Wicked London Review

[bwaydoc]

Posted: 12/23/06 at 4:29pm

I just got back from London. I was there from the 17th to the 22nd and I saw Wicked twice while I was there. I've seen it several times in the states, on tour and in New York, and I know it gets more than enough discussion time on these boards, but I thought I'd put in my two cents anyway.

This was the first time I'd seen Idina in the role, I've seen Eden and Stephanie in the states. I have seen and heard clips of Idina and obviously I have the cast recording, but from clips I've heard and opinions from friends who have seen Idina in the role I was expecting to be disappointed by her performance in person. Boy was I wrong! I have never heard a more brilliant, controlled, exciting performance of Elphaba than I heard last Tuesday night. Idina was incredibly ON that night, in a big way. She hit all the right notes and was a powerhouse on Defying Gravity and No Good Deed. I was thoroughly impressed and so was my friend who had seen Idina before and hadn't really enjoyed her performance then.

I also thought the contrast between Eden's Elphaba and Idina's Elphaba was interesting. Where Eden's is all strong, loud and tough, Idina's was soft-spoken and more vulnerable. I love Eden but found this Elphaba to be a nice change from what I'm used to.

I think other people on this board have mentioned Helen Dallimore as Glinda. I have to agree with some opinions I've heard about her being too "squeaky." I could tell she had a good voice, but for the most part it was masked by her thinking she had to play Glinda with a high squeaky voice. When she hit the lower notes she sounded much better, but she didn't hit them very often. The problem with the high pitch was especially apparent during What Is This Feeling?, when both she and Idina were singing the same lines, her voice was so much higher that you could barely hear Idina. Overall, Helen's acting wasn't bad, but you were kind of overwhelmed by the high-pitched quality of her voice. And she wasn't a stand-out Glinda either. She wasn't spastic, like Kate Reinders can be during Popular, but she wasn't that fun to watch during it either.

Adam Garcia as Fiyero was interesting. He can definitely dance and sing, and I liked him better than Derek Williams, who is the only other actor I've seen in that role, but at times he did seem as if he was playing Fiyero "drunk," as my friend said. I know Fiyero's movements are supposed to be loose and fluid to remind us of the scarecrow that he turns into later on, but sometimes he was a little too loose. He did have good chemistry with both Idina and Helen though.

Miriam Margoyles was not that great as Madam Morrible. After having seen Carol Shelley in the role and actually singing the lines I was disappointed by Miriam just speaking the lines. I enjoyed her acting a lot more than Carol Kane, who I can't stand in the role, but I wish she would sing instead of speak.

Nigel Planer as The Wizard was great. My friend was actually convinced he was American because he played it with an American accent instead of a British one and he was very good. Martin Ball as Dr. Dillamond was also very good with the few scenes he had. Katie Rowley Jones did a very good NessaRose and has a very strong voice, which surprised me. Finally, James Gillan as Boq, although he has an impressive voice, was somewhat distracting because he is the only one in the cast with a Scottish accent which really, really stood out when he talked. It was actually difficult to pay attention to the lines he was saying because his accent was so strong. My sister and I kept looking over at each other and laughing when he would speak because it just did not fit in with the rest of the cast, but when he would sing it wasn't as noticeable and he did have a very good voice.

Overall I enjoyed my experience with Wicked in London. It's a fun show to see no matter what and seeing it with Idina, especially her having given such a great performance, was such a treat. The second night I saw it there were a couple of bloopers, which I posted under the OOPS? thread if anyone wants to read them.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Updated On: 12/23/06 at 04:29 PM

[snl89]

Posted: 12/23/06 at 5:54pm

awesome review! thank you for it

ug I need to go to london so bad before the 30th. Not that thats gonna happen. But I need to.

[mrkringas]

Posted: 12/23/06 at 7:22pm

James does not have a strong accent at all! You should hear what most people in his native city sound like

There were a number of different accents from across the UK so the use of Scots didnt bother me at all.