#1
Posted: 1/31/07 at 9:03pm
So going back to one of my favorite shows today, I realized it had been almost a year since I've seen it last, which made me even more excited to see it again.
But it felt like a slightly different, though equally amazing show, and it was good to see some nice changes. First there were slight script/story changes that apparently I've been...off in outer space somewhere and didn't know about, but apparently things they started doing on the tour and in Chicago they incorporated into the Broadway production when some of the new cast members came in, or something?
IMO, the changes were good, for the most part. I did miss the big hat in the beginning...but apparently not that much because I didn't even realize that it was cut until my friend pointed it out at intermission. Oops.
There's a nice scene between Elphaba and Fiyero as he comes in his car...I'll try to not give every little detail away, hard for me...anyway I've always felt Fiyero was underwritten and his relationship with Elphaba was underwritten, but little changes like this helped. Didn't make it work perfeclty, but was an improvement. I'm *really* glad that despite the fact that show has been so successful on Broadway, they are working on ways to try to make it better.
There's also just some slight dialogue changes, a funny part where someone runs the wrong way...the dialogue fit in kind of nice...when Fiyero said he'll meet Elphaba right before As Long As You're Mine, he said I'll get Dillamond, then meet you or something...just a nice little thing to tie in...very little things like that. But I enjoyed being surprised at the fact that some things were different.
The other reason the show felt different was the new cast (actually, Megan/Eden was the last cast I saw, for the record). Julia, Kendra, and Sebastian to a slightly lesser extent offered very new, original, fresh takes on the roles.
Julia sang the songs with more of a legit singing voice and it sounded really great. Defying Gravity was as powerful as it's ever been, etc. Her acting was great too, though I think she might have...generally been a bit better at stronger, 2nd act Elphaba than younger, insecure Elphaba. Not that she was at all bad in that, but most Elphabas tend to have a strength one way or the other. But that of course contributed to the power of Defying Gravity, when she lets that confidence come out. She also had a great wicked-witch laugh. And good chemistry with Sebastian.
Also because she had a completely different singing voice, it changed some of the notes/accents, etc. on some parts of some songs. Like a brief example is that instead of going from higher note to lower note on "me down" she went from lower to higher. Again, little things, but nice to see a very fresh and original portrayal.
The same goes for Kendra Kassenbaum as Glinda. She was especially different. Her speaking voice--probably seemed deeper to me than it actually is because I imagine Glinda having a Kristin-like voice, but her voice seemed pretty deep. And she too sings very differently from most Glinda's. She isn't the vocally strongest Glinda I've ever seen, particularly in the high soprano notes, but it's not like she hurt my ear or anything. Her voice sounded great in her middle range, and brought some...power/belt to some of Glinda's parts in songs that was effective. I'm Not That Girl Reprise stood out as a particularly strong song for her.
She was also one of the most animated Glinda's I've seen JLT. Didn't try to play it as subtle as some others, which aside from Megan, I didn't think worked as well. She was running, doing exaggerated movements and stuff, etc, and it really paid off--she was VERY funny. But also her moves and ways of saying things and just her whole approach to the part was so different than all prior Glindas, it just really stood out for me. I mean, good for her for making the part her own, and not trying to duplicate someone else's performance.
Sebastian was pretty good as Fiyero. At some points his voice sounded...kinda nerdy...and from his look, I kinda wasn't expecting that. But I bought his Fiyero more than most, though a part of that is probably some of the changes. He did have chemistry with Julia, but I could kind of understand how him liking Elphaba didn't come out of completely nowhere like it usually seems with Fiyero's. He was also very sweet, like about how she's beautiful, etc. Still an underwritten, difficult part to pull off, but he did an admiral job.
And I have to say I loved Jayne Houdyshell as Madame Morrible. For me, that role went completely downhill since Carole Shelley left, but finally they found another great Morrible. She had the scaryness and powerfulness of the first "Wicked Witch" down, portrayed a very believable transformation, was simply scary and unrecognizable by the end, but there was also something in her from the very start that you could see the evil inherent in her. Great performance!
Oh, and I guess I should also mention Cristy Candler was a fine Nessarose, but had a really great voice. I loved Wicked Witch of the East.
Everyone else was good. I think this is the cast I've been most uniformly pleased with since the OBC.
