Wicked (Touring) Review- 6/21

[romgitsean]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 5:12pm

So, I saw Wicked at its opening night at the Durham Performing Arts Center (which is actually a pretty nice touring house), as this marked my seventh time seeing Wicked. The last time I saw it was in 2007 in London.

I have to say, this was one performance where I pretty much clearly disliked or liked things. Overall, so-so...but it's a touring production, so you have to take it for what it is.

LIKES:
Vicki Noon as Elphaba (she reminded me of a young Shoshana or Eden Espinosa), Chris Peluso as Fiyero (very nice voice!)
Michelle London as Nessa (really powerful actress. Gave me chills),
Zach Hannah (Boq).
Don Richard (Witch's Father, Ozian Official, Ensemble)
The vocals in general were really strong, the ensemble really pulled it together.
I felt as if the set transferred really well! The only edits made were the lack of use of the balconies, which was forgivable.

DISLIKES:
Natalie Daradich as Glinda. She was trying wayy too hard to immitate Kristin and to be perky and cute. She also was young, and it made her seem too much like Elle Woods. And she had a very pretty voice too. I felt like it wasn't the right role for her. Or at least, she could've done SO much better in making it her own. Even Jennifer Laura Thompson, who replaced Kristin Chenoweth did an excellent job of making the character her own instead of an immitation of Kristin's.
The added choreography/movements for Elphaba/Glinda in "Loathing". It was wayy over the top. And Glinda's movements in "Popular" were too over the top.
Elphaba's 'toss-toss' was way over-acted.
A lot of over-acting in general from the two. Elphaba practically screamed at the crowd at Shiz for staring at her green skin. She's supposed to be frustrated, not like she's about to kill them.

I guess since I've seen SO many different incarnations of Wicked, it feels like such a let down.

As far as leads go, the OBC (even with Joel Grey), Idina, Eden (her first performance as standby), Shoshona and Kerry Ellis as Elphaba; Kristin, Jennifer, Megan and Helen Dallimore as Glinda; Carol Shelley & Kane, Rue McClanahan and Miriam Margolyes as Morrible; Norbert, Joey, David Ayers and Adam Garcia as Fiyero; Joel, George, Sean McCourt, David Garrison and Nigel Planer as The Wizard; Michelle Federer, Cristy Candler and Cassandra Compton and Christopher Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Kuhn and James Gillan as Boq. And they were all pretty good. (I remember not really caring for any Glindas after JLT or Jeffrey Kuhn as Boq, though).

I felt like there was also alot of updated projections I noticed in London and I was surprised to see them still there...as I feel like the projections they originally had were just fine. I don't understand their need for tweaking them; or the choreography for that matter. The show was fine the way it was, but I feel like it has really sold out. And of course, someone's gonna say, "It always sold out", and I really don't believe that to be true. I feel like the show was really incredible when it came out (but you need to factor in my age. I was eleven or twelve when it first came out on Broadway and I saw it). I feel like after about 2005 the show really started to try to immitate what it had been on Broadway, and just has never been the same. :
For touring and if I had never seen it before, I'd say it was pretty good nonetheless.

But I had a really great conversation with Chris Peluso who was in Lestat on Broadway and Don Richard who was in the workshop of Lestat about the show, and it was very enjoyable.

[rmusic11322]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 5:26pm

"The added choreography/movements for Elphaba/Glinda in "Loathing"."

Such as?

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 5:27pm

Which touring production was it? I think there are still 2. We had the larger one in Denver. I wasn't crazy about the sound. The voice fade-ins and a bit of echoing. It actually sounded a lot like the recording but, for me, it was a little weird sounding live.

[romgitsean]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 5:32pm

rmusic11322- They would kindof make more disgusting faces at each other, and stomp around and almost physically make fun of each other.

uncageg- It just says 2nd National Tour.

Also, the sound was a little off... but it's to be expected; it was opening night, so...

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 5:40pm

Oh, ok. Not sure which tour you had. it has been here 3 times. I got to go to the load-in for it and take pictures while they were setting up. I went to the "preview" night and we had the understudy for Elphaba. She was off the charts good! her Defying Gravity was incredible. having seen it twice before (Once with the original cast) I didn't think it would really thrill me that much but she knocked the song out of the park. We do a preview night before opening for big shows so they can tweak the technical stuff and the sound.

[zoraksferal]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 5:54pm

My only real complaint with Natalie Daradich was her soprano. Vocally, you could tell she was straining to get that high, and it really detracted from NOMTW. I quite enjoyed her comedic timing and didn't think she seemed over the top... especially compared to most other G(a)linda's I have seen. Michelle London as Nessa though truly was the best part... she surprised me big time.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:07pm

"Michelle London as Nessa though truly was the best part... she surprised me big time"

I LOVED her when I saw her in Richmond. She's right up there with my favorite Nessa's.

[rmusic11322]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:15pm

I "saw" Michele London as Glinda. She had a great stage presence. And her toss was the most hilarious things ever, WITHOUT sounding obnoxious.

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:16pm

-"The added choreography/movements for Elphaba/Glinda in "Loathing". It was wayy over the top.
-And Glinda's movements in "Popular" were too over the top.
-Elphaba's 'toss-toss' was way over-acted.
-A lot of over-acting in general from the two. Elphaba practically screamed at the crowd at Shiz for staring at her green skin. She's supposed to be frustrated, not like she's about to kill them."

All this stuff is what I liked the best about it. It's no different then what most of the girls do in the production on Broadway. Or any of the sitdowns or the 1st tour.


"Natalie Daradich as Glinda. She was trying wayy too hard to immitate Kristin and to be perky and cute. She also was young, and it made her seem too much like Elle Woods. And she had a very pretty voice too. I felt like it wasn't the right role for her."

Natalie is way better than Kristen IMO. It's funny that you say she is young when Vicki is around 23yrs old herself. She is actually one of the more tame Glinda's that I have seen and believe me when I say I have seen A LOT of them.

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:22pm

No offense Val, but I guess subtlety isn't your thing. Btw I'm actually not being snarky. It just surprises me that some people prefer Elphabas/Glindas who are so over-the-top and not layered. To each their own. I do wish I could see Michelle London as Nessarose because I've heard nothing but raves about her performance.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:26pm

Natalie is way better than Kristen IMO.

You saw Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda?

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:38pm

Jessica what I was saying is that Natalie is NOT hyper and crazy as the OP was saying. Also I was saying what they do is nothing different than what most of them have been doing in the past 3yrs since the OP last saw the show. Your favorite Glinda(Katie Rose) is much more spazzy and over the top then Natalie is IMO.

Michelle London is one of the best Nessa's there is.

Both Natalie and Vicki are very layered and neither are over the top.

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:43pm

I haven't seen Natalie, but when I saw Katie last month she was not very spazzy, especially compared to two years ago. Maybe I just caught her on a really good night. I was referring to "All this stuff is what I liked the best about it." Sorry if I misunderstood.

[HumATune]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 6:56pm

I saw Natalie several times as the standby in San Francisco, and I have to agree that she is a more toned-down Glinda, especially compared to Kendra Kassebaum. Different strokes, however.

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 4/24/10 at 12:39am

I really didn't like Natalie either. There wasn't much depth to her and vocally I wasn't that impressed.

In Richmond, I saw Michelle as both Nessa and Glinda. LOVED her as both. By far my favorite Nessa but she was just incredible as both.