The Ongoing Wicked Discussion Thread

The speculation is only being done by a handful of people on the internet and really is not worthy of being responded to by any official account.

Alexia has said on Instagram that she has lost her Dad. Her story says it all if I’m honest..

I’ve heard that Alexia’s father passed away some point earlier this month so that’s why she’s taken time off recently 💔

I love that they have two women who have been best friends for 10 years headlining the show.

But this again shows there are too many a week for one performer. I would rather people perform at their best

She will never be asked back to have anything to do with Wicked ever again. The end.

Difficulties from both sides from the the very limited knowledge I have, but yes.

I think they're very glad to be into the 23/24 cast let's put it that way.

Without divulging too much what is your source for this? The cast gave a lovely tribute to both Helen and Lucie the last show. Hellen has also been there for years.

Are you able to speak to what any of the difficulty was?  

And on a separate note, did anyone ever learn why every trace of that Sentimental Men episode featuring Lucie and Talia was wiped?  Setting aside the nauseating self-congratulations (and I say that as someone for whom Talia is a favorite and who finds Lucie's voice divine), the only things I could think that might be objectionable were either their lengthy admissions to listening to each others' bootlegs or Lucie's blaming of several swings for her injury.  I did think that was poor form. 

Also, for anyone curious, the final total was that, according to available records, she did 62.5% of her shows, missing at least 171 over the course of the 2022-2023 cast contract.  Of those 171, it appears that Amy did 92 (53.8% what on Earth), Laura did 58 (33.9% - over 7 weeks worth of Elphaba shows as a first cover), Nicola did 13, Laura Pick did 6, and Rebecca Botterill did 2.

And before anyone jumps on the normal "Leave them alone about attendance," "You get up there and trying doing it" bandwagon, please note that most forms of entertainment that are public-facing get questions when people's attendance is poor (see: professional sports and the like).  The fact that highly publicized Lucie only showed up to work 63% of the time and that Amy can only be relied upon 54% of the time is the kind of thing that, in non-theater, would turn even more heads.  Though at least for Amy's part, 92 shows is nothing to shake a stick at... but in this situation, it wasn't anywhere close to the 171.

Meanwhile, this '23-'24 cast seems absolutely divine.  What a treasure Alexia is. 

I think it's worth noting that certain musical theatre roles are very vocally challenging and it's not always possible to tell in the casting process if someone can deliver it 8 times a week until the actual contract starts and it's put to the test.

Athletes train hard, but they train for competitions which come along on scheduled dates for specific competitions. A West End lead with a vocally difficult role is expected to deliver it 8 times with only one day off - every week!

Some singers will inevitably have "sturdier" vocal cords than others.

Some musical theatre roles really should have an alternate. I think it must be awful to get a couple of months into a 12-month contract and realise that your voice is just not able to carry on. And how do you know that until you're on the job? If you came from another musical theatre role previously which isn't as difficult to sing and were fine, you might think you can survive something more challenging, but that's not always the way.

It was when you said you thought they were looking forward to the 23/24 cast change. Thanks for clarifying. In any case I hope this duo are renewed. Love them too.