Wicked in London??

[Gustav]

Has anybody heared of the rumours that there are plans to show "WICKED" at the end of the year in London?? That would be fantastic!! Which cast would you like to see in it??

[Eppy]

WOW, are they really?? I would like to see that. Hmmmmmmmm I still haven't seen the London Phantom though!

[vampbear]

Not wishing to pour green elixir on this, but I doubt it:-( There have been so many rumours about all sorts of shows. The word from Stephen Schwartz himself, unless its changed recently, is that is more likely to open in Germany before heading to the West End. Um, that would be another trip to Germany on top of all the others!!! I'd love it to come here though, I loved the show when I was lucky enough to see it on Broadway last year with the original cast.

So Gustav you might well get to see it in Germany before taking a trip over here (England!) to see the show!!!

[Brae]

Hey London Wicked Fans!!!!!!!!

Check out what I found on Playbill this morning: www.playbill.com/news/article/96779.html

[vampbear]

Um, I wish that they were considering somewhere in the main hub of the West End rather than Victoria. Better for passing trade, etc. I won't hold my breath though! But it would be great if the show came here . . .

[Stephen - Yar Matey]

Also.. London Wicked Fans

Just saw this on broadway.com.. probably the same as on playbill.. but.. meh

www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=522943

[Hikagekun]

Wicked will be so weird with the English accents! I can't wait till the cast recording comes out!

[Stephen - Yar Matey]

i might purchase it.. it should be good..

[Brae]

The Official Website is up ... nothing there net, but it's already more flashy (pun NOT intended) then the Broadway or Tour Sites...

www.wickedthemusical.co.uk

[vampbear]

Great! Its actually looking like we will get the show here! I'll have to eat my witches hat

According to the website tix go on sale on 5 March. Opens in September. Oh well, there goes any hope of saving money!!

[Hikagekun]

That site is SO cool!

[vampbear]

There has just been a press presentation for Wicked in London:

www.whatsonstage.com/dl/page.php?page=greenroom&story=E8821138894519

I'm just hoping they don't change too much. I didn't think there was anything overly American in it such that us English folk wouldn't understand?

It does sound promising that if they put 'names' in as Madame Morrible and the Wizard they can then cast the best suited actresses for Glinda and Elphaba whether they are well-known or not.

I think my creditcard is not going to be very happy with me at the beginning of March

[exedore]

vampbear said:

I'm just hoping they don't change too much. I didn't think there was anything overly American in it such that us English folk wouldn't understand?

I'm hoping that they change quite a bit...starting with Dancing Through Life and fixing some of the issues in the book.

/still won't pay to see Wicked again unless it's in German.

[vampbear]

ah-ha! I detect someone who isn't a fan of 'Wicked'! Have you seen the show? What didn't you like about it?

[exedore]

vampbear said:

ah-ha! I detect someone who isn't a fan of 'Wicked'! Have you seen the show? What didn't you like about it?

I've seen the show twice; once with the OBC and once again recently on tour.

For the sake of fairness, I'll go over what I do like about the show first:

-The OBC were full of incredible talent, and the reason I had any advance interest in the show.

-The score has a number of good, catchy songs. I love What Is This Feeling?

-It does a good job of fitting in with and extending the Oz canon, provided that you limit it to the first book+movie.

What I didn't like/Where There's Issues
-While the songs have catchy tunes, some of them have incredibly bad lyrics and fail to do their job. Dancing Through Life sets up Fiyero's character, but the Lion Cub scene basically shreds that.

-The book is OK, but needs to be fleshed out more. For example, as much as Elphaba's onstage in the second act, we're being told what she's doing between the songs, not shown. The original novel (a mess in its own right) did a much better job in this respect. Also, the bottle thing at the end.

-For $12 million, the tech effects are lame. The Who's Tommy did better flying a decade earlier, and it's extra lame that the first time the broomstick moves, it's only doing so because a stagehand is holding it up (which is why they don't show it during the press reels). I won't go into the melting.

-Low revisit value. I was counting through the songs the second time I went, waiting for the big moments. I do make it a point to repeatedly see shows that I like (ie seen Joseph 7 times, RENT 5, Hairspray 3, etc.)

-The hype/overactive fandom. Yes, I'm guilty of similar (was a major RENThead in the late 90's), but I don't recall people being this crazy or getting so offended when reminded that there are other (and better) shows running in NYC. The uproar after the 2004 Tony awards was just insane - the show on stage at the Gershwin was by no means deserving of the top award.

In most of these cases, another workshop or stop out of town would have allowed the creative team to fix the problems - I've heard the song Dancing Through Life replaced, and it was indeed worse, but DTL still has a number of the same issues (and they never did fix the "Nessa, Nessa, I've got something to confessa reason why" bit).

Please don't get me wrong; I don't hate the show. I just don't think it's the second (or third) coming, and don't feel the need to spend money on it again when there are a number of other things I could see that are either new or more endearing.