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thewafflewhat · 7 years

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22/07/17 (8th time) (matinee)

First thing’s first, guess who finally got to go to a muck up matinee AND the evening show… This bitch right here :))) so I’m basically using this one as a way to note the muck up stuff that was in the matinee (and anything specific to the matinee), and every other proper rambley note (like what I usually make) will be in the evening version.

Since it was cast change day I assume that everyone who should’ve been performing was in both shows (although unfortunately Sarah McNicholas was off sick for both shows but I’m pretty sure the understudy that was on for both shows as Nessa was Rosa O’Reilly, and there were obviously covers for Rosa and various other tracks but anyway).

- I just want to start by saying that the ensemble was on point for this entire show (mostly act 1 stuff but it was still good stuff), you could really tell that they all really click whenever they’re performing together and I love that; like during a lot of the majorly ensemble heavy acting scenes there were just ensemble members standing about on the set instead of the lit areas of stage just half assing everything and I thought it was hilarious. Some of them were even onstage just not participating and watching instead (during the Ozdust dance bit) and I thought that was hilarious too

- After DoS and Elphaba says “what are you all staring at?” everyone onstage pointed at her instead of just staring and it was so in sync it was kind of crazy

- In the middle of TWAI, just after the 1st verse/chorus, there was only one ensemble member who came onstage where there’s usually about 5 ensemble members

- Riffmeister Willemijn Verkaik in the house! If you haven’t heard her matinee performance of TWAI you really need to (see here). It’s a killer version with a couple of riffs on lines that I’ve personally never heard riffed before (although she has done a variation of the riff in the last 6 months); I was beaming so much, like she was basically riffing the last minute of it but the stand out line was ‘and so it will be for the rest of my life and I want nothing else ‘til I die’ she was on fucking fire for the last minute of the song ugh (god I want to live in that version of that line forever, I think that might be what heaven sounds like)

- (Bonus fact that she didn’t even pull out that many TWAI riffs for the evening show, and the ones she DID pull out certainly weren’t That Riff™)

- There was a noticeably long pause at the end of TWAI and I’m not entirely sure why because the audience went crazy but not THAT crazy…

- The ensemble member who plays Avaric came out in his (or someone else’s) understudy Fiyero outfit and it was the greatest thing; there was quite a bit of laughter from down the front of the theatre

- When Boq chases Galinda at the top of DTL, Idriss came out with a bouquet of flowers (I think it was another set of the ones Fiyero gives to Elphaba before she heads off to the Emerald City) and gave them to Suzie before he started his lines and I just thought it was super cute

- During the transition bit between DTL and the Ozdust Ballroom scene in the part where the girls find The Hat™ there were two extra ensemble members just standing there cuddling each other and looking really smiley and overhyped about the idea of being nasty and giving it to Elphaba; they didn’t speak but you really felt their presence in the ‘posse’ during that little scene

- This isn’t really a muck up thing but I never noticed the ensemble choreography with the books in the background before… Kinda makes me feel like a bad person but I guess I’ve just been too distracted by the Fiyero pants in that scene, AND the only reason I did notice was because of the ensemble members standing around on the set who looked a bit unsure of when to pull out their books and start. (I checked whatever videos I could find of DTL on youtube and there’s book choreography oops)

- Elphaba’s dance was funny (but with Willemijn it always is)

- Suzie’s ‘toss toss’ is still one of my favs and Willemijn’s response is still a fav too (I’ll reiterate this about the evening show but I just needed to express it here too)

- Mark Curry was the only principal cast member who was really into the muck up the whole way through but his more notable ones were that when The Wizard first appears from behind the Oz Head he was wearing a bright green wig and then he held the ‘am’ in SM for what felt like forever before finishing the song (I was kind of surprised by his breath control tbh)

- There wasn’t really much muck up stuff in act 2, I know Mark did something in the cyclone scene but I didn’t catch it because I was too busy looking around watching all the techie elements (because I enjoy them and I never really pay attention to scenes with just The Wizard or Madame Morrible anyway)

- People weren’t laughing at the stuff that wasn’t funny for this show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- I also got into the auditorium early enough to see the safety curtain rising which was kinda weird (but also cool to see)

That’s all I’ve really got specifically for this show. I can’t actually believe I managed to ramble THAT much for each point good lord (if I managed to ramble this much just about muck up points, I’m apologise in advance for whatever I write for the evening show!)

#my ventures into the world of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria #Wicked #(always for the sake of my tag)#INCOMING: EVENING SHOW ONE WILL BE POSTED ONCE I GET DONE FORMATTING #I’ve actually had this one written up for almost 3 weeks at this point #but then I got busy and didn’t get round to finishing the evening one until literally minutes ago #and I didn’t want to post the matinee one without doing the evening one #otherwise I knew I’d never get it done #sooooooooooo yeah

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takingcentrestage-blog1 · 7 years

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First blog post!

Ok. I’ve ventured into the world of blogging. My dad thought this would be a good idea, so we shall see!

I love the theatre. There’s no denying that. I love nothing more than seeing a good show, soaking up the atmosphere and having a jolly good time! It’s so nice to be able to submerse yourself in something and not worry about the outside world for a couple of hours. No need to worry whatsoever.

I’m open to anything. Musical Theatre, comedy, drama, or a good old murder mystery. I’m even open to adaptations and Shakespeare if it’s done well.

2017 has been an amazing year really. Seen 2 big west end shows (42nd street and Wicked), and lots of great, wonderful shows at local theatres. Been travelling far and wide this year, and 2018 will be much of the same.

2018.The year of Hamilton. The much talked about, hotly anticipated show, written and (on broadway at least) starred in by the genius that is Lin Manuel Miranda. I am seeing it twice, and I’m sure it’ll be great. The Apollo Victoria has undergone a massive refurb to accommodate Hamilton, so it’ll be all new. Noone knows what will happen. All I do know is... it’ll all be about the Room where it happens.

So. Back to the blog. I’ve decided to include reviews, thoughts and anything else theatre related. I’ll update regularly (work permitting), and I’m sure I’ll have lots to put on here!

For now at least, I’ll leave it there. Until the next blog post which I’m sure will be tomorrow.

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thewafflewhat · 7 years

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22/07/17 (9th time) (evening)

So, let’s start off this rant with the glow stick fiasco. I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about glow stick gate, but if you haven’t, I’ll give you some context now: I’m standing in one of the two massive fat-off queues either side of the building to get in when suddenly this woman walks past handing out glow sticks saying that it was for Wicked, and for some reason I thought she was with the theatre so I took some (free glow sticks!) and stuck them in my mother’s bag. There were four in each little pack; two green and two pink, and there was a little note on them that said something to the effect of ‘get them out when Elphaba hands Glinda the book in For Good’ and I just thought ‘aw that’s cute! Like for the last ever show in Germany! That’ll be cute omg the AV staff are being really cute this cast change’… Until less than a minute later, a woman in the FOH suit walked down the line in the opposite direction taking all of the glow sticks off of everyone, and tbh I didn’t want to give mine in because even if they weren’t going to be used in the show they’re still free fucking glow sticks! Who turns down free glow sticks?! But they were doing bag checks on the way into the theatre (as an extra security measure after all of the terror attacks across the UK since the start of the year) and I figured they’d get taken off of me on the way in anyway… So I gave them to the woman as she came back down the line to head back into the theatre.

