#1
Posted: 1/8/06 at 6:09pm
This weekend, I traveled from NYC to Washington DC to see the Wicked Tour...and I have no regrets at all. My motivation for seeing this tour was to see Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba so when I got to the Kennedy Center Opera House a little before 7:00PM, I immedately checked the board to make sure Stephanie was in. She was, and from that moment on, I was beaming and incredibly excited to see her.
Since the 4-week run of the show in Washington DC was sold out in such a short time, my friend called the day the tickets went on sale and got a standing room ticket in advance for only $27. Totally worth it! We went in shortly after the doors opened and got a great spot in the back of the orchestra. The Kennedy Center does not specify where to stand for standing room, you just stand anywhere in the back of the orchestra.
The map of Oz was the curtain and there was also a dragon head at the top of the stage (like the show in NY). I also wanted to mention something about the audience members for Wicked in DC. I was surprised to see that most of the people there were dressed up and most of them were over the age of 45. It was a completely different audience type that those who see the show in NYC, which probably made for an even more enjoyable experience. Then, at 7:30, the show began.
Before I get into reviews of the individual actors, I would like to comment about the differences of the sets from broadway. Honestly, there were minimal differences and the changes they made were fine and did not affect my enjoyment of the show. There are a couple of scenes in which Morrible, Glinda and Boq are on elevated platforms on the sides of the stage in NYC. Since the touring company cannot recreate these set pieces wherever they go, they had small platforms that came out on the sides of the stage and then retracted once the actors were done delivering their lines. Also during "One Short Day," during the line "hot air ballooning," a silhouette of a man in a hot air balloon comes down from the ceiling, but that did not happen in the tour. One final difference that I noticed was that in the beginning of "No Good Deed," Elphaba did not make her entrance from underneath the stage, she just walked out from stage left to the podium where the Grimmerie was. The podium came out from underneath the stage, but kind of looked cheap. But honestly, the one hole in the stage that they needed to have, was there (I am referring to the one at the end when we find out Elphaba is alive). Also, when the Wizard sets the monkeys free, two of them flew over the stage instead of one flying over the audience. The rest of the sets looked identical to broadway and the lighting was still fabulous. I also noticed very minor differences in the orchestrations, but nothing that took away from my enjoyment...and I have no problem hearing the actors at all. Overall, the show looked and sounded as good as it did on broadway and if I hadn't seen the show in NYC three days before on 1/4/06, I probably wouldn't have noticed some of the differences.
Aaron J. Albano went for Logan Lipton as Boq and since I had just seen Robb Sapp in the role on broadway, I thought Aaron was just serviceable in the role. I think it is a difficult role to ruin, but he was just ok.
Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible was excellent as always. It was my third time seeing her in the role and she did not disappoint. God only knows why talent-free Rue was hired for the broadway company.
Jenna Leigh Green was perfectly cast as Nessarose. I had only seen Michelle Federer in the role, but I loved Jenna's characterization. Her "Wicked Wicked of the East" in Act 2 was wonderful.
David Garrison was probably the best Wizard of Oz I have seen. I previously saw Joel Grey, George Hearn and Ben Vereen in the role and I thought David did an excellent job with such a poorly developed role. I loved his singing voice and his acting was excellent.
Sebastian Arcellus was a great Fiyero. I loved his interaction with Glinda and Elphaba. He had just started in the role on Tuesday and honestly, it seemed like he had been playing the role for months already. I loved his voice and he defnitely looked the part. His hair is much shorter than it was in Good Vibrations, probably comes up to the middle of the back of his neck instead of halfway down to his back. He has great hair though, and is adorable. An excellent replacement for Fiyero.
Kendra Kassebaum's Glinda was fabulous. What I loved most about her performance was that she was not trying to imitate Kristin Chenoweth. Kendra has developed her own Glinda and I think it works perfectly. The "Popular" scene was fantastic, she hit all of the high notes during the opening number and "Thank Goodness," and I absolutely *loved* "For Good." I could tell that Kendra really worked at making the role her own with her mannerisms, tone of voice and how she played off the other actors. I was very impressed.
