Wicked in DC review

I thought Carole Shelley was the tour's Morrible?

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Saw the tour in St Louis and there were sound problems there too. Don't know what is going on.

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Thanks for the review. I'll be at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday! Our seats are pretty far away (we're in the 2nd tier, front row, center) so hopefully they have the sound problems corrected by then.

PS - From what I hear, there is no lottery for the Kennedy Center.

Just as a point of interest...the tour of Wicked NEVER uses a venues sound system, as is the case for the vast majority of touring shows. It carries with it an extremely expensive system that was designed by one of broadway's best designer's, Tony Meola. This design is an extremely complex one, and for the tour it is an adapted version of the broadway version.
That design has to be able to fit all venues due to logistics and economics, and therefore some compromises have to be made in terms of making it more generic so that it can fit in an extremely wide variety of venues, all with differing acoustics and seating configurations. This is what causes problems, especially in older venues. Amplified sound didnt exist, or wasnt widely used when alot of the touring houses were built, so consequently there will always be some problems.
The touring sound engineers do their best at each venue with the equipment they have, but due to architecture, the sound can never be as perfect as it is at the Gershwin, where the sound system is designed to the smallest detail specifically for that theatre.

"...Just as a point of interest...the tour of Wicked NEVER uses a venues sound system, as is the case for the vast majority of touring shows..."

This is the very reason I refuse to attend most touring shows. The failure to deliver intelligible sound is inexcusable.

Saw the show yesterday (Dec. 24).

I didn't have that much trouble with the sound system. I was able to hear just fine... we were pretty far back (CC... on the aisle)

At first I was quite upset because Stephanie was out and we were going to see her understudy... the main reason I didn't want to wait until the show went to Seattle (that's where I live) was because I wanted to see her, and was disappointed she wasn't going to be in it. Alas, the understudy (I keep on forgetting her name) was very good, excellent even. And Kendra was very funny. I was thrilled to see Carole Shelley. Overall the show was great; it was especially fun to see with my sister who had no idea what the show was about or anything... she had no idea she was going to fly during Defying Gravity and was totally blown away.

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I saw a matinee of Wicked at the Kennedy Center on Friday (Dec. 23). I was initially really disappointed to find out that Maria Eberline was going on as Elphaba rather than Stephanie J. Block, whom I had been looking forward to seeing, but we were very pleasantly surprised with Ms. Eberline's performance.

I didn't experience some of the sound issues that other people have mentioned, but I'm not that familiar with the venue. We had about the worst seats that it's possible to have (third tier side) but fortunately were still able to see without any trouble. (And I'm certainly not complaining as I feel fortunate to have gotten three tickets together at all).

As previously mentioned. Maria Eberline was fantastic as Elphaba, with the only indication of her being an understudy being what seemed to be a little confusion on timing when she and Kendra sang together. Her Elphaba, based on what I've seen and heard of others, seems sweeter and more idealistic than the slightly cynical edge that the role can also take. Her singing was fabulous, and the big songs (Wizard and I, No Good Deed, Defying Gravity) were essentially flawless. She did a great job with the ending of "Defying Gravity" in particular.

My feelings about Kendra Kassebaum's performance were a lot more mixed. Based on what I heard during this performance, she is not at all comfortable with the high end of Glinda's range, and her soprano is strained and flimsy. She's obviously not a coloratura, which the role arguably requires. I wasn't impressed by her at all during the first part of the show. On the other hand, her belt voice is very good and appropriate to the part, so the scenes with college-age Glinda were her strong point. Her acting was also quite good. I felt that she could've gotten more laughs out of "Popular" and some of the other funny moments had her comic timing been better, but otherwise no acting complaints. I liked her a lot more during the more serious second act. Overall, it was a good performance for someone who, vocally, might be a little miscast in this role.

I'm just going to say it: I love Derrick Williams as Fiyero, more than anyone else I've ever heard or seen in the part. More than Norbert. His singing could be stronger but isn't at all unpleasant, and I love his take on the part acting-wise. I've never really loved Fiyero's characterization in the musical, especially when comapred to the very complex character of Maguire's novel, but Derrick actually made the character human for me. He presents the most heartfelt and passionate "As Long As You're Mine" that I've seen. I think that he's a fantastic choice to take over the role of Fiyero on Broadway. Very impressed.

Seeing Carole Shelly was one of the highlights of the day. She was great as Morrible, as is to be expected. I'm so happy to get to see her in her short stint on the tour. Garrison did an outstanding job as the Wizard. Jenna Leigh Green was also great as Nessarose, and I loved her "Wicked Witch of the East."

And so ends my too-long review: in summary, a very nice day at the theatre, even though I had been looking forward to seeing Stephanie perform as Elphaba for months. Maria is great, and I'm sure that she has a bright future with this show or others.

Updated On: 12/26/05 at 12:46 AM