Wicked #34: Wicked in Nowra

This weekend I saw a[nother] community theatre production, this one in Nowra NSW.

This was show 34 for me, but it was also notable because I took 3 friends with me. Two of whom had never seen the show before, and one who came and saw the production in Wagga Wagga with me in November 2017.

Overall, it was a good production. The staging wasn’t too different, so I have very few notes. Which meant I could relax more and enjoy the show, rather than frantically try and remember every difference I deemed notable on a mental loop until I was able to write everything down!

Our Glinda I’ve seen before- in the Wollongong production I saw in August 2017. I loved her performance then and I loved it now! She was truly excellent. Our Elphaba was also wonderful- and only 17.

The rest of the cast was really solid- although Morrible was a little late on every cue in Act 1, which was frustrating. But my friends didn’t notice, so maybe it wasn’t that bad? The transitions between scenes were also extended (to allow time for crew to move on and off set pieces). Again, this was very noticeable to me, but it didn’t seem to bother my friends.

The orchestra was uneven in patches, and my friends did notice this. However, it didn’t distract them too much. They all said how much they enjoyed it on the way home. My friend K, who saw it for the first time, said “I can see why you love this so much” and then was exclaiming over how well it fits with The Wizard of Oz and that she needed to buy the soundtrack.

Here’s a few things I did note, however:

No One Mourns the Wicked: Glinda entered way too early. Like, as soon as the Ozians started singing “Good news!” the bubble was entering the stage. It was just a bubble that she sat on suspended by wires, so there was one time when it moved a little too fast and swung a lot. Elphaba’s birth scene was also done through use of silhouettes behind a curtain, rather than being shown on stage.

Dear Old Shiz: This was where Morrible missing her cue was the most noticeable. The cast were just left to make awkward whispers before she finally arrived.

Dancing Through Life: Fiyero, when talking to Boq at the beginning of the song, put his sunglasses on Boq’s face and ruffled his hair.

One Short Day: During the train station scene, G[a]linda was having sound issues. Ultimately, one of the crew ran on stage and handed her a handheld microphone to use. Glinda was then late to enter during OSD- she didn’t come on until her “The hustle and bustle” line, and her dress was still unzipped.

The actress playing Glinda was a total pro through all this though. She handled it all really well.

Defying Gravity: Like the production I saw last week in the Gold Coast, this was also done through suspending Elphaba in the air by wires.

Thank Goodness: The dais was upstage, and when Glinda and Fiyero moved downstage to talk, Morrible seemed to be telling the crowd scary things- judging by their actions.

As Long As You’re Mine: The only thing noted here was that there was so much dry ice!

And at the curtain call, after final bows, the cast all sang a bit of One Short Day together, which was fun.

So, this was probably the best community theatre production I’ve seen (that didn’t feature professionals- ie Canberra and Gold Coast). Definitely better than the Wollongong production, but also better than the Wagga Wagga production, despite the sound/orchestra issues.

Now I’m back to not knowing when I’ll see Wicked again!

Wicked #33: Wicked on the Gold Coast!

Last night I saw my 33rd show of Wicked, which took place at the HOTA (Home of the Arts) on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. 

It was really a non-professional production, like the production I saw in Canberra in 2016. Some of the cast have had roles in professional productions- Samantha Dodemaide who was Elphaba, played Dorothy in Australian production of The Wizard of Oz last year; and our Fiyero, Trent Owers was in the Nutcracker and the Four Realms movie that came out last year (I mean, he was uncredited as the Head Throne Room Guard, but still!).

I really enjoyed this production, because they made a lot of interesting choices. So, here's a scene-by-scene breakdown of things I thought were notable. 

Also, all pictures in this post are taken from instagram accounts of the cast- as evident because there handles are in the picture. 

No One Mourns the Wicked: So throughout the overture, there was a projection of Oz on the curtain where the camera zoomed through the streets- it went through the Emerald City, bypassed a golden statue of the Wizard, and swung by the castle (lit up with green magical sparks) before returning to the Emerald City before the curtain rose and the Ozians started their festivations. It was pretty cool!

The only real things I noted in this scene was that the Midwife was a human, not an Animal; and the actor playing Frexspar had decent facial hair (which is nothing really of note, I know. It just made me laugh a little because I remembered in my Don’t Tell the Bride fic where I made a reference to Frex once having facial hair).

Galinda's friends seen on the right, taken from the production instagram.

Dear Old Shiz: There was a portrait of the Wizard that hung in the Shiz set- or rather, there was an empty frame that hung in the Shiz set and a picture of the Wizard was projected in a way to make it look as though it was in the frame (this is important later on, I promise).

Galinda didn’t enter the scene on the luggage trolley, but simply walked on, while her friends followed behind her, both carrying towering stacks of luggage for her. Also to note that instead of the typical Pfannee and ShenShen, one of Galinda’s friends/posse was a guy! And I loved that.

The Wizard and I: Ok, so here’s the thing about Sam’s Elphaba. She was great, but she was a much more friendly, softer and open Elphaba than you typically see. Case in point: Right before Elphaba’s second verse of TWAI, when a student walks on stage, Elphaba threw him a smile and a genuine friendly “Hi, how are you doing?” to which he then noticed her, freaked out and ran off.

The portrait of the Wizard continued to hang in the background of the scene, and I was like “Oh that’s really interesting, because then it’s like she’s almost singing to him and it’s the visualisation of her dream.”

But then after her “When people see me they will scream for half of Oz’s greatest team” line, in the beat that followed, she turned back to look at the portrait and the Wizard moved. He tipped his hat to her, and then she turned back to the audience with a smile and did the final “The Wizard and I” belt.

It was very Harry Potter vibes. Because if you tell me about a portrait that moves, I immediately thing of Harry Potter or The Witches.

What is this feeling? You can see the portrait/projection of the Wizard here.

What is This Feeling?: My only note for this scene was that there were two staircases that were moved on and off the stage throughout the show as needed, but they were used really effectively in this scene.

