487 posts
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Post by deej4life on Dec 14, 2022 14:09:06 GMT
Laura Harrison is on as Elphaba for both shows today (14th December, 2022).
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Post by cezbear on Dec 14, 2022 15:36:18 GMT
I'd be interested to see a count of Laura's Elphaba shows vs Amy's Elphaba shows. westendrebecca I hope you enjoy the show! |
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Post by robertb213 on Dec 14, 2022 16:07:37 GMT
I'd be interested to see a count of Laura's Elphaba shows vs Amy's Elphaba shows. westendrebecca I hope you enjoy the show! And a count of Lucie's shows! 🤣 |
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Post by aingidh on Dec 15, 2022 2:26:57 GMT
I believe Laura recently hit 50 shows as Elphaba.
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Post by westendrebecca on Dec 15, 2022 2:28:31 GMT
I'd be interested to see a count of Laura's Elphaba shows vs Amy's Elphaba shows. westendrebecca I hope you enjoy the show! Thank you! Will let you know who is on! |
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487 posts
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Post by deej4life on Dec 15, 2022 18:31:26 GMT
Laura Harrison is on Elphaba tonight (15th December, 2022).
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Post by jay987 on Dec 15, 2022 22:32:20 GMT
I'd be interested to see a count of Laura's Elphaba shows vs Amy's Elphaba shows. westendrebecca I hope you enjoy the show! Okay, so I know this is probably a weird thing to post as my first post on the forum BUT... I've been reading and following this whole attendance issue with this cast and it has fascinated me, so not going to lie... I took half an hour to search WestEndCovers on Twitter and a couple of other sources to try to figure out the answer to this very question. As best as I can tell, these are the totals for Elphaba: Amy Webb: 73 (but maybe some missed by WestEndCovers?) Laura Harrison: 51 (confirmed by her social media when she hit 50 on Wednesday, plus Thursday's show) Nicola Espallardo: 9 (confirmed by her social media) Laura Pick: 5 Rebecca Botterill: 2 Total: 140 performances The current cast have been in for 46 weeks. Going off standard 8 shows a week for easy math (even though I know there are added performances for half-term sometimes), that's about 368 performances. Based on that, it means that a cover has been on for Elphaba about 38% of the time since February. Is there any sort of precedent for this in a Wicked company? Has there ever been a first cover for one of the "big" leads that did over 50 performances with this long still to go in the contract? Also, I feel like the less talked-about story is that the standby only does about 50% of the cover performances. I really do hope that the reason Laura wasn't bumped to standby at cast change is that she's going out on tour, given that she seems to be the saving grace for this company. Has there been a case where both the lead and the standby were so infrequently on? Lucie misses on average 3 a week, only half of which Amy does. Based on percentages, the standby's attendance is even more uneven than the lead's. With Covid and everything else, I suppose this is all to be expected to some degree, but still, it's curious. Sorry if that's too "in the weeds," but as I said... after seeing the commentary on here for months and never jumping in because I never had anything to contribute, I became really curious as to if there's precedent for a situation like this one. I think of all the times I've booked specifically to see someone in a role and the disappointment I've felt when they've been off (regardless of how talented and wonderful the covers were). It must be frustrating for fans who are booking to see specific performers in this cast at times. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Dec 16, 2022 4:36:54 GMT
This is what we want on the Wicked thread, investigative reporting and data analysis. Fantastic debut post jay987 ! What the hell IS going on at Wicked? It can’t be put down to covid, I’m not buying that at all. I do think part of it is about protecting Lucie’s voice which I suspect they discovered very quickly couldn’t sustain a full schedule. As for the rest of it, it feels like a deliberate policy of keeping things moving around so that people haven’t got a clue who they’re going to see. Smoke and mirrors! If that’s the case it means the next cast change will be completely meaningless because what’s the point of announcing a lead at all after this fiasco? Might as well just do what Dreamgirls did in the early days which was to announce a trio of Effie’s (although one of those never materialised in the end). |
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Post by cezbear on Dec 16, 2022 7:30:35 GMT
Excellent work for a first post jay987! I too wonder why the very patchy attendance of Amy is mostly ignored, especially seeing those numbers. It makes very little sense to me that she is staying on as standby, I can only also assume that Laura will be doing the tour. Certainly when you have a lead struggling to do the role full time it would seem to me that you need a rock solid, reliable standby for the part. They do have a solid cover in Laura but she isn't supposed to be carrying it this way. I won't speculate on why Lucie is doing so few shows but I do think it's a shame for both her (after she so badly wanted this role and such a big thing was made of her finally landing it) and people who book hoping to see her. When she IS on she's very good! |
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Post by westendwhistledown on Dec 16, 2022 14:45:31 GMT
The production would have been absolutely stuck this year without Laura carrying the company like this. It’s unbelievable how many shows she has done. She is such a reliable performer who nails it every time. It’s a crime she wasn’t offered the role full time
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Post by jaybird89 on Dec 16, 2022 15:20:34 GMT
Have to say I've been really lucky I've been to wicked 5 times this year and only missed lucie twice but both in planned days off so not bad I guess. Although have not seen Amy only ever Laura, who to be fair I think gives a great performance as Elphaba and was more than pleased to see ever again this week. Looking forward to cast change now to see someone new although will miss Helen Woolf as Glinda but interested to see Lucy's take having only seen her in Phantom.
