gavrochegirl sees the national tour of Wicked! (May contain possible spoilers)

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 9:34pm

I thought I was going to turn into a fangirl. I almost did last night upon seeing Wicked in good old Los Angeles. Anyway...I will go by cast member, and at the end, I will tell you about my first stage door experience..

Stephanie J. Block- Very good. I expected to see an okay performance from all the clips, but now I know that I can't always trust everything I see or hear. Stephanie's singing (I think) was awesome, too...she did a great job on No Good Deed and Defying Gravity...seeing her fly was truly magical. I was actually still shaking at intermission..at least part of intermisson...

Kendra Kassebaum- She stole the show from Stephanie...I thought that she was very cute with all her cutesy things. Popular blew the audience away! Her acting was also excellent, I might add. And, unlike some of the critics say, I thought she did better in the first act.

Carol Kane- Madame Morrible was a medium sized part, I thought. But, she was great anyhow. I can't really say much about her singing because she rarely did so. But her acting was great!

David Garrison- If you are a fan of Joel Grey, scroll down to Jenna Leigh Green...if not...read on...I thought David was BETTER than Joel Grey. I was blown away by everything he did...Wonderful was one of the highlights of the evening for me.

Jenna Leigh Green- She definitely deserved a bigger part than Nessa. Her singing was flawless...acting was incredible...and all else was great as well. I knew the Wicked Witch of the East song was coming...but when she sang it, I was amazed.

Logan Lipton- Logan was ADORABLE. He did such a great job...and was also very funny. Nothing much else to say except that he was fabulous!

Derrick Williams- Ugh. Derrick did not do a good job at all. His acting was horrible, and he got flat on a lot of his notes. The dancing he did was very very strange...and the entrance on the rope was weak. I think they should have cast someone else as Fiyero. Everyone else in the theatre thought he was awesome...but I was not thrilled at all.

the Ensemble-...was wonderful! I loved the whole dang group. I felt like this was a Broadway caliber group of fine actors/actresses. No problems with them!

Okay...the stage door experience. We got there just in time, for there were a lot of people lined up...it went out to the street. Anyway, it took a while for any of the main or supporting actors/actresses to come out. Derrick (Fiyero) finally did (and got enormous applause), but he had to run to the airport...Logan (Boq) came next. He briefly came outside...but had to run inside. But, eventually, he came back out and signed. My mom talked about his Tin Man suit...and he gladly and playfully joked with her. He was very nice to my mom and I, and signed where his name was in my Playbill.

Next came David (Wizard). Another nice actor, I must say. My mom told him that I liked him better than Joel Grey. "Let's keep that a secret now," he said to me with a smile.

The last person we got to sign the Playbill was the loverly Kendra! And, we talked about Maggie Benjamin...and how she says hi. I'm usually shy around new people, but I mentioned Assassins to her (and how much I loved her in it), and she replied to me by saying that Assassins is brilliant. I was flipping out in my mind.

Well, that's it...overall, I'd give the whole production an A-.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 9:37pm

"I felt like this was a Broadway caliber group of fine actors/actresses."

Most of them are.

Glad you had a great time. I remember my first stage door experience. RENT tour in 2002. You never have a crowd problem in Cleveland or Akron...the cast usually does not know why you are standing there.

Updated On: 7/23/05 at 09:37 PM

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 9:41pm

once again I will state how much I miss the tour cast...

they are some of the finest...and they are the nicest at teh stage door of ANY I have met...

Jenna and Derrick esp!

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 9:42pm

Argh. Jenna didn't come out in time...and I want her autograph!!

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 9:47pm

AWWW what a shame! she is honestly..hands down. THE nicest person I have ever met..and probably WILL ever meet!

I can't sing her praises loud enough :)

Posted: 7/23/05 at 9:51pm

i agree, i really did not like Derricks performance

[ashley0139]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 10:09pm

All right, when did the tour start? Because I know the actors are contracted for about a year. The tour comes to my city next May and I really want to see them (especially Jenna). I figure I might just miss them. Anyone know?

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 10:22pm

Glad you enjoyed! Once again, I regreat living in NY!!! Damn! I'm jk kinda lol. but im goin to the city tomorrow so i hope i win lotto.

[MissElphie]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 10:26pm

Yay! I'm glad you learned now fabulous Steph is live. Any clips don't do her justice. Also, so glad to hear someone else who liked Kendra's performance. Thanks for the review!

[Aigoo]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 10:34pm

The tour started around Marchish-April, I think.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 10:40pm

So I'm probably going to just miss them. That stinks.

[MissElphie]

Posted: 7/23/05 at 10:58pm

It started March 18th or something. The first time I saw it my tickets were for March 22nd, and that was the first week of previews. Steph has mentioned she is leaving in Jan. Not sure if the others plan to as well.