Wicked: "Eh" or "Ick?"- Page 6

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:59pm

"I think a dark, daring and stylized version would have been better. I just feel like the show sold out to the Disney family crowd. "

I too would have preferred a more adult show truer to the book, but the cute one we have is fun to watch all the same. It's a piece of entertainment, not a piece of art. And that's ok with me.

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:00pm

sorry about the double post.
Updated On: 8/24/04 at 09:00 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:01pm

what i meant was when you said "some people like idinas voice, some don't" i thought it was a bit hyprocritical to state your own opinion as a fact. no worries though!

[nychick9876]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:09pm

i love wicked but yes it is a little to hyped. i liked the book a little better b/c it was darker and gave so much more insite. the book had to be "disney-fied" in order to be more family oriented.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:26pm

i disagree, it was just easier to make into a musical this way, and whenever you buy tickets it says, not recommended for 10 and under. thats not very family oriented to me.

[ItSucks2BAveQ]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:40pm

Avenue Q sucks ***!!!!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:52pm

Emu and ProducerJeff, it took me a while to dig through the data from the US 2000 Census. Four years ago, there were 71,623,390 children under the age of 18 living in households in the United States. That means the number of adorable singing street urchins soon to be portrayed in "Brooklyn: The Next Wicked" are not included in this total because there's no way to count homeless young people.

So what you are asserting is that 3,581,169 and a half young people in this country like Wicked. That's an awful love of show-loving for a show whose cast recording hasn't even gone gold, don't you think. I would be shocked if any more than 500,000 young people have ever heard of the title of the musical, let alone have formed an opinion on it.

[Emutional]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:57pm

and you said 1 in 500, which equals approx. 143,000...so i guess we're both wrong then, huh.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:03pm

Uh, no, I said I would be surprised if that many had heard of it... I was being generous when I had the real figures in front of me. In any event, I thought you should see how your wild overestimation would really play out with the numbers in front of you.

[Emutional]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:09pm

wow, buddy, i didn't actually research it and make a big statement about how many people know about it. besides, you don't know how many kids know about it anyway, so your facts aren't facts until you prove them.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:24pm

Let's just say that it's VERY SAFE to say that 1 in 20 American kids do not like Wicked because that would be a statistical impossibility. Agreed?

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:29pm

To bring up another aspect, it absolutely is fair to criticize someone for saying Wicked is the "best/worst show ever!!!!!!" if it's the only show one has seen. If you have nothing to compare it to, then what is it "besting"?

But sometimes what's worse than only watching one show is watching more shows, but constantly comparing it to your "totally absolutely favoritest show".

I went to NYC with my NYC/Broadway-virgin friend. Even before stepping foot into a theater, she told me she unabashedly hated musicals and theater in general. On our first night, I dragged her to Aida, which she thought was the greatest thing since sliced toast, and isn't Will and Deborah and Lisa the best?!?!

The next night, she saw Wicked. Suddenly, Wicked was the bestest show ever and actually, Aida wasn't that good, she was never a fan of the show, Will was alright but not as good as Norbert, and Lisa's not nearly as funny as Cheno. Oh, and Deborah Cox SUCKS. (Sorry, crp2000).

Subsequently, we saw Boy From Oz and Phantom, which outright "sucked, because it's not as funny as Wicked, the actors aren't as good as in Wicked, the music isn't as good as Wicked." She refused to watch Rent because "it seems boring" (her knowing nothing about it).

Now, 4 months later, BFO and POTO still "sucked sooo badly", Aida was "just okay" and Wicked "is the best show ever."

Mind has closed off, because everything sucks compared to Wicked.

And who is she to judge after having such meagre exposure and appreciation of theatre? She talks as if she's a seasoned theatre-goer.

Off my soap box. I hate narrow-mindedness. Good night.

[Emutional]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:46pm

i asked you to agree a few posts back and you said no, so no i'm not agreeing. i tried to compromise and you threw it back at me. f*** it.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:47pm

I was 13 once.....let's stop and think who is taking these very young kids to the theatre. Most likely their parents. So let's thank them for at least getting these kids into a theatre!!!!

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:49pm

Wicked is easily accessible because it's cute and doesn't force you to think to hard. It's like a chick flick, people like it because it's fluff.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:51pm

you do have to think at the end...I was a bit confused!

[Emutional]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:51pm

I disagree. It's fluff if you want it to be. If you want to come out of it thinking "i loved how they were friends, how cool was that!" then go ahead.

however if you want to look deeper, it has more meaning. it all depends on how you look at it.


and i love my parents for taking me to all of this stuff. we might spend- well, you dont want to know how much we might spend and i don't want to tell you- a lot to go see it again in december/january.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:58pm

It is a show about friendship. You can take some good stuff from it. But it is not the book...which I got more from. I do have to say that I thought Idina Menzel portrayed Elphaba pretty well.

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:05pm

Hey, even fluffy chick flicks have a bit of depth, and there are some good ones. (If you want to tell me Pretty Woman sucks, run away first) Wicked isn't on the intellectual level of some other things, though (Caroline). I was saying that it's easily likeable for tourists looking for fun and people unfamiliar with musical theatre, that's what I mean by 'fluff'. It's not a bad thing.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:11pm

I was not a tourist. There is the friendship thing going on. And that is a strong part of Wicked. Yes, I cried when they sang "For Good". It is not a bad show. Yes, it has flaws....but it is packin' them in! So something is right!

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:14pm

Again, it's sweet and For Good, as I stated earlier, hit home for me and came across as very sincere. But it's not intellectual. And that's fine. If everything was the same, everything would be boring.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:15pm

And you can't compare WICKED to Caroline. Two VASTLY different shows!

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:17pm

And both are good in their own ways.

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:18pm

They are different. Different is not bad. I've already said that.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:22pm

I agree. You may have said that. But I have not been online to follow the thread.