Wicked: mexican production- Page 2

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:11am

Fran_mex, they all are very talented. I noticed that the tall one with the red hair seemed very "flaquita" (very skinny). How can she perform in such a demanding show on such a slender frame? I too am eager to hear the Spanish lyrics to the songs. from RC in Austin, Texas

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:25am

What a great video. The three actresses looked genuinely excited about playing these roles.

[Fran_mex]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 10:04am

I loved the video, too! The press conference to announce the cast was fun, also.

And yes, they are excited! This is the first time Wicked will be produced in spanish! Big opportunity.

Regarding the understudy/ standby discussion, there will be at least one understudy for sure, as is always the case for the leads in OCESA's productions.

About the stand-by, I've never heard of a mexican production with one actress/actor literally standing by in case anything goes wrong during the performance. The case of Elphaba is different, I suppose, due to the long time required for the green make up before the show.

Once more information about this is available, I'll update here.

[ajh]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 2:57pm

I think I love Lindsay Mendez.......

[justincharacter]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 4:37pm

You should watch her video blogs on Broadway.com, she's really fun to watch! Lindsay Mendez is on my Top 5 Elphaba list, her voice is AMAZING, but just her acting is worth a ticket.

If anyone is interested in watching them, she has released 3 episodes so far. She explains and shows what it's like performing in Wicked and all the good backstage stuff:
1st Episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvfSMr70jH8
2nd Episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1XF3gThYFI
3rd Episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaSgpVgV0Q

Updated On: 7/19/13 at 04:37 PM

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 8:39pm

With Elphaba and her makeup requirements, the need for a standby is understandable. Add to the fact that the role is pretty taxing and can take out a woman's voice mid-way through a performance is risky. It makes sense to have a girl offstage ready to hop into the makeup chair at a moments notice rather then have the understudy come out of her normal track, switch costumes, get her makeup done and throw her onstage and at the same time have her swing get into costume and makeup and throw them on too. Its just easier the other way.

[ILOHTFAHA (Aida Man)]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:05pm

A friend who is working as an actor in New York (who shall remain nameless) said he met all three of them and told me that there is one Elphaba and two Glindas. But I corrected him otherwise. But is there a second Glinda?

[DAME]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:36pm

Thanks Fran_mex. I really enjoyed this post.

[Fran_mex]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 10:39pm

There is one Glinda in the cast. I think the confussion comes from this:

Mexican productions (Wicked being no exception) usually have "guest stars", i.e: actors that appear once a month or so in the show, the way some celebrities appear on special episodes of a TV series (Think of all the guest stars in the Simpsons during all seasons).

Usually, the reason for this special appearences is to cover the absence of the main lead.

For example, in Peter Pan, about 2 years ago, Lolita Cortes was the main lead in the role of Peter Pan. However, on special dates (Sunday evening, a few months after the show oppened), another famous mexican actress, Hiromi, would take her place, because Lolita had a TV show on sunday evenings.

So, "guest stars" are often used to cover planned absences of main leads, and their performances are announced as special shows, so that people now that someone different is going to play the main role. And this is also useful to attract people who saw the show before, but might find interesting to see another actor in the role... Like revisiting a show because you want to see someone else playing the role.

In the case of Wicked, it was announced that an actress named Majo Perez will be a guest star as Glinda.

This means that in some performances, they will (most likely) announce in advance that Majo Perez will be playing the role of Glinda. I have no idea for how many performances this will be the case, or how early in the run of the show this will happen, but eventually, Majo Perez will play Glinda, at least once in a while. If the exact reason for this is a planned absence of Cecilia de la Cueva, or any other, I have no further information.

@ Dame :) Glad you enjoyed.

EDIT> To make it clear, there are 2 Elphabas (Danna Paola and Ana Cecilia Anzaldua) and 1 Glinda (Cecilia de la Cueva) in the "company" and they are the three actresses who went to NY to meet the cast of Wicked and Stephen Schwartz.

Updated On: 7/19/13 at 10:39 PM

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 3:28am

Thank you for taking the time to break down this information for us. I, and I'm sure many others really appreciate you.

