"wicked" touring production - first show in chicago- Page 3

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 12:51pm

Thanks for finding that,uncageg. Let this serve as a reminder what a boob Hedy is.

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 1:06pm

Most welcome SueleenGay!! This woman is out of control! I am tempted to contact her editor.

[Sunfish]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 1:26pm

Mister Matt, I was there on Thurs. night too, guess we should wear flowers in our lapels or something. :) I saw "Wicked" last year on Broadway with Idina, Kristin, Taye, Joel, all the big names and frankly, sadly, just wasn't taken with it. I was happy for the chance to give it another try. I thought most of the casting was strong, Stephanie particularly. I liked Kendra, and felt her jokes and mannerisms landed, but I was closer this time and may have missed some of the nuance the first time. But I couldn't get into Derrick Williams as Fiyero....I just didn't believe him. I didn't feel his supposed magnetic attraction. I loved the costumes, and lighting and set, I'll admit to being a sucker to all the fairy lights, and in the ornate Oriental Theatre, it was hard to see where the set ended and the theatre began!

That said, sorry folks, I just don't like the show. The *story* is interesting, but the score just leaves me flat. The songs are just not memorable...the only bits I can remember are the main lines of "Defying Gravity" (because I have heard it on tv clips as well as the two times I've seen the show) and little bits of "Popular". I thought as I listened to some of the others "Oh, I know why this is such a hit, so many young people feel that way" but I'm hard pressed to think of the melody or words at this moment. And I feel so much more could have been done with the choreography. It did not inspire me at all. And frankly, the "belting" just left me feeling assaulted. I truly hope this is not the direction of all Broadway musical performance in the future.

So, I'm glad I saw it again, but I won't be fighting the crowds to go again. It's unfortunate, for me, that it has to be THIS show that is sitting down in my city.

The P.R. machine in in full glory though. There are Wicked banners along the street where the Oriental Theatre is located. The large Borders on the nearby corner has a huge placard inside the front door describing the daily drawing and Marshall Fields, a major department store which is kitty-corner to Borders, has a Wicked display in a least one window that I saw....

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 1:55pm

And don't forget that the Oriental changed to green bulbs in the marquee. I thought that was quite interesting. I'm glad you enjoyed Kendra, but I thought the audience's reaction to Glinda was quite reduced compared to Kristin's performance. And I'm not talking about my own reaction, but I was paying attention to how the rest of the audience responded as well (probably because I was wondering if it was just me). A great example was "It's Galinda, with a Guh." Both times she said it, there was barely a chuckle because she just barrelled through the line without good timing or intent. Did you hear that one girl in the audience yell, "OH MY GOD!"? That was kinda weird considering it wasn't an "OH MY GOD!" kind of moment. I forget exactly when it occurred, but it was one of Glinda's lines and everyone laughed more at the girl in the audience that Glinda. Stephanie, however, received the sort of cheers for The Wizard and I and Defying Gravity that I heard for Idina and rightly so.

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:08pm

Good for you, uncageg. That Hedy woman is way off.

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:35pm

The Wicked-ification of Randolf Avenue is something to see! I love the Wicked Banners on the street lights and I said to my BF that Wicked really will be a success here when the first person gets arrested climbing up a lammpost to steal one of the banners!

Has anyone read the "Hard" copy of the Tribune review? The way the online review is now it TWICE says that "Material has been removed" from this article-- which makes me wonder if the print edition ran with the original "Elphaba doesn't fly" crack.

[metoog]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:42pm

I guess the mistake ran in print.
This was online at the Tribune...


CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

Published May 6, 2005

- On the front page of Friday's preprinted On the Town section, a review of "Wicked" erroneously asserts that the Broadway staging of the musical's Act 1 finale featured more elaborate flying effects than those in the national touring edition. In fact, the New York and national tour stagings of that sequence are identical.

The Tribune regrets the error.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:44pm

Joe - the review is in the On the Town section and it does contain the flying sentence.

I walked down Randolph yesterday and noticed the Wickedification. I also liked it.

The Mayor's tulips in Daley Plaza are awesome.

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:47pm

And isn't weird that he thought the flying had been diminished here when I thought (as did someone above) that is actually works better here and looks more impressive than Broadway.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:51pm

I found the number much more powerful than Broadway.

However, during DF at the Gershwin an usher was running up and down the aisle looking for a camera - it was very distracting.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:06pm

JoeKV - I'm glad you noticed the flying bit, too. I thought it was just me, but I thought it looked a bit more "realistic" and impressive than on Broadway. The funny thing is, I sat pretty much in the same place for both Broadway and Chicago....far far away.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:18pm

question - i haven't seen teh tour yet nor have i bugged people from the tour that I know for details... so how is the 'melting/reveal' at the end staged with no trap doors? Just curious as to how.... is there a platform on stage? does it ake it a bet less "ohhhh" inducing?

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:24pm

There is a trap door, unless my eyes was going crazy.

[metoog]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:31pm

Definately a trap door!

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:40pm

OK that review is so off that the Theatre Critics/Reviewers Assoc ( yes there actually IS one) should censure her. I mean talk about projecting your own agenda!!

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:45pm

I don't think there is a trap door for the "Melting" actually-- Do I need to say "SPOILER ALERT"?

She is seen in a huge silhoutte and Dorothy throws the water at her- She moves closer, and the silhouette shrinks. They superimpose a "Smoke" effect on the sheet as they dim her silhouette out, then fade out the smoke efect. I thought it worked very well. You see Shrinking Elphaba, fading to smoke, and then gone.