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Post by AliceFearnFan2212 on Dec 16, 2022 15:22:31 GMT
Lucie was meant to be back tonight from her few days off in Wales… Laura is Elphaba tonight  |
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Post by Being Alive on Dec 16, 2022 15:28:30 GMT
It seems she's off again tonight. Its so much easier just to list when she's on. Taps sign |
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Post by deej4life on Dec 16, 2022 18:34:53 GMT
If Laura Harrison is joining the tour she is certainly getting a lot of experience under her belt in London. I don't believe an understudy for Elphaba has ever performed this much before!
People seem to be leaving positive reviews of her performances, so I'm sure she would make a fantastic standby on tour!
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Post by shady23 on Dec 16, 2022 18:49:54 GMT
Excellent work for a first post jay987! I too wonder why the very patchy attendance of Amy is mostly ignored, especially seeing those numbers. It makes very little sense to me that she is staying on as standby, I can only also assume that Laura will be doing the tour. Certainly when you have a lead struggling to do the role full time it would seem to me that you need a rock solid, reliable standby for the part. They do have a solid cover in Laura but she isn't supposed to be carrying it this way. I won't speculate on why Lucie is doing so few shows but I do think it's a shame for both her (after she so badly wanted this role and such a big thing was made of her finally landing it) and people who book hoping to see her. When she IS on she's very good! Amy is the interesting point. I have no idea whether Lucie's missed shows coincide with any holiday Amy has had, but if Laura had not been such a reliable and talented performer they could have found themselves in serious trouble. |
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Post by jay987 on Dec 17, 2022 7:01:36 GMT
Speaking of standby attendance, Rebecca Gilliland posted an Instagram story that was a photo of the Apollo Victoria with the caption "standby" ... so it's now in a situation where a non-current cast member is serving as Elphaba standby to the first cover while both the lead and the standby are indisposed? This gets ever more fascinating.
Speaking of Rebecca Gilliland... she's been back multiple times as Nessarose now, on top of the fact that Grace Chapman seemed to be on constantly for Nessarose in the first half of the year with Maggie Lynne seemingly going on constantly in the second half (and second cover/consummate saver-of-the-day Laura Harrison getting a fair number of shows). The Nessarose situation seems strikingly similar to the Elphaba situation, with the exception of the infrequently available standby.
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Post by sb on Dec 17, 2022 8:04:32 GMT
With what’s occurred during this current contact Elphaba wise, it’s very interesting that they’ve lined up the new cast to include a new (returning) Elphaba, the current Elphaba standby, a new first cover and the current second cover.
I understand that it can’t be helped if certain cast wish to leave, but if a similar situation happens next year they will still potentially have the same breaking points, unless the first cover is just as reliable or the standby situation changes.
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Post by latona on Dec 17, 2022 12:04:03 GMT
Also, I feel like the less talked-about story is that the standby only does about 50% of the cover performances. Hi all long-time lurker, first time poster! I don’t know exactly what’s happening at Wicked but just some general thoughts on arranging cover for shows: If a team has decided that a role requires a standby then you need a standby for every show regardless of who’s playing the role. So it’s likely that if the principal calls in before a certain time of day then the first cover will have priority to perform over the standby who will still be ‘standing by’ in the building in case anything goes wrong with the first cover at the last minute. If the standby was to go on with advance notice then they’d still need to have another person cover the standby track. This is why the standby is more likely to do shows when the principal is on holiday (as an alternate standby can be arranged in advance). But in most cases it’s probably easier to put the first cover on and have one of the swings cover their ensemble track than to call someone who’s not currently contracted to work on the show to be an emergency standby, or to take one of the ensemble off stage to be on standby instead. That being said, if someone was contracted as “standby AND first cover” then there would be different covering system in place to account for that. However judging from how regularly the first cover has been on, it seems like this year Wicked has opted to separate those responsibilities 🤷🏾♀️ |
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Post by westendrebecca on Dec 17, 2022 18:55:40 GMT
I’ve now seen Wicked and I absolutely loved it! I went in knowing all the songs but not much else other than what you can get from a few production shots, and I also knew the staging of Defying Gravity and Popular. I had a brilliant time and am now really hoping to catch this on tour! Lucie was on and was incredible and there was definitely an added riff in there!