Something Bad: Ok, I have a lot to say about this scene. First of all, just a little thing, but still interesting (to me at least)- Galinda’s “I don’t see what the problem is. No other teacher seems to have trouble pronouncing my name” line wasn’t delivered to Dillamond, but just to her friends. Elphaba then overhears and responds with her line. Dillamond doesn’t really hear until she gets riled up by her “Maybe some of us are different!” line where she rose to her feet.

The most interesting thing in this scene for me, was that when Dr Dillamond starts telling Elphaba about the odd things happening in Oz to the Animals, he pulls out a notebook and handed it to her. When Morrible comes into the room, he gestures for her to keep it, and Elphaba quickly puts it into her bag. I loved the idea that Dillamond’s been keeping notes or perhaps collecting evidence of what’s been happening to the Animals, and he doesn’t hesitate to share it with Elphaba (it reminded me of what happens in the Wicked novel somewhat).

Although when Elphaba said the solution was to tell the Wizard, Dillamond didn’t look upset by that idea. So, he may be collecting notes, but he didn’t seem to suspect the Wizard was involved.

Dancing Through Life: Ah, so much to talk about here!

First of all, Fiyero and Avaric’s handshake involved Fiyero giving finger guns and Avaric pretending to be shot, before kissing Fiyero’s hand and leaving. Elphaba was watching with a “WTF?” face, which is how I felt lol.

Secondly, Elphaba was carrying a stack of books and reading through Dillamond’s notebook when Fiyero’s cart almost knocked her over, so I liked that they continued to use the notebook (Not for the last time either! Stay tuned!).

When she was picking up the books she dropped, there was one right at Fiyero’s feet and he stepped over it to say goodbye to Avaric. But then once he was gone, Fiyero picked it up for Elphaba and handed it to her and they chatted for a bit (I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Elphaba’s facial expression was “I don’t understand what is happening, why are you talking to me, I’m gonna go now.” Well, that’s how I saw it, anyway). So, Elphaba moved away from Fiyero, but didn’t leave the stage. She stayed there talking to Nessa until the second verse of Dancing Through Life.

Another thing I noticed was that while Fiyero and Galinda were literally standing nose to nose during their first conversation, during the first two verses of DTL Fiyero didn’t pay Galinda much notice specifically. It wasn’t until she sent Boq off to ask Nessa to the dance that he focused on her. Which, for me, lessened the impact of the “You’re perfect/you’re perfect/so we’re perfect together” bit.

When Galinda’s friends picked up the “hideodeous” hat, they were both physically gagging and holding it away from them like it stunk.

Boq seemed to genuinely enjoy Nessa’s company at the OzDust. Their dancing together was adorable and gave me Bessa feels.

When Elphaba entered the OzDust and was dancing alone, one of the ensemble audibly commented “Is she casting a spell?” at one stage, and there were two who were mocking her dancing in the background- copying her moves and laughing.

When Galinda started dancing and everyone else joins in, Galinda waved to Fiyero (who waved back) and then she and Elphaba left the stage, leaving the ensemble to finish the dance and song alone.

You can see the pink blanket and pillow on Elphaba's bed behind the girls here!

Popular: My favourite thing about this scene is that both girls were wearing slippers during this
scene. Elphaba’s were just simple brown ones, and Galinda’s were fluffy and pink (naturally). Galinda also had a robe on over her party dress at first, but took it off before starting to sing.

And I just don’t know how I’m ever going to think of this song/scene again without Galinda wearing pink, fluffy slippers- and I mean that in the best possible way. I loved it.

Also, Galinda’s efforts to makeover Elphaba here included pulling out a pink blanket and spreading it on Elphaba’s bed, and also two pink pillows. She also pulled out a cardboard box and started pulling Elphaba’s books off the shelf next to her bed, ignoring Elphaba’s protests.

I’m Not That Girl: Ok, prepare yourselves. First of all, in the classroom scene, when the teacher started talking about cages, Elphaba pulled Dillamond’s notebook out of her bag and started flicking through it, as though there was a mention of cages in it. So again, I loved them bringing back attention to the notebook.

And now the ever amazing Lion Cub scene. After Elphaba said her “No you’re not or you wouldn’t be so unhappy” line and Fiyero started to walk away, the guys (I don’t know what to call them really. Guards? Soldiers? Wizard Henchmen? I don't know what to call them) who took Dillamond away entered the stage as though looking for the Cub and/or Elphaba and Fiyero?. That’s when Elphaba grabbed Fiyero’s hand, to pull him back into hiding (they were standing off to the side of the stage with the cage).

Then- after the whole “you’re bleeding” thing, they almost kissed. And not just a little lean in. Their lips were only like an inch apart before Fiyero caught himself and pulled away. I think I actually gasped a little.

One Short Day: I don’t have any notes on OSD itself, except that there were no flattops (which wasn’t unexpected). But I did note two things about the train station scene that I thought were interesting.

The first was that when Nessa wheeled off stage and Elphaba made to follow her, she said something like “I can change my [flight?]” before Galinda interrupted. She definitely said “I can change my” and then it sounded like she said “fli” before she got cut off, which confused me. Because, you know… they’re at a train station. No airports in Oz. So, I’m  

not sure what Elphaba was about to say.

The other thing was that when Galinda started crying over Fiyero about how different he’d been acting, Elphaba looked very guilty. So that was a nice little bit of acting on Sam’s part. 

A Sentimental Man: Only notes here was that the Wizard head was just a projection on the curtain. Oh, and Chistery was a girl.

Defying Gravity: So throughout the DG scene, which had a green background (pictured left), I was like “how are they doing the lift for Defying Gravity?” 

When the guards burst into the room, they captured Elphaba- and then I realised what was happening.

They hooked wires to her waist and then Elphaba was just hoisted into the air and they had a projection in the background so it looked like she was rising through the clouds. 