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:49pm

Well kids, I got a response! You are gonna love this!

From Hedy Weiss to me:


My intent was only to depict the way history is shorthanded in this
musical,
and unquestionably black men have been the major victims of lynchings.
If
you reread my review you also will note that I considered this
reference in
the exact same way that I did the fact that the Munchkins were dressed
like
concentration camp inmates (and I am Jewish). There was no value
judgement
made at all, except to say that the book of "Wicked" is all over the
map and
that if you are going to put a political subtext in a musical you
probably
should put things in context.

Hedy Weiss

My response to her was this:

Ok...don't really see what history has to do with a
musical based on fiction. This is pure fantasy. The
original Fiyero was, and still is, white. So your
statement would have been unfounded had there been a
white person playing the part. So why even make that
type of reference. I am interested in knowing what
you would have said had a person other than an african
american played the part. Seeing that white people
were not being lynched, I can only expect that you
would compare it to Christ on the Cross maybe?!!!
Only thing I can think you would do. I still find your
review to be out of line. And having archived your
reviews and read you review on Caroline or Change, I
think that you may have some issues that need
addressing. I did see Caroline or Change on Broadway
and did not get the same thing out of it that you did.
Neither did anyone I know that saw the review. And I
think Mr. Kusner was fully justified in his response.

This woman is crazy.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:50pm

But, she does come our out of a trap door, maybe she does not use the door, I do not know. I friend of mine will be in the sit-down and I hope to get a backstage tour.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 4:18pm

That response from Hedy is hilarious! At which concentration camp did the victims wear pleated skirts and waistcoats? How did she make the leap from the Shiz school uniforms to concentration camp uniforms? Yes, there is political subtext in the musical (much less than in the novel), but it is clearly her that is taking it out of context. Especially regarding the lynching thing when clearly the character has been played by both black and white men. Methinks she is one of those who wants to find any reason to be offended just to have something to bitch about. Her reply is as senseless as her review.

[fliboi78]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 4:19pm

as a man of colour, i also find that "woman's" remarks offensive.
as for the flying scene, i thought it was more believable as well. i've noticed that elphie has been flying horizontally rather than vertically lately. in the earlier 4 performances she has been "flying" upright, but when i saw it with shoshana for the second time and with stephanie they were both at an angle. although the first time i saw it with shoshana she was moving a lot up there. and one of the times i saw idina she was also at an angle but defenitely standing up.
when i saw it opening night in chicago, the audiences roared with kendra's comics. but no where as near as they did with kristin.

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 4:23pm

The second part of my response to her:

I will say that yes, there were political overtones to
the show as well as the book it is based on. And I
can now kind of see the comparisons you were trying to
make. But they were off color, pardon the pun, and
out of line in my opinion and in the opinion of a
number of other people I have talked to who have read
it. I think the show did a good job of getting the
message across that different is not bad. And I think
that was the show's intent as well as the book's. And
as far as the Munchkins being dressed like
concentration camp inmates....well, they looked like I
would have expected them to look.

But we are all entitled to our opinions I guess. Have
a good rest of the day.

Updated On: 5/6/05 at 04:23 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 4:54pm

I could see her point about Orwell and Animal Rights activists, but the Hitler/concentration camp thing simply just isn't jusitified the way she presents it. There is NOTHING in the costuming that suggests concentration camp other than the use of blue (a much darker shade) and white. Some have stripes, some have polka-dots, some are solids. Their design certainly isn't similar and having them worn by the students would not make much sense, considering they are not the persecuted victims of the piece. She's grasping at straws. And the Hitler haircut? I could only assume she meant the Wizard because of his political role in the show, but seeing as how she applied the Holocaust symbolism with no specific character reference or meaning, it could have been anyone. Personally, I did not see a single cast member sporting an Adolf coif, but then, I was watching the show for what it was, not for what I wanted it to be. Maguire has spoken specifically about the political references in his novel and where he got them. Had she done a little research, she would have had more accurate information, but she's clearly more interested in finding ways to be offended than trying to understand the show.


"There was no value judgement made at all, except to say that the book of "Wicked" is all over the map and that if you are going to put a political subtext in a musical you probably
should put things in context."

If Hedy is going to analyze the political content of a musical, she should probably do her research and put it in context herself. I'm sure she's patting herself on the back for being the first critic ever to point out these atrocities in almost two years of reviews. Gee, I wonder how NOBODY ELSE made these connections?

Posted: 5/6/05 at 5:10pm

Maguire gave an interview about the Politics of "Wicked" to HER OWN paper-- it ran adjacent to the Wicked article in this Sunday's paper. Bizarre!

And I hate to be crass but were concentration camp uniforms Blue? I've always seen them as a dullish grey colour but it could be cause I guess I've never seen a color picture. In any case they never looked like Wicked costumes to me; And if they did the only people who complain of being held captive are the Munchkins and I don't think we see any except for Boq. Oh well I'm over thinking!

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 5:29pm

I was overthinking a lot when I was e-mailing her but I just came to the conclusion that no matter what was said to her, she was going to justify herself and feel that she is right. So I just tried to keep it short. It just amazes me that she was able to get away with a review like that. And also to give away plot surprises.

Updated On: 5/7/05 at 05:29 PM

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 5:43pm

I think she was referencing the hair cut of the black trench coat who goes to inject the caged animal. It MAY have ben referencing it but I thought it was just supposed to be offbeat & therefore offputing. It was a bowel style cut gone weird not egzacly the Adolph bangs. The reviewer obviously has her own ( very wacky) agenda.