WICKED: ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF SPAMMAGE.
I think pretty much everyone on my flist knows that I am insanely obsessed with all things Wicked, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, Y/Y? Well, I promised book232 and noldoparma much Wicked and Kristin spammage (I'll be REALLY good and hold off on Idina spammage, since she's all over Wicked anyway!), and so here I be.
WORD OF WARNING: clicking on the cut below will bring you to crazy crazy amounts of insane. ;) I'll be recounting the biggest plot points and songs in my little run-down of videos and pics, so bear in mind that there'll be some spoilers for the larger plot of the musical, though not the little twists - if you're going to download the original Broadway cast (OBC) album though (and yes, the download link is in there, somewhere!), I'd imagine you wouldn't mind spoilers though.
Also, for those wondering: I watched Wicked in London in December last year, and Kerry Ellis was a freakin' AMAZING Elphaba. Her voice was just... GAH. I mean, seriously. She hit all of Idina's notes and was a powerhouse live. But I've grown to adore the musical through the OBC, and though I've never actually seen them live (BIG SADFACE HERE), Kristin and Idina are clearly the original and the best G(a)linda and Elphaba.
So:
WICKED: THE (KINDA) TRUE STORY OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST
>> download OBC album here | lyrics <<
Or, the musical loosely based on the Gregory Maguire novel, taking off from the Judy Garland movie, all thanks to the original L Frank Baum series
Complicated enough for you? Any fan of the original series would know that the movie is based on the very first book, and is a faithful enough adaptation. Where Wicked the musical takes off is by using the ideas from Maguire's novel - of there not being an unqualified Good (Glinda) or Evil (the Wicked Witch) - and tying it to the movie-verse.
So we have the green-skinned, intelligent Elphaba, an outcast from birth, tied to a handicapped sister and come to Shiz University in Oz to study.
There she meets Galinda, the haughty blonde cheerleader type, as airheaded as they come, for whom life has always come easily.
THE WIZARD & I/WHAT IS THIS FEELING
Click to view- shaky video but check out Idina's high belt at the end of TW&I, and the kickass harmonisation on WITF!
And I'll stand there with the Wizard
Feeling things I've never felt
And though I'd never show it
I'll be so happy, I could melt!
Now that she's at Shiz, Elphaba is all excited about possibly getting to meet the Wizard and to do greater things that she's never been able to do because of her appearance.
WHAT IS THIS FEELING
There's a strange exhilaration
In such total detestation
Naturally, Elphaba and Galinda detest each other on sight.
But even though they both fall in love with the same dashing young man Fiyero, they inadvertently come to an understanding of sorts, and form a grudging friendship.
POPULAR
- pro-shot, which means excellent quality. Kristin is a million kinds of adorable. (In terms of Youtube looping, look also for Kristin's last Popular - quality is SO not as good, but she does a lot of cute little things to mess with Idina's mind because it's her last day. ADORABLY CUTE, OMG.)
Please - it's all about popular!
It's not about aptitude
It's the way you're viewed
So it's very shrewd to be
Very very popular
Like me!
At this point, of course, Galinda decides to impart some of her knowledge to the socially-challenged Elphaba...
I'M NOT THAT GIRL
- Glinda's reprise later on in the musical is just heartbreaking. I love Idina's low voice here, which she said is actually what she had to work on more (rather than her high belt) for Wicked.
There's a girl I know
He loves her so
I'm not that girl...
Elphaba muses that she's not the kind of girl Fiyero would choose - that's Galinda.
So the girls head to the Emerald City, where they discover the Wizard of Oz to be a tyrannical despot bent on using Elphaba's fledgling magic powers to continue oppressing the citizens of Oz. Elphaba, of course, is outraged and defies him...
DEFYING GRAVITY
- pro-shot, so one of the best-quality videos of this ever. This is surely the crazy standout song of the entire musical. Freakin' AMAZING. Plus, Idina and her final three notes? Kills me dead EVERY. TIME.
I'm flying high, defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!
Elphaba decides to defy the Wizard and asks Glinda to join her - but Glinda can't bring herself to break from the life she knew. So they make their choices and go their separate ways...
Now an outcast and hunted by the brainwashed citizens of Oz, Elphaba is on the run - unexpectedly, she reunites with Fiyero, who, it turns out, believes in her cause and has always loved her more than he has his fiancee Glinda...
AS LONG AS YOU'RE MINE
- SQUEE. This is so not OBC, but it's Idina singing with her insanely hot husband Taye Diggs! He took over the role for a couple of weeks when Norbert Leo Butz was out recovering from an injury. Idina sings with so much love ♥ (Okay, I admit, Taye? Not so good a singer, or maybe it's an off day, whatever. Idina re-harmonises for him, differently than from the OBC album and in a much lower range. But whatever. Taye is hot, y/y?)
Borrow the moonlight
Until it is through
And know I'll be here holding you
As long as you're mine...
