Wicked - first preview....

I'll be there Thursday night!

I'm seeing it on the 14th too, and cos the tickets were only £5 I'm going with someone else on the 18th too. Rubbish seats and hey at least I could say I've seen it!
I agree with you Paulyd: I hope seeing it live will make a difference too! I'm not a major fan of the music also...

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Going to see it on 18th and 20th, looking forward to seeing it but not too excited yet, mainly cannot wait to see some of the amazing cast members back onstage. I just know the soundtrack (and the clips you find on youtube etc), which am not too much a fan of, I like it, yeah, but there is something missing for me, hope it will be different when actually seeing the show live.

We are in bad seats on Thursday (Row W in circle) but going again on the 18th in front Circle seats with a gay group from outintheuk.

I dont go till October 25th. Sitting in row P of the dress circle. Can't really complain about seats though because there are 4 of us going and we are on a tight budget.

If anyone is sitting in this back section of the circle lemme know if the seats are any good!

Hi! I'll come from Italy to see this show on 11 Sept.!! I can't wait I'll be in row H in the stall...I hope to see all the London cast without understudies...I hope!

Weez- I'm in row B stalls, maybe I'll see you there!

And we're back! The show was most certainly awesome. There was a lovely technical hitch at the beginning - "look! It's Glinda!" - ..... close curtain, fix problem, start show again. Cue massive applause from the VERY hyperactive audience, who proceeded to go mental and applaud regulary for the rest of the show. It was a great atmosphere, really. Idina was, obviously, Idina. She didn't do the very highest notes in Defying Gravity, but who cares! Helen Dallimore was a very funny G(a)linda. I was wondering what the English equivalent would be to the blonde popular girl of the US original, but I think we've got it covered; she played it quite upper-class and horsey. (For anyone who's interested, Elphaba and the Wizard had American accents, most everyone else was English. Boq, I believe, was Scottish, but I could be wrong.) Miriam Margolyes apparently is not a singer, as most of Morrible's lines were done in a more recitative style, but she performed the role rather well, even if she did squick me out at one point. ;D

I'll be going to see the show again on Saturday, so I may have more to say then, but for first preview, my theatre companian and I both had a wonderful time.

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thought i'd put in my two cents as well-

As mentioned, there were some technical glitches, but the cast handled them brilliantly. And for those following Martin Ball's Wicked diary, he managed to get out "the witch of the west is dead" perfectly both times he had to say it.

This wasn't my favorite cast I have seen, but it was still a great show. The energy was huge (although it was a tad annoying when a group of girls in the balcony thought it was appropriate to "ooooo" and make similar noises during the Elphaba/Fiyero kiss at the end of "As Long As You're Mine.") and it almost seemed more like a rock concert than a musical. I dare say it was even more crazy than New York.

The one big change in the show (I'm assuming it was a change, as it wasn't in any of the previous productions I have seen) was that a scene was added prior to "Dancing Through Life" where Elphaba is nearly run over by Fiyero's cart. She is the one who wakes him up and they exchange words over him watching where he's going. It culminates in a joke by Fiyero about how the driver must have seen green and thought it meant go. Personally, I thought it was a really odd placed scene.

As for the performances:

Idina: She's clearly grown into a much stronger actor. I wasn't completely blown away by her singing until her "No Good Deed" which was absolutely amazing. She has some great chemistry with Helen. Despite all this, and please don't hate me for saying it, I wasn't completely blown away by her performance. She did try some new things which was nice to see, but it didn't really do much for me beyond NGD.

Helen: Definitely different than those before her. As previously said, it's a much more proper take on Glinda and definitely not the ditzy girl. I loved her "Popular"- she didn't go over the top and played it just right to get the laughs. You could also see a change in Glinda as the show went on.

Adam: I wasn't a huge fan of his voice, but I enjoyed his performance. Fiyero is a fairly bland role to begin with, but he managed to add some levels to the character. But I thought the songs were a bit weak.

Nigel: I actually really enjoyed his Wizard. His accent when in and out a bit during "Sentimental Man" but his "Wonderful" was very engaging.

Miriam: As said, she didn't sing but rather spoke her lines. I would have like them to be sung, but what can you do. I didn't think she was quite nasty enough during "March of the Witch Hunters" but she added a hillarious and slightly disturbing element to the Morrible/Wizard relationship- insinuating that there might have been something sexual between the two (something I honestly never thought about....and now I wonder if I was missing something before).

Katie and James: I really loved their Nessa and Boq. I'm usually not a huge fan of the characters, but I really liked these two in the roles. I think the Scottish accent added a lot to Boq as well.

All in all, I really had a good time. And it's still just the first preview, so I'm sure by opening night most of my criticisms will be out the window. I stage doored after, and poor Idina! They don't have baracades at the doors, so she was completely mobbed by people and looked a bit dazed. But she was a saint and still signed for everyone. The rest of the cast was wonderful too.


JWAA- did you stage door? Cuz there was a guy I talked to in front of the entrance who also mentioned tickets to press night- and we had a discussion about whether or not the silver car was Idina's. Just thought I'd check.

the chemistry was definitely there- "Popular" was really good and the Munchkinland seen was spot on. "For Good" worked extremely well also. They are definitely well matched.

I was there last night too.

Loved the "hitch" and especially the ad-libbed "it's good to see me" from Glinda.

The experience as a whole was fantastic - but I did think there were two weak things.

Adam Garcia was hopeless - to me he looked like he was doing a cheap Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen impression. And didn't he look out of place playing the "let her go" seen to save Elphaba?!

Second - and maybe controversial- Glinda's "Ever-so-English" Accent. For me this didn't work, especially for "Popular" - which was written for a "squeaky" US accent . . and didn't translate. It was like listening to "Elaine Page sings Queen" . . both excellent individually, but together just doesn't work . . .

I'm pretty sure that "it's good to see me, isn't it?" is scripted rather than an ad-lib. Although it did seem more appropriate in conjunction with the technical hitch.

Also, guys? It's a "scene".

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Updated On: 9/8/06 at 05:50 AM