So, the FOH staff know when the glow sticks are going to be pulled out and they were on high fucking alert going into that part of the scene (although I’d almost forgotten about them at that point) so when Elphaba passes the Grimmerie to Glinda just before FG all you heard were the cracks of glow sticks that the people giving them out had still managed to sneak in, and then suddenly there was a FOH staff member crouching down and running down every single aisle (that I could see of the stalls from where I was sitting) to tell anyone holding the glow sticks to put them down so they wouldn’t be distracting, and it was the funniest goddamn thing I think I’ve ever seen in that theatre not related to the show. Legitimately, I was half immersed in the scene (only half because I didn’t want to start crying in public…) and I heard the cracks and had a bit of an ‘oh shit’ moment when I remembered about the glow sticks and then I just started laughing.

ANYWAY altogether that incident probably lasted less than 30 seconds and no one got the glow sticks out again, not even for the curtain call and speeches. And that was glow stick gate, now onto my other rambling!

- Random thought before I start to properly ramble but the cogs on the set actually turn! It took me seeing the show nine time to finally see it but I thought it was so cool!

- I said it before when I went to see Kerry’s last show but I’ll say it again: the audience for cast change dates (specifically last show dates) is fucking electric, there’s so much love from just about everyone in the theatre and I’m glad I got the chance to experience it again; it’s Wicked at its best imo, purely because the cast gives as good as they get and react accordingly to all the love and extra attention from the audience, and you can really tell that they were savouring every second

- The best example I can think of to try and describe what the atmosphere was like to anyone who wasn’t at the show was the applause that went on for a ridiculous amount of time for just about every principle cast member for their first entrance.

- Suzie’s lasted for a literal minute (which made “it’s good to see me isn’t it” and “no need to respond, that was rhetorical” even better imo) and I just remember never wanting it to stop because you could literally feel the love radiating from the audience! I felt so fucking proud because all of those people were clapping and cheering FOR HER! This smol Aussie bean who joined the cast in September who crept into the hearts of every single person who saw the show during that time. Like I haven’t seen one bad word said about her online and she always seems so gracious and lovely (and you’ll know that I fucking love her if you read the last one of these I did back in January) and she fucking deserved that applause. I’m so happy she got it, and it set the tone for the entire show that, yes, this was going to be a beautiful show full of love not just between the cast on stage but from the audience to the cast as well.

- If I thought Suzie’s applause lasted a long time then Willemijn’s lasted for a goddamn eternity. I’ve never heard anything like it, and I’m so fucking glad that she got that support and felt that love from everyone in the auditorium. *BEWARE FANGIRLING AHEAD* The amount of love and pride I felt for her in that single moment was off the fucking charts. If someone could go back to 2014 and tell that Willemijn that in 3 years she’d be back in the London production of Wicked getting the chance to properly finish her run, not just in London but for the whole show, after a decade with the role, getting to celebrate her own special 10th anniversary along with the London production, and the fact that she was STILL getting that much support and love from audience members from around the entire goddamn globe, I don’t think she would have believed you. And that just speaks to how humble she is to this day about all of the opportunities she’s had with this role and this show, and all of that is just a testament to how much she loves the show, the role, her cast mates (from all of the numerous companies), and all of her fans. I’m just so glad I got a chance to see Willphaba’s ‘super Elphie’ when I did as many times as I got to!

- Sue Kelvin got applause when she came on too and she absolutely lapped it up. She was loving it so much, she even did a tiny curtsey when the applause didn’t stop.

- Oliver Saville got some love when he first came on but it didn’t go on for nearly as long as Suzie or Willemijn’s (mostly just because it felt so awkward for the applause to keep going on when he was pretending to be asleep so he couldn’t savour it in quite the same way as the others)

- Mark Curry got applause when he first entered too (which I thought was so lovely! I’ve never seen a Wizard get applause but I really came to love Mark’s interpretation so I’m glad he got some love)

- I also have to give props to the audience for being respectful and waiting until the end of songs to clap (instead of starting to clap before the music has even ended and going over the top with it), and for the fact that any clapping mid song didn’t go on for a silly amount of time (just enough to show appreciation for the moment without interrupting the rest of the song; like when Willemijn flew in DG, and when she comes up for the start of NGD) which made me feel pretty proud, especially since I remember Kerry’s LAST last show and there was none of that respectfulness… Yay! Audiences growing up with the show over the years!!

- Major side note: the audience should really learn to take cues from the ensemble; if they’re laughing, you shouldn’t be. That literally resolves all issues of laughing at the shit that isn’t funny, AND if the atmosphere on stage is serious then you don’t laugh! Like when Dr. Dillamond bleats during SB there was this drunk woman (who’d clearly seen the show before) who mumbled along to the end of his lines and then laughed hysterically when he bleated. There’s a big difference in atmosphere for a serious scene vs. what is supposed to be comedic (the bleating vs. the train station scene, for example) and I’m still waiting for the day that an entire audience actually gets that.

- (I’m also waiting for the day when the audience actually laughs at all the stuff that IS funny. I’ve seen far too many shows where I’m laughing because the line or the delivery of the line is funny but no one else around me is laughing. Like, it’s fucking funny, just laugh)

- Willemijn is The Riff Queen™ god she really left no prisoners with this show, a wonderful send off to the six month run she had, creating new riffs left, right and centre at random fucking weekday shows.

- (Here’s a short ‘Willemijn is queen’ thing) During the last section of TWAI she doesn’t take a breath all the way from the start of ‘with me’ right through until the end of ‘things I’ve never felt’ but she never loses any power or volume in any of the phrases (once I realised it I’ve been checking to see if other Elphies do it and none of them do. Some of them manage from ‘with me’ to the end of ‘with the Wizard’ but none of them can manage to sustain it for as long as Willemijn. Super Elphie to the max!)

