very long and not the happiest of story lines and heavy score
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I went to see the musical Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre opposite London's Victoria Station late last year. The show is now in its second successful year after much publicity when it first opened. People are often in two minds about the show, they either like it or not. Most people I've spoken to loved the show but I didn't intend to pay up to £60.00 for a top price seat to find out. However, chance would have it that my favourite radio station was running a competition and I happened to win two top price tickets for the show. It turned out that I had to contact the production company for house seats. It's nice to get comps occasionally.
The show started almost on time when my friend and I went. There's always a short delay so we weren't particularly worried. The seats we were in were pretty good, Stalls, row G in the middle. Shame the seating area is not sloping at that stage so I had the head and body of a small giant blocking my view of the stage in the row in front of me. Crumbs.
The orchestra started and I was immediately transported to a small seedy bar in downtown Saigon during the Vietnam War where scantily clad girls were offering themselves to American GI's. Whoops, totally the wrong musical but if you are interested in musical theatre and know the Boublil/Schonberg production of 'Miss Saigon' you should be able to detect a lot of similarities in the first couple of minutes of the music. But the score soon changes and does not remind of 'Miss Saigon' any longer.
Very short summary of the plot of Wicked -The Musical:
Two witches, Elphaba (Kerry Ellis) - disadvantaged since birth due to a green skin colour - and the spoilt, determined, blonde airhead Galinda (Dianne Pilkington) are forced to share a room at college/university. Galinda (later known as Glinda the good witch) the goody-goody who would do anything to get her way, man or simply anything is the total opposite of Elphaba who cares for people and animals (a magical eco warier if you like). But they become friends. When Elphaba is accused of a crime she didn't commit she goes into hiding, letting the people believe she is wicked, not trying to clear her name.
Without reading too much into this show, people have suggested it deals with the question of whether people are born bad or if society turns them bad. Whether or not this show is based around this it up to you to decide but it certainly is an interesting idea behind a show. Was the wicked witch really wicked or was wickedness thrust upon her?
All in all, the story takes place before Dorothy arrives in Oz, however, she is referred to at some point during the show, leading me to believe that the story lines cross over briefly and then go their separate ways again.
I never read the original book by Gregory Maguire that the musical is based on. Apparently it's his first adult novel after writing mainly stories for children. I was in New York when it first premiered on Broadway and I was given a CD with a couple of songs from the musical in a promotion while in New York (at a McDonald's on Times Square of all places). I was never too keen on actually seeing the show, in particular when thinking about the prices charged to go to the theatre in London (or New York). The music and lyrics were written by Stephen Schwartz who is not new to the musical scene but I was most familiar with him from music in Disney movies he has co-written with Alan Menken.
I downloaded the original Broadway soundtrack with Idina Menzel playing Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth (who has a very distinct speaking voice) as Galinda in the main roles and was listening to the songs long before the show opened on stage in London. I was familiar with the songs of the show before I went to the theatre.
Musically the show borders a little on the heavy side. There are very few upbeat and easy going songs in the show. It does remind me a lot of the more modern day musicals by Boubil/Schonberg heavy on the story telling, sung through all the way, more like an opera and not so much a musical. And as I said before, the intro very much reminded me of be first minute or so of 'Miss Saigon'.
There are some show stopping numbers, in particular the finale to the first act with Elphaba's solo song 'Defying Gravity'. It seems musicals nowadays try to have a show stopping special effect just before the end of the first act. While 'Defying Gravity' is a good song that needs to have a strong voice to make it work, it is by far not the best song.
In the London production, the part of Elphaba is currently played by Kerry Ellis and her voice is good enough to stand up to scrutiny. Dianne Pilkington as Galinda is playing her part a little over the top (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but models her voice a little too much on the original US cast member Kristin Chenoweth. Kristin has naturally a slightly squeaky voice and played this up in the US cast and I noticed that Dianne Pilkington mimicked it a lot, so much so that I could not actually concentrate much on her but always had the original Broadway cast recording buzzing away in my mind when she was on stage as Galinda - and she is on stage a heck of a lot.
There are two biggish names in the show, Nigel Planer plays the part of the Wizard of Oz (and has done so since the beginning) and I'm not sure if I would go and see the show specifically for him. The part is rather small and not too taxing and realistically could be played by any actor. Until the middle of April you will also be able to see Susie Blake as Madame Morrible. I doubt I would recognise her if I ran into her so it didn't bother me one bit who she was. I prefer to see actors who get parts on merit and talent and not because they have made a name for themselves in something else totally unrelated to musicals and where it is not known how well that person is able to sing the part up to eight times a week.
The rest of the supporting cast are all trained West End actors for the most part. The choreography and company pieces are all well done and I can't complain about it.
The costumes are in the most part bright and cheerful, taking you into a different universe and land. After all, we are in Oz and things are different. The dominant colour however is green (or rather emerald green). We will meet some of the more unusual characters, munchkins, flying monkeys as well as find out why there are the cowardly lion, tin man and scarecrow in the movie version when Dorothy lands in Oz.
If you are a musical fan then you should certainly go and see it. It is worth seeing at least once and if you can get tickets at a reduced price then it is even more fun. It helps to be a little interested in the movie 'Wizard of Oz' but you will be able to understand and follow the story without knowing anything about it, after all, the story, for the most part, has nothing to do with the movie.
Wicked is a well put together show with some good tunes but certainly not for everyone. You have to enjoy long modern musicals the likes of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon where you have to sit through almost three hours of solidly sung stories.
The show is not really suitable for very young children who might not be able to sit through a long musical such as this or get a little scared when there are weird and crazy creatures around - or the story just goes straight over their heads and they will be bored.
The show is on at the Apollo Victoria Theatre opposite Victoria Station (not to be confused with the Victoria Theatre just a couple of minutes away). You can't miss it, it's the one dipped all in green.
Tickets are available for most shows (it wasn't sold out when I went) and expect to pay from £15.00 all the way to £60.00 per ticket, available from all good and reputable ticket agencies (or if you're in London, go directly to the theatre and avoid booking fees). Performances are Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm and matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2.30pm. Souvenir brochure/programmes are available at £6.00 and sold before the show, during the 20 minute interval and after the show finishes at the stores in the theatre as well as in the auditorium.
very helpful
very helpful
very helpful
helpful
