Wicked @ Pantages 12/16 (Eden broke character, LOL!)

[SoCalSkippy]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 1:48pm

My Wife and I attended "Wicked" last night in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre and it was AMAZING! I was expecting it to be a total letdown and a bore...but it was the exact opposite. I've heard some of the music before and knew the basic plot; but I didn't realize how entertaining this show really was! I was expecting it to be some watered down-teeny bopper show made for 13 year old girls. But boy was I wrong! It was extremely entertaining, exciting, colorful, hilarious and even dramatic at times. The ensemble was just OK; I was a bit let down by them. But Eden Espinoza (Elphaba) and Megan Hilty (Galinda) were friggin' incredible! I don't know that I've EVER seen 2 better performers in my entire life. I've seen alot of great shows before (been an actor my entire life too) and "Wicked" easily was the most entertaining show I've ever seen before!

I can't say enough good things about this show; it was great...I wanna go back and see it again and again and again, LOL! And my favorite part of the show last night was when Megan Hilty made Eden Espinoza break character and laugh during "Popular." They had to stop the show for almost an entire minute because they both broke character and started laughing their asses off...the entire audience got it too and we were all howling and laughing! Anyway, I'm gonna stop raving now...I just wanted to share with everyone my great experience. Eden Espinoza (she's freaking gorgeous too by the way) and Megan Hilty are amazing and I expect to see them in alot more shows in the years to come because they're worth the ticket price alone! (over $200 for 2 tickets, yikes!)

[WickedRedX2]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 2:11pm

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I really want to see this musical so bad!

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 2:13pm

What on earth happened to make them break character for a full minute?

[WickedRedX2]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 3:07pm

From the videos I've seen on Youtube, something always happens during the song Popular that makes everyone break character for at least a second or two and laugh. I wouldn't really mind though. It just makes it that much more entertaining.

[Allshowsrock]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 3:12pm

I love Eden and Megan, everytime I see them they always break character for a slight sec. I love it lol ( I know breaking character isnt a good thing but they do it in a manner that the audience KNOWS whats going on lol)

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 4:02pm

If they break character all the time, then it's probably fake, like the way Lane always broke character in The Producers.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 4:09pm

so your saying WICKED is a good show???

this is news to me... never heard of it before...

[theminutepast]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 5:47pm

Madbrian, can you elaborate?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 5:55pm

"Madbrian, can you elaborate?"

I'm not Madbrian, but Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick broke character during the office scene in Act 1 every night. Usually, the telephone would be a popular prop to build a joke around.

As for Popular....there is always lots of breaking character in that song. Chenoweth read a whole list at her last show about how to be popular. One night when I was there, Idina Menzel very clearly had a cold or something, because she was coughing constantly between songs. During Popular, when Glinda tells Elphie the things she needs to do, she added, "But what I really think you need first is a Ricola."

[MerMaggieGalinda]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 6:06pm

I saw Eden and Megan on Broadway in March 06, I agree, they are an amazing Elphie/Galinda team! I was so glad I was blessed with two great leads for my first Broadway show! Too bad I can't say the same for the next night when I saw Phantom and Rebecca Pitcher was Christine....

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:07pm

When I saw the show with this cast, Megan called Fiyero Derrick. Nothing very exciting beyond that.

Updated On: 12/17/07 at 11:07 PM

[Tag]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:14pm

The breaking character bit is fake/scripted. Like in The Producers (as noted above) and during (You're) Timeless to Me in Hairspray.

[Rachel H]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 12:33am

I've seen Wicked 5 times on Broadway here in New York... I was just happy for all of you in LA when I read on JuliB.com that Wicked was playing at the Pantages.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 12:56am

The Merm never would have pretended to break character!

[caitlinette]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 4:05pm

I've never seen the actors break character in "Popular". Sure, there are points where they have to hold for laughter, but there's never a point where they take 1 whole minute to laugh.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 4:16pm

I also can confirm all 6 times I've seen WICKED (on tour and on Broadway), the actresses have 'broken character' during "Popular". It never bothered me as each time the moment was unique between each set of actresses.

A large amount of shows have scripted 'break character' moments written into them which adds to the 'live theater' experience -- even when scripted.

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 4:20pm

While I find her completely adorable...am I the only person who isn't a huge fan of Megan Hilty? I saw her on Broadway the second time I saw WICKED and I just wasn't feeling it. She wasn't horrible by any means...just not as good as I was hoping for.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 7:11pm

The breakage of character is by no means scripted. If you saw the show at the beginning if its run, you'd see that character was not broken at the time. Over the run, the song has become a laugh fest, and the actresses in the song often laugh sincerely. Every so often, they have to pause because the giggling can't stop. But no, it is never staged breakage....just accepted that it's likely going to happen.

[Christina Cooper]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 7:40pm

Megan and Eden are wonderful together.. I bet Eden is really emotional since her last day is next week.. So maybe that's why she broke character.. But Megan is pretty funny.. So I can see why she would laugh during Megan's popular.. I've seen it twice live and its freakin hilarous!!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/18/07 at 9:04pm

"While I find her completely adorable...am I the only person who isn't a huge fan of Megan Hilty? I saw her on Broadway the second time I saw WICKED and I just wasn't feeling it. She wasn't horrible by any means...just not as good as I was hoping for."

I actually did a 180 on her. I saw her three times while she was on Broadway- once as a standby with Idina, once with Shoshana, and once with Eden. Each time she got better and better- I really didn't care for her the first time, enjoyed her the second time (and thought she was far, far better than Bean), and loved her the third time, and thought she and Eden were an ideal pair.

[BrianS]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 1:06am

I can't speak to if a fake break is in Wicked, but it was nauseating in both The Producers and Hairspray. It's insulting to the audience and it's a cheap way to get the audience on your side.

[EvanK]

Posted: 12/19/07 at 1:33am

The breaking character is not scripted. There is an interview with megan from seattle, and she states shoshana did some thing that made her laugh crazily on stage. Eden probably does stuff like that aswell.