Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)

[Yankeefan007]

Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#0

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:15am

Full cast, no understudies.

I've never been a fan of Wicked. I've always thought the show was very blah, and that was with the Originals. Tonight, I feel no differently, although, the current cast is possibly the best since the Kristen/Idina days.

Eden Espinosa - brought down the house after every song and received a small amount of entrance applause. She doesn't seem to be sick, as I heard she was.

Kate Reinders - After seeing Good Vibrations, I predicted she'd be Glinda. Well, my prediction has come true and she's great. Speaking to her following the show, she mentioned how nice it is to be free to do her Glinda-shtick on Broadway. Apparently, the reins were very tightly held in Chicago.

David Garrison - Best Wizard. Can't even begin to describe how well he fits the part.

Derrick Williams - the only one who looks like he's having fun on stage. He's having a blast and it shows very well.

Jenna Leigh Green - Her voice seems to be in better shape. She's a great Nessarose.

Carol Kane - How can't anyone love her voice? It's so....creepy.

The show is in great technical shape. The ensemble, led by the incomparable Sean McCourt as Dr. Dillamond, is very strong, as usual. They're doing a hell of a job.

Some great quotes at the stage door from a midwestern lady:
"Gee, Elphaba looks totally different in person than she does on stage"

To David Garrison:
"Lady: Who'd you play?
DG: The Wizard.
Lady: No you didn't. Who'd you play?
DG: The Wizard. That's my picture. See?"

Good times.

FYI everyone - Robb Sapp is leaving on August 6. Eden's contracted through the second week of October. Jenna and David get to spend "Christmas in Oz" and leave after the New Year. Kate does, also. She's out on January 7. This information comes directly from them.

[somethingwicked]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#1

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:24am

YankeeFan, is Kate currently contracted through January 7th, or is she leaving then? Same question applies for Jenna and David and their Christmas time end.

Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

Updated On: 7/21/06 at 12:24 AM

[Kev]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#2

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:27am

Eden's contracted through the second week of October.

"through" or "until" the second week of October? I was under the impression 10.8 would be her final performance.

[orangeskittles]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#3

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:31am

Robb Sapp leaving?

Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how

[Yankeefan007]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#4

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:42am

To clarify, Eden said she's there until the 2nd week of October. Kate is leaving on January 7, she made it seem. David and Jenna are there "through the holidays." Robb is leaving on August 6. I asked if he would extend and he said that that was with the extension. He has other projects coming up, though, apparently.

[RentBoy86]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#5

Posted: 7/21/06 at 1:06am

Didn't realize they were so strict on Kate during Chicago. She seemed pretty good in the role when I saw her in Chicago a year ago.

[lfae]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#6

Posted: 7/21/06 at 5:32am

Ooh, the Kate/Jenna/Derrick news made *me* very excited - I see the show in December and January and would love nothing more than seeing a variety of people :) (I hope they don't extend )

[RentHead2]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#7

Posted: 7/21/06 at 6:23am

I thought I would through this little tidbit in that when we went for lottery the wicked line had over 500 people in it - and I was saying I know Eden is amazing, not so sure about the rest of the cast.

My favorite Glinda here, with all respect to Kristen Chenoweth was Jennifer Laura Thompson. But I hope they ask Eden to extend her contract on this show, she has an amazing voice!

I made a list of all your faults, it was quite detailed and lengthy too and when I read it through I missed you. Your like a classic Eagles song, you just cant help but sing along even though it sometimes gets annoying too. I just know I want to be wherever I can wake and see you there next to me. **High Fidelity** Love is what I do **The Wedding Singer** Xanadu - Best NEW Musical of the Season!

[dancingthrulife04]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#8

Posted: 7/21/06 at 9:53am

Haha, poor David.

http://www.beintheheights.com/katnicole1 (Please click and help me win!) I chose, and my world was shaken- So what?
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda "And when Idina Menzel is singing, I'm always slightly worried that her teeth are going to jump out of her mouth and chase me." - Schmerg_the_Impaler

[Kev]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#9

Posted: 7/21/06 at 11:31am

I didn't know Kate was watched so closely by TPTB in Chicago; she was insanely spastic in that production and equally so in NYC. When I saw the show two days ago, she started acting like a monkey in "Popular."

Yeah, odd choices. I just didn't "get" her performance.

[AshleyBrownFan123]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#10

Posted: 7/21/06 at 11:31am

I saw Eden in 2004 on Idina's filming break with Kristin. They were so cute together and I got their autographs. I saw Sean McCourt as The Wizard and he rocked! I wish I saw Wicked later and seen Ben Verren! How was Ben in the show?

Let us milk the cow that is theatre-Monica Trausch

[Yankeefan007]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#11

Posted: 7/21/06 at 11:34am

TPTB?

[mijofly19]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#12

Posted: 7/21/06 at 11:36am

TPTB=The Powers That Be

[Yankeefan007]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#13

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:00pm

there ya go. Thanks.

[MiniMary12]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#14

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:03pm

Who is replacing Robb? And has Eden ever actually said 10.08.06 was her last show?

[EponineAmneris]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#15

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:26pm

Thank you for this review, yankeefan007 Always love to read your tnoughts and input.

"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES--- "THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS

[HatBoy]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#16

Posted: 7/21/06 at 12:53pm

Yankeefan007, that was a wonderful review.

Boo for Robb leaving.

...now under the user "aawolfe".

[Mattbrain]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#17

Posted: 7/21/06 at 1:00pm

Someone actually said, "Elphaba looks more different than she does onstage." Maybe that's because she's not green anymore. Yeesh, people say the damnedest things. I once read that people who saw the revival of Steel Magnolias said, "I didn't know they turned the movie into a play." And when I saw Chicago, I heard a woman say, "There were some songs that were different from the movie." Either she thought they turned the movie into a musical or she knew that it was the movie version of the show.

Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

[Yankeefan007]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#18

Posted: 7/21/06 at 1:03pm

My reaction to the person who said that was "well, you know she's not really green, right?" And the woman gave me a dirty look before saying, a few seconds later, dumbfounded and embarrassed, "I know."

[GilmoreGirlO2]

re: Wicked 7/20 Review (with great quotes from a clueless audience member)#19

Posted: 7/21/06 at 1:04pm

Thanks for the review! I agree with much of it.


"she mentioned how nice it is to be free to do her Glinda-shtick on Broadway. Apparently, the reins were very tightly held in Chicago."

That's strange...I saw her many times in Chicago and just saw her last week on Broadway and she plays it the same...nothing extra that I noticed. The only difference I saw in her performance was that her and Eden have better chemistry than her and Ana had...Kate and Eden compliment each other well.