In wicked after Elphaba tells Glinda that she is the only friend that she has ever had-I am surprised that people laugh when Glinda responds that she has had so many friends, but only one who mattered. It is a touching moment that I do not feel was intended to be funny. The first two or three times that I saw the show no one laughed but the last few times people have laughed.
RentBoy - Well, Angel asks so sweetly "Who died?" and then it happens to be the dog that he killed, for lack of a better word (Today 4 U). I guess some people find the irony funny. That he's asking so innocently about the dog that he brought to death.
I always thought that was a pretty obvious connection, although, now that I try to do it, I can't really explain it well...as you can see above.
Updated On: 11/24/06 at 03:12 PM
"In wicked after Elphaba tells Glinda that she is the only friend that she has ever had-I am surprised that people laugh when Glinda responds that she has had so many friends, but only one who mattered. It is a touching moment that I do not feel was intended to be funny. The first two or three times that I saw the show no one laughed but the last few times people have laughed."
I agree. That is a touching moment and I don't know how it is funny.
How do you not get the joke in there?
Glinda says, in the conceited way she does throughout the whole show, that she has had SO MANY friends just after Elphaba has confessed that she was the best friend shes ever had.
I hate how people laugh in Wicked when they hold up the green baby. It's sad, she's going to be condemned for life for being different and people laugh at that?! I also think that maybe the "And I've had so many friends" line was kinda intended to provide a moment of comic relief before a very sad and solemn song.... but that's just me.
"How do you not get the joke in there? "
I get the "joke", it is not funny to me.
"I hate how people laugh in Wicked when they hold up the green baby. It's sad, she's going to be condemned for life for being different and people laugh at that?!"
People laugh because the green baby look cheesy.
I personally do not laugh, but thats because I know the next line is, "but only one that mattered."
Can you assume that maybe because people don't know she isn't just being conceited judging by the following line they wouldn't laugh?
This was misplacement of a line by the producers if they wanted to create a sentimenal moment.
The cape thing, well I've never laughed but assume others have because she has finally made her final transformation into the familiar image of the Wicked Witch of the West (i.e green girl + cape + broom + pressing Good and Evil situation) or the fact that the cape is sort of "just there."
I guess Logan cares a lot about that joke.
I hate how people laugh in Wicked when they hold up the green baby. It's sad, she's going to be condemned for life for being different and people laugh at that?! I also think that maybe the "And I've had so many friends" line was kinda intended to provide a moment of comic relief before a very sad and solemn song.... but that's just me.
I don't think it's funny either, but they laugh because the green baby looks cheesey (like Becoz_i_knew_you21 said) and because the lyrics during that part are so odd:
"Like a froggy, ferny cabbage, the baby is unnaturally green!"
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quote: I guess Logan cares a lot about that joke.
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I could give two shits about some joke in a production with piss poor writing, I'm just explaining that you probably don't think its funny because you now the proceeding line is sentimental and your holding on to the hope that it will somehow come off that way.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
During The Sound of Music at the Hollywood Bowl, the audience in the top right corner of the bowl would laugh everytime a nazi appeared.
That one I will NEVER get
I think the "And I've had so many friends" line by Glinda is supposed to be funny. Certainly the way it was delivered when I saw the show was hilarious, and the audience laughter was appropriate and expected. But then the "but only one that mattered" line that follows is supposed to put a lump in your throat. When I saw it, the "so many friends" line was clearly separated by a pause from the "only one that mattered" line, so that the appropriate response for each part could come. If the two parts are running into each other, I can see how it becomes a "why is everyone laughing" moment.
I think the baby being green is amusing because of the over-the-top melodramatic staging, with the big chords and the raising of the baby.
I had a major "why is everyone laughing" moment in "Spring Awakening" - when Melchior whipped Wendla.
I was like, HOW could this POSSIBLY be funny? And it wasn't done badly, I was completely into it.
When I saw it no one laughed, for which I was thankful.
Last time I saw Wicked here in London, no one laughed at the 'but I've had so many friends' line. Also I don't think I've ever heard anyone here laugh at the bit with the cape either.
When Bare was in previews, there was a moment, right after Jason and Peter are outed, when Nadia is trying to reason and help her brother (it got cut later,) but she says: "Maybe being single's not so bad." One man was laughing hysterically at that line, it wasn't delivered in a funny way, but I was so confused as to why he was laughing. Perhaps at her confusion, but it was an odd moment.
Stand-by Joined: 2/10/06
I had a why wrent they laughing at Spamalot...
Lady:
Ive been withh you all the time...
Arthur(to Patsy):
Look the Lady Of The Lake has been with me all the time.
Lady:
and so has Patsy
Arthur:
Yes well Patsy is FAmily.
Dead silence... exxpet for me and my buddy because were major fans.
Sammi!isBroadway!
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/22/05
It bothers me how everyone dies of laughter on the "blonde" line in "What is this feeling?"
Yeah, it's supposed to be funny, but is it really that funny?
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
No lovelyspotlight, I get the set-up and why they're saying it, but what does it mean? "Akita" "Evita" - What? I don't get what either of those mean.
Swing Joined: 9/23/06
When I was in Brigadoon, every night the audience laughed after Harry Beaton died at the line in The Chase "looks like he fell on a rock and it crushed in his head."
I never understood it. I know in the show it was KIND OF a good thing that he died...but not funny. Maybe the line that the rock "crushed in his head" is a little weird but still not really funny. And this was the musical my freshman year of high school, and during my senior year those of us who were in the show freshman year were still trying to figure out why they laughed at that part. I don't get it.
Rentboy, Akita is a type of dog (the one Benny owned), so when he says that everyone knows that it was "Evita", the name of the dog that Angel killed.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/12/05
By The Sea, because for people who have seen the show it is the last real happy moment in Sweeney Todd but even then it's basically about a future that will never come.
"I personally do not laugh, but thats because I know the next line is, "but only one that mattered."
Can you assume that maybe because people don't know she isn't just being conceited judging by the following line they wouldn't laugh?
This was misplacement of a line by the producers if they wanted to create a sentimenal moment."
I agree that it was a misplacement. I also feel that the delivery of the line by the actress has influence on the audience's reaction to it. I have seen Cheno, JLT, Megan, and Kate perform and I have to say that Kate got the most laughter. By that point in the show, the audience should be able to see that Glinda has evolved and grown and is no longer the self-centered girl that she was in the beginning of the show. There is a seriousness to that moment that should be palpable in the theater. Unfortunately, the laughter last time drowned out Kate's meaningful following line-which was a disappointment to me.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
"Rentboy, Akita is a type of dog (the one Benny owned), so when he says that everyone knows that it was "Evita", the name of the dog that Angel killed."
I'm sorry, I have no clue what you mean. So the type of dog is an Akita, and to cover it up, they say "Evita" ?
Angel: "Who died?" innocently
Collins: "Our Akita, Evita"
i.e "Our [type of dog] Akita, [named] Evita" died, thats why the yuppy girlfriend isn't here.
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