Here we go with Wicked!
This one will be slightly different, but we'll give it a go. For this one, I'll do my own mini review, but it was quite a long time ago when I saw it so I can't remember huge amounts. Therefore, my sister agreed to let me interview her as she has seen it three times, once about four years ago, then twice this year, once in Manchester in July on a school trip and then last month in London. Therefore, this one will be slightly different as I'll write the questions I asked her and then her response. Please bare in mind that she is only just 13, I've only just started getting into the flow of reviewing things, and she has never done it before! My Mum was also in the room and wanted to join in a bit, she usually never answers with why she gives answers, but I tried to get some more information out of her!
So, I went to see it in July 2007 as part of a school trip. Basically, the school orchestra and jazz band did a week intensive residential course and part of this was seeing a west end show and dining at a famous London restaurant as the mid-week treat, I think it was the old Planet Hollywood that year. It was only the second west end show I had ever seen, so was quite overwhelmed by it. We were lucky enough to see lots of the original cast, except notably, not Idina Menzel but Kerry Ellis as Elphaba, which I didn't think about at the time, but am now a bit gutted about! However, Kerry Ellis is very good and one of my favourite west end performers now!
Wicked first appeared in the West end in 2006, after its success on Broadway. It was written by Winnie Holzman and the music is by Stephen Schwartz, but originally it is based on the novel 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West', by Gregory Maguire, from 1955. The best way to summaries it is by telling you its official full title: 'Wicked: The untold story of the Witches of Oz'. Basically, the musical follows the life of Glinda and Elphaba, who we see starting college (I think? Any Americans out there can correct this if they want!). I gives us a different perspective on the lives of the 'good witch' and the 'bad witch' and how they ended up the way they are. It makes us think about how we see people and should we see them for what we think they are straight away, as in the musical, Glinda comes across as the self-centered idiot, where as Elphaba is the nice one really, who is often left out or picked on due to her green appearance. The story follows the development of their friendship, relationships with men and the Wizard and the struggles that Elphaba faces. We also get to see their meeting with Dorothy to show how it matches up with the original Wizard of Oz story,
The things that I can remember most about Wicked are the music and the sets. I still love the music and I listen to the soundtrack all of the time on Spotify. Kids at my sister's dance school usually perform at least one song from the show at every one of their shows as well! My favourite song changes, it used to be 'What is this feeling' when I first heard it, as I had a friend who was completely different to me, but we got on so well once we got to know it each other, so it reminds me a bit of that! I did like 'I'm not that girl' at one point because I played the piano for a friend when she sang it for her GCSE performance and I realised how nice the melody and harmonies are in it. At the moment I quite like 'For Good', I was listening to the album on Spotify and I think I used to skip the end ones, but I left it on and really liked it. I like what they are singing about, the harmonies and how the different verses fit together at the end.
The sets are the other thing that I can remember. I have always remembered the dragon breathing smoke across the audience above the stage. It was one of the first shows in London I saw and I think I was really impressed by the scale of the sets, and I used to love dragons when I was younger! I can remember there was a lot of glitter and how amazing Emerald City was with all of the different greens and sparkly costumes. The theatre itself was one of the nicest I have been to and I remember reading how it had all been done up for Wicked, everything was green! It was before all of the chaos in the Victoria area really started I think as well, as we had photos outside the theatre and spent time looking around their before the show. I think it is the first time I spotted Billy Elliot and looked into what that was about.
I can only really remember Kerry Ellis as Elphaba, as at the time, the only song I had really listened to was 'Defying Gravity' because there was so much hype about it. I can only say that she did not disappoint with her performance, and like many other people I suspect, it was my favourite part in the show and Elphaba is definitely my favourite character! I do remember getting a bit bored in the first half between some of the more famous songs such as 'Popular' and 'Defying Gravity', but I liked the second half as I think it is where most of the action takes place and the pace picks up a bit.
I would love to see Wicked again at some point, if only to hear to music live again, and to see what I can remember! It is a shame that the tickets cost so much and I am always drawn to seeing new things in London rather than seeing the same thing twice if there is something new I fancy instead. However, as my sister loves it so much, and it is so popular, I am sure I will be visiting again one day!
INTERVIEW TIME!!! (My sister is the Italics and my Mum is in red, for most it they are talking about the London production in August 2015)
Who is your favourite character and why?
My favourite is Madame Morrible because she is very loud throughout the show and is a very funny character.
I like Glinda, because she really does make you laugh. I also liked Professor Dillamond, because I liked his makeup a lot and he was a very good actor.
Who do you prefer between Elphaba and Glinda and why?
Glinda, because I feel like she always tries to be good, it doesn't always work but at least she tries. I also like her part in 'Popular' and she is always just so glamorous!
Obvisouly Glinda, she is the funniest and I like how 'Popular' is performed. The actress was a really good singer and actress.
Which is your favourite song from the show and why?
My favourite song is 'No good deed' because it stands out as a powerful song, I like the spell at the beginning as well it helps to build tension.
My favourite song is 'What is this feeling' because I like how upbeat it is, compared to what they are singing about.
What did you think about the costumes and makeup?
I think that they are very creative, I like the Emerald city costumes because they are all variations of green, but all very different. I think that the costumes reflect the characters personalities really well. The makeup is very impressive, it was very precise and well done, with a big impact so that even people at the back could see it clearly.
I thought that Glinda's costumes represented her very well and Elphaba's represented how her personality comes across. I particularly liked Glinda's wand!
What did you think about the set, lighting and sound?
I thought that the set was very impressive and you could really tell where the characters were supposed to be and it wasn't confusing. My favourite part of the set was the Wizard's machine because it was cool that it had the face moving and how it turns around with all of the lights. The lighting was used effectively and it help to set the mood. However, the sound was a bit off, it was varied between loud and then suddenly too quiet at some points, and during some of the songs we could barely hear even though we were on about the third row, so I imagine that the people at the back couldn't hear any of it. Everything, including the band, was really quiet, as though the mics had been turned down.
The set is really good, especially the bubble! I love how bright and colourful lots of the sets are. The lighting makes is all very dramatic at the right moments! All of it was spot on except for some sound issues during the songs.
What is your favourite part of the show and is the show consistent all the way through?
My favourite part of the show is when Elphaba goes to find her dead sister and her, Glinda and Fiyero have an argument because it is funny when they all point guns at each other and just end up going around in a big circle for a while. I think that it is consistent and goes at a good pace throughout.
The best part is Glinda in the bubble, especially the line, 'we can't all travel around by bubble.' The first half is quite slow compared to the second half, which is much better. Even though most of the best songs were in the first half.
For Izzy only, as you have seen it three times and one of those was when it was on tour in Manchester, could you tell any differences between the productions?
You could tell small differences between the tour and the London show, but not many. The main difference was that the London cast were much better singers in general than the tour. However, the tour cast were much better actors overall. The set was exactly the same, even the words on the chalk board were written exactly the same! The dragon was there as well!
Would you recommend this show?
I would definitely recommend this show and I would definitely go and see it for a forth time. I think that Wicked is one of my favourite shows in London!
Website link for London: http://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/wicked-london.asp
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