And I know, I should be shot for starting a Wicked thread. After all, there's...so many right here on the front page...wow, just look at them all. Bad me.
But it felt like a slightly different, though equally amazing show, and it was good to see some nice changes. First there were slight script/story changes that apparently I've been...off in outer space somewhere and didn't know about, but apparently things they started doing on the tour and in Chicago they incorporated into the Broadway production when some of the new cast members came in, or something?
IMO, the changes were good, for the most part. I did miss the big hat in the beginning...but apparently not that much because I didn't even realize that it was cut until my friend pointed it out at intermission. Oops.
There's a nice scene between Elphaba and Fiyero as he comes in his car...I'll try to not give every little detail away, hard for me...anyway I've always felt Fiyero was underwritten and his relationship with Elphaba was underwritten, but little changes like this helped. Didn't make it work perfeclty, but was an improvement. I'm *really* glad that despite the fact that show has been so successful on Broadway, they are working on ways to try to make it better.
There's also just some slight dialogue changes, a funny part where someone runs the wrong way...the dialogue fit in kind of nice...when Fiyero said he'll meet Elphaba right before As Long As You're Mine, he said I'll get Dillamond, then meet you or something...just a nice little thing to tie in...very little things like that. But I enjoyed being surprised at the fact that some things were different.
The other reason the show felt different was the new cast (actually, Megan/Eden was the last cast I saw, for the record). Julia, Kendra, and Sebastian to a slightly lesser extent offered very new, original, fresh takes on the roles.
Julia sang the songs with more of a legit singing voice and it sounded really great. Defying Gravity was as powerful as it's ever been, etc. Her acting was great too, though I think she might have...generally been a bit better at stronger, 2nd act Elphaba than younger, insecure Elphaba. Not that she was at all bad in that, but most Elphabas tend to have a strength one way or the other. But that of course contributed to the power of Defying Gravity, when she lets that confidence come out. She also had a great wicked-witch laugh. And good chemistry with Sebastian.
Also because she had a completely different singing voice, it changed some of the notes/accents, etc. on some parts of some songs. Like a brief example is that instead of going from higher note to lower note on "me down" she went from lower to higher. Again, little things, but nice to see a very fresh and original portrayal.
The same goes for Kendra Kassenbaum as Glinda. She was especially different. Her speaking voice--probably seemed deeper to me than it actually is because I imagine Glinda having a Kristin-like voice, but her voice seemed pretty deep. And she too sings very differently from most Glinda's. She isn't the vocally strongest Glinda I've ever seen, particularly in the high soprano notes, but it's not like she hurt my ear or anything. Her voice sounded great in her middle range, and brought some...power/belt to some of Glinda's parts in songs that was effective. I'm Not That Girl Reprise stood out as a particularly strong song for her.
She was also one of the most animated Glinda's I've seen JLT. Didn't try to play it as subtle as some others, which aside from Megan, I didn't think worked as well. She was running, doing exaggerated movements and stuff, etc, and it really paid off--she was VERY funny. But also her moves and ways of saying things and just her whole approach to the part was so different than all prior Glindas, it just really stood out for me. I mean, good for her for making the part her own, and not trying to duplicate someone else's performance.
Sebastian was pretty good as Fiyero. At some points his voice sounded...kinda nerdy...and from his look, I kinda wasn't expecting that. But I bought his Fiyero more than most, though a part of that is probably some of the changes. He did have chemistry with Julia, but I could kind of understand how him liking Elphaba didn't come out of completely nowhere like it usually seems with Fiyero's. He was also very sweet, like about how she's beautiful, etc. Still an underwritten, difficult part to pull off, but he did an admiral job.
And I have to say I loved Jayne Houdyshell as Madame Morrible. For me, that role went completely downhill since Carole Shelley left, but finally they found another great Morrible. She had the scaryness and powerfulness of the first "Wicked Witch" down, portrayed a very believable transformation, was simply scary and unrecognizable by the end, but there was also something in her from the very start that you could see the evil inherent in her. Great performance!
Oh, and I guess I should also mention Cristy Candler was a fine Nessarose, but had a really great voice. I loved Wicked Witch of the East.
Everyone else was good. I think this is the cast I've been most uniformly pleased with since the OBC.
And I know, I should be shot for starting a Wicked thread. After all, there's...so many right here on the front page...wow, just look at them all. Bad me.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
