Wicked Day, London 2007
Today was Wicked day! I hope you all celebrated in a suitably verdant manner? no? nevermind...
Wicked Day is like a little baby version of the Open Day, for Wicked in the West End. As the show is in the Apollo Victoria there is *NO CHANCE* of using the theatre space for the event - there's no room. However there is a new shopping Plaza just around the corner, large-ish, covered space, a bunch of bars and shops around, usually veeeery quiet on a sunday. Well, today they were invaded by about 500 Wicked fans. Mazz and I wandered along - free event, clocks changed so we were up early anyway...
As we approached the venue, so close to Victoria station you can see it (while there's an empty space next to the theatre) we could hear some sort of music. Turned out to be a VERY LOUD marching band, complete with banner twirlies, playing through the band arrangements of the Wicked songbook. Very ear-catching, nobody in Westminster Cathedral opposite could have doubted there was something going on! Oliver Tompsett (Fiyero) did the introduction, telling us all about the activities for the day and where to go to get them. Not that we could see him - while there was a PA system set up, there was no sort of raised stage so he was totally lost among the heads, despite being a tall lad. But very clear, welcoming, and informative, and his natural personality shows how he won the role of Fiyero. All the girls and most of the boys adored him!
Events of the day. Well. Upstairs in one of the bars they had the sign-up lists for the children's workshop and the quiz, and some freebies like pens and badges. Unfortunately they hadn't really considered how a queue of people was going to access this area, and then leave again. It was all very tight corners and blind spots, and we got trapped by a S-Moo-V (one of those ENORMOUS prams). Not the best layout for access! Marks and Spencer were the purveyors of the pink and green "Wicked Day" balloons, free for the taking. If yuou stood still long enough, you got pounced on by someone wielding a green sponge, and were painted and hairsprayed in green and pink! There were also roving photographers catching anyone who came in costume, of sorts, and a competition at the end of the day for the best cosplay. Strangely enough, the little scaramouche did NOT win at WICKED day.
Up on the second level, in a gallery space, was the main event, with merchendise on sale, including special items for the Wicked Day. I picked up the pin badge, fabric shopping bag and a factory second mug, all being sold to raise money for charity. There was a display of artwork by various cast members, the outstanding pieces being Oliver Tompsett's neon "Ozdust Ballroom" advert sign, and James Gillan's "BALL gown!" cartoon of Glinda's spell not quite working as she intended!
Then we had the Cast customised T-shirts! http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/wickedforgoodlondon/
Being auctioned off for charity, a fascinating mix of designs, ideas, intentions, and shininesses! I think some of these are gonna go for SILLY money... but all for charity!
Next was what I was most interested in seeing - COSTUMES! Plus props, masks, and Elphaba's wig. Three costumes, the Emerald City hobbleskirt with the amazing flounce and pattern matching, ELPHABA'S ACT 2 DRESS!!!!, and Dillamond's (I think?) ensemble coat. If you've not heard, I made a copy of this dress as a uni project last year - well... I got as far as the bodice before I ran out of time. But getting a good look at that skirt- those MILES of trim are all carefully hemmed!!! I think we're talking LITERALLY miles there. err... I'm not doing that. I'll use ribbon and hang if it looks too shiny. But it was fantastic to see the costumes and props up close. The Green Elixir really is a glowstick inside a green bottle. Then they had a desk set up to get autographs from cast members, and giant cutouts of the poster logo to take your photo by - less exciting for me but seemed very popular!
There were also goodie bags!!! Free Witches hats for all!!! And there was all sorts of exciting things in there... Bubbles, free chocolate, a mousemat and postits from Westminster anti-bullying campaign, Oyster Card holders.... those elusive Wicked promotional items that had been GOLD dust, only given out at the very beginning of promotion in London, and now everyone who was there got at least one... I'm no longer an elite Wicked fan...
I'll live!
There was the formal quiz, which Mazz and I did sign up for but then missed the start of, so we crowded in to hear Andy Mace giving out the answers. That man needs to move to Spamalot when he finishes in Wicked, he's perfect for Monty Python humour! There was another excellent competition - Hunt the Monkeys. Most of the shops in the plaza had hidden a green Wicked monkey, with a boldly printed number, somewhere in their shop. You had to find the monkeys, note down which number was in which shop, then hand in your completed entry form to enter for the prizes. This meant 500-odd people were in and out of almost every shop, browsing around for monkeys, and in the process looking round the shops - kept people busy, shops involved, everyone wins!
We also had a film crew wandering around, getting video blog comments and filming people singing - quite cruelly putting people on the spot, often singing against the PA playing the cast recording. People were also singing on the stage, in competition, and the local school choir sang some numbers from the show as well. The day started and finished with the very loud marching band - in a rather cavernous space, the finer points of their rhythm and balance were somewhat lost on the audience, but that's not surprising in a venue really not designed for musical performance!
The best moment of the day was towards the end, when most people had pretty much seen and done everything and we were waiting for the raffle to be called and the final everythings, a lot of people were waiting by the stage. Wicked music being as catchy as it is, it's almost impossible to NOT sing along, so we had about a hundred fans singing, BELTING through Defying Gravity, splitting the parts for What Is This Feeling? Filling in all the harmonies... it was fantastic! So many people singing together for the joy of singing. I think that the music is Wicked's strongest point - its singability, it really encourages you to try and sing along, to feel part of the emotion and story.
I won a poster in the raffle! One of the HUGE logo ones. No idea what to do with it, I've certainly not got space to put it up anywhere...
Compared to last year's Wicked Day, the first, the second has been a huge improvement. There was a lot more to do, a better venue, better communication. But there's still improvements I'd like to see next year.
The stage area was rather under-used, with some performance or announcement on the half hour but most of the time it was just playing the cast recording. Over and over again. I'd like to see cast members using this as a personal showcase - getting up and singing songs, not from Wicked - their own material, or a couple of pop numbers, or songs from other shows! Also the stage needed to be a STAGE - having no raised area meant that it was near impossible to see what was going on unless you were right at the front. All the pointy hats didn't help much either!
I did like how the foyer of the offices, glass fishbowl reception directly behind the stage, was used as the workshop space. It would have been nice to have the day's timetable printed out large and stuck to the inside of these windows tho.
Another possibility would be to use the theatre foyer - one of the most popular aspects of the Starlight Open Day is getting a polaroid taken with a cast member in costume. This could be done in the theatre foyer, just down the road from the main action - seriously people would travel, and I'm sure would happily queue and pay for a photo. Also it wouldn't need to be the lead roles, some of those ensemble members are very popular too! The costumes wouldn't need to brave the weather and leave the theatre, and 15 minute stints would not tax the cast too much on their day off.
In our happy dream world, Mazz and I were discussing how great it would be if other shows could get in on the action! What if We Will Rock You, Hairspray and Lord of the Rings also were involved equally? Perhaps at a larger venue... what if it were a proper Musicals convention? With Cosplay, merchendise, talks, competitions.... it could be fantastic!
So, overall, we had a fun, if cold and damp, afternoon with a lot of cheerful green-faced people!
We got balloons.....