Which looked cool, and Sam nailed the vocals, but I was a little distracted just thinking “how is that a comfortable position to sing in??” I mean, I know Pink does it, but Defying Gravity isn’t an easy song to sing when your feet are planted on the ground, let alone dangling in the air (I imagine. My Defying Gravity performances are limited to the shower and my car, neither done well).

The image below on the right is taken from Sam's instagram story during the run, which I managed to grab a screenshot of.

Thank Goodness: I didn’t note anything for this scene.

The Wicked Witch of the East: The biggest thing to note here is how they staged Boq’s transformation. When Nessa called for Boq after Elphaba cast the spell, Elphaba hid around the corner of the wardrobe and tried to sneak back into it before Boq noticed her. The wardrobe door was left ajar, and so when Boq’s heart began to shrink, he actually fell into the wardrobe, with only his feet sticking out.

Elphaba moved in front of him to cast the new spell, and when she stepped aside, the legs were now tin. Gotta admit, I didn’t hate the staging. At first I was thought it was weird that he was falling into the wardrobe, and then I realised what they were going to do; and it just looked smoother than Elphaba wheeling the wheelchair behind the wardrobe to do the switch.

The other thing I noted here was that when Boq started singing his “Nessa, surely now I’ll matter less to you” bit, Elphaba made a face and inched aside like “oh, this is super awkward and I’m stuck here” which made me laugh a bit.

And when Nessa got angry in the “lost your heart? Well, we’ll see about that” she visibly tightened her grip on Boq’s hands, to the point he actually called out “ow, my hands!” I really liked X as Nessa. I thought she did a great job.

Wonderful: No notes that I remember!

I’m Not That Girl (reprise): Ditto.

As Long As You’re Mine: Ok, if you read my blog a lot, you might remember my recap of the Canberra production I saw in 2016, notably with the steamy ALAYM.

This was that kind of ALAYM in this production, and apparently I’m always going to be a little surprised/”OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING?” when this happens. Although this time there was also a voice in my head screaming “THERE IS A FIVE YEAR OLD GIRL IN THE ROW DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME” as well.

So, staging: Basically any time Elphaba and/or Fiyero were not singing in this scene, they were making out. They came on stage, they made out. Then Fiyero took off Elphaba’s cloak she wore, spread it on the ground like a blanket and they made out some more.

Elphaba sang her verse while Fiyero kissed her neck, then they made out. Fiyero sang his verse, while Elphaba unbuttoned his shirt and kissed down his chest, and then they made out some more.

By the third chorus, Elphaba was kinda leaning back on her elbows, and then sat up for her “For the first time I feel wicked” line, and then grabbed Fiyero’s shirt and pulled him on top of her, and then they made out a little more.

No Good Deed: No Good Deed was amazing. Sam’s best vocals of the night, I felt. Loved it.

March of the Witch Hunters: No notes.

For Good: Elphaba got a costume change for this scene! She got a third dress, which honestly, I kinda loved. Not the dress itself (I mean, the dress was fine, but it’s not as pretty as Elphaba’s usual Act 2 dress), but that she got a costume change. When her last scene was “if you want wicked, I’ll give you wicked”, it makes total sense from a story/character point of view to change her dress.

(Sorry. English teacher. I can’t help myself!)

Anyway, my other note was that after Glinda sang her verse and chorus, Elphaba actually walked away. Then she paused, turned back to Glinda and sang “it may well be that we won’t meet again in this lifetime, so let me say before we part.”

Also, when Elphaba sang “so much of me is made from what I learned from you” she mimed doing a hair toss, and Glinda laughed and did it back to her.

The only other thing I noted was that after Elphaba took the Grimmerie from Chistery to hand to Glinda, she whispered something to Chistery, who then went and moved the bucket. So, I guess you can interpret that as either Elphaba just asking her to move the bucket, or telling her the plan. Either way, I thought it was interesting.

A close up photo of Elphaba's 3rd dress from Sam's insta account. 

 Finale: No notes.

So there you go!

I see another community theatre production in Nowra, NSW next weekend, so I’ll share anything interesting that happens in that one too!

Wicked in Wagga

Alright, here we go.

The rundown on my 31st show of Wicked, my third community theatre production.

This time, I wrote my notes out during the show in the dark (as opposed to trying to reciting notes to myself throughout and then scribbling frantically through intermission), so we'll see how much they make sense now!

No One Mourns the Wicked: 

Our Glinda was a good vocalist. At times a little over the top in her acting- which you can do with Glinda, but it didn't always work in this case.

Also, the Monkeys. They entered through the audience to come up on stage, which is fine. I've had that happen before and I don't mind it. But they entered at the top of the overture, I found that a little distracting. The overture is such a moment, let us have a bit of it to set the mood before the Monkeys come in!

The staging of the birth of Elphaba was staged with the bed being brought out while the Wizard came out, facing away from the audience. The Wizard and Melena hopped on the bed during their little dance, and then the Wizard ran off and Melena went into labour.

Maybe the director couldn't find a fake belly and way to hide it? I don't know.

Dear Old Shiz:

When looking at the cast list, it didn't appear as though the ensemble was much smaller than a usual cast, but either it was- or DOS was just staged badly.

Instead of having ensemble members run off while Glinda was talking, to be replaced by Shiz students later, they would walk off in twos and threes with dismissive gestures- as though they were turning away from Glinda and just walking off.

But that meant by the time Glinda got to "and we were both very young" there were only two ensemble members on stage, and then all the Shiz students appeared.

Also, Glinda was waving her wand, as though to conjure all the different parts of Shiz and such- including Elphaba's arrival.

While the students were running away from Elphaba, one girl held her nose, as though Elphaba stunk, which I thought was a bit much.

G(a)linda and her friends were laughing and talking during Morrible's welcome speech, with a particularly loud burst after "nothing but the highest hopes", so it looked as though Morrible added the "for some of you" in response to that. As a teacher (though hopefully a better teacher than Morrible!) I found that appropriate.

