Wicked

Alright, I just got back from seeing Wicked at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and by God was it ever amazing. Here are some of my tweets and status updates from the night (and by some, I mean all)

"listening to the Wicked soundtrack on the way to see Wicked. overkill? never!"

"Just spent $50 on a shirt. Oh, Wicked, the things you do to me... I already spent close to $200 last time!"

"Dear person in the row in front of me a few seats down, your hair is awesome. It kinda looks like its on fire!"

"Dear obnoxious Canucks fans at the theater, I realize you are excited, but this is neither the time nor place for your insessent screaming. I do hope you cease and desist when the lights go out and the curtain rises."

"alright, the obnoxious fans have silenced and the show has so far been amazing. can't wait to see act two!"

"Oh freakin Wicked! I love this show! Gonna obsess over it for a little while... Don't mind me..."

So, as you may have noticed, I mentioned Canucks fans a couple of times, so let me first elaborate on that before going any further. Its one thing to be excited about the game. Yell in the streets, post on your Facebook or twitter or whatever else you may like, that's totally cool. But when I'm sitting in a theater about to watch a show, a musical, I really don't want to hear your screaming. I'm all for expressing your enthusiasm (believe me, I do it regularly for various things) but please, learn the time and place. I realize this probably sounds "bitchy" to many of you sports fans, but I don't care. I don't come out on the ice and break into "Dancing Through Life" so don't come in to my theater and scream like a crazy person. Have some respect. Thanks.

Righto! Now on to the good stuff!! 

So the show was spectacular! As I said, I saw it in New York last year and it was amazing. So, naturally, I spent most of the night comparing between the show I saw, the show I was seeing and Original Broadway Cast recordings. Don't get me wrong, everyone here was fantastic, but it's a personal preference thing. I liked their Elphaba quite a lot, I felt they made the character very likeable, and acting wise, I much preferred her over the lady in NY, (because that one was a little more gruff, almost mean, and it made it difficult to feel sympathetic towards her in the end, which is kind of the whole point of the show) and this one seemed sweeter, kinder, though her voice couldn't quite compare to the Elphie in NY. And I noticed she changed a few small things in her songs, made them her own I guess you could say. Some of them I liked, others... not so much. I noticed she went up instead of down at some points during her songs and I wasn't keen. However, there was one significant moment at the end of No Good Deed which just felt so right. Just a change in inflection, but so impactful. As for Glinda, well... she was no where near the Glinda we saw in NY. This one's version of"Popular" had some wicked hilarious moments (no pun intended) and she certainly was talented, but not my cup of tea. Her portrayal of the character was more annoying than funny/cute to me and her voice I found a little grating. She had her moments though, for sure. She is clearly a very talented girl. Fiyero... ohh, Fiyero... his voice was so delicious. And he certainly had the moves ;) Oh, and Boq... he was cute and all, but when he held the note in "let's daaaaanncee" (which is honestly one of my favourite parts of the whole show)  I wasn't impressed... However, I was super impressed by the amazing ensemble! The dance routines were phenomenal! And by golly, the costumes!! Gahhh!! And holy shit. When Fiyero and Elphaba sang "As Long As You're Mine" I could have died. Just died, I tell you! It was so... intense, emotional, powerful, beautiful, lustful, sweet and just plain and simply amazing. Good God, the harmonies in that song... I can't even. I'm listening to it right now as I type this. That last line... "For the first time... I feel... wicked..." SO GOOD. Although, tonight's Elphie didn't do it justice in my mind. But their singing was so superb that it made up for it. And those freakin' monkeys. Man, those monkeys are scary shit. I tell you what. Scary. They're just... creepy, you know? Always climbing and crawling around in the background, always moving. And that one monkey, the main monkey, the one that belonged to the Wizard first, I can never freakin remember his name and it drives me nuts! Someone, anyone, tell me his name! And then of course there was this absurd phenomenon of people being late and coming in to sit down after the lights had gone out and the show had clearly begun. Why were so many people so late? After intermission especially. There was a stream of people, at least thirty or so who came much, much after act two had already begun. Two songs in and it was never ending people on both sides. Wtfffff?

All in all it was a great show, but as good as this cast was, as a general, overall, I personally prefer the cast I saw in NY. But this was still fab. I highly recommend you go see it. 

I'm sorry if this review was sloppy or incomprehensible, but it is nearly two in the morning and I've been sitting here trying to write it just so for so long, but I've simply just gotten too tired to care. So there ya go. Have a nice night.