- Both Suzie and Willemijn’s little Americanisms in pronunciation were still there but I can’t fault them for that, their accents were otherwise truly convincing (although Willemijn did seem to trip up on the line “so you think I should just shut up, is that it?” during the lion cub scene but that was really the only line)

- Suzie and Willemijn still broke my heart in all the right places (like Elphaba’s dance! Suzie did the eye contact thing again and my heart ached)

- Popular is hilarious. More specifically, Suzie’s Popular is hilarious. In fact, it’s the funniest part of the entire damn show (but only if the actress playing Galinda lets it be and also if whoever the Elphaba is plays along with it too), purely because of the ‘toss toss’ bit. I do think it just speaks to the chemistry Willemijn tends to have with her Glindas, and the way that she plays off of what each Glinda gives her. Suzie’s ‘toss toss’ has a laugh AND a gesture after it so watching poor little awkward Willphaba react to that is always a good time. It had me proper belly laughing, I can’t lie. ALSO! Suzie’s little lip puckers when she puts on the lipstick makes me chuckle every time, and then to add to the moment, Willemijn wipes the lipstick off and then proceeds to wipe it on Galinda’s bed!

- Elphie not only keeps the pink flower that Galinda gives her but she also doesn’t take it off until just after Fiyero catches her practicing her hair toss and tells her she doesn’t have to glam herself up, and I just realised that I find it really cute that the flower and the new found Gelphie friendship clearly means that much to her that she kept the goddamn flower, I mean!

- Low E in INTG!

- There are little flashes in lighting for any small downbeats during OSD and I realised it to simulate photographs being taken! Gelphie being tourists and being dorky and taking photos together is my new favourite thing!

- I’ve said before how much I love the fact that any time Suzie’s on stage she’s acting her goddamn heart out even if she isn’t the focus during that moment, so I was watching her to see her reactions to certain things and she smiles when Elphie casts her first spell!!! A proud smile! It was the most beautiful thing!!!!!!!!!!!!

- (I’ve flailed about Willemijn’s final DG in a few posts before posting this so I’ll just link them here (x) (x))

- Low G in INTG reprise!

- Willemijn did her line Kerry Ellis style after ALAYM! (As did Rachel Tucker for her last show this year too)

- Willemijn’s witch cackle during the cat fight scene is seriously unmatched and I already miss it.

- There wasn’t a note match going into NGD but it’s because Suzie’s speaking voice is quite deep compared to some other Glindas (Savannah has quite a deep speaking voice too, I think it might be a London thing) so when she yelled ‘Fiyero’ it wasn’t as high pitched and screechy as some others, and then Willemijn still went ‘fuck it I’m gonna belt a super high note anyway’ which means the transition between the two wasn’t seamless but goodness me Willemijn Verkiak!

- NGD is Willemijn’s song all over, I don’t even give a single fuck.

- Sue Kelvin’s Madame Morrible is bullying Glinda even before their little scene in MOTWH (in fact you could see it in TG, when the Ozians were spreading those horrible rumours about Elphaba, Suzie was reacting to each thing and then turned around to Morrible to protest and got shut down and turned back around with a fake smile), it’s just that is when you actually see it first hand in the show. I love it when cast members have enough experience to create those small moments between themselves that only adds to their character and the mini arcs in each act.

- I also have to give some merit to Sue Kelvin’s Madame Morrible, her ‘wicked witch’ never failed to give me chills, and every tiny nuance from her line delivery to her stage presence just makes me love her more; there will never be another like her.

- There were no noticeable sound issues this time (thank fuck, sound no. 1 has finally learned!) but the mix still sounds really weird to my ears and for what I enjoy.

- Willemijn and Suzie started their bows hugging! The door opened on them at the right time and they were standing there hugging each other :’) (x)

- There were 21 cast members who left the company for this cast change! Just about every single principal apart from Nessa and Dillamond left and a large number of the ensemble (although there were a whopping 23 cast members who left for the 2016 cast change just before the 10th anniversary cast joined the show)

- Willemijn was crying during her speech, Suzie was crying, the ensemble was crying, my heart was fucking crying ugh

- You could really tell just how much the whole company love each other as well

- Popular was Suzie’s song from the beginning! She auditioned with it for WAAPA when she completely changed the course she was studying! I’m so glad she got to finish her Wicked journey in London.

- All in all, the principles from the 10th anniversary casts were all incredible and they’ll be sorely missed in the global Wicked family (though you never can be too sure with any of them, saying they’re done with the role and then ‘surprise bitch’)

So the moral of this story is: when you’ve already seen your show 3 times in under 2 months, the only way you can possibly see them any closer together is to just go on the same day!

#my ventures into the world of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria #Wicked #(forever for the sake of my tag)#let’s pretend that it didn’t take me over a month to get both of these written and on my blog #as if I didn’t need a deadline to finish this evening one #I ended up rushing this because I wanted it up before I went on holiday otherwise it would never have been done #I wanted to take my time with it and nurture it because I feel incredibly invested in these actors but I think I nurtured it too much #I'm pretty sure this is the longest one of these I've done yet #if you read through it I am so sorry #also gotta be honest when I say I should’ve done these before I had any outside influences #like I’ve been watching and listening to some older performances and it totally affected what I thought about certain aspects #and the way I’m writing about those things too #like how I actually love Suzie a lot more than I thought I did at the time (how that is possible idk but it happened)#and how I’ve been listening to Willemijn do crazy things outside of the show too #so I’ve been fangirling over them even more now than I was just after the shows #oops

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thewafflewhat · 7 years

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30/01/17 (7th time)

So, this is the show that was originally supposed to be my 5th time seeing it. I planned to bring my friend to see it using the excuse of a Christmas present as a way to make me feel less bad about buying expensive tickets, stalls tickets: close to the front, and I booked this trip at least a month before I decided I wanted to see KRJ one last time before she left, which is how I found myself in row B of the stalls.

The real reason I wanted to specifically go to this show was because it was Willemijn Verkaik’s first performance in Wicked in 2 1/2 years (her last show also being in the London production when she had to terminate her contract earlier to have surgery on her back; a lot of people couldn’t go to support her because it was so short notice) to support her and welcome her back to the production in style. It was also Sue Kelvin’s first show back, replacing Anita Dobson as Madame Morrible, so it was nice to be there to support her too.

(I did notice in the programme that Willemijn has a new headshot but they used the same proshots from her 2014 run (which means they also probably reused Sue’s proshots too))

I finally got to see Suzie!!! More about her later but spoiler alert: I loved her to bits :)

I have nothing else to say up here really, I think I covered that stuff in my last two of these, all I want to do is warn you that this is the most rambley one of these I have ever done. Sorry not sorry.

- Willemijn’s accent has gotten a lot better compared to her last run in the West End (at least for the most part, some of her pronunciation is still a bit weird but I imagine that’s because the feeling of saying those words feels awkward for her Dutch tongue (plus, I think it fits Elphaba’s character for her accent to sound a little strange but that’s just me))

- I absolutely adore Suzie! Her singing was stunning and every single one of her acting decisions was incredible! (KRC was who I measured the more emotional side of Glinda off for the past few years and I personally think that Suzie is up-to-par if not better than Katie’s interpretation)

- (This will probably sound stupid but) I also loved how she was always acting even if the main focus wasn’t on her (especially if she’s concerned or upset); it’s so easy to become desensitised to some of the lines in a show when you’re doing the same thing for months on end but if that show was anything to go by it means that every single night she’s performing she goes onstage and acts her goddamn heart out every single second she’s within the audience’s gaze and I love that. Every single little thing that Suzie did just made me love her even more.

