Just got back from seeing Wicked
Sep. 6th, 2009 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieHOLY CRAP THAT WAS AWESOME.
So, yeah, five years after having![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
softstepshoes told me I should see it, I finally got to see Wicked. The travelling production is in Nashville for three weeks right now, and since it is a long weekend, I could make the trip home. Totally worth the wait.
Our Elphaba was amazing. She was just so earnest and sincere--very, very believable in the role. Apparently she had been playing Elphaba on Broadway before joining the touring cast. (Her name's Marcia Dodd if that means anything to anyone.) And her voice is fantastic.
"Defying Gravity" sent chills down my spine all the way through it. HOLY CRAP. I knew from the soundtrack it was incredible, but this was just...I...wow. (I kind of want to have the lighting designer's babies.)
Something else amazing: I apparently made it through five years and several friends being obsessed with this musical without learning the ending. No, really. I totally thought Fiyero kicked the bucket when the guards dragged him off, and that Elphaba died at the end. Really. I had no idea they lived and ran away together! I'm not sure if that changes my opinion of it for better or worse--I mean, Elphaba lives, hooray!, but at the same time, I was totally into Galinda's sadness. Hmm. I think I'm still just mostly shocked that I made it this far without being spoiled, or rather without realizing I hadn't been spoiled.
I loved the costumes and the sets. So, so cool. I love clockwork anything, so I was in heaven with all the cogs and gears that made up the backgrounds. (I did wonder what the clocks had to do with things, though. Is that a reference to the movie? I still haven't seen it all the way through. I seem to recall being traumatized by the flying monkies when I was very small.) I didn't really get what the animatronic dragon at the top of things was all about, either, aside from being another place to send out fog, which unfortunately made my eyes all watery several times. Boo.
Oh, and another question: So was Boq supposed to be Dorothy's tin man, and the lion cub her lion? I thought they were, but then Boq showed back up after Galinda sent Dorothy & co. on their way. And of course Fiyero seemed to be turning into the Scarecrow, but he couldn't have been Dorothy's scarecrow. Did Elphaba just go around turing lots of people into lions and scarecrows and tin men?
Galinda's rack of shoes cracked me up. So did all the sarcastic dialogue--"Well, we can't all travel by bubble!" is one I particularly remember. Elphaba was freaking hilarious. I see why people love her.
There were only two things I would've changed:
1. Okay, this is almost certainly a function of the fact that my tolerance for Valley Girl humor is somewhere in the negative double digits. But our Galinda had dialed the ditz up to eleven. My mom found her hilarious all the way through, and I did find her quite funny most of the time (Elphaba's sarcasm was better, but Galinda had her moments--"Pink goes with green! Who knew?" is one that stands out in my memory)...but. She had this high-pitched squealy thing she did, complete with hand-flapping and flailing arms, that made me want to stab her in the face repeatedly. She calmed down a bit in the second act, for which I was supremely grateful. But I definitely got the impression that she'd memorized Kristen Chenoweth's interpretation of the role, and then asked herself, "How different can I make this while still being perky?" The Cheno had an underlying sincerity that seemed to be missing in this one. She had a great voice, though; she sounded particularly fantastic in her duets with Elphaba.
2. It felt like there should've been some choreography to go along with "As Long as Your Mine." It was a little weird, with Elphaba and Fiyero kneeling on the floor a couple feet away from each other and singing at one another, occasionally holding hands or something, for a rather long time. Maybe that's just me and my interest in dance, though.
But in the grand scheme of things, those are very minor. I know there are more fabulous bits, both of the show itself and our production of it, that I'm forgetting. If I get the chance, I will totally see this again, because THAT WAS AWESOME.
So, yeah, five years after having
softstepshoes told me I should see it, I finally got to see Wicked. The travelling production is in Nashville for three weeks right now, and since it is a long weekend, I could make the trip home. Totally worth the wait.Our Elphaba was amazing. She was just so earnest and sincere--very, very believable in the role. Apparently she had been playing Elphaba on Broadway before joining the touring cast. (Her name's Marcia Dodd if that means anything to anyone.) And her voice is fantastic.
"Defying Gravity" sent chills down my spine all the way through it. HOLY CRAP. I knew from the soundtrack it was incredible, but this was just...I...wow. (I kind of want to have the lighting designer's babies.)
Something else amazing: I apparently made it through five years and several friends being obsessed with this musical without learning the ending. No, really. I totally thought Fiyero kicked the bucket when the guards dragged him off, and that Elphaba died at the end. Really. I had no idea they lived and ran away together! I'm not sure if that changes my opinion of it for better or worse--I mean, Elphaba lives, hooray!, but at the same time, I was totally into Galinda's sadness. Hmm. I think I'm still just mostly shocked that I made it this far without being spoiled, or rather without realizing I hadn't been spoiled.
