Wicked Review 4/22/05

[442namffug]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 11:43am

Hello everyone. I FINALLY saw Wicked for the first time and I was entirely amazed. I know people do lots of reviews on here but I though I would add mine.

Walking into the Gershwin is, by itself, an amazing experience. It is such a huge theatre but, at the same time, it is very intimate. Seeing the show curtain and the set pieces on the side of the stage really set the mood and I felt that it was the most exciting preset that I had ever seen.
The show started very abruptly and it wasn't the opening that I had imagined. The ensemble was good but more often than not, you could pick out specific voices instead of hearing all of them blend together. I think others have expressed the same complaint, and that is the only thing about the ensemble that wasn't great.
JLT and Shoshana were simply AMAZING. The two of them were fantastic and the best live vocal performances that I have ever heard. I felt like it was an honor to watch these two perform. They had a great chemistry and were so kind at the stage door. George Hearn and David Ayers were extremely dissapointing but it was perhaps that their parts were under-written. Carole Shelly was wonderful and was a nice minor character to watch. Michelle Federer and Jeffery Kuhn clearly have talent and did the best that they could with their under-written parts. The lighting and costumes (basically, the entire production design) were clearly the highlight of the night. Words cannot express how cleverthe show was and how they succeeded at transporting the audience to Oz.
The cast did have some trouble staying focused however. In the scene before "Something Bad", someone screamed from backstage and everyone onstage started cracking up. Shoshana had to turn her back and was completely shaking. In "What is this feeling?" Jennifer and Shoshana could NOT stop laughing and, while it was interesting to see them having fun with the show, it was a little unproffesional.
The show itself had obvious plot holes, but in the end, it was a wonderful night of theatre. I'm really glad that I got to see this cast before they left as I hear from many people that this was the cast to see. Definitley worth the 100 bucks, definitley worth the 4 hour drive, definitley worth spending the night at WICKED!!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 11:44am

So has David Ayers discovered what keys his songs are in yet?
Updated On: 4/23/05 at 11:44 AM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 11:49am

Im so glad you enjoyed it.

[ikmbway]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 11:53am

glad you enjoyed it! I love Wicked. Whenever i go to shows nothing great ever happens (like mess ups) except for the one time in mamma mia tonya (i think thats the one) she was swinging around the grapes and they kinda flew across the stage but nothing big.

[442namffug]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 11:56am

Yes I really enjoyed it.
No David Ayers has NOT discovered what key his songs are in, and his acting skills were dissapointing. He was like the human vacuum cleaner, sucking up all of the good energy in the scenes. Nice guy, but bad casting choice.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 12:31pm

I saw him in his first week for performances, so was hoping he got better. But-from what I could tell-he wasn't going to improve much, he SUCKED. One of the most amateur performances I've seen on a Broadway stage. I though Norbert was a great match for the role. It seems they just want to get a "hunk" in there, and think that everything else will be forgiven.

[OrdinaryJukebox1]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 1:08pm

I hate pretty people with no talent, sucking up all the work in theater simply because of their looks! It's just not fair to us ugly, talented people!

-Vincent

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 1:13pm

lol...no one is ugly..just....misconstrued....

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 1:15pm

I havent seen the show since last summer when I saw Idina play Elphaba. I have met the new cast because I went to see Brklyn on Kids Night On Bway so I went to meet Sho and David and revisit JLT for the third time. They were such nice people. I've heard Sho sing "Home" and "You Cant Stop The Beat" and it was amazing. David I havent heard but I will this summer when I go it see it for the second time.

But JLT is so nice and amazing... it will be sad to see her go...

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 1:15pm

Since theatre lately, is trying to mimic film and tv, I can assure you, the pretty un-talented people will continue to be cast.

[DefyingPopular]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 1:18pm

I saw David a few times, also in the beginning of his run and as recently as April 3rd, and he got a LOTTTTT better.

Shoshana also, I found her beyond amazing in January and i was left speechless and in awe in April.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 1:49pm

It's kinda funny how Fieyro was this shy, loner in the book. Now look whats happened.

[442namffug]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 2:14pm

I am sure there are good looking people out there with more talent than he has..they just need to look. Maybe this is just not the right role for him, but I hope he leaves soon. I heard people say "I thought the show was OK" at intermission, and that was soon followed by "Fiyero is horrible!"

