Why the air quotes? Because whilst it technically was a community theatre production (ie. definitely not the real thing) our three main leads have all had roles in professional musical theatre productions.
I just need to say I was ridiculously anxious about seeing the show. It's been 17 months since I last saw it, and I miss it so much. Plus, I was going with 3 people who hadn't seen it before- at all- and I wanted them to love it, and I just didn't know what to expect.
So, I took notes. I legit took a notepad and pen and scribbled everything I could remember. Mostly notes on the staging and things like that, which was the real difference.
And now I'm sharing them with you! I organised them by scene, but they may not be necessarily in chronological order within the scene.
1) No One Mourns the Wicked
- Galinda sits on her bubble.
- When Melena turns her face so Frex kisses her cheek instead, he look worried/confused.
- I cried in the beginning.
2) Dear Old Shiz
- Frex very affectionate towards Nessa, but not as cold with Elphaba as I’ve seen. Not warm, though.
- He was like ‘fake smiling’ as he came and pulled Elphaba aside. So, that was interesting. More of like trying to present like the image of a happy family.
3) The Wizard and I
- It was fine.
- Our Morrible sang more than most I’ve seen and was really good.
4) What is This Feeling?
- On Galinda’s line “these things are sent to try us”, she did a little run instead of going high, and in the silence after, Elphaba audibly groaned in disgust- like “ugh.” It was hilarious.
5) Something Bad
- Our Dr Dillamond was Scottish and it was great, and somehow I liked him more than ever?
6) Dancing Through Life
- Fiyero can sing.
- God Bless whoever made the decision to keep him in jodhpurs.
- Avaric wasn’t pulling the usual rickshaw, it was kind of like this motorised thing, but not a car… I don’t know what it was. But it was funny because after Avaric and Fiyero do their handshake, he didn’t leave immediately, he was like fiddling with the car. When Galinda ran on stage to hide from Boq, she went behind and Avaric and crouched down- and then of course Avaric left, so Galinda was still crouching down when Boq found her.
- When Galinda saw Fiyero and was like “his reputation is so scandalacious!” she then undid her top button on her top to give herself more cleavage. And then Boq was still standing there next to her so she threw her bag off stage and was like “oops”. So, Boq ran off to get it and Galinda went to go talk to Fiyero.
- He wasn’t looking at her, so she was standing behind/kinda next to him and like hiked up her skirt to show more leg and then did her toss toss and a fake cough to get his attention before doing her “are you looking for something” line, during which she angled herself so he could basically see down her shirt I’m guessing.
- In the beginning of DTL, when Fiyero was talking to Boq and had his arm around his shoulders, Boq was like leaning forward to stare past him at Galinda, and Fiyero was like “hello?” and straightened him up.
- When Fiyero did his “they want to make you less shallow” line, Galinda was looking in her compact and not paying attention. He paused and she was like “what?” before he continued.
- Boq was pretty adorable and had a good voice. I liked him.
- When Boq came to ask Galinda to the dance, she and Fiyero were standing up on the statue base, so he jumped up between them to ask her.
- At the OzDust when Elphaba was dancing (which was different, but I won’t begin to describe- because I can’t) and then Galinda “cut in”, Elphaba started doing the dance with the soft music, then Galinda joined in and then everyone else.
7) Popular
- As funny as any I’ve ever seen.
- At one point, Galinda drew a nail file out from her dress and started filing Elphaba’s nails.
- Galinda also put sunglasses on her at one point and then took them off (at no point during the show did Elphaba wear glasses, even pre-Popular). When she took the sunglasses off, Galinda used them as a microphone to sing into.
- At one point, Galinda ‘booped’ Elphaba’s nose.
8) Lion Cub Scene/I’m Not That Girl
- I think it was just the Scottish accent, but when Dr Dillamond got taken away and did his whole “they may take away my job, but I will continue speaking out” line, I half expected him to start quoting Braveheart. (ie. “they will never take our freedom!”) It really may have just been the accent.
