Wicked tonight

Posted: 1/12/05 at 12:52am

Oooh a wicked thread. so shoot me.

Was anyone else there?

The show was wonderful. Shosh sang her ass off. There was one mess up. I guess she knocked her hat off her head during Defying Gravity and her mic went dead for a few lines but thankfully they double mic their leads so the sound came back pretty quickly. I dont usually like seeing a show the first night after a cast change but the rest of the new cast did their jobs well too and im sure theyll get even better.

I spotted a couple interesting people in the crowd too.

[sipos]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 12:56am

Did it really fall off? When she was up there?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 12:57am

any comments on David Ayers.. PLEASE....

Posted: 1/12/05 at 12:57am

well i think thats how it happened. it fell backwards. i was sitting pretty far back and it all happened kinda quickly.

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:00am

David looked like he was having a lot of fun up there! Its hard for me to critique him cuz I dont think the character is written all that well to begin with but hes got a nice voice and hes a smooth dancer.

[QtKt]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:33am

Yeah, it fell off during "So if you care to find me, look to the western sky" when she was all the way up, it seemed like it was cuz of her arm movements, but it did come back pretty quickly.
David Ayers was great, I really enjoyed him. I agree about his dancing, and what a cutie! I thought he did a great job. He was very suave.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 9:16am

What about the new Boq?

[cvapb]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 10:08am

who were the interesting people in the crowd

[sfrp]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 10:30am

She did indeed knock her hat off after delivering a particularly commanding, "Look to the western sky!"

The mic guys managed to get her auxiliary mic working by "...at least I'm flying free." I'm kind of glad it happened, as she then overcompensated for the rest of the song and produced the most vocally impressive performance of the Act 1 closer I've ever heard.

What impressed me the most was that, sitting in the sixth row, I could still hear her without the mic. I'm not sure how far back into the orchestra she was still audible, but I was thrilled to see someone who could take on that over-mic'ed Wicked orchestra without assistance.

Overall, Shoshana dominated the evening. Her Elphaba is believably dorky, a little tough, completely commanding, and vocally unbelievable. Her range and control as a performer on her first official night made me a fan for life.

(Spoilers follow)

As for the other new players, I'm not sure what best to say about their first day. David Ayers gave the underwritten role of Fiyero his level best and sang it gorgeously; "As Long As You're Mine" was certainly his high point (the song appears to have returned to its original arrangement, and Shoshana Bean and David Ayers deliver it as though they might at any moment abandon the song in favor of making out--which was a great way to play it. The previous versions I've seen never gave the song much sense of urgency, whereas with these two you can feel the naughtiness). His Fiyero seems a bit dim (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) even after he's begun thinking, but I'll be damned if he doesn't resemble a scarecrow even before his transformation.

I wasn't a fan of Jeffrey Kuhn in Assassins, and in Wicked he's still finding his footing. He missed a lot of the laughs Chris Fitzgerald was so good at milking, but I'm willing to cut him some first-day slack. His one shining moment was a brisk dismissal of Fiyero, almost precisely in the style Carole Shelley uses to dismiss Galinda earlier in the show. I don't remember this moment in any of the prior performances I've seen, so I'm hoping it shows good comedic promise from Jeffrey Kuhn.

(Somewhat off-topic: am I insane, or was Jai Rodriguez sitting a few rows behind me? anyone?)

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 10:34am

sfrp,

GREAT review; thanks. You're dead on in your assessment of Shoshana's Elphaba. Looking forward to seeing Ayers.

[OperaGhost]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 11:39am

"I spotted a couple interesting people in the crowd too. "

Ok you can not post comments like that and then not explain who was actually there...I know Scott Alan and Matthew was there but who else did you see??

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:30pm

youre not crazy, Jai was definitely there.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:36pm

"Shoshana Bean and David Ayers deliver it as though they might at any moment abandon the song in favor of making out--which was a great way to play it."

OMG!!! sfrp you made me laugh soooooooo hard! That was probably the funniest thing I have read on here in a while (and I have laughed pretty hard) even though I'm not exactly sure it was meant to be funny or that it was that funny. Anyways...

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:47pm

your assessmentr of Shoshana as a performer in general is DEAD on. I am glad that she won you over with her preformance. She is truly a one of a kind. I have loved her work since I first saw her in Godspell.

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:32pm

I WAS THERE!

The show was GREAT!
This was my first time seeing any replacements (except
Sean McCourt).

JLT-She was good. She plays G(a)linda VERY
DIFFERENTLY. She portrayed her as a somewhat
Slow-minded girl. However she could sing, and I was
Surprised by her high notes.

David Ayers-This man was GREAT! You could tell he was
having fun on the stage. His dancing was good and his
singing was fabulous. I like Mr. Ayers non-rock
sounding voice, and it came across well for the
character.

Jeffery Kuhn- He was ok. He really needs to work on
his notes because they were a little sketchy at
points. His acting was good, nothing stellar.

George Hearn- Nothing stellar. I was impressed by his
voice and his acting but there was a small feeling of
something lacking (though I am not quite sure what it
is)

SHOSH- THE BEST PART OF THE SHOW! She has a very
unique approach to Elphaba. She plays her as a girl
who wants friends in the beginning and than as an angry
girl who was feeling betrayed. She added little
things to the songs, and her "No Good Deed" was
wonderful (the conductor accidentally let a note slide
too long causing a very interesting but great sounding
ending) She has a very powerful voice, and he just
needs to work a little bit on reaching her high notes
with more ease.

After the show I got some autographs at the stagedoor, which for once wasn't filled with people: JLT, David Ayers, and Shosh. JLT was nice at the stagedoor, talking and signing with everyone.
Ayers was VERY nice to all of us at the stagedoor and he put up with my one friend who called him "very cute", laughing in a way that said "I know". Shosh was the most grateful for us being there, seeing that we cared for her performance.

THE BIG SURPRISE- as David Ayers was leaving I saw a man exit the stage door. I recognized his hair and face, but couldn't quite get my theatre-nerd brain to see who it was. All of a sudden I said "Matthew Morrison?" and he turned around and signed for my friend and I saying "I haven't done this in a while."


All in all this was a GREAT performance with a WONDERFUL cast.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:38pm

anyone know how full the lottery was?

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:42pm

gee jacob, you shouldve said hi to me.

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:55pm

I saw you mistress, but at the time I didn't know it was you.

"HI"

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:56pm

youre forgiven

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 5:57pm

I kind of want to see the new cast now - but I don't have $100 to shovel out to see the hsow a fifth time...nor do I have the time (returning to school on Saturday, dragging me farther from NYC)

[kangaroo]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 6:02pm

How long is Shosanda scheduled to be in Wicked as Elphaba? I would eventually like to see her, but I have school till at least June, and then I'm off to the West Coast, and then possibly to another continent.

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 6:51pm

"youre forgiven"
Thanks

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 7:09pm

sfrp- "Shoshana Bean and David Ayers deliver it as though they might at any moment abandon the song in favor of making out--which was a great way to play it."

That made me laugh.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 7:23pm

i really, really, really, really, (you get the idea) want to see "Wicked"
ric