- Suzie is also hilarious, her Popular was one of my favourites (for comedic value) in a long while (Dianne Pilkington was who I measured the comedy aspect of Glinda’s character off for a long time and I think I’ve finally found a Glinda with all the nuances of the comedy completely down who surpasses my love for Di’s interpretation)

- Basically, I think I may very well have a new favourite all around Glinda... Don’t get me wrong, I loved Savannah, but I only saw her once and being able to see every little bit of Suzie’s performance that close did wonders for me being amazed by her.

- I’ve also changed my mind about Oliver; in my last one of these I said he was incredibly average and while a part of me still believes that (he’s a very stiff dancer...) I also think that his acting was superb. Being up close and actually being able to see every little cheeky/cocky smile Oliver pulled out during DTL made me appreciate his performance so much more.

- I’m so freaking happy that Sue Kelvin is back! The delivery of her ‘wicked witch’ in DG never fails to give me chills (and it’s so superior to Anita’s delivery)

- Willemijn is hilarious. I already knew this but being able to see her new refreshed comedic timing and how she plays off of what different Glindas give her is always fun; all of her mocking gestures in WITF really did make me chuckle, and the ‘toss toss’ in Popular was so funny! Firstly, Suzie’s ‘toss toss’ is a different kind of funny to anyone else’s that I’ve ever seen plus Willemijn playing off of that different kind of funny was a real treat to see!

- Willemijn came back all guns blazing with her riffs! They weren’t the kinds of riffs that other Elphaba’s have done in the past, more like how she’d been singing all her major songs when she was away from the show (which aren’t really riffs but she also doesn’t sing those parts how they’re written in the score so technically it’s a riff). Her ‘renown’ riff is still my favourite.

- I loved seeing Willemijn and Suzie together so much but I also hated it at the same time because I could barely decide who to watch in the scenes that they were in together!

- The Elphaba dance scene was so damn beautiful! Right from when Galinda realises that Elphaba’s the reason she’s getting a training wand, my entire focus was on Suzie. The regret on her face spoke volumes, and when Elphaba finally comes into the scene and makes her way over to Galinda, Suzie wouldn’t make eye contact and I loved it. It really made me believe that she genuinely felt bad which I’ve never really felt before (and considering I’ve never taken notice of that moment before I’d say I have a new standard for that scene)

- The actual dance started out super funny (again, Willemijn’s hilarious) which Suzie then added her own spin of funny onto, but when it came to the serious part of the scene Suzie’s performance reminded me a lot of KRC in that one Broadway bootleg with Willemijn. To start off with, Galinda clearly still feels bad about being the reason everyone is laughing at Elphaba (it shows on her face), and her expression doesn’t change until she turns her back on her friends to face Elphaba again and carry on trying to make amends, and then when Elphaba starts to join in too Galinda starts to smile (usually just after the first spin that’s just the two of them). It’s important because in the brief moment where it’s just the two of them confidently dancing together, Suzie absolutely refused to look away from Willemijn’s eyes (and in turn Willemijn was unable to look away from Suzie’s eyes), and in that moment Suzie’s Galinda was positively beaming.

- The fact that small moment happens in the show is so important because when they go into their second spin after everyone else joins in, not only does it take Elphaba by surprise but it also slightly takes Galinda by surprise too (which is why they both stop dancing. Elphaba’s too busy taking notice of how no one’s making fun of her anymore (and not only that but also the fact that everyone around her has joined in) that she doesn’t see how Galinda’s eyes never look away from Elphaba until she has Elphaba’s hand in her own).

- Suzie delivered a really believable “milk flowers” line (I’ve noticed that I really love it when the cast deliver lines in the moment instead of just reciting a line they learnt), and I had a make-it-or-break-it moment when she delivered the “Why Miss Elphaba, look at you... You’re beautiful” line because it didn’t sound like she was saying that line in the moment, but she totally saved it by the end of the line and it was another beautiful moment I was proud to have witnessed.

- (The more and more that I think about how much I’m comparing a lot of the little Glinda things, the more I feel like they actually made that a solid directing choice rather than it being those actresses and their approach to the role (even though it still is that too). Considering that all the Glindas I’ve seen in the last 2 months gave the same kind of emotional performance, I’m leaning more towards them being given the specific direction to try and make the audience more emotionally invested in Glinda’s story as well as Elphaba’s) (I love the direction Glinda’s character has gone for the last few years; I also think that it’s because I saw so many performances in such a short space of time that I noticed a lot more things than I normally would)

- Willemijn’s INTG is still one of my favourites; that song is so difficult to not only sing well but also get the emotions for it right (I’ve seen way too many Elphaba’s who either get one or the other; never both) but I feel like Willemijn is one of the few who not only nail that but her emotions always feel genuine, as if she’s truly living in the moment, not just acting in the moment (so much so that even my theatre virgin friend picked up on that part of her acting which made me really happy)

- And in true Willemijn form she did the low E!

- The costume change going into OSD was a few seconds longer than it should have been so Willemijn came back on singing her line just as she came back onstage instead of getting to the middle and then starting her line (a bit of a shakey costume change for her first show back which also happens to be one of the most difficult)

- I was finally close enough to see how the broom works! I knew it was brought on by a fly-wire but I could never figure out how it was attached for Elphaba to just rip it off and not have a cable connected to it for the rest of the number; it turns out that the broom is magnetic! It’s so simple but I never figured it out until I saw it; I can’t believe it took me so long!

- The applause after DG was absolutely mad! Willemijn slayed everything with her belting at the end, like what a truly brilliant first performance back and what a treat that I got to witness it

- Suzie’s face for the whole of TG was completely heartwrenching! She also did what I’ve only ever noticed Savannah Stevenson do when the Ozians are spewing awful rumours about Elphaba, Suzie’s face was utterly shocked, like she couldn’t even fathom the things coming out of the people’s mouths. The best part was that in the slight break just before Morrible starts singing, Suzie opened her mouth to disagree but she got cut off (and I loved seeing how that moment has changed over the years)

- The delivery of the dialogue over the Popular reprise in the score was perfect; perfectly timed, perfectly delivered

- The part of TG after the dialogue where Fiyero runs off also broke my heart. Suzie really sounded like she was about to cry until the point in the song where Glinda needs to put her public persona back on

- Suzie did the low G for the INTG reprise!!!