- When it started raining and Elphaba ducked under the bridge, Fiyero came out alone with a lantern, and looked like he was looking for her? And then Galinda came out with an umbrella, kissed him and pulled him away.
- After the “you’re bleeding” line, Elphaba touched Fiyero’s hand, not his face, to make him jump up and run off.
- And he didn’t do the ‘I needed to go the other way’ bit, which not a big deal but I missed it.
9) Train Station/ One Short Day
- Ensemble costumes were great. Very authentic.
- Elphaba and Glinda dance a bit in at one stage.
- No flat tops in Wizomania.
- When Glinda did her "it's Glinda now. Stupid idea" line, she kind of like hit herself in the forehead.
10) A Sentimental Man
- Our Wizard can sing.
- And is really likeable, which makes things complicated for me. It’s so much easier to hate him. Sigh.
- Wizard’s Head was very authentic.
11) Defying Gravity
- Elphaba flew, I cried. Nothing new.
12) Thank Goodness
- Our Fiyero was really good at the “This is an engagement party?!” reaction line. I laughed.
- Glinda’s costume was a silver jumpsuit?! It was nice, but I was surprised.
13) Wicked Witch of the East
- Nessa was better than in Act 1. I wasn't sure how I felt about her in Act 1, but Act 2 she was much stronger as WWotE.
14) Wonderful
- In the scene after, when the Wizard released the Monkeys, at least one was in the stalls and down through the audience onto the stage. Scared the crap out of me.
- When Morrible came in with her “your betrothed has brought her into custody?” line to Glinda, she burst into tears and sank down to the floor sobbing until her “use her sister” line.
15) As Long As You’re Mine
- OMO SO MANY THOUGHTS ON THE STAGING OF THIS SCENE.
- So, at first, they just stood in the middle of the stage and I was like “where is this going?” and then after the first couple of lines, Fiyero took Elphaba’s broom and put that and the lantern over by the “wall” that was on the side of the stage. She approached him (it looked a little like a lioness stalking or something) as she sang the rest of her verse. In her chorus, there was some neck kissing (Fiyero on Elphaba’s neck) and some touching and whatever.
- Once Elphaba finished her chorus, she kinda went like to move away or something and Fiyero grabbed her, spun her and pressed her up against the wall to kiss her.
- He did his verse and in the second chorus they ended back up in centre stage, and Fiyero knelt down and sort of led her gently down with him.
- And then Elphaba physically undressed him. She took off his suspenders and his shirt (he was wearing a singlet underneath.
- So, they’re in the third chorus by now, and Fiyero is like leaning backwards to lie down and pulling her towards him and then she crawled on top of him and they were making out, and then she sat up to do her “For the first time I feel Wicked” line, and then leaned back down over him to kiss him again.
16) Cornfield Scene/No Good Deed
- Fiyero doesn’t have a rope swing, he just runs on.
- Elphaba’s “Fiyero” at the beginning wasn’t that great, but I think that was an audio issue, because the rest of her belts were all great.
17) March of the Witch Hunters
- Nothing really to note here.
18) For Good
- Nothing to note. It was a good scene.
19) Finale
- There was a trap door for Elphaba to pop out of. I’m happy.
- Scarecrow costume also super authentic.
20) Some General Thoughts/Observations:
- Sometimes they’d do little runs as opposed to belting- sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.
- It kinda felt like seeing the real show, but with all the understudies on, you know? Good, but just… something was missing a little bit.
- Some lady in front of me told me at intermission that it was better than the “real production.” It wasn’t, but whatever.
- There was definitely some audio issues- mics not clicking on until a bit into the line, etc. Hopefully that will get fixed.
- I was so happy that they had the map of Oz as the curtain, because I hadn’t expected that and I actually gasped and got teary.
- Probably the biggest difference was the staging. Obviously. The costumes ranged from “fine” to “could have been the real thing almost” so I was happy with that.
- They did that thing community productions often do of slowing things down just slightly, for cues and such. It wasn’t distracting, but it was noticeable. For me, at least.
- I’m going again. So, take that as you will!
