Well I guess I might as well jump in! I saw Wicked on April 30th, 2004. I was very excited as I had been listening to the OBCR every day since it was released. I will admit I became a little obsessed with the show. But it was nice to hear some new, fun and original music. Got to the show and it was just about everything I had expected. Very enjoyable. No masterpiece but very entertaining. Yes it has it flaws and I found the Dancing Through Life segment to be quite sloppy. As far as the spectacle. Well Yes, it was big. But outside of the set that spills out into the orchestra section and a few other things, I found most of the spectacle to be in the lighting. The lighting at the end of Defying Gravity actually took my breath away. That's just my opinion. As far as Ms. Menzel, she was quite good. She hit every note (Cracked ever so slightly near the end of Defying Gravity but held on). She broke character just a wee bit at one point when Chenoweth was taunting her. And it worked. We were on the floor laughing. And we knew Kristin was working hard to get Idina to laugh. Their chemistry onstage was absolutely wonderful. AS far as her voice, I like it. She may be working her voice hard but I would assume she has a vocal coach (Which was mentioned here). Her voice is what it is. I see people post things like "every time I see her she did this wrong or that wrong". Well, if you don't like the woman, why continue to go see her?!!! For me, I enjoyed Kristin more than Idina. (The people that I took too see it would disagree with me!) Did she deserve the Tony? In my opinion, no. Not that she was bad but there were 2 performances I liked better. (Kristin and Tonya Pinkins) As far as the rest of the cast is concerned, I thought they were wonderful (pardon the pun!) What impressed me the most is that I could actually pick out vocals and voice inflections during songs in the theatre that I can hear on the CD. I was lucky enough to see Joel Grey and yes, it is kind of a thankless part. I feel it could have been written better. But I didn't care. I saw mr Grey live onstage and that was enough for me! Would I see the show again? Yes. I may see it while in New York this Spring and I will see it when it opens in Denver next fall. And I too think it is great that it is probably getting people into the theatre that don't usually go or have never been. I think it is a great 1st show for someone to see. Maybe they will venture out and see other shows. So there are my opinions!
Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder