(no subject)
Mary Poppins was a thrill and a half -- from the ten-minute tap number that had chimney sweeps dancing on rooftops (and Bert dancing up and across the proscenium), to Mary Poppins taking flight with her parrot-headed umbrella, to the absolutely mind-blowing sets and brilliant lighting, the show truly was an entertaining and exciting evening out. From what I've heard from friends, the New York show (which opens next month) is sold-out until sometime early next year. The premium, day-of, $250 tickets are of course still available, but I don't count those.
I saw Wicked a couple days later, and while it had its moments of brilliance, there were problems as well.
Idina Menzel's voice was worth the price of admission, though her acting left something to be desired. I also saw weaknesses in the script that I had glossed over the first time; there were glaringly bad moments of exposition. The script was still clever at times, but it seemed more canned than the first time. Maybe I just knew what was coming and was less willing to forgive its silliness because of that.
Glinda's voice was nice, but not what it could have been. A big issue was her accent against Idina's -- an American and a southern-educated British accent didn't mix well when they sang together, and the differences in American and British diction were also troubling. The harmonies sounded pretty good, but the vowel sounds often created discord. And as wonderful as it is to have Idina playing Elphaba here (again, her voice was worth the ticket price), the show won't be a London show until she leaves. Everyone else on stage (save the Wizard) had a British accent, so she stuck out. They played up the difference properly when Glinda was teaching her to toss her hair ("toss, toss"), but that was the only time they acknowledged the fact that Elphaba had a different accent.
Madame Morrible for some reason didn't sing a note -- she spoke every one of her lyrics, and that was just plain lame. She's some big-time British film star (she was in the Harry Potter films, I guess), but come on -- if you're doing a musical and there are notes written for a character, shouldn't you cast someone who can sing? And it's not that she didn't sing well, it's that she simply didn't sing AT ALL. Fieryo wasn't much of a dancer and doesn't hold a candle to the original. He backed off his only big song, "As Long As You're Mine", and his timidity almost ruined the song. Luckily Ms Menzel could have been singing by herself and the song would have worked. It just would have been nice to have had a good, high baritone or low tenor to fill Norbert Leo Butz's shoes. Too bad.
One extremely bright light was Nessarose, who was spectacular from the start. She seemed to have the firmest grasp of character, and when she opened up and sang it was spot-on. Well done on her part.
The sets and lights were great, better than what I saw at the Orpheum in the City. It's the reality of touring shows that they have to fit their show into loads of different spaces, so customisation and the big, fancy pieces often can't make the trip. The Apollo Victoria is tricked out completely. The show is a technical gem.
It was a good show and a preview, so I'm not sure what they'll have on their hands once the show actually opens, but it was a packed house last night and it certainly seemed they were giving all they had. The show will do well here (it still is a good show; there's no question about that), but they need a British Elphaba and a re-cast of Fieryo for certain. A Madame Morrible who can sing would be nice, too. The ensemble was great (as usual).
Definitely worth the £12 I paid for the ticket, if only for Idina Menzel's singing voice.
Hope everyone's well.