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 2:35pm

You know you mention a problem with blending in the chorus. It's something I noticed when I went to see it too. See I won the lottery and had the front row seats. Me and my date noticed a lack of blending and then we noticed why. Some of the ensemble for whatever reason, be it that they were only dancers and couldn't sing or saving their voices, were just mouthing the lyrics and not singing. It was very obvious that about 5 of them were doing it. Is this isolated or rampant on Broadway right now.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 6:46pm

i saw david march 9th and he was GREAT...Saycon however...not so much

[FrontRowFirst]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 6:52pm

I saw the show last night too (4/22) and agree with the review for the most part. I've seen the show quite a bit, and can say that Shoshana has come along way since January - acting wise. She's toned it down a little, which was nice. In January I was really turned off by her over acting, but felt much better after leaving last night.
Jennifer was great, but not as funny as usual. My husband I thought she seemed a little tired compared to her normal self. Maybe just the end of the week...

As for David's Fiyero - just falls flat. The character no longer comes off as the cool, rebel type (ala Joey and Norbert), but just the cute, nice love interest with little personality. I didn't care about the character at all.

I did catch the Shoshana laughing bit in the classroom scene. We were very close to the stage, and it was the guy sitting on the end of the bench who called out (not offstage). He was very proud of himself. Shoshana seemed caught off guard and couldn't stop laughing. She actually wound up laughing loudly with the rest of the kids at the jokes Glinda was making at her expense - which was odd...but fun to watch.

[DefyingPopular]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 3:54pm

i heard it was the guy who plays averic aka walter something.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 4:13pm

i think david ayers's problem is he seems to almost be "playing straight", and not that well from the clips i've seen....i know he's hooked up with angela gaynor (lucky bastard), but judging from liza's husbands that doesn't mean much

[442namffug]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 4:37pm

"Jennifer was great, but not as funny as usual."

I'm sure once you see the show multiple times as you have, it loses its humor, so maybe that's why in your eyes, she was less funny than usual.

"i know he's hooked up with angela gaynor "

Angela is his girlfriend. And his problem is not that he has the inability to play it straight. His problem is that he has a lack of talent (or that the role isn't good for him).

[DefyingPopular]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 4:49pm

i've seen jlt a few times, and yet i still find her hilarious, just some nights i guess she's not as funny.

it could also be the audience.. they play off their reactions, so it's always 'fresh'. or well they try to make it fresh.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:28pm

I saw the show in February. One of the first things I noticed was David. And how dissappointed I was. A great, nice, guy but just not up to par.

[442namffug]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:48pm

yes he was my only major complaint. I am very active with local theatre and the kids are obsessed with Wicked, as are many people on this message board. I was nervous going into the theatre because I thought it might be overrated. However, I was so surprised and wish I could go back again!

[sabrelady]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:58pm

The point to me is - it shows again how talented Norb is- that with the few crumbs of a character that the book throws him, he created a ( pretty much) three dimensional role. Derrick Williams in the tour has the same problems- u need to have something to movemeyond the books limitations.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 6:32pm

'The character no longer comes off as the cool, rebel type (ala Joey and Norbert), but just the cute, nice love interest with little personality.'

That's EXACTLY it, frontrowfirst. David is a very dim, almost stupid Fiyero without any personality. I congratulate him on trying something different but it just doesn't work. Both Norbert and Joey were this very flashy, cocky but still very likeable character, so David was a big disappointment for me too. I thought his As Long As You're Mine was very out of tune as well.

There's only one Fiyero who is worse than David's and that's Derrick Williams on tour.

QM

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 7:17pm

"The point to me is - it shows again how talented Norb is- that with the few crumbs of a character that the book throws him, he created a ( pretty much) three dimensional role"

I first saw the show last July (Cheno's last night) and I was impressed with the whole cast, and how great EVERY character seemed to be written. I went back in January (with new cast) and noticed that it wasn't the character's that were written great, but it was the actors' portrayls that were.

That said, when I saw David he was singing fine. My biggest problem was that at times he was overacting and at times he was underacting. I thought George Hearn's wizard was ok, but nothing stellar (I was just happy to be seeing THE George Hearn). I am glad you enjoyed Kuhn's take on Boq, he was truly perfect in Assassins but only so-so in Wickied (however it was only his second time playing the role with an audience).