And now, the woman of the evening, Stephanie J. Block! Let me start off by saying that out of the four Elphaba's I have seen, Idina, Eden, Shoshana and Stephanie, Stephanie is by far the best overall. In fact, she was so good last night, that I think Stephanie should have originated the role on broadway (sorry Idina fans). From the moment she walked out (to scattered entrance applause), she had the audience in the palm of her hand. She played Elphaba in Act 1 as a very vulnerable young woman who just wants to fit in. Her "The Wizard and I," was definitely the best I have ever seen. I could tell from her acting and singing that she was truly excited about the opportunity to meet the Wizard, to meet someone that wouldn't judge her just by the way she looks, someone who would accept her for her. As the evening went on, she became more and more sure of herself and by "Defying Gravity," she was determined to make herself known and correct the Wizard's wrongdoing. I also wanted to say that her "No Good Deed" in Act 2 was brilliant. Stephanie is the best actress to take on the role of Elphaba and she has the voice to match! I went in with high expectations for her, and she exceeeded them...absolutely incredible.
I did stage door the show afterwards and got to meet Jenna Leigh Green, David Garrison, Sebastian Arcellus and Stephanie J. Block. Jenna and David were both very gracious. Sebastian was also so nice. I asked him how long he had been in the role and was shocked when he told me he had just started on Tuesday. I also told him that I saw him in Good Vibrations and his reponse was "the hair is shorter now!" When Stephanie came out of the stage door, I had this huge smile on. She greeted everyone at the stage door and said "Thanks for waiting." I told her that she was excellent as Elphaba, that I saw her in The Boy From Oz and that she was wonderful in that as well. As she signed my playbill, I told her that I came from NYC just to see her in this role and she said "awwww, thank you so much!" and was so appreciate. Then after she finished signing for the other people waiting (all 5 of us...haha, so different from NYC), I thanked her again and told her she did a great job. She graciously thanked me back for coming and told me to have a safe trip back to New York. What a sweet woman.
Overall, I enjoyed the Wicked Tour more than the show on broadway and I really hope that Stephanie will be a replacement for Elphaba sometime during its run in New York.
Since the 4-week run of the show in Washington DC was sold out in such a short time, my friend called the day the tickets went on sale and got a standing room ticket in advance for only $27. Totally worth it! We went in shortly after the doors opened and got a great spot in the back of the orchestra. The Kennedy Center does not specify where to stand for standing room, you just stand anywhere in the back of the orchestra.
The map of Oz was the curtain and there was also a dragon head at the top of the stage (like the show in NY). I also wanted to mention something about the audience members for Wicked in DC. I was surprised to see that most of the people there were dressed up and most of them were over the age of 45. It was a completely different audience type that those who see the show in NYC, which probably made for an even more enjoyable experience. Then, at 7:30, the show began.
Before I get into reviews of the individual actors, I would like to comment about the differences of the sets from broadway. Honestly, there were minimal differences and the changes they made were fine and did not affect my enjoyment of the show. There are a couple of scenes in which Morrible, Glinda and Boq are on elevated platforms on the sides of the stage in NYC. Since the touring company cannot recreate these set pieces wherever they go, they had small platforms that came out on the sides of the stage and then retracted once the actors were done delivering their lines. Also during "One Short Day," during the line "hot air ballooning," a silhouette of a man in a hot air balloon comes down from the ceiling, but that did not happen in the tour. One final difference that I noticed was that in the beginning of "No Good Deed," Elphaba did not make her entrance from underneath the stage, she just walked out from stage left to the podium where the Grimmerie was. The podium came out from underneath the stage, but kind of looked cheap. But honestly, the one hole in the stage that they needed to have, was there (I am referring to the one at the end when we find out Elphaba is alive). Also, when the Wizard sets the monkeys free, two of them flew over the stage instead of one flying over the audience. The rest of the sets looked identical to broadway and the lighting was still fabulous. I also noticed very minor differences in the orchestrations, but nothing that took away from my enjoyment...and I have no problem hearing the actors at all. Overall, the show looked and sounded as good as it did on broadway and if I hadn't seen the show in NYC three days before on 1/4/06, I probably wouldn't have noticed some of the differences.