- Willemijn got a note match at the start of NGD! Although it wasn’t as high a note as it has been in the past (not that that would be any trouble for Willemijn, a.k.a. the queen of belting, if it was a higher note)

- Willemijn totally broke the Grimmerie at the beginning of NGD! She was so in the moment that as she was flicking through frantically trying to find a spell she ripped a few pages out and they flew across the stage.

- The Gelphie in FG! Apparently Willemijn’s Glindas have this thing where they need to touch her face at the end, like forget the Tucker nose boop and the hat tip! And even better, Willemijn leans her face into the gesture and closes her eyes and it’s so touching to see even if you don’t ship them romantically.

- Willemijn and Suzie’s accents mean that some of the words they sing have that American twang to them (e.g. ‘gravity’ in DG is sung ‘gravidy’ and ‘better’ in FG is sung ‘bedder’)

- Suzie was having some trouble with her bubble dress neck piece at the end of FG/start of the finale when she was getting into her bubble; it somehow came undone and she had to reattach it before she went up in her bubble for the last time. It actually ended up making for a nice unspoken moment between herself and the ensemble guy who plays Chistery while he waited for her to be ready before handing her the Grimmerie (she even nodded to him to confirm that she was ready to take the book for him and I just thought it was a lovely cast moment)

- I’m pretty sure Suzie was actually crying up in her bubble at the end, and the only reason I’m not sure is because when she sang she didn’t sound like she was crying (so in character!!! It makes my heart ache just thinking about it)

- The applause for Willemijn and Suzie was absolutely insane and Willemijn looked so happy to be back :’)

- Suzie was being a total cutie just as the final curtain fell

- There was also a few sound issues again. It sounded different in the first place because I was so close (and that’s not where you get the best listening experience because of how the rig for the speakers is designed) but I still heard some dropped lines and the mix still sounded weird (I’m pretty sure it’s a new sound person on the show)

- I came into this one thinking I’d be rambling and flailing about Willemijn (which I kind of did) but I ended up rambling and flailing more about Suzie (that’s a feat in itself. Willemijn is my literal bae so for Suzie to catch my eye and keep my attention so much just shows how incredible she is in the role)

- I need to know when Willemijn and/or Suzie’s last show is so I can support them and also see them together one last time

To finish off, apparently, the best way to make up for not seeing your favourite show for over 2 years is to go 3 times in 2 months (and progressively ramble more and more about it the more times you see the show)

I can’t believe I rambled this much... If you read this all the way through, I’m sorry (but also thank you)

#my ventures into the world of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria #Wicked #(always for the sake of my tag)#look how quick I got this one up!#I was so excited about seeing this particular show and I had so much to say about it!#I would have had this up on the 31st but I couldn't figure out how to word myself for those long paragraphs in the middle #(which is why they're so long...)#3 entire paragraphs about the Ozdust ballroom scene...#that's a feat even for me #I think I've actually finally managed to explain why I love that scene so much though so there's that

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thewafflewhat · 7 years

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20/01/17 (6th time)

Another day, another impulsive decision to see my favourite show!

I sort of explained this whole situation in my last one of these so I’ll try not to ramble up here so much this time...

So, the last time I went before Christmas was originally to see Katie Rowley Jones before she left (happy trails to her btw! Today she had her last shows! The end of an actual era; she’s been in the show for so long now it’ll feel wrong for her to not be there anymore), and if I got to see Rachel Tucker while I was there it would be an added bonus except I didn’t get to see either of them so I decided to go and see the show another time before the cast change date in the hope that I’d not only catch KRJ one last time, but so I might actually be able to see Rachel Tucker once in my life.

Lucky me because not only were they both at that show but I had every principle cast member except Suzie Mathers because of her holiday dates (which was still fine because I’ll be seeing her the next time I go; the first day of a new cast I doubt she won’t be there). Instead, this time around, I got her standby Carina Gillespie (more on her later)

I also didn’t go alone this time! I took an old friend to see it who had never seen the show before (which I kinda feel bad about since I got the ‘cheap’ Friday night tickets and they were basically all the way at the back of the dress circle. She didn’t mind though)

(Less rambley than the last one! Onto my thoughts!)

- Initial thoughts; Rachel Tucker’s voice is a lot deeper than I ever expected. I was never one of her fans when she was in the show her first time round (only because I never saw the show during that period of time) and I’d only ever heard a few audios from the main songs so I’d never heard her deliver lines and it took me by surprise considering that a lot of my Elphie’s have much higher pitch speaking voices.

- Her accent was also a bit weird sometimes, like some words sounded a bit Americanised, though I suspect that comes from her natural Irish accent and now her Broadway run.

- As I mentioned above, I actually got to see Katie one last time! I genuinely think that she was the best she’s ever been (from the times that I’ve seen her at least), her singing was on point and her acting was brilliant as always. All around, a true gem and she will be missed from the West End family of the show.

- I definitely saw Oliver Savile this time around, I thought he was an incredibly average Fiyero in all honestly. He was very good just not great (but that’s because I base all of my Fiyeros on Oliver Tompsett and no one has ever lived up to him for me)

- Anita Dobson still leaves something to be desired with her everything tbh :///

- Carina Gillespie was absolutely fabulous. One of the best Glindas acting wise for the emotional part of her character imo, she made some really nice characterisation choices that I enjoyed (she reminded me of Katie Rose Clarke acting wise who is one of my favs for that side of Glinda so yay!)

- In fact, I loved her acting so much I even have a separate bullet point about one of those acting decisions! I said her performance reminded me of KRC (who has become the staple Glinda who I measure every other Glinda’s acting on) and it’s because her delivery of the line “Why Miss Elphaba, look at you. You’re beautiful.” reminded me of why I fell in love with KRC’s Glinda in the first place. She didn’t deliver it in the usual ‘oh wow I’m so surprised you’re actually pretty underneath those glasses’ way instead she delivered it in the ‘oh wow you’re so beautiful and I can’t believe it took me this long to notice and I can’t believe you can’t see it’ way. Even when she delivered her line about the milk flowers it was so heartfelt that it made you actually believe that Glinda was trying to be a good friend unlike many other versions of that line that I’ve seen, and I just loved it

- She also had a beautiful singing voice, her high notes were spectacular as well as the notes in her lower register; it was wonderful to get the chance to experience it tbh

- I also really loved TG for this show. Carina did a really good job of making sure the audience knew the song was important as a character piece with actual character development instead of just being one of the throwaway songs that people forget about

- Tucker didn’t do any crazy riffs (she was obviously saving them for her final week and her final shows) but the few riffs that she did whip out I really loved

- Tucker did the low E and Carina did the low G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Carina’s range actually astounded me because her high notes were flawless and she still managed to get down to that low G, it was incredible)