When Elphaba first introduced herself, she pronounced it as "Alphaba", with a heavy emphasis on the "A" and I was worried, but that was the only time.

The Wizard and I:

Our Elphaba had a good voice, and she could hit the notes but didn't quite have the belt to sustain the big ones.

Her acting, however, didn't quite do it for me. It kinda felt like the actress didn't really know what to do with her hands throughout the show, and so just kept gesturing. And while there are moments in the show where that works. But there were a lot of moments where it didn't.

What is This Feeling?:

Nothing really to comment on here, except for the last chorus, they were all doing the same choreography- including Elphaba. Not a huge deal, except the point (for me) of WISF, is to establish Elphaba as an outsider. Having her dance along with Glinda and the ensemble ruined that for me.

Something Bad:

Our Dillamond was fine but didn't really sell the "G-G-Glinda" for me. Likewise, Elphaba's speech about maybe "some of us are different" had no fire.
She was very stiff and cold throughout, which meant Galinda's retort of "Well, I see the artichoke is steamed" fell flat (although people still laughed).

Morrible also entered the classroom earlier than usual, and just stood there watching Dillamond and Elphaba talk for a bit.

Dillamond neither hid the chalkboard nor made an effort to do so.

Dancing Through Life:

Fiyero's entrance was fine.

In fact, our Fiyero was great and (in my opinion) the strongest cast member. Which is no surprise, given our Fiyero actually was in the ensemble and understudied Fiyero in the 2010-2011 Aussie production.

That being said, Fiyero and Glinda's meeting was a little awkward. It felt like Glinda missed a cue, or forgot a line for a second or something.

My notes just say "Fiyero👍✅✅✅✔" (actually, it just had a tick. But I just found out you can use emojis here, and got excited)

Boq on the other hand... Act 2, I liked him (we'll get to that). Act 1, I found him a bit... almost creepy? I don't know what it was. Maybe it was that he was by far the tallest Boq I've ever seen (he towered over Glinda).

And there was a bit during DTL where he went to sit at the base of the statue, folded his arms and sulked.

I don't know. It just really rubbed me the wrong way, and I didn't like him.

When Morrible entered the OzDust to talk to Galinda, she called her Elphaba at first.

When Elphaba entered, and Nessa wheeled herself out of the room, Elphaba went after her but stopped just short of exiting the stage.

Popular:

There was a moment in Popular (I didn't note when exactly, and I'm trying to think of it right now and blanking...) but Galinda was laughing and she snorted. Not sure if that was an acting choice or an accident, but she played it really well.

Elphaba's toss, toss attempts were in silence? At first, I wondered if it was a sound issue, but it wasn't.

Galinda called Elphaba's dress "your simple, ugly frock".

She did a "testing 1,2,3" with the wand that was funny.

Oddly, my friend didn't like this song? She thought it was so shallow, and I'm like "That's the point! If you think about the lyrics, it's not shallow!"

I'm Not That Girl:

OMO, I was looking at my notes and it looked like it said "INTG- glaves" and I was like "wtf? What's a glave? Did I mean glove? Why would I write glove?"

I then realised it's "INTG- glasses" (again, I wrote these in the dark, often while not actually looking at the paper to try and focus on the show).

Anyway, why did I write glasses?

Because Elphaba, once she took the flower from her hair, put her glasses back on! First time I've ever seen that. I mean, she took them off again before her magic went haywire, but I still liked that she put them back on for a moment.

When Elphaba gave her "can you imagine a world?" speech, she and Fiyero were standing right next to the Cub's cage surrounded by students and the teacher, and I don't buy no one wouldn't overhear them talking. She did move during "someone has to do something" line, but it was odd staging.

But the Lion Cub scene. I loved that scene. Elphaba grabbing Fiyero's hand looked so natural (because sometimes it can look awkward) and when she let go, Fiyero shook his hand a little and put his hand on his heart!

It reminded me of the hand flex/twitch scene in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie, and I just loved it.

When Fiyero took the cub, he didn't do the "oops, it's the other way" thing. Which doesn't really matter, but I always enjoy it.

INTG was sung really well. I think it was really in our Elphaba's range and it was done beautifully.

Glinda came on stage earlier- while Elphaba was first singing "blithe smile, lithe limb," etc.

One Short Day:

When Elphaba and Glinda ran off to do their change for OSD, Elphaba didn't take her suitcase. So Glinda grabbed it. Not sure if she forgot it, or if it was planned, but I was like "random".

Which was not the most random thing in this scene.

There were all sorts of random things in this scene- ensemble members were zipping around the stage on roller skates, bikes (not so random), scooters, Segways and a shopping trolley?!

My friend who I went with said (because the director was her HS drama teacher so she knows him) that he likes to put "quirky" things into his shows (for whatever reason). But I found it really distracting and odd- mainly the shopping trolley.

This is also the first community theatre production I've seen of the show that included the flat tops in the Wizomania part (or tried to). They were dressed in these... well:

Except that they were white, not green.

A Sentimental Man:

Chistery was a girl!

And Elphaba hesitated after grabbing the Grimmerie before running off stage.

When the guards came on stage, they all had the "Oz" symbol on their clothes- except for one, who only had an "L". Another one of those "quirky" director choices.

But again, I found it distracting. Was he supposed to be a 'learner' guard? What did the L stand for?? I still don't know.

Defying Gravity:

Elphaba hit the notes but lacked power a bit for the big belts. But she still flew, I still teared up.

When I asked my friend what she thought of the show at intermission, she said "I'm so immersed!" and she thought DG was great. Which means I can still be friends with her 😂 LOL.

Thank Goodness: 

There was a Monkey on stage in the beginning to raise the curtain, which didn't make as much sense as it does in the overture.

After Fiyero ran off, Glinda didn't go back up onto the podium until her "bridges you didn't know you crossed until you crossed" line, so she sang that middle bit of the song upstage, while the ensemble and Morrible were frozen around the podium.

