| re: 'Wicked' casts spell over audiences that has outlasted its Broadway critics | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 05:26 pm EST 11/17/24 | |
| In reply to: 'Wicked' casts spell over audiences that has outlasted its Broadway critics - WaymanWong 02:08 pm EST 11/16/24 | |
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| It's interesting to go back and try to capture the feeling in that moment, since so much time has passed and the show now has lenendary status. I saw an early performance, not sure if it was a preview, but I remember that Chenowith was in a neck brace, and Norbert had been injured, I think. Taye Diggs wasn't rehearsed yet so I saw Kristoffer Cusick as Fiyero. I remember liking Idina more than Kristin, although the latter seems to have gotten the better reviews. I had read the book and found it disappointing in the adaptation department. I like a spectacle so I enjoyed the massive set and expensive costumes and production values. Bring it on. I think it made sense for the show they wrote. Overall, I was more nay than yay. The biggest problem for me--which I had forgotten the critics mentioned until reading the OP's linked article--is that I didn't like the songs. While it delivers on a sort of camp level that I might enjoy in a concert or excerpt, a song like Defying Gravity is something I REALLY dislike in musical theatre. And that duet that Elphaba and Fiyero sing in act two that just stops the show cold in the worst way possible. It's one of the few Broadway shows of this prominence where I never purchased or listened to the cast recording after seeing it. I did find some pleasure in I Couldn't Be Happier which seems to have an unusual time signature that catches my ear. And then there's the lyrics... I went back to see the show two more times, because out of town guests wanted to go and somehow liked it less and less each time I saw it. All that is to say, I don't really have strong feelings about it. I'd never tell anyone it was awful or disuade them from seeing it. And I will definitely see the movie because it's just so cool that something from Broadway is such a big deal, and it looks gorgeous, and I like the cast. Is this like Phantom? I also seem to recall it didn't get great reviews and was of course a gargantuan smash. However, that show I would defend vehemently. Maybe because I was younger when I was introduced to it. Or the Hal Prince magic. Anyway, I guess my own deep love for a spectacle that might not actually be a great show gives me a lot of empathy for the people who are obsessed with Wicked. It's just not so much my cup of tea. |
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| Next: | re: 'Wicked' casts spell over audiences that has outlasted its Broadway critics - JereNYC 03:53 pm EST 11/18/24 |
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