The Ongoing Wicked Discussion Thread

Shake does a brilliant British accent there! I love her singing voice too and she certainly looks amazing! Very pretty lady.

Would like to see her do more in London once she is done with Wicked

That video of Popular I posted, that may or may not be *hint hint* the account of the person the cast member sat next to me told me about... look at the account, Joshua wasn't wrong either! He records so many of the performances!

He does have a couple of videos with him in them so you can see if it is him but yeah, this is the guy I was told about, apparently a lot of the cast are aware of his recording in the theatre.

You'd have to be a bit daft to continually upload "unlawful" recordings to a public forum under your own name.

Saw the matinee this afternoon, having not seen the show for 8 years! It was just wonderful. Was in Row J, the most perfect view you could wish for. Forgot just what a stunning and thrilling moment Defying Gravity really is, surely one of the best theatrical moments ever? Only just realised that today is 10 years since the first preview, too! So that was nice. Only 950 in this afternoon (out of 2,500) and it really felt empty, so the audience response seemed a little dead, though everyone was enjoying it. 1,100 people in tonight.

Rachel was tremendous. Such a solid and assured performance, and she's a wonderful actress who also masters the comedy of Elphaba. Amazing vocal performance - no particular riffs in any of the songs, it was sung pretty straight, and whilst I have no problems with riffing in this show what-so-ever, it was actually quite refreshing to hear the score sung as it was written! And so well, too.

Suzie was just perfection. Again, another wonderful actress and her and Rachel have a very special chemistry. Her comedy timing was spot-on and what a gorgeous voice!

Idriss Kargbo was fine as Boq - nothing outstanding, and to be honest I actually found him quite camp. Didn't really believe he would be after either Nessa or Glinda.

Mark Curry and Anita Dobson are both inspired casting choices. Both wonderful character actors with actually very good voices! It was a joy to watch them on stage and they are both clearly having a lot of fun.

Oliver Savile is the perfect Fiyero. Tonnes of swagger, rugged good looks, the right side of arrogant and a voice I could listen to for days.

And, even though I saw her 10 years ago as Nessa-Rose, I thoroughly enjoyed Katie Rowley Jones. Maybe it's the injection of a fresh, new cast, but she didn't look bored at all. She seemed totally engaged and gave a wonderful performance.

The new ensemble are great, but either the show is very tired or they were giving a matinee performance, what with it being the new ensemble's first matinee - which is really no excuse. Everything seemed SO choreographed, right down to reactions. Felt like no individual choices had been made, that they were literally painting every scene by numbers. The musical staging and choreography of this show is some of the best and most intricate and interesting on the West End, but it felt like they were seriously going through the motions and not giving it the punch that would really make it stand out. Also didn't help that the sound, even from the centre of the stalls, was awful. The songs pack so much punch, the orchestrations are marvelous and the vocal harmonies are to die for, but it was ridiculously quiet that none of these were shown off!!! Only Defying Gravity was the volume that the rest of the show should be at - maybe that's a conscious decision to give it more power, but it makes the rest of the show seem dreadfully under-powered, and maybe that's where my feeling stems from instead. They were all also totally out of breath at the end of Dancing Through Life (and understandably so!!), but it seriously affected their vocals at the end of that song. I admire that there's no click-track, but maybe in this situation it would help.

Anyway, despite all that it's such an incredible show, and still in pretty good shape for the mammoth production that it is. And it 2 hours 50, it really just flew by, I don't think there's a real dull moment, even in the smaller scenes. Hope it's around for a while longer, yet!

Hi All! greetings from a 'Lurker' of a while. We saw a previous post and HAD to say that we were also at the first UK preview of Wicked. We have had many years of musical theatre visits, but we always remember that night as the most electric we have been lucky to witness. It was electric and we were so surprised that anyone had it on their radar in UK - yet there were loads in costume, despite it new to the UK.
From the reaction from lights down, we have never ever witnessed an audience will on a Company, the way they did that night. The 'Isn't it Good' entry post technical failure reaction was lovely to witness. It must have been a joy for the cast.

We were honoured to see Idina, despite her not flying in the Saturday matinee also. Since then, Rachel Tucker has been the only one for us to come near, on good days.

We wish we could have seen Chenoweth, but are wishing that Hilty and more importantly Jennifer Laura Thompson would grace our shores, PLEASE! (There's a joke there).

The Producers are continuing to keep the show with 'good' casts, but it would be brilliant if they could inject better quality leads, rather than keeping it running. There is a difference.

We would have travelled from Leeds for the 10th if the Producers had wanted to thank their profit generating fans seats in the stalls..

I am sure the cast appreciate the support but not when it crosses a certain line and people try to "out-fan" each other. There have always been those kind of fans at Wicked and I suppose there always will.

A good example being I don't think Rachel minded the party poppers as much, because it was fun and she was the one who went in for the hugs and said thank you etc. But there is a line that should'nt be crossed. Like, I don't think people should wait outside the show for the cast before a performance as it is just odd to do that, wait until after when you have seen the show (if you have seen the show). And don't have your ear literally against the building! Also, on that channel, if you listen to Savannah's last No One Mourns the Wicked, at the beginning, there are a few fans literally screaming their lungs out!

I am a huge Wicked fan, I am always up for a woop or a cheer at the end of a song or when Rachel came onstage first time etc and I only ever stage door if I fancy it or if a special event at the show and will get an autograph and a photo, but even then if they are in a rush or look flustered, I would just say they were great and let them go. If they want a conversation, like Rachel who seemed to genuinely enjoy having a quick chat with me on Monday and continued the conversation for one or two minutes, but to be screaming in the theatre, and to be around the theatre just to see a performer go in, some on a weekly basis, is a bit much for me!

Just on way home from show. I'll keep this brief.

Rachel is back and stronger than ever.
Suzie is a joy - stunning performance, my favourite Glinda to date.
Rest of the cast were fresh, even the people who stayed on from previous cast(s).
No weak link.
London has its strongest cast since opening.

Almost 10 years to the day since I first saw it, just one row in front of the seats I sat in, the show is still as magical and mesmerising as the first time (53 times later).

If you haven't booked to see this cast yet... Why not??!

Does anybody else love it when Rachel holds onto her second 'Bring me down' in DG until she absolutely needs to bring it off? I think hearing her vibrato ring out clearly over the ensemble and echo slightly afterwards adds something to Elphabas desperation/determination.

I can't remembee the last time a cast at Wicked has had such overwhelmingly positive response from so many! It makes me so, so happy that everybody, even people who almost went off Wicked, are loving this cast so much!

And I agree with the comment of that YouTube guy being very disrespectful. From his videos, I do get the impression of trying to be the number one fan and being a bit too obsessive (well, you must be if even the cast are aware of you!)