speak ill of the wicked — Page 4

*Looks at thread title*


I

Am

Home

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"which in and of itself means nothing. perhaps the casting director felt like playing a really mean joke on joe mantello. perhaps joe mantello felt like playing a particularly mean joke on the broadway community. the fact that someone gets cast is no indication of their talent per se. they could have all blown david stone."

I really don't know how to respond to this...

I head off to rehearsal and you let this thread die?! Come on! Let us speak ill of what makes us ill! Let us twist this great evil we face into something that is entertaining for us!!

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i dont need to speak ill of wicked anymore, ive said what i have to say. i dont loathe it, i just think that their are much better options are broadway. BUT while i hate when people get personal around here, i have to say it:

THE WICKED FANS ARE OUT OF CONTROL! (and i think that the caps ARE indeed neccessary in this case)

which is why i will suggest once again that all the wicked hate go into one thread (thanks, papa) and all the wicked praise go into one thread, which will no doubt stay very close to the top of the main board at least for another couple of monthes.

i think that would make bww.com a much better place.

*sighs of relief and settles in comfortably*

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I think Millie is just the best show ever, don't you?
Doesn't anyone else think Angela Christian should be Galinda and Sutton should be Elphaba? Wouldn't that be awesome? Then Idina and Kristin could go close Millie, which shouldn't really close anyway but should rather run forever so these terrically talented ladies can just keep swapping back and forth in the shows like the guys from True West.

*Post made simply to move thread back to top, where it belongs*

Updated On: 6/15/04 at 11:01 AM

Well, I don't know if I can say anything mean about "Wicked" that hasn't already been said! *thinks* Oh, wait, maybe I can! It bears only the slightest, most superficial resemblance to the book, and that is the ONE thing I do not tolerate with adaptations.
The short list of discrepancies: Fiyero and Glinda never date, Fiyero is not the Scarecrow, Boq is not the Tin Man, Elphaba doesn't whine about her lack of blonde curly hair and man-winnin' skills in a song that never freakin' ends (none of the songs never freakin' end), the Wizard is not a benevolent father figure, Elphaba doesn't even attempt to fly until practically the end of the book, the Emerald City is not a magical, enchanting place, Nessarose doesn't have arms (but I'm willing to overlook that; after all, how many actresses are missing both their arms?), Elphaba doesn't dance with the Wizard around his lab, there's no Wiz-O-Mania...whew. I'm sure I left something out, so feel free to add to the list!

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No, but it does work the other way around. The people who diss Avenue Q are almost-always crazed Wicked fans.

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Sigh. This show is like cheese – fake cheese, even. Velveeta. Spray can cheese. It appeals to the masses because the masses like what they know – the characters and backstory are already familiar old friends, so audience members can settle into their seats and feel right at home, without having to trouble themselves with any pesky thinking.

But that’s the foundation of modern populist entertainment, feeding audiences who want only to be fed: it’s the theatrical equivalent of chick lit. Wicked is popular because it’s palatable and it’s easy, not because it’s a work of quality. The music is serviceable at best, and the lyrics are abysmal (“I hope you're happy / I hope you're happy now” is eclipsed in its banality only by “I hope you're happy / I hope you're happy too” – but my personal favorite is “Something has changed within me / Something is not the same”). Nothing in the performances can save the whole from its inherent blandness, and the OBCR is tangible proof of this – without the busy-ness of the stage business to distract you, you realize how hollow it is.

Don’t get me wrong – Velveeta has its place, and I applaud the fact that Wicked is drawing scores of young viewers to Broadway. One can only hope that from here, those same audiences might take the time to branch out to shows that would challenge them, as well, in order to put this experience into some kind of perspective – that they might become lifelong theater fans, not just Wicked fans.

What are you talking about? I did see Wicked. Wish I didn't, though. Now I feel like burning my ears off with acid.

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Updated On: 6/15/04 at 11:55 PM

I agree that Wicked has the potential to be fantastic but in its current form I find myself wanting it to hurry up at parts, getting tired of hearing that opening music used in every possible way, and dreading the "I have something to confess, a reason why" line because of the way it invariably sounds like he's saying Confessa.

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I have to say that the faults I found with the show the first time I saw it were so little that it did not bother my overall enjoyment of the evening.

The more I read from the Wickedpeople who post here, the more the show irks me and the less tolerance I have for it or anyone who decides WICKED ROCKS

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Yeah--after Nessarose gets flattened, Elphaba hears about it from Glinda. She wasn't even there. Of course, she's furious when Glinda tells her that she gave Dorothy the shoes and goes on a trek across Oz to catch up to her. When she finally does, she takes Dorothy captive in her tower (no flying monkeys are involved) and Elphaba ends up melting not because Dorothy was trying to put out the Scarecrow's fire (the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion aren't even there), but because her skirt caught fire, so Dorothy grabs the nearest bucket of water in an attempt to save her and...well, you know the rest. I don't know how it happens in the musical, but that's the way it goes down in the book.

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