- There wasn’t a note match at the start of NGD (but idk if that was ever a thing Tucker did, I only ever learned about it from Willemijn so)

- Carina was actually crying after FG :’’’(

- There were so many sound issues that even my friend noticed some of them! There were at least two dropped lines because the sound operator didn’t have the mics up at the right time (which is unacceptable, especially for a Friday night show). The mixing sounded really different as well, I wasn’t sure if it was just because I was so far back but the mixing sounded really off to me

- The subwoofers at the back of the dress circle are mad! I’ve never been far enough back to actually feel them rumble but I was this time and it surprised me the first time

- There was a late lighting cue going into the melting scene; Glinda’s supposed to have a gobo on her and it didn’t come onstage in time so I saw it move on (which has never happened before so I’m assuming it was a mistake)

- There were some really rude people in the dress circle. The worst offender was a woman in the row in front of me on her phone for essentially the whole thing; she left once to take a phone call, and then again near the end but didn’t come back. Then all kinds of people kept leaving to go to the toilet, people were leaving during the bows (which to me is so disrespectful to everyone working on the show and I hate it when people do that), and to top it all off, there was a young kid sitting in my row who kept asking questions at normal volume and her grandparents were answering her at normal volume AND rustling sweet wrappers etc. (again, disrespectful)

- Leaving you on a bittersweet thought: there is a Popular reprise in the score during TG! (see here) it happens around the point in the dialogue when Glinda says that she “can’t just leave when people are counting on [her]” (or something to that effect), and Fiyero says “No you can’t leave because you can’t resist this” meaning the feeling of people loving her and her being a well known public figure a.k.a. the popularity that comes with the job! It broke my heart when I realised it, I can’t believe I’ve never heard it before :’(

And for my next trip! Welcoming Willemijn Verkaik and Sue Kelvin back in style on Monday :)))

#my ventures into the world of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria #Wicked #(still for the sake of my tag)#I actually have an excuse for why this one's late too! I've been super busy this week #and I want this uploaded by the 30th when I see the show again :)))

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thewafflewhat · 7 years

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17/12/16 evening (5th time)

Right so, this was a real impulsive decision, I had a free night before going home for Christmas and I wanted to do something fun, and let’s face it, what’s more fun than going to see Wicked again after 2 years with a different cast :)))

Now I’m gonna be honest, I only even thought of it because I noticed that Katie Rowley Jones is leaving with Tucker et al. on the 28th January, and I didn’t want my final viewing of her Nessa to have been from over 2 years ago at Kerry’s final show where I wasn’t paying attention to her. I wasn’t too fussed on whether Rachel Tucker was performing because I went to that show for Katie not Rachel (although she would’ve been an added bonus). I didn’t mind about not seeing Suzie Mathers either since I’m going to Willemijn’s first show back and Suzie’s still a part of the cast after they change.

EXCEPT!

I got there, collected my ticket (yes ticket, the first time I’d ever been to the show alone because it was so impulsive) and took no notice of the board saying who was performing that show, and when I got in and sat down I noticed people in front of me who had bought programmes had the card for the standby Elphaba Alice Fearn (I looked her up before the show started, she’d done some cool stuff), and there was a little slip of paper for a cover, I just wasn’t sure who it was.

Literally one scene in and I noticed that Katie wasn’t there (I’ve seen her enough times now, even with how far away I was I could just tell it wasn’t her before she even spoke); a bit of twitter stalking after the show told me that Nessa for that performance was Lauren James Ray, and she was good, don’t get me wrong, but I got a bit bummed so I thought about going and seeing the show once more come January before the cast change...

UNTIL

I found out that Suzie wasn’t performing either! Instead I got the lovely Helen Woolf (whose name I discovered after said twitter stalking) but everyone I would’ve been pleased to see wasn’t performing that show, so I decided that yes, I was definitely going to another show come the new year.

(I’ll probably ramble about that after I go next, so I’ll just get onto my notes now)

(When did tumblr get rid of the ability to use bullet points?! Has it really been that long since I did one of these??? Damn)

- Alice Fearn was absolutely fab. She really came out swinging with her TWAI, every goddamn riff I’ve ever heard all in one performance plus the audience loved her.

- The bit at the beginning with Nessa’s wheelchair (”let her go”) takes some of the score from NGD and I’ve never actually noticed that before.

- Helen was super but some of her spoken lines were delivered with weird phrasing compared to what I’m used to.

- Alice pronounced ‘unlimited’ as ‘unlimitid’ and it really annoyed me the whole time ngl (and she has this thing where she’ll subtly change lyrics and the order of words, not anything that new audience members would ever notice but it really irked me)

- I liked whoever it was playing Fiyero (I’m pretty sure it was Oliver Savile but I’m not entirely sure) but it still didn’t surpass my love for Oliver Tompsett (mostly because of the riffing during DTL and ALAYM that he used to do nearer the end of his run)

- Whoever it was playing Fiyero he sounded so northern during DTL so that ‘dancing’ wasn’t sung how they normally do in the London show, and it sounded really weird to me

- Boq had a voice as smooth as butter even though it was quite high for what I’ve heard before

- I didn’t enjoy INTG as much as I wanted to (although I still liked it), I was rooting for Alice all the way through until she got to the end and sang the low E up an octave and lost some brownie points from me (I only started noticing Elphie’s doing this with Louise as well)

- Being up in the circle I actually had a better view to see the actual stage which gave me a better view for all of the lighting stuff that I missed before/never noticed before

- The big lighting change in OSD didn’t wow me like it has in the past

- The big lighting change for DTL did though!

- Elphaba’s dance remains my favourite sequence in the entire show (and it made me tear up like crazy this time!)

- The audience didn’t laugh at a lot of the funny moments but laughed at some that weren’t funny at all, like it’s funny, just laugh!

- Helen’s “Why Miss Elphaba, look at you... You’re beautiful” was almost as wonderful as Katie Rose Clarke in that bootleg of her with Willemijn on Broadway (that’s how I judge the delivery of that line now)

- Anita Dobson wasn’t as vocally strong as I would’ve liked, she was still good but definitely not the best I’ve heard

- The Wizard’s accent was a bit weird in act 1 (but he cleaned it up through act 2 so I let him off)

- I really enjoyed Lauren’s Nessa, especially the “alone and loveless here...” part in TWWOTE

- Helen did the low G in the INTG reprise!!!

- Alice did the note match for the start of NGD! (I only started noticing that with Willemijn so I judge by that now)

- She then proceeded to do every single riff in the book for NGD that I’ve ever heard apart from the very last “again”

- Alice didn’t do the ‘shush’ gesture to Glinda before she draws the curtain :(((

- The finale actually made me tear up so much I almost cried, and that has never happened before

- Alice was properly jamming out to the music during the bows and I loved it!