Unfortunately, Fiyero's defense of Elphaba causes him to be captured by the Oz guards, and Elphaba, furious and ranting, wishes she had never tried to do any good deeds in the first place, if this is her reward...
NO GOOD DEED
- Gah. My love for this song knows no bounds. It's so wonderfully angsty, and Idina does the horrified, self-loathing chanting so marvellously! You can't see her face at all (it's always crazy-lit), but this is one of the best live versions I've heard of Idina singing this song. There's one part when she howls 'Fiyero' that is just... chilling. Magnificent. Everything.
No good deed goes unpunished
All helpful urges should be circumvented
So Elphaba conjures up a final spell in an attempt to save Fiyero...
But the wrath of Oz is closing in. Glinda arrives to warn Elphaba, and they realise that they'll have to say goodbye...
FOR GOOD
- pro-shot i.e., good quality
- absolute must-watch because this is Kristin's last For Good. *sobs* It's so just so wonderfully touching - she breaks down on her first verse, and on the last. As if this song didn't make me want to cry as is! When Kristin and Idina hug... ♥ And Kristin singing low while Idina harmonises high? CRAZY AWESOME.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
As they say goodbye, glad to have been - however briefly - in each other's lives, Elphaba begs Glinda not to clear her name, but to do her best to save Oz from the Wizard...
And finally, because I adore this photo of Idina and Kristin:
Gah. I didn't even get to really ARTICULATE what I love about this show, about how it just GETS me - the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba, Elphaba and Glinda as characters, the way they grow and change and develop. The heartbreak for Glinda when she gets what she thinks she wants (Thank Goodness) and it's not like anything she's ever imagined; Elphaba's estrangement and how she comes to terms with it in the end. GAH. IT IS JUST. ASKJDLAKSJDFKLSAJDLASJDLASJDLA. TOO MUCH LOVE FOR ME TO EXPRESS.
PLEASE TO BE DOWNLOADING, AND FLAILING, AND LOVING THIS SHOW WITH ME.
And I also promised a Kristin spam. MAN. It's a short one, though, because if I don't stop soon I'll never stop and I NEED to be focused at work tomorrow, for real this time...!
Kristin's Boston Pops performance
If - SO kickass. This is one of my favourite tracks on her Letting Yourself Go album, and having her sing it live?! Plus, she's so cute when she flings that guy all around the stage, lol.
Girl In 14G ftw! Still one of my favourite vocal performances by Kristin EVER, and having her sing it live?! EVEN BETTER. She does a few versions that are floating around Youtube, so go check them out.
The Music Man - Goodnight My Someone
Her voice is just GORGEOUS on this. Gorgeous.
Taylor the Latte Boy
Proof positive that Kristin is the most adorable human being that has ever lived. I LOVE this song, but I especially love how she acts it out when she sings it live!
You're Just In Love - with Nathan Lane
SQUEE. I have not found video of this before. I'm so glad I decided to spam you guys!! HOW CUTE IS SHE. And this is only one of my favourite Carpenters songs EVER...
Earth Girls are Easy - 'Fred Astaire'
Here's another loop for you guys to start on. Kristin did the stage reading for Earth Girls Are Easy, this song is my favourite of the ones she sings. So sweet and romantic - so when you hold me in your arms, I feel like Fred Astaire...
Kristin on Ellen the Musical
THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST-WATCH FOR THE LOL. Kristin, all Galinda-like, appears to teach the musically-challenged Ellen how to sing from her 'hoo-hoo'... "Yes, it's Kristin Chenoweth, your musical fairy godmother!" ROFL, WUUUUTT?!?
And one last one before I go to bed: vid-embedding disabled, but look, it's CHENO AND HUGH JACKMAN. She's being delightfully spazzy and Galinda-like here too - intro to the 2004 Tonys.
AND FINALLY: 'cause we all need some random: how about 13 seconds of Kristin as Britney Spears? So weird, but I ♥ the dancing. So cute!!
And OMG. I was SUPPOSED to go to bed. But I keep happening on videos on Youtube. Curse the Youtube loop phenomenon. This is for me to come back to tomorrow - 13 minutes of awesome is 13 minutes I should be in bed.
It looks promising though. Kristin's promo performance for her gospel album As I Am, which is growing on me - she sings three of my favourite tracks off the album (It Will Be Me, Poor Wayfaring Stranger & Taylor the Latte Boy) in this live showcase, and gets all teary at the beginning because fans actually turned up to flail at her, awwwww! I ♥ her so.
KRISTIN IS CRAZY AMOUNTS OF ADORABLE, Y/Y?!?
(How many times have I used the word 'cute' or 'adorable' to describe Kristin, lol!!)
And I am DONE. CLINICALLY INSANE, AS YOU ALL KNEW, BUT DONE. BEDTIME NOW, FOR SERIOUS.
PLEASE TO BE SPAMMING ME WITH WICKED/IDINA/KRISTIN ADORATION, THANKS.
(P/S I still am stopped up in one ear, wtf. Don't they know I need both ears clear to enjoy teh Cheno's high notes?!)