Wicked Witch of the East:

I really liked Nessa's dress in this scene. I didn't really have any strong feelings on our Nessa.

They lowered the curtain for this scene as a backdrop, so it looked as though Nessa had a giant map of Oz on one wall of her study.

Elphaba's Act 2 dress was pretty if a bit too sparkly.

Boq was really good in this scene, especially in the "my heart is shrinking!" bit, and that redeemed him from Act 1 slightly. Far less creepy.

My friend leaned over here when Boq came back as the Tin Man and was like "Ohhh, I get it!" which made me laugh.

Wonderful:

Our Wizard had a decent voice, but I've always scene Wonderful as the Wizard putting on a show, you know? Trying to lull Elphaba back on his side, and our Wizard didn't make it much of a show.

Fiyero had a sword, instead of a gun. I'm not sure if they couldn't find a prop gun, or it was just another director choice. Either way, wasn't a huge distraction.

When Fiyero said "I'm going with her" Elphaba's response was "Whaat?" (I don't think that describes it very well. This is the closest equivalent I could find on youtube, but it's not exactly right). And it was funny but didn't really work at the moment.

I'm Not That Girl (reprise):

Elphaba and Fiyero came on stage at the beginning of the song, instead of near the end, so they were just milling around as Glinda sung.

As Long As You're Mine:

There was no kiss between Elphaba's solo and Fiyero's, but it was a really beautiful performance. Their voices blended well together, and it was right in our Elphaba's range again.

My friend didn't like this song either. She thought it was cheesy and in the wrong place.

After Nessa's death, the background was just a house silhouette and some corn stalks, so there wasn't much there.

During the catfight, there was kung-fu music (?!) as Elphaba and Glinda prepared to fight. I did not like it.

And when the guards came on, they just stood there for a bit watching and smiling to one another like "yeah, girl fight!" Ugh.

Fiyero's rope swing was great. Got a lot of laughter and applause, and then he was strutting around the stage for a bit until they stopped, which while funny didn't really work in the moment.

No Good Deed:

While Elphaba was chanting the spell, her voice echoed a bit, which was awesome.

March of the Witch Hunters:

The witch hunters marched off stage while singing at the end.

For Good: 

Was fine, except Glinda and Elphaba both sung to the audience more than each other.

After Dorothy "melted" Elphaba, her silhouette shrugged as if to say "oops". Didn't love that either.

After, my friend was like "I don't understand! How did she survive? In the Wizard of Oz, she clearly melted!" so I had to explain that.

We also had a talk on the way home about politics and stuff, because she was like "where does it fit timewise in history?" and I just laughed and said "depends on whether you want to go by Wizard of Oz book or movie, or the Wicked book or when the musical was made" because she was getting communism vibes for a lot of the show.

My friend also said "I can see why you like it so much. It's got so many layers and deeper meaning", and she said that she really enjoyed it! So, that's another win for me!

Overall, it wasn't as good as the Canberra production I saw, but better than the Wollongong one. I was honestly just relieved that I liked our Fiyero, because (even though I saw the Wollongong production in August and I saw it on Broadway last month) the Wollongong one left me a little unnerved. I didn't like not liking Fiyero!

I think that's everything I can think of about the show... costumes and sets I was mostly happy with. I didn't like the "quirk" the director added though.

My first Broadway Trip!

I've been back from the US for 3 days now, and whilst I'm still pretty jet lagged (I did not appreciate the 4.30 am wake up call this morning), my brain is slowly growing less foggy.

I was asked to write a blog post about my thoughts on Broadway and the shows I saw there, and thought this was as good as time as any- in the time where I can now form coherent sentences, and the shows are still pretty fresh in my mind. 

We saw five shows on Broadway- The Phantom of the Opera, Dear Evan Hansen, Anastasia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wicked. 

I'm going to do a quick run down on my thoughts of each, and some general thoughts on the US Broadway experience. So, here goes:

General: 

First things first- this isn't my photo of Times Square above. 

Only because I'm writing this at work on my lunch break (I tend to hit a wall at about 1-2 pm, and getting anything productive done after that is a struggle), and all my photos are on my camera at home. 

Anyway, my first thought on seeing Times Square was WOW. And honestly, that didn't go away the entire week we were there (except maybe Saturday night when it was even more insane than usual with people around, but that was brief). 

Having all the theatre at our fingertips all the time was a dream come true. It is the sole reason I'm still thinking "man, I want to live in New York" (the rest of me, is like... 'nah, I'm good')

Theatres:

The theatres in NY are gorgeous, and historic. But there are some odd layouts. It's a little disarming to walk pretty much right off the street into the theatre. 

We loved how intimate all the theatres are- not all the theatres in Australia are this intimate. But we also found that the audio levels seemed lower than usual... it wasn't noticeable in all the shows, but especially in one or two shows, particularly the vocals seemed quieter than the orchestra. 

Here, the audio is part of the immersive experience and seems to surround you. We were expecting the same thing here, and didn't get it. 

Stage Door:

We only attempted stage door once on Broadway- for Anastasia. For Phantom, we didn't know of anyone; Evan Hansen, we knew we wouldn't get close enough to so much as see Ben Platt so didn't bother; and after Anastasia, we didn't want to repeat the experience for Charlie or Wicked.

We knew stage door would be busier than back in Australia, but it was just too much. Everyone was pushing, and in everyone's faces, and I just couldn't deal with it. I was getting crabby with the pushing, and SD is not supposed to be a crabby experience. 

We did get to see most of the cast, but I was feeling overwhelmed, tired and a little sick, so we left before the end. 

One more thing....

Is it a general Broadway thing, or did we just get really unlucky to have people talking near us at every single show??? (Actually, I think except DEA. And I don't remember Phantom. But definitely Wicked, Charlie, and Anastasia)

We had people right behind us, who felt it was completely ok to whisper to one another throughout the entire show. 