And that’s all I got. It’s a lot more rambley at the top that I’ve ever been before, I’ll try to keep that to a minimum after Friday. Fingers crossed I get to see Katie one last time before she goes (and if I get to see Tucker too then that’s just an added bonus)

#my ventures into the world of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria #Wicked #(for the sake of my tag)#lol it's been over a month #this is even worse than the last time I went and did my weird review thing #that one took me 2 weeks #(and I only remember to do this because I'm going to see it again in less than a week and I want this uploaded before the next one)#if you actually sat and read all of this then bless your soul you sweet thing

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thewafflewhat · 7 years

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so in my true trashy self fashion expect a double dose of my ventures into the world of wicked at the apollo victoria in the next few days :)))))))))))

#spoiler alert: my new sexuality is willemijn's elphaba and suzie's glinda interacting and loving each other 😍

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thewafflewhat · 10 years

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Wicked - 25/10/2014 (4th time)

So, back story.

As you may or may not know, when it was announced that Willemijn Verkaik had to leave all the way back in July, I was so freaking bummed for her. The London production was likely to be her last run as Elphaba, and she had to quit prematurely to have surgery due to a back injury :(

BUT in the same news post that they announced Willemijn leaving, they announced who was going to cover the rest of her contract, and who did they get?! Only Kerry Ellis. Kerry mother-trucking Ellis!!! My first ever Elphie! From all those years ago when I first saw the show when I was only 12! Kerry!!!

So, I had a mini freak out and a bit of a panic; I'd only seen the show a little over 3 weeks before the announcement was made and I figured I'd not be able to go to a show before the next cast change because lol money!

BUT the cheap seats (y'know the ones with obstructed views (which I didn't really care about; when you've seen a show 3 times previously, you don't really go to watch it for story. You watch it for the experience of hearing an amazing cast and really cool sound design)) are a thing that exist so I bought those, and d'you know something? The view from the 2nd row of seats behind the wooden bannister are actually pretty fucking decent; I was super chuffed about that!

SO! Kerry was obviously going to be having days off for her tour, and I didn't want to chance going to a show to see her and her not be there, so I was thinking "okay, what day can I go on that she (and the rest of the principals) is definitely going to be there?"

Answer: cast change day. Evening show. Done and done.

(I do still need to experience a muck-up matinee... I would've gone to the matinee and the evening show but, once again, LOL MONEY)

And now onto the show:

First thing's first, the energy in the theatre for the entire show is something that I want to experience again; it was magical. It was just so wonderful to be in the theatre with so many other people who were there to support leaving cast members, and most of the people there were looking for the little nuances of the performance instead of watching for the story (like me).

I FINALLY GOT TO SEE SAVANNAH!!! Savannah Stevenson is a fabulous Glinda! She totally lives up to Dianne Pilkington's comedic timing :)))) she was fabulous from the second she first entered the stage, she was positively hilarious during Popular, and she did some things that I love when Glindas do that I'll get to later...

Elphaba's entrance!!! From the second Kerry entered the stage, there was applause, and it went on well past what it should have. In fact, it went on so long that Kerry broke character and let her head drop so she could smile at the floor because the energy from the audience was electric; she was so bashful! She entered that moment as Elphaba and left it as Kerry.

TWAI, oh my word TWAI. Do you know what riff she did? She did her 'things I've never felt' riff. She did the same riff that she did at her last last show (although, in all honesty, I think she did it better last time...) and the audience applauded and it was glorious.

At the end of TWAI the applause went on for quite a long time, and she went all bashful again and let her head drop again, and it was so adorable!

Kerry also continued to do her hand thing for the whole show (she doesn't know what to do with her hands unless it's scripted (like the endings for TWAI and NGD) so she just kinda holds her hands out in front of her all spread out, and she moves them to put emphasis on certain words)

Kerry did the low note in INTG :) (not that I didn't think she couldn't, I've heard audios before and she's hit that note. It's just that Louise couldn't hit that note because it was too low, so now I take extra notice for if Elphies do the low E and Glindas do the low G). She did start off the note a bit sharp but she still ended up hitting it.

Jeremy Taylor sounded a lot better during DTL this time than last time, except! He was very breathy for the whole show? Like he was breathing very hard for the whole show, whenever he wasn't speaking and his mic was on, you could just hear him breathing. I don't know if was he ill or something??????

I was really a fan of how Kerry played Elphie during the ballroom section of DTL, like her acting was really good (and this is coming from a person who agrees that sometimes her acting can be very flat and lifeless). When Elphaba comes down the stairs and everyone's laughing at her, her acting was just so convincing! And when she takes the hat off and holds it out to Galinda with a look on her face like "I can't believe you tricked me! And you knew everyone would laugh!" I genuinely felt for her.

(That moment when Galinda joins Elphaba in her in her dance is still my absolute favourite part of the show. I don't need to explain it again, you can check my tag if you want to see why I love it so much.)

The ensemble was severely lacking in the cute curly haired one! (I think he left... I saw it on twitter about a month ago and got sad :'( I really wanted to see him being cute again)

THERE ARE 2 MALE ENSEMBLE MEMBERS WHO WEAR SKIRTS NOW!!! They were wearing the suit jackets like the other male ensemble but they were wearing the skirt pieces like the female ensemble members!

Once again, Savannah was absolutely hilarious during Popular. That's it.

Kerry fell off the bed during the 2nd "toss toss"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Y'know when Glinda and Elphie sing together in DG and they're holding the broom? The first "just you and I defying gravity"? Kerry used to do a really showy 'gonna place my hand on Glinda's hand now' (except for her last last show when she put her hand on Di's really subtly), this time she did it quite low, but still noticeable. I just love it when Elphies do the hand thing :)

Savannah did the thing where Glinda doesn't let go of Elphaba just before the flying section of DG :))))))

KERRY DID THE GROWL ON "LOOK"!!!

BUT she also cut off the first "down", held the 2nd "down", and cut off the "ahhhhh"

Katie Rowley Jones was a lot better (imo) this time round, she didn't seem as gasp-y when she was singing? but regardless, 3rd time seeing her and she remains awesome :) and TWWOTE remains underrated..

Savannah did the low G!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kerry said "the last time" at the end of ALAYM (again) which got a round of applause that went on for quite a long time.

Kerry and Jeremy kissed extra long as well, like, they did the normal kiss, and then they stopped and did it again, and then stopped AGAIN and then kissed again! (And the audience was applauding for the entire time)

I think both Kerry and Savannah were on the verge of crying during FG, there were definitely points where you could hear their voices crack nearer to the end of the song, and they hugged for an extra long time as well at the end (I almost cried at it tbh)

There was definitely actual crying after FG, you could definitely hear it during the "you have to hide, no one can know that you were here" line, her voice was so watery (and I almost cried at that too)

I got chills all over the damn place during the finale; I always do but I really noticed it this time.