I loved the costumes and the sets. So, so cool. I love clockwork anything, so I was in heaven with all the cogs and gears that made up the backgrounds. (I did wonder what the clocks had to do with things, though. Is that a reference to the movie? I still haven't seen it all the way through. I seem to recall being traumatized by the flying monkies when I was very small.) I didn't really get what the animatronic dragon at the top of things was all about, either, aside from being another place to send out fog, which unfortunately made my eyes all watery several times. Boo.
Oh, and another question: So was Boq supposed to be Dorothy's tin man, and the lion cub her lion? I thought they were, but then Boq showed back up after Galinda sent Dorothy & co. on their way. And of course Fiyero seemed to be turning into the Scarecrow, but he couldn't have been Dorothy's scarecrow. Did Elphaba just go around turing lots of people into lions and scarecrows and tin men?
Galinda's rack of shoes cracked me up. So did all the sarcastic dialogue--"Well, we can't all travel by bubble!" is one I particularly remember. Elphaba was freaking hilarious. I see why people love her.
There were only two things I would've changed:
1. Okay, this is almost certainly a function of the fact that my tolerance for Valley Girl humor is somewhere in the negative double digits. But our Galinda had dialed the ditz up to eleven. My mom found her hilarious all the way through, and I did find her quite funny most of the time (Elphaba's sarcasm was better, but Galinda had her moments--"Pink goes with green! Who knew?" is one that stands out in my memory)...but. She had this high-pitched squealy thing she did, complete with hand-flapping and flailing arms, that made me want to stab her in the face repeatedly. She calmed down a bit in the second act, for which I was supremely grateful. But I definitely got the impression that she'd memorized Kristen Chenoweth's interpretation of the role, and then asked herself, "How different can I make this while still being perky?" The Cheno had an underlying sincerity that seemed to be missing in this one. She had a great voice, though; she sounded particularly fantastic in her duets with Elphaba.
2. It felt like there should've been some choreography to go along with "As Long as Your Mine." It was a little weird, with Elphaba and Fiyero kneeling on the floor a couple feet away from each other and singing at one another, occasionally holding hands or something, for a rather long time. Maybe that's just me and my interest in dance, though.
But in the grand scheme of things, those are very minor. I know there are more fabulous bits, both of the show itself and our production of it, that I'm forgetting. If I get the chance, I will totally see this again, because THAT WAS AWESOME.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-07 06:02 am (UTC)Okay. Whew.
The clock thing is actually a carryover from the book, which has several references to the Clock of the Time Dragon, suggesting somewhat that the events of Oz are pre-ordained and whatnot. It's a theme. Mostly I think they put it in the play to look cool. (I've never seen the whole movie either. The monkeys aren't that bad, but Judy Garland is like nails on a chalkboard to me.)
Yes and yes on Tin Man and Lion. The books get deeper into this; John hates that the translations between the musical, the Wicked books, and the original books make Dorothy and co. into bloodthirsty headhunters. I think it's perfectly valid to expect two (or three, counting the musical) viewpoints to be somewhat contradictory. The book also goes farther into detail about Elphaba's allergy to water, which I love.
I've seen the show twice with two casts, and Galinda is ALWAYS dialed up to 11 in the first act. I think it's so the audience finds her as annoying as Elphaba does at first, and so we get a contrast after "Defying Gravity" when she's Glinda and realizes that actions have consequences. The squealing and fluttering are just part of the character.
I think the kneeling and singing with Elphaba and Fiyero is meant to be both a mood thing and an energy thing - they're being furtive and daring, so dancing isn't appropriate, and also they're really belting it out, so it's nice for the actors to focus on the music and take a break from moving around for a song. I had the album before I saw the show, and there's a performance photo of Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz kneeling, so I expected the lack of movement. In performance, it's a bit long to go with nothing visual, but the singers are so amazing that it doesn't matter much.
I highly and strongly recommend Wicked the book, but be warned that it has different political overtones and overall themes than the musical. I heart both versions and can easily love them for their differences, but some people (John) have trouble. I know lots of people say "BEST BOOK EVAR" - I'm not one of those people - so trust me to say it's worth a read. John thinks it's overrated, YMMV.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-07 02:58 pm (UTC):D
I was thinking last night that the clock and dragon things might have been from the book. Or as you say, just to look cool--which they so, so did.
I'm not a big Judy Garland fan either. She's the other reason I've avoided the movie so far.
I've heard from many people that the book is nigh-unreadably bad. But I still might give it a shot someday. Perhaps after I see the movie.
Galinda is ALWAYS dialed up to 11 in the first act.
It seemed much, much worse in this one than in the dialogue you can hear on the soundtrack. I don't want to strangle Kristin Chenoweth when she's speaking as Galinda; I did want to strangle this one most of the time.
I get the reasoning behind the kneeling, but...I dunno. I'm of the school where visual interest trumps story relevance, I guess. ;) I didn't want much; I think if they had just been standing and occasionally hugging each other or walking slowly across the stage I would've considered it visually interesting.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-10 03:39 am (UTC)Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again.
- Rick Polito, Marin Independent Journal's TV listing for "The Wizard of Oz"
I use that when the kids ask me what we're going to be reading. For some reason, it sounds more exciting to them that way... ;)