"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
No. As of reviews that I've read, at least Toronto, the only difference between the two casts is the lack of the big witch hat in the opening scene.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
there's no big witch hat in the opening. Elphaba does not come up from the trap door at the start of "No Good Deed." the Pantages stage doesn't have those two side platform type things that the NY stage has, so rather the side platform things are on wheels and roll out/back.
Those are the differences that I can think of off the top of my head.
During the song "No Good Deed" on b'way, Elphaba enters through the floor on a rising platform, but on tour, she comes on through the wings.
Some sets are scaled back, the lights turn purple instead of green at the end of DG, and on B'way, monkeys fly over the audience. On tour, they fly onstage.
Elphie, however, has always flown in the same spot, the same way. The end of "Defying Gravity" would make very little sense w/ out flying Elphie.
yeah Morrible's speech, etc. all happen on these litle platforms that are about five steps up from the stage, and just get rolled out and back. Makes it feel much smaller than NY, but it's worked for all my friends who have only seen it here in L.A.- it's pretty much just a distraction to me. :)
Correct. On B'way, it comes up from the pit, cuz they have staircases. Oh, one more difference. On B'way there are stairs leading into the pit. The guards enter from here during "Defying Gravity"
very visable strings?!? I've sat 1st row, 2nd row two times (directly in front of the broom), and 5th row center and SEARCHED for the strings, never saw them once out of the 4 times.
and all that I could do because of you was talk of love...
I was in front row, very stage right one night and watched the whole broom/wire process- I had a good view out of the corner of my eye of the two guys dressed in black off of stage left clipping the wire onto the broom, and then they tested it out a couple of times, pulling it up and down offstage, then it finally 'flew' out over the stage to Elphaba.
I actually for some strange reason totally enjoyed watching that happen.
(Got to see all kinds of fun stuff that night- watched them take down all of Glinda's shoes, set up Fiyero for his vine swinging, the lion's tail, etc.)
I havent seen the tour yet, but just by watching the "trailers" for the tour, some of the blocking is different. Like at the beginning of "What is This Feeling" -- instead of the girls standing on the two seperate platforms over the pit, they are center back to back writing their letters.
my bad --- thanks for clearing that up whiskedaway. Actually, I thought that it was pretty effective that way. I liked how you can tell they are in two different places, but it is easy for them to look at each other.
"(Got to see all kinds of fun stuff that night- watched them take down all of Glinda's shoes, set up Fiyero for his vine swinging, the lion's tail, etc.) "
they actually take all the shoes off that set piece? i always assumed they were glued on
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
Whatever changes they've made (and I've seen it three times on Broadway and once here) don't hurt at all. Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong, but I swear I saw Derrick Williams open a trap door and Stephanie J. Block rise from it at the surprise twist in Act 2.
re: shoes- they're glued together, (maybe sets of four pairs each or so?) but not glued to the piece that they're on, so it's like chunks of shoes being taken off a shelf. If that makes any sense visually? :) And then the shoe shelf is just a plain old tiktok again.
Yes there's still the end trap door, but no "No Good Deed" trapdoor- at least that's the Pantages setup for the tour.
Yikes, I can't imagine no trap door in No Good Deed. When I saw Idina come up screaming "Fiyero" my heart stopped and I froze in my seat as little shivers went from my head to toe. I can't see that happening if Elphaba walked onstage. Ah well. Sacrifices must be made.