadway league contracts are wicked, both Book of Mormon tours, the lion king and I think jersey boys.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 1:39pm

thanks call me jorge

it really seems the wicked cast and the current jersey boys was a notch below what i saw on tour a few years ago....

[RaiseYouUp]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 4:18pm

broadwaysfguy said: "i know this is carrying over from an older post

 

I would always suggest a broadway cast over a national tour....

 

The quality performer by performer is almost always noticably superior

 

I disagree completely. It's one thing if you are comparing the touring cast to the original, Tony-winning Broadway stars of a show. But especially for Wicked, there is no difference in quality of performer on Broadway or on tour. Often times in Wicked, performers will go from one to the other. The current Glinda on Broadway was with the 2NT last year (I saw her 4 times, she was great). The Elphaba standby on Broadway also used to be on the tour. So at this point in Wicked's life (12+ years after opening), the quality of the performers are pretty even from company to company.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 9:33pm

Phantom and Chicago are on League contracts as well. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 11:20pm

 

The national tour for Wicked is AAA ball  (AA currently judging by the show last night and compared to 7 other tour casts Ive seen), and the best actors get promoted up to the pros on broadway like Christine Dwyer and Carrie St Louis.

Yes, a few of the broadway cast members will rotate out on tour, but i think in the current tour cast that was 1-2 of the dancers tops.,,,

just go to the wicked website and look and the bios of both casts, its a stark difference

Rachel Tucker-longest running uk elphaba

Judy Kaye as morrible-multiple Tony winner

Peter Scolari as the wizard, renowned actor 3 time emmy nominee

plus at least eight or nine other cast members are return wicked broadway cast members or members of long running sit down wicked productions

 

 

 

[Alan Henry]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 11:29pm

Both productions are great, and overall give you the same experience. The technical differences have been outlined here but you should enjoy both. Have fun!

Updated On: 3/11/16 at 11:29 PM

[lambchop2]

Posted: 3/11/16 at 11:45pm

IMO there used to be a noticeable difference between the 1NT tour's cast and the 2NT cast, not necessarily in terms of acting quality but their resume/experience. The 1NT frequently had leads from Broadway or previous 1NT leads rotate into the leads for the tour, very rarely anyone who had ever been a standby or understudy was promoted to Elphaba/Glinda lead in the 1NT. Whereas the leads in the 2NT cast were often promoted understudies and standbys. It's been a bit different for at least 2-3 years, though.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 3/12/16 at 12:15pm

im really hoping the 2NT tour cast in SF just had an off night, it was their second show that day and i love wicked enough to get it another watch during their run here.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the show fine....

I do have a high bar after seeing Idina, Teal, Eden, Willemjn, Marcie, Vicki, Christine and others as wonderful Elphies, and Megan, Kendra, Alli, Katie Rose, Allie, Chandra Lee and other truly wonderful Glindas...  

 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 4/12/16 at 2:20am

Dropped in to See Wicked one more time, almost on the 13th anniversary of when it first previewed in san francisco may 28th 2003 at the same curran theatre....

The cast turned in a much better performance than the opening wednesday evening, especially the lead Elphaba Emily Koch, who must have been under the weather at the previous show. She did several interesting vocal variations in wizard and i, gravity, and no good deed that were fantastic. The show was also graced by Lauren Haughten as Nessa, longtime Wicked swing and Nessa understudy,,,her performance was probably the standout acting performance of the night....Amanda Jane Cooper did a funny bit id never seen where she grabbed elphies ponytail and tickled Elphies nose with it during popular,,,it cracked up Emily so i think it was a new bit....

I think the producers can still aim up with a number of the lead and supporting roles for the touring cast...Ive seen so many great touring leads in wicked and love that theyve kept the bar very high over the years....

Glad to see wicked wrap SF (this coming saturday) on a high note, and wish it continued success.....

 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 4/12/16 at 2:20am

Dropped in to See Wicked one more time, almost on the 13th anniversary of when it first previewed in san francisco may 28th 2003 at the same curran theatre....

The cast turned in a much better performance than the opening wednesday evening, especially the lead Elphaba Emily Koch, who must have been under the weather at the previous show. She did several interesting vocal variations in wizard and i, gravity, and no good deed that were fantastic. The show was also graced by Lauren Haughten as Nessa, longtime Wicked swing and Nessa understudy,,,her performance was probably the standout acting performance of the night....Amanda Jane Cooper did a funny bit id never seen where she grabbed elphies ponytail and tickled Elphies nose with it during popular,,,it cracked up Emily so i think it was a new bit....

I think the producers can still aim up with a number of the lead and supporting roles for the touring cast...Ive seen so many great touring leads in wicked and love that theyve kept the bar very high over the years....

Glad to see wicked wrap SF (this coming saturday) on a high note, and wish it continued success.....

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 4/12/16 at 9:43am

Phantom4ever said: "Phantom and Chicago are on League contracts as well. "

How is chicago doing split weeks then?

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 4/14/16 at 6:23am

broadwaysfguy said: " 

 

The national tour for Wicked is AAA ball  (AA currently judging by the show last night and compared to 7 other tour casts Ive seen), and the best actors get promoted up to the pros on broadway like Christine Dwyer and Carrie St Louis.

 

Yes, a few of the broadway cast members will rotate out on tour, but i think in the current tour cast that was 1-2 of the dancers tops.,,,

 

just go to the wicked website and look and the bios of both casts, its a stark difference

 

Rachel Tucker-longest running uk elphaba

 

Judy Kaye as morrible-multiple Tony winner

 

Peter Scolari as the wizard, renowned actor 3 time emmy nominee

 

plus at least eight or nine other cast members are return wicked broadway cast members or members of long running sit down wicked productions"

 

You do realize that Emily Koch was the standby on Broadway prior to becoming the lead on the tour(which she was also a standby before she went to Broadway). 

 

I wouldn't call Broadway the pros. To me they(Broadway and tours) are equal in talent.