I'm a pretty polite person. But honestly, shut up. Do Not Talk During Shows. Conversation is for intermission. I came a long way, and waited a long time to get to Broadway and see these shows- every time I have to turn around to glare at you takes me out of the show and annoys me a little bit more.

This has been a PSA

OK, on to the shows.

Shows:

The Phantom of the Opera:

To be honest, this is the show I remember the least clearly beyond how amazingly tired I was. I hadn't quite adjusted to the time difference yet, and we'd pretty much been going to bed around 8-9 pm, and Phantom didn't start until 8. 

I'd seen the live DVD version with Sierra Boggess multiple times, and I've seen the Gerald Butler movie (which I did not hate as much as everyone else appears to), but we were really looking forward to seeing it live- the last time it was in Australia was like 2008(?) so I missed it. 

And it was good, I really enjoyed it. I found the chandelier falling a little anti climatic in reality, which was disappointing, but I loved the sets and staging. Our Meg also wasn't as strong as I'd seen/heard elsewhere. 

I just really wish I'd been more awake (side note- why do theatres in the US only sell alcohol and water??? The only theatre we were at with other beverages available was the Gershwin. I really needed a sugar hit, guys). 

Dear Evan Hansen:

Phew. Where to start? First of all, wearing makeup was a mistake.

DEA was... everything I wanted it to be. I've been listening to the music on repeat for months, I've seen half a bootleg and read the script (I am not good at waiting for things or surprises), but it was still more than I expected. 

Ben Platt was amazing. Let's just establish that, say "well, duh" and move on. 

We had the understudy for Connor, who was great and the rest of the cast was excellent. 

I cried so much in this show. I need it to come to Australia, like ASAP. 

One thing though was the character of Alana. When I read the script, I knew I'd have issues with part of her story. But it's one thing to read it and another to see it. 

I won't elaborate on this, for those who haven't seen it and don't appreciate spoilers like I do. But if you do want to know more, tweet at me. 

But as I told Kelly back in February, when I rang her at like 8 am and demanded we go see this on our trip, this show is so important (even if my mother only believes me now that Reese Witherspoon saw the show and said the same thing. Don't ask). I'm so glad I got to see it. 

Anastasia:

I adore the 1997 movie, let's just get that straight. I own the soundtrack, I've watched it a million times, I love it. 

This is the movie that got me interested in Russian history. 

I know there's always complaints about it not being historically accurate, but I've always approached historical movies like you do Wikipedia. Use it as a jumping off point to get a basic overview of the topic and to find accurate sources and educate yourself about the topic. 

Because of the movie, I studied Russian history in high school and have always read it about it. 

That being said, the musical had everything you love about the movie, some great new songs, and does a much better job of working an accurate depiction of Russian history into the show. 

It's visually stunning- the costumes are gorgeous, and the sets are wonderful. The one slow bit for me was the Lily/Vlad subplot. Like, I always skip those songs on the soundtrack. It's a bit of filler, and it's amusing but Caroline O'Conner (who plays Lily) is Australian. I've seen her in 2 other shows back in Oz, and she's played pretty much the same kind of character. 

But I got to have a quick chat with her about Australia at SD, which was the best part of SD. 

Now, the producers have already said they plan to bring the show to Australia eventually, and I will absolutely go see it again when it does- multiple times.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:

This show was a last minute addition to our list. 

We did a walking tour of Broadway over the weekend, and our guide did a good job of talking the show up, I guess! We were also impressed by how the outside of the theatre was done up to immerse you in Wonka land from the moment you approach, so we wanted to see how that carried across to the rest of the theatre.

To our disappointment, it mostly doesn't. But they had some cool merch and a giant golden ticket to take photos with. 

The musical uses some music from the Gene Wilder movie from 1971 ("Candyman", "Pure Imagination", etc). But most of the songs they created for the musical aren't that memorable. I can only think of two of the top of my head, and only one I really liked. 

The Oompa- Loompas were amusing, we'd wondered how they'd be done. It was pretty much like Lord Farquaad in Shrek the musical, if that helps anyone. 

It was a fun show, and the sets and special effects were great, and Christian Borle is an excellent Wonka. But the music wasn't great. 

I definitely liked it better than the last Dahl adapted musical I saw (Matilda- for reasons I won't get into here), but it wasn't my favourite. If it came to Australia, I might go see it again- but would probably depend on the cast. 

Wicked:

Oh, my love <3 

This was my 30th time seeing Wicked. 

And my first time since August 2010 (my second show) getting to see the full production as intended- with a trapdoor in NOMTW and NGD, for example.  Every time after that was the tour production, so no trap door. 

I did not realise how much I miss the trap door.

Jackie Burns was an amazing Elphaba, and we actually had the understudy Glinda (yep, not standby. Understudy) who was excellent, but also perhaps one of the calmest Glinda's I've seen. Fun Fact: This is also the first time I've seen a Glinda who wasn't the lead. 

I came very close to having a breakdown after the show while we were leaving the theatre. I did not want to leave. I honestly debated just living in the Gershwin, like a Phantom of the Opera deal, but far less creepy. It would work, right?

I'm seeing my third community theatre production of Wicked next month, so there is that to look forward to, but it's really hard leaving Wicked behind. And the Gershwin, although not as old or fancy, is probably my favourite of the ones we attended. 

That or the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was. Just in terms of layout.

In terms of interior decor and design, probably my fave was the Broadhurst where Anastasia was. We both felt it was the perfect theatre for the show. 

To sum up:

I loved my first trip to Broadway so much and it was a dream come true, but I never thought "theatre isn't like this at home" or "this is so much better"

I had a lot of people say to me "you won't be able to watch theatre here [in Australia] after Broadway" and that is definitely not true.

My sister (who did NY a few years ago and saw Aladdin on Broadway) said "oh, it's better on Broadway" (despite not seeing the Australian production), and I can't see that being true. 

The atmosphere of Broadway is amazing, yes. But the quality is just as good as here in Australia, which makes me even more proud of our theatre industry here. 