Aaron J. Albano went for Logan Lipton as Boq and since I had just seen Robb Sapp in the role on broadway, I thought Aaron was just serviceable in the role. I think it is a difficult role to ruin, but he was just ok.
Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible was excellent as always. It was my third time seeing her in the role and she did not disappoint. God only knows why talent-free Rue was hired for the broadway company.
Jenna Leigh Green was perfectly cast as Nessarose. I had only seen Michelle Federer in the role, but I loved Jenna's characterization. Her "Wicked Wicked of the East" in Act 2 was wonderful.
David Garrison was probably the best Wizard of Oz I have seen. I previously saw Joel Grey, George Hearn and Ben Vereen in the role and I thought David did an excellent job with such a poorly developed role. I loved his singing voice and his acting was excellent.
Sebastian Arcellus was a great Fiyero. I loved his interaction with Glinda and Elphaba. He had just started in the role on Tuesday and honestly, it seemed like he had been playing the role for months already. I loved his voice and he defnitely looked the part. His hair is much shorter than it was in Good Vibrations, probably comes up to the middle of the back of his neck instead of halfway down to his back. He has great hair though, and is adorable. An excellent replacement for Fiyero.
Kendra Kassebaum's Glinda was fabulous. What I loved most about her performance was that she was not trying to imitate Kristin Chenoweth. Kendra has developed her own Glinda and I think it works perfectly. The "Popular" scene was fantastic, she hit all of the high notes during the opening number and "Thank Goodness," and I absolutely *loved* "For Good." I could tell that Kendra really worked at making the role her own with her mannerisms, tone of voice and how she played off the other actors. I was very impressed.
And now, the woman of the evening, Stephanie J. Block! Let me start off by saying that out of the four Elphaba's I have seen, Idina, Eden, Shoshana and Stephanie, Stephanie is by far the best overall. In fact, she was so good last night, that I think Stephanie should have originated the role on broadway (sorry Idina fans). From the moment she walked out (to scattered entrance applause), she had the audience in the palm of her hand. She played Elphaba in Act 1 as a very vulnerable young woman who just wants to fit in. Her "The Wizard and I," was definitely the best I have ever seen. I could tell from her acting and singing that she was truly excited about the opportunity to meet the Wizard, to meet someone that wouldn't judge her just by the way she looks, someone who would accept her for her. As the evening went on, she became more and more sure of herself and by "Defying Gravity," she was determined to make herself known and correct the Wizard's wrongdoing. I also wanted to say that her "No Good Deed" in Act 2 was brilliant. Stephanie is the best actress to take on the role of Elphaba and she has the voice to match! I went in with high expectations for her, and she exceeeded them...absolutely incredible.
I did stage door the show afterwards and got to meet Jenna Leigh Green, David Garrison, Sebastian Arcellus and Stephanie J. Block. Jenna and David were both very gracious. Sebastian was also so nice. I asked him how long he had been in the role and was shocked when he told me he had just started on Tuesday. I also told him that I saw him in Good Vibrations and his reponse was "the hair is shorter now!" When Stephanie came out of the stage door, I had this huge smile on. She greeted everyone at the stage door and said "Thanks for waiting." I told her that she was excellent as Elphaba, that I saw her in The Boy From Oz and that she was wonderful in that as well. As she signed my playbill, I told her that I came from NYC just to see her in this role and she said "awwww, thank you so much!" and was so appreciate. Then after she finished signing for the other people waiting (all 5 of us...haha, so different from NYC), I thanked her again and told her she did a great job. She graciously thanked me back for coming and told me to have a safe trip back to New York. What a sweet woman.
Overall, I enjoyed the Wicked Tour more than the show on broadway and I really hope that Stephanie will be a replacement for Elphaba sometime during its run in New York.
Updated On: 1/8/06 at 06:09 PM