[DAME]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 12:35pm

I wonder if there will be a cast album.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 1:55pm

Those girls are ridiculously pretty! And the Elphaba that sung The Wizard and I, I loved the rock tone of her voice.
Anyone else think the Glinda looked like Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones?

[kadu335]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 3:58pm

Thanks for all the info Fran_mex. Being from a foreign country myself, I'm always curious to check out new productions from other countries around the world.

Updated On: 7/20/13 at 03:58 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 7:55pm

There is currently a huge uproar (not unlike BWW when this happens) over the stunt casting of a telenovela star with basically no experience in musical theater (except a production of Annie years ago).

Hundreds of Mexican Wicked fans are flooding the Wicked Mexico Facebook page protesting the decision and swearing not to attend if she goes on (dramaaaaa...)

If I'm not wrong, this will be the first time stunt casting is used for the role of Elphaba. Apparently, dozens of extremely talented singers auditioned for the part and she got it as a "ticket seller". They are also calling foul play regarding the rest of the cast: they were all selected under supposed nepotism, as they are active members of the production company and the open auditions were a waste of time for all.

Ocesa Productions claims that this false, and that Schwartz picked them himself (which I find laughable. By the time they met the composer, they had already been selected. Schwartz didn't sit through the auditions).

I personally have nothing against stunt casting and she can prove the world wrong, but I saw videos of some of the girls that were turned down and I found it sad they were not considered due to internal politics.

Oh well.

Here is a video of one of those unsuccessful candidates a lot of fans consider more worthy of the part (yes, she looks scary and her accent is thick, but I do think she has a better voice and stronger presence than Danna ever will):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pChtcUVgYoM

[justincharacter]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 9:07pm

They couldn't get Kat DeLuna? By the way, she would be a terrific Vanessa in the In the Heights film

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 9:13pm

Even though I think those fans are being ridiculous, I kind of agree with them about Danna. They sort of had to hire someone with a "name" attached to it because as others have said, theater in Mexico is not as lucrative. However, Danna sounds very overwhelmed in that short "Wizard and I" clip. I know its not in her native language, so that adds a challenge to it, but just from the sound of her voice, I don't think she sounds strong enough to carry the show.

[Fran_mex]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:22pm

Hello.
Blaxx gives us a very accurate description of what is going on in the un oficial Facebook page, and around the comments sections in YouTube videos.

However, I would like to add this:

In Mexico, OCESA is practically the only serious producer of musical theatre. Hence, during the past 10 or 15 years, OCESA has created a base of actors and actresses who appear in almost every musical. Because there are not as many actors here as there are in Broadway, this is a small community.

Take, for example, Ana Cecilia Anzaldua, who has been around for a long time. After leading Beauty and the Beast, she was cast in the Sound of Music. Then, when unnemployed, OCESA hired her to replace another actress in Mentiras (A Mexican musical, longest running ever here). Then, Ana Cecilia was cast in A Chorus Line, and once ACL closed, she took back her place in Mentiras. Now, she was cast to play Elphaba, and I can promise you once Wicked closes, she will be back in something else really son.

Casting process is affected because of this fact. For example, when the idea of a production of Mary Poppins was announced, everyone knew the lead was going to be Bianca Marroquín. As in fact happened. This, because Bianca is one of the favorite actresses for any OCESA production.

Hence, when Wicked was announced, some OCESAs actresses tought they were the automatic choice for Elphaba, and were surprised when an outsider was cast in the role. Natalia Sosa (an OCESA actress who has been in everything, also) was considered one of the main losers when she was not cast as Elphaba.

A lot of fans of this group of actresses, and some fans who tought that other singers can be a better choice for the role (Mexican Singer Yuridia was, for a long time, a favorite of fans), got really mad.

And, as a consequence, as I said earlier in this thread, the casting of Danna Paola has resulted controversial, to say the least. Fans of the actresses that were not cast have been attacking Danna, and also Morris Gilbert, the main OCESA producer who has been in charge of all of OCESAs theatrical productions. These attacks are taking place in twitter, Facebook, etc...

Finally, I do not support nor attack Danna: Of course she does not have a theater background, she has only acted in soaps, however, the problem when you have a theater community that is so small is that whenever you choose an outsider, everyone inside the community gets really really mad.