I think the only time we had a moment where we honestly didn't know who could do the role as well as we saw in the US, was Ben Platt as Evan Hansen. We couldn't think of an Australian equivalent, but it is a younger role, and by the time the show comes here, who knows who'll be around for the role?

Will I go back to Broadway if I ever get the chance? Hell yes.

Notes on a Community Theatre Production of Wicked.

Last night I went and saw a community production of Wicked, in my hometown.

As when I saw the production in Canberra last year, I thought I'd put together a list of observations about the production.

Overall, it wasn't as high quality a production the one I saw last year, but had less technical issues, which is impressive because it was only their third performance.

Me with Lauren

I went with my friend Lauren, and I was pretty excited- and far less anxious than I'd been before seeing the Canberra production. This was my 29th time seeing Wicked, which is kinda surreal.

This was the map of Oz that made up the curtain, which appeared to be an image projected onto a screen.

It's an accurate map, but it did remind Lauren and I of a map of Oz that a kid at school might fill in- not in a bad way.

The theatre is also tiny. I think it seats probably only 200 max? Or less. I'm so bad at guessing these things.

But our seats were good, we could see and hear everything.

I made my notes by scene, so I'm just going to list a few things that stood out for various reasons. But before that, a general overview of our cast:



Our Elphaba was decent vocally- she hit most of the big notes, but often didn't have enough power to make them last, so she'd run up and down them and sometimes fall flat. She could act, which is helpful, but her characterisation wasn't quite right, but I can't quite put my finger on how.

I wondered if I was just being picky, because I am admittedly biased (Jemma Rix reasons), but Lauren felt this way too.

Our Glinda was excellent. Seriously. She nailed all her notes, especially the high ones, and had excellent Glinda mannerisms. I think if a professional production of Wicked came back in 5-10 years, with a little more training, she could be Glinda for reals and I'd be thrilled.

Fiyero was... problematic. He could sing- his voice was actually very nice. But... well, I'll get to this.


Nessarose was another standout for us. Fantastic voice. I didn't have any strong feelings either way about her in Act 1, and then Act 2 she kinda blew us away.

Boq was a pretty solid Boq. I saw his picture in the program and went 'yeah, I see it'. He had a good voice too, and I was happy with his performance for the most part. There was only one little thing I had an issue with, and that may have been a direction choice I think.

The Wizard, Morrible and Dr Dillamond were all fine. No strong thoughts.

Sets were fine, costumes were fine... no complaints here.

Ok, here's my notes on the scenes:



No One Mourns the Wicked: 

• Glinda's bubble was like a chair atop a black platform (that could be raised or lowered) with a giant bubble thing behind it, which got pushed onto the stage by crew members.
• The doll they used for baby Elphaba was tiny, as you can see in the photo on the right. 

Dear Old Shiz: 

• I liked the staging they did for this scene. 
• The "kids" were in groups of like 3-4 around the stage, and throughout the song Elphaba would go stand with a group, they'd lean away in disgust, she'd get a bit more dejected and move to a different group. Then she ended the song standing alone on centre stage. 
• Also, Elphaba had 2 suitcases, instead of one (This is important later)
• The slippers Frex gave Nessa were actually red. Not silver. 
• After Galinda delivered her "Magic Wands: Need They Have a Point?" line, the other students applauded her. 
• When Elphaba's magic when haywire, Galinda grabbed Boq's arm (because he was standing right next to her). 

The Wizard and I: 

• When Morrible declared she'd take no other students, Galinda burst into tears and started sobbing onto Boq's shoulder for a few minutes, while he stared dazedly off into the distance. 
• When Elphaba got to the whole "And I'll stand there with the Wizard" part... there just wasn't a lot of emotion there. She didn't sound very happy. 
• Throughout the song, Elphaba had been doing stuff with one suitcase, while the other remained on the floor. When she went to leave the stage after the song, she only took the one suitcase with her. And then she turned, and beckoned to the other suitcase, (which I guess was remote controlled) and it followed her off stage (actually it went the wrong direction at first which was kinda funny). And the idea was cool, but it does imply Elphaba has control over her powers, which is not supposed to be the case. It was a little too Sabrina the Teenage Witch for me. 

What is this Feeling?:

• Nothing to note. 

Something Bad:

• The only really thing to note here is that the blackboard in the classroom was weird. 
• I recreated it on Microsoft Paint with what I remembered. (I can't draw, even on Paint. The thing under the arrow is supposed to be the infinity symbol)
• I feel like there may have been some more odd equations, but I don't really remember. 

Dancing Through Life: 

• Ok. Here we go. Um, how do I put this? (Man this hurts to write):
• Fiyero was a jerk. He was a smarmy, kinda creepy, over dramatic jerk. Allow me to elaborate. 
• So, instead of a rickshaw, Fiyero was sleeping on like a wooden luggage dolly. (Picture isn't exact, but it's the closest I could find). 
• And their version almost knocking over Elphaba is: she was standing stage left, reading. Avaric entered stage right, pushing the cart, and walked across the stage until he bumped into Elphaba. 
• Here's the other thing to note about Avaric. He was old. He was an old man, dressed in... something like this. 

It was pretty much like this.

• So, Elphaba woke Fiyero up, he did his "it's day time" line, and then Avaric pretty much tipped him off the cart/dolly thing. 
• Then Fiyero got up, walked around to Avaric and was so mean to him. He was like "Well. I'll see you soon, Avaric. I don't suppose I'll last longer... etc etc (you guys know the line)"
• And then Avaric did that mimic, mocking thing under his breath. And then walked off stage saying "work, work, work, that's all I do. Tow the cart, Lift the (something I don't remember)". 
• Then when Fiyero had his line "Maybe the driver saw green..." he like got super into Elphaba's face and ran a finger down her cheek. 
• And then she slapped him around the face and walked off stage. 
• Fiyero wasn't pertubed by this in the least, and immediately went to hit on two girls in the background while Galinda and Boq did their bit. 
• As soon as Galinda turned up, Fiyero was all over her. And again, it came off super smarmy and creepy. 
• When he did the "what do you do for fun around here?" line, he took Galinda into his arms and like dipped her a bit, and went to kiss her; and then when Boq chimed in with "we've been studying" he stuck his head in between them, so they ended up each kissing one of his cheeks. 

