#1
Posted: 6/29/08 at 6:38pm
These are only my obversations on the show. I don't do too many posts but wanted to do this one for this popular show.
Technically: It is a spectacular looking show. However the design concept is a bit strange unless you have read the book. In the book much is made of the "dragon clock" and how each story is shown with puppets in seperate windows. The clock design makes sense if you know this. A few references are made to the clock in the show but not enough to really explain it. Since the stage is made to look like one of the dragon clock scenes, the dragon over the procenium and all the clock gears in the rest of the set make sense. If you don't know this, it can be a bit puzzeling. I've read that there was more about the clock idea in the tryout version,but it got dropped and it was too expensive to redesign the show.
The show looked a bit tired. The spot light operators missed a number of cues not following the principal actors. Glinda's second act dress looked like it had been to the cleaners a few too many times.
There were 4 standby, understudies for the performance. Donna Vivino was Elfaba. She sang very well, but did not create a believable character for me. Also her green make up wasn't evenly applied leaving flesh areas in her neck. Nessarose and Fiero were understudies. She was not great, he sang the duet with Elphaba well, but was a bit stiff in the acting. Glinda (Melissa Bohon) was also an understudy. She was the only one who created a real character and showed wonderful acting talent.
I found the flying of the monkeys unexciting, just swinging back and forth. Maybe I'm jaded from seeing great flying in other shows, even amateur productions.
The audience which was full of teen age girls, who applauded when the house lights dimmed even before the orchestra began, loved the show. I had to stand at the curtain call because of Melissa Bohon and the sets, not for the whole show.
Again, these are simply my obsetvations and others who saw the same performance would disagree based on the applause.
Having seen WICKED and AVE Q within a few weeks of each other it was obvious to me why AVE Q won the Tony that year. It is a show with real heart and sentiment done simply without trying to cover faults with spectacular effects.
Technically: It is a spectacular looking show. However the design concept is a bit strange unless you have read the book. In the book much is made of the "dragon clock" and how each story is shown with puppets in seperate windows. The clock design makes sense if you know this. A few references are made to the clock in the show but not enough to really explain it. Since the stage is made to look like one of the dragon clock scenes, the dragon over the procenium and all the clock gears in the rest of the set make sense. If you don't know this, it can be a bit puzzeling. I've read that there was more about the clock idea in the tryout version,but it got dropped and it was too expensive to redesign the show.
The show looked a bit tired. The spot light operators missed a number of cues not following the principal actors. Glinda's second act dress looked like it had been to the cleaners a few too many times.
There were 4 standby, understudies for the performance. Donna Vivino was Elfaba. She sang very well, but did not create a believable character for me. Also her green make up wasn't evenly applied leaving flesh areas in her neck. Nessarose and Fiero were understudies. She was not great, he sang the duet with Elphaba well, but was a bit stiff in the acting. Glinda (Melissa Bohon) was also an understudy. She was the only one who created a real character and showed wonderful acting talent.
I found the flying of the monkeys unexciting, just swinging back and forth. Maybe I'm jaded from seeing great flying in other shows, even amateur productions.
The audience which was full of teen age girls, who applauded when the house lights dimmed even before the orchestra began, loved the show. I had to stand at the curtain call because of Melissa Bohon and the sets, not for the whole show.
Again, these are simply my obsetvations and others who saw the same performance would disagree based on the applause.
Having seen WICKED and AVE Q within a few weeks of each other it was obvious to me why AVE Q won the Tony that year. It is a show with real heart and sentiment done simply without trying to cover faults with spectacular effects.
Updated On: 6/29/08 at 06:38 PM