In this sense, I would not call her stunt casting: she is not THAT famous here, and also, I doubt she could carry the sales of tickets by herself. Her soaps were directed mostly to kids, and kids are not enough (at least according to what I have seen here in Mexico) to make a production turn a profit.

Was it surprising for me to see someone so young being cast as Elphaba? Of course.

However, I think the controversy is related more to angry fans and angry actresses than to actual worries about how Danna Paola will do in the role. I think she will do a great job.

/// As a note: of course the casting was in charge of OCESA and not Stephen Schwartz. The thing about Schwartz casting Danna Paola is a misunderstanding of some of OCESAs declarations in the press conference and in some tweets. What the company actually said was that everything in the mexican production, from the casting to the sets to the translation, was being supervised by the broadway team (something that does not translate in: Schwartz was the one who chose Danna Paola)

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:29pm

However, I think the controversy is related more to angry fans and angry actresses than to actual worries about how Danna Paola will do in the role. I think she will do a great job.

I really don't doubt she will do an ok job. In fact, she could be better than Anzaldua (I can't stand her nasal-screechy-pitchy voice).

It's just sad that the Mexican production will not have a cast that can be up to the standards of other Wicked productions (and I'm not a Wicked fan whatsoever, as most around here know).

I hope they prove me wrong. I doubt they will.

[Fran_mex]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:32pm

Regarding the cast recording:

Cast recordings are common but not the rule here in Mexico, and I do not have information to say that there will be one for sure for this production of Wicked.

In the past, some musicals like Jesuschrist Superstar or The Sound of Music with Bianca Marroquín have had cast recordings.

However, other musicals like Mary Poppins, also with Marroquín, and being the first production in spanish, did not get a cast recording.

There is no clear rule about which musicals get a recording.

I think that if Wicked is succesful (I think it will be a big success, as you can see, the discussion is enormous and the only thing we have is the cast), being this the first production in spanish, we will get a cast recording.

At least I hope so! It would be great for everyone to be able to listen to the spanish lyrics (something I am nervous about, by the way)

[RW3]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:38pm

At first I was pretty surprised when I googled Danna Paola and found out that she had no musical theatre experience. After realizing that Wicked had gone to stunt casting for the role, I was a little unnerved. That was until I found about Mexico's small theatre community. I have been on the Wicked Mexico's facebook page and the anger from them I think is somewhat understandable. Despite, them being a small theatre community they want a quality peformer as Elphaba. I mean I think we can all agree that Elphaba is one of the most vocally challenging roles on Broadway and around the world. All we can do as fans is to hope for the best and hope that the two months of rehearsal and previews will Danna with role and make people think more positive of her.

[Fran_mex]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:40pm

Blaxx:

<<<

It's just sad that the Mexican production will not have a cast that can be up to the standards of other Wicked productions

>>>

That I cannot say until I see the final result.

Bianca Marroquín was chosen internally for Mary Poppins (no open casting), and she is the best Mary I have seen (Having seen Ashley Brown, Laura Michelle Kelly and S. Strallen).

Of course, the casting process is peculiar (I explained why in another post), but you never know, the result might be extraodinary. I hope for the best :)



Updated On: 7/20/13 at 10:40 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:43pm

Despite, them being a small theatre community they want a quality peformer as Elphaba.

And there are quite a few amazing singers capable of it in Mexico.

[RW3]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:44pm

However, I do agree with fingerlakesinger that her "team" at the end of "The Wizard and I" was on the weaker side.

[Fran_mex]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:52pm

Blaxx:

For sure! lots of talented mexican singers can do it.

However, acting in a musical is not a good job if you are a succesful singer. Bad salaries.

If you are a not so succesful singer who can handle the role, then you are someone-s perfect Elphaba. If you look closer, almost every attacking fan supports a different singer...

As a note, I think the controversy can tell you (the people outside Mexico) for how long and how much the mexican audience has been waiting for Wicked. So much expectations.

Thanks for the discussion.

[kadu335]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 10:52pm

Translating musicals is always a tough challenge, I'm very curious about the Spanish lyrics. Over here in Brazil, we've had some pretty bad translations in the past, but a lot has improved in the last 10-15 years in this regard. One great example is the last Evita revival in 2010, which had a much better translation than the original production in 1983.