I think Jeremy actually almost fell over doing the scarecrow walk right at the end.

When Savannah and Kerry came out for their bows, they did the usual bows... kind of. They came out, split and bowed separately, then came back together, like normal. But instead of hugging straight away, Savannah sort of gestured to Kerry in a 'clap more for her!' sort of way while Kerry was trying to go straight for the hug, so Kerry ended up with her arms up toward Savannah like 'no you come here! stop getting people to clap more for me and not for you! come here!' and idk I just thought it was really cute.

I was so so ready for the speeches! But I was not prepared for the producer to talk about the hardships that the London production has faced over the past year. He talked about losing Sam Kelly (which I was actually very sad about when it was on the news, RIP sir), and then having to bid a premature farewell to Willemijn (he can't pronounce her name btw)...

He started by saying something like "unfortunately we had to say goodbye to one of our leading ladies earlier this year so that she could go and have back surgery, but I'm very pleased to say..." and he paused, and looked off into the wings, and I was thinking "omg she's not here is she??? OMG IS SHE HERE????" and then she walked out on stage and like !!!!!!!!

She walked out on stage and stood by Kerry (I think they hugged? but I'm not sure) and then she helped give out flowers to the leaving cast members

Kerry did the bouncy bouncy at the end of the speeches (she jumped up and down repeatedly in excitement at the end but 'the bouncy bouncy' sounds way more fun)

Stage door. My oh my, stage door is an experience. I wasn't exactly planning on going to stage door (until Willemijn walked out on stage and I asked my friend and he said yes) so I wasn't prepared (aka I didn't have a pen...) but oh mY WORD!

I got 3 autographs!

Kerry came out first and my friend and I got her autograph (she's absolutely wonderful up close and she's a lot smaller than I thought) :D

Willemijn came out next, we got her autograph too (she's so beautiful!!! her eyes are wonderful and her hair is rad!!!!!!!!!) :))))))))))))))))))

We could only stay to get Savannah's autograph because she came out so soon after Willemijn but still! (she's also a lot smaller than I thought) She signs her autographs in pink sparkly pen! I love it! And y'know how actresses playing Elphaba usually paint their fingernails green all the time? and that's their way of still being associated with their character even without being all greenified? Savannah still had glitter on her face :3

I think I'm actually done now... I've run out of things to write about...

If you read to the end of this; bless your soul for being lovely! I hope you have a nice day! (or evening or night... or morning... or afternoon...)

You rock!

#my ventures into the world of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria #Wicked #(for the sake of organisation for my blog)#I did it!#it only took me 15 days but I did it!!!#it's a lot longer and more flaily than I anticpated...#if you read through all of it... 1) I feel for you 2) bless you for being wonderful #and I thought the last one I wrote was long...

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thewafflewhat · 10 years

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Wicked - 24/06/14 (3rd time)

Right, so, this time was mostly for my own personal gain (to see Willemijn Verkaik) but also for my mum to finally see the show (over 5 years after I first saw it and told her that I wasn't going to tell her what happened and that she should see it herself *ahem*)

SO! I wanted to see it this month (and I think I managed to scrounge it out as a kind-of birthday present) and, because we booked it so close to the show date, all the decent dress circle tickets were gone (y'know when the only ones left are the ones right at the back and the ones with obstructed views) so we decided on finding seats in the stalls.

All booked, all fine, tickets set to come in the post, done and done.

But then the tickets didn't arrive in time so we had to fill out an online replacement tickets form and collect the tickets at the box office (which we should've done in the first place but!)

So we get there to pick up the tickets and we've unknowingly booked seats with Red Label Seat Package tokens!!! Which means access to the Ambassador Lounge, before the show and during the interval, and a free drink each! (The Ambassador Lounge has its own toilet btw (NO QUEUEING DURING THE INTERVAL!!!) and it's the only room in the theatre with air-con!!! COOL AIR!!!)

AAAAND enough about that, onto the theatre...

First off, I sit down (in our totally fucking awesome seats) and notice 2 guys on either side of the stage operating follow-spots, and the dragon is operated by a guy pulling ropes, AND I could see the screen that the performers use to watch the conductor (and I used that after the interval so that the music didn't scare me to death at the start of Act 2).

AND NOW ONTO THE SHOW!!!

Willemijn Verkaik is fabulous, that is all.

I didn't get to see Savannah Stevenson (which I actually really wanted to bc I thought I might finally see a Glinda that was up to par with Dianne Pilkington's comedic timing) :( but I did get to see her understudy (Sophie Linder-Lee) who was fab (I'll get to that later)

Jeremy Taylor was good (definitely better that Ben Freeman, lemme tell you...) but he kept doing 'the rockstar breath' (look up Danny Jones on Popstar to Operastar if you wanna know what I mean) and he sounded really nasally during Dancing Through Life, BUT he definitely sounded better later on during the show (though imo not as good vocally as Oliver Tompsett)

What Is This Feeling? remains super uber gay (but the ushers let people in during it who arrived late, and how is that a suitable break?)

There's a really cute curly haired swing/ensemble guy (I think his name is Marc McBride but I'm not entirely sure if it's him)

A Sentimental Man actually has a really nice melody (the 'so Elphaba I'd like to raise you high' bit)

I feel like the London production doesn't give many performers free-reign to do riffs anymore bc Willemijn sang most 'big parts' as written in the score (which is sad but also not bc she sang them fantastically)

Both Willemijn and Sophie did the low note at the end of I'm Not That Girl (which fuck yes!)

I still find it a real shame that The Wicked Witch of the East doesn't get the recognition it deserves (mostly bc it wasn't ever put on the OBC CD bc spoilers), and Katie Rowley Jones remains awesome :)

I still don't understand why Defying Gravity gets all the attention when No Good Deed exists (Willemijn didn't get a perfect note match at the start of NGD like she has in the past but oh well)

AND FINALLY! I think that Sophie was a little bit flat on the high notes at the start of For Good but still, beautiful harmonies at the end, AND I'm pretty sure that Sophie is the most emotive Glinda that I have ever seen because, if she wasn't actually crying between the end of FG and the beginning of Finale, she sure as hell looked like she was! I'm pretty sure I could see her shoulders and mouth shaking up in her bubble just before the whole 'Elphaba is still going to sing in harmony with Glinda'

Sophie's emotiveness actually nearly made me cry (especially her little "Elphie" just after Elphaba 'melts')

(Last thing, I swear) The ballroom sequence, when Galinda joins Elphaba in her dance, remains my favourite part of the show. (The music and the lighting and what's happening at that point in the story, just so beautiful.)

#my ventures into the world of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria #Wicked #I DID IT!!! (I told you it was a lot more flaily and less composed than my last one)

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