Popular:

• Nothing really to note on the performance here. 
• They had a bright green light on Elphaba's side of the room, and pink on Galinda's side. 
• The shelves behind Galinda's bed had a bunch of shoes on it, per usual, but Elphaba's was weirdly empty.
• The beds had been pushed onto the stage by crew members (we could hear the movement before the lights came up). After Galinda had her "it's your very first party" line, right before Elphaba said "do funerals count?", a crew member popped up from behind Elphaba's bed and walked off stage, which was funny. 

I'm Not That Girl:

• In the beginning of the scene, when Elphaba was practicing her hair toss, all the other kids in class were watching, pointing and laughing. 
• Dr Niddick was a woman, which is new. 
• The Lion Cub was not a cub. It had a mane. But whatever. 
• Right before Dr Niddick went to inject the Cub, she did an evil laugh. 
• Another weird Fiyero thing- when he ran off to "get the Cub to safety", he ran off without the Lion Cub. And I thought "oh that's ok, he'll come back to get it. That's the joke." But he didn't. 
• So, Elphaba sang a lot of INTG to the Cub, and then in the instrumental break, took it offstage and let it go. While she was doing that, Fiyero and Galinda came onto the platform on stage left and made out for a bit. And then Fiyero just smiled at Galinda and they left the stage. No hesitating, no looking around for Elphaba, nothing. 

Train Station Scene/ One Short Day: 

• Fiyero didn't bing flowers to Elphaba. 
• And another weird Fiyero thing. When Galinda changed her name to Glinda, he did almost a little bow with his "that's very admirable, Glinda" line, and then started to walk off. And then he did a sharp turn around to Elphaba to wish her good luck. It was a really looked oddly sharp and over dramatic- not quite to the extreme of Draco or Lucius Malfoy in A Very Potter Musical/Sequel, but that kinda thing. It was so bizarre. 
• Emerald City costumes were good for the ensemble, although there were quite a few wearing green wigs. 
• Also, the ensemble member who gave the girls glasses did some very snazzy kicks. 

Defying Gravity: 

• Elphaba's hat fell off when she grabbed the broom. 
• She stood on the same platform that had been Glinda's "bubble" and they raised it so she flew. 

Thank Goodness:

• Good performance, but for some reason Boq was there????
• He was standing there watching as Glinda and Fiyero had their little conversation. It was odd, considering his "we can't leave Munchkinland" line. 

Wicked Witch of the East:

• Act 2 dress was pretty accurate. I liked it. 
• This production loved the dry ice. Every time Elphaba did a spell, she got a faceful of dry ice. 
• When Nessa was threatening Boq with her "did you think I'd let you leave me here flat?" line, she grabbed him by the shirt front and was right in her face. It worked. 

Wonderful:

• For some reason, after Elphaba releases the Monkeys, Chistery stayed? He climbed back atop the Wizard's head thing for the rest of the scene. I assume it was to help push it off stage once the lights went down, but in terms of the story, it made no sense.
• When Elphaba said her "Fiyero, you frightened me" line, she touched his face? And like... she has no reason to know his feelings at that stage, I don't know why she would do that. 
• Yet another odd Fiyero moment. He was right up in Glinda's face when he said "I'm going with her" and then he immediately did a sharp turn and walked over to Elphaba and then both girls were like "What?" 
• But there was a nice Fiyero moment- when he said "well, it was. But it wasn't." he took Elphaba's hand, which was sweet. 
• The Wizard said to Morrible "How about a change in the weather?" instead of Morrible. 

I'm Not That Girl (Reprise)/As Long As You're Mine:

• Glinda had a moment where she was standing on the platform on stage right, and she took off her engagement ring and put it on the railing before walking off. Nice moment and symbolism, unless you think about the fact that she bought herself the engagement ring. 
• SO. MUCH. DRY. ICE. At times, you could barely see Elphaba and Fiyero. 
• ALAYM wasn't as risque as the Canberra production, but they did spend a lot of time lying down. Like, Fiyero was lying on the ground with Elphaba kinda leaning over him as she sang, etc. 
• Fiyero's shirt was... yeah. It was like the shirt Mr Darcy wears at the end of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie, except I swear the neck line was lower. You could see like half his chest. 

Our Fiyero couldn't really pull this look off.

Just for this moment...?

• It was just a little odd. I swear, for most of the song, they could have been posing for the cover of one of those Harlequin romance books. You know the ones I'm talking about.
• It was one of the least enjoyable ALAYM scenes I've ever watched. (I'd say the least, but I am torn between this and one Fiyero I saw who kinda butchered the vocals). 
• At the end after Elphaba ran off to Nessa, they had an actual model of a house that kind of spun across the stage, which was cool. 

No Good Deed:

• They had Nessa's legs in the background. I was like "... oh."
• There was a cross in the background for them to hang Fiyero on. 
• As the lights went down, you could see the guards start to beat Fiyero- punching his gut, etc. 
• Elphaba's first "Fiyerooo" you could barely hear, but I think that was a mic issue. Her second "Fiyero" riff was awesome, but her riff on "again" fell flat. 

March of the Witch Hunters:

• Nothing to note here.

For Good/Finale:

• For Good was very sweet. My only note was "<3" 
• There was a voiceover the melting, with a voice saying "I'm melting!" which was... meh. But whatever. 
• I got teary at curtain call. May have been just a combo of the fact it'd been ten months since I'd seen it, and the realisation the next time I see the show (about 51 days from now) it'll be on Broadway.  Oz, I miss this show. 

That's about it. So, I wasn't rapt with Fiyero, and Glinda and Nessa were the standouts.