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487 posts
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Post by deej4life on Dec 21, 2022 5:15:14 GMT
Amy Webb was on as Elphaba for the evening show yesterday (20th December, 2022).
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Post by secretmuso on Dec 21, 2022 23:48:20 GMT
Also, I feel like the less talked-about story is that the standby only does about 50% of the cover performances. Hi all long-time lurker, first time poster! I don’t know exactly what’s happening at Wicked but just some general thoughts on arranging cover for shows: If a team has decided that a role requires a standby then you need a standby for every show regardless of who’s playing the role. So it’s likely that if the principal calls in before a certain time of day then the first cover will have priority to perform over the standby who will still be ‘standing by’ in the building in case anything goes wrong with the first cover at the last minute. If the standby was to go on with advance notice then they’d still need to have another person cover the standby track. This is why the standby is more likely to do shows when the principal is on holiday (as an alternate standby can be arranged in advance). But in most cases it’s probably easier to put the first cover on and have one of the swings cover their ensemble track than to call someone who’s not currently contracted to work on the show to be an emergency standby, or to take one of the ensemble off stage to be on standby instead. That being said, if someone was contracted as “standby AND first cover” then there would be different covering system in place to account for that. However judging from how regularly the first cover has been on, it seems like this year Wicked has opted to separate those responsibilities 🤷🏾♀️ This isn’t quite right. If the role has a standby then whenever the principle is off, the standby will always be first call to play the part. That is their job. The other covers will have other tracks so to keep the standby in a room and put a cover on which has a knock on affect to the show, makes no sense and therefore doesn’t happen. Just thought I’d clear that up. 👍🏻 |
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Post by hamiltonstradition on Dec 26, 2022 13:04:05 GMT
Also, I feel like the less talked-about story is that the standby only does about 50% of the cover performances. Hi all long-time lurker, first time poster! I don’t know exactly what’s happening at Wicked but just some general thoughts on arranging cover for shows: If a team has decided that a role requires a standby then you need a standby for every show regardless of who’s playing the role. So it’s likely that if the principal calls in before a certain time of day then the first cover will have priority to perform over the standby who will still be ‘standing by’ in the building in case anything goes wrong with the first cover at the last minute. If the standby was to go on with advance notice then they’d still need to have another person cover the standby track. This is why the standby is more likely to do shows when the principal is on holiday (as an alternate standby can be arranged in advance). But in most cases it’s probably easier to put the first cover on and have one of the swings cover their ensemble track than to call someone who’s not currently contracted to work on the show to be an emergency standby, or to take one of the ensemble off stage to be on standby instead. That being said, if someone was contracted as “standby AND first cover” then there would be different covering system in place to account for that. However judging from how regularly the first cover has been on, it seems like this year Wicked has opted to separate those responsibilities 🤷🏾♀️ Unless there are multiple standbys covering the same role, they standby gets first priority over any ensemble understudy when it comes to being put on. They also do not NEED someone to return and standby, but many times we will see former Wicked cast members pop-by when it is down to the 2nd covers (Who in reality are 3rd in line, s/b -> 1st cover -> 2nd cover). Unlike in the UK, the American Wicked seems to almost always hire a standby that had previously done a full-time contract and as a result the current Elphaba understudy has only gone on 7-8 times in her 4 years of being in the show! If your theory was fact, we would see shows like SIX calling in between 1-6 former cast members every single performance when one of their alternate/standby/swings are on to sit backstage. |
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Post by deej4life on Dec 26, 2022 18:32:49 GMT
The standby Elphaba is always the first person to go on should the lead be unable to perform. This includes last minute "witch switches" due to illness/injury. Only when the standby is indisposed will an understudy go on instead.
Some exceptions exist, such as when the understudy has a scheduled performance, but these are rare.
I can't vouch for other shows, but this is how it works at Wicked.
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Post by garjobo on Dec 26, 2022 22:31:06 GMT
So, what is the theatre like? stalls is there a slight raise ( like BTTF - no raise at all really and would put me off purchasing stalls there again ). Is Wicked a show, like Newsies, which basically demands being viewed near the front? That goes out to those who have experienced different seatings. I really dont think i could tolarate the theatre &Juliet - not just the show but the crampt seating - awful. &Juliet, for those that like that sort of upto the minute Z-generaion guff , is more a standing show, toe tapping along, not sitting not able to breathe.
So, Wicked, grand circle, seats ok? much better stalls ( a good raise? )
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Post by jaybird89 on Dec 26, 2022 23:19:39 GMT
I Personally like watching wicked at the front and find the front row day seats you can get online really good value I tend to find the sound is pretty decent for me there as well although it can be nice to see the show from the circle for the overall view.
I'd avoid sitting too far to the side in the stalls as some
Of your view does get blocked but I think the stalls is raked enough that if your not right at the front you still get a decent view but I've only seen it from the first front 4 rows the last few times I've been so it's been a while since I've sat any further back.
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