The Ongoing Wicked Discussion Thread

Echoing the RR comments with disappointment. Having seen the Bway production last month, they put the West End version to shame. The cast over there is phenomenal. A Fiyero that can sing and dance breathes so much life back into this show:)
Can’t wait to see Laura and Carl on tour instead.

I saw Alexia for the first time on Saturday. Hmmm.

I’ve seen Wicked a good few times over the years. I ‘found’ the show during the Rachel Tucker/Louise Dearman/OliThompsett golden years. RIP.

Alexia’s performance was not my cup of tea at all. I thought she sounded very very shrill and nasally throughout the entire show, and her acting choices didn’t work for me either. She SHOUTED almost every line and I actually left the theatre with a headache. I was so disappointed.

The understudy Glinda (Christine) was on and she was excellent. A very talented comedic actress and great singer, Different from Lucy’s stellar performance but just as good in a different way.

Ryan Reid was better than last time I saw him, but I still don’t understand why his understudy Ross Harman isn’t been given a chance. He was vastly superior to Ryan in every aspect imo.

I left the show feeling significantly underwhelmed. Alexia was just not for me at all.

Wonder why Ross is leaving!?

Seeing this tonight and so far not all that impressed. It’s bee n years since I saw the show, but it feels as though the level has just gone down massively. I think we have Ross Harmon as Fiyero and I’m enjoying his performance, but Christine as Glinda is shrill and pitchy, and she actually missed her entrance for One Short Day. Which I could forgive, but neither she nor anyone else sang her line so there was just an empty space. Not great. Outside of that she’s just so pantomime. I don’t remember Glinda being quite that pantomime. Alexia - she seems like she has two voices. On the one hand this beautiful rich, strong tone, and then also this shrill almost strained thing going on (which, to be fair, reminds me of Idina and might be a choice). She’s doing some lovely stuff onstage, but somehow I expected more.

Let’s see how it goes for Act 2!

Act 2 - a little better but still disappointing. Even a couple of instances where microphones didn’t kick in on time. I think this could do with a reboot of some kind, quite honestly.

Saw this tonight after a 7 year gap or so. I was there on first preview night, press night, and many more times during the first year. I saw it on Broadway with shoshana and Megan in year 2, but my GOD this show has fallen off completely.

I booked row O stalls on rush and moved to row c stalls as the theatre was probably only 2/3 full or less. There were some sound issues at first, too quiet, mics not being brought in quick enough, but that got better.

Every single joke fell flat bar a couple. All of the Easter eggs for the wizard of oz went over everyone’s heads, so I’m thinking that the audiences nowadays just aren’t familiar with the film, or was it something else, the acting and delivery…

It’s a bit of the first, but mostly due to the latter.

Alexia has a really good voice, although nasally, and Mark Curry was great as the Wizard, but that’s the only positives I had.

Apart from Mark, NO ONE can act. There was no comedy timing or knowledge on how to deliver the lines, they were simply being just read off the script. I wasn’t a fan of Lucy as Glinda at all, and Ryan was without a doubt the worst of them all. It was like GCSE drama, very OTT, and VERY camp for an alpha male role.

I literally cannot believe what I saw tonight and how some of these have continued in their roles. Surely someone inside is watching this and the audience reaction and thinking something just isn’t clicking? Surely the cast can tell how flat it is?

But for some reason most of the audience thought it was worthy of a standing O. During the interval the woman behind me was saying she has seen it loads, on Broadway too, and had never seen it like this. The woman in front of me said the same, and also said her child’s school class came last week and most of them fell asleep. In the interval I stood at the front and looked at the size of the theatre and realised how massive it actually is. Surely they can’t keep this going much longer?

Well yes, thank you for your review Matt. The show has, in my view, been in terminal decline for a long while now. The jokes haven’t landed in ages and it just feels very flat - and of course the sound is the worst in the West End. By most accounts the tour is where it’s at for a tighter ship - but I can’t help but feel Wicked needs a genuine shake up.

Looking at some of the non-replica productions does make me a touch envious. It is very tired looking at this stage sadly.

Re: audiences though - this has been going for ages and there hasn’t been a whiff of it closing. I saw a Thursday night I think with Jennifer DiNoia (best Elphaba I’d seen since Idina/Shoshana/Cassidy Janson) and they actually brought everyone forward. There can’t have been more than 700 in the house.

When I went last year with Amy Webb, understudy Glinda and Ryan Reid, that was the final straw for me. Half full, very flat and - worst of all - I could tell the cast were bored. Lots of wandering glances into the audience from ensemble, a lyric fumble from Amy Webb who was on autopilot etc.

I’d love Wicked to start afresh, get the Director, choreographer and original MD back in for a few weeks, close the venue and fix the sound whatever it costs, and get it back to its former glory with a truly stellar cast.

Never gonna happen though. They had their chance with COVID if they were bothered about its condition.

It’s honestly made me wonder why they are bothering with the film, but I guess the book will be more or less completely different with a few classic lines thrown in.

You can tell how dated a lot of it is with the projections of the tornado etc, and defying gravity when she flies just doesn’t have a wow factor anymore.

Is it the norm that Elphaba doesn't even pretend to be riding the broom in this scene? When I saw it a few weeks ago she just held it next to her and it was one of the things I found really took me out of what was happening.

Yes I saw this a couple of months back and share much of the same thoughts. Alexia wasn’t overly pleasant to listen to in most songs and there was no sense that any of them had been directed how to actually land a joke or inject light and shade into their performances.

I've not seen it for a few years, the last time was Lucie's opening night, but even then i was thinking there were some decidedly ropey momemts. When the platform carrying Glinda etc came downstage for Thank Goodness I feared for their safety, it was wobbling around so much.
When you see so many videos of the non-replica productions around the world it does make you realised how dated it is looking.

I personally loved Alexia and Lucy, and thought they were the perfect leading combo. Loathed Ryan Reid and loved Mark Curry and Sophie Louise Dann. I also think Wicked, much like other shows, is a product of its time. A time machine to early 21st century Broadway shows. The original production and its subsequent replicas are meant to reflect that, and do so wonderfully.

My issue with the West End production (poor audience behavior aside) after seeing it recently is its mediocre supervision/resident direction/Music direction. Many jokes don´t land, the acting is often mediocre and the choices poor and uninspiring, the ensemble "are there". And the orchestra has lost so much power and oomph in recent years, with some weird tempi choices. It´s a magical show that means a lot to so many people, and that when done well, can touch people´s hearts in an unforgettable night out. Give them the best you can, not just a lazy 30%! Broadway is learning and the show is in great shape over there. Why can´t the same happen in London?