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Post by santtu on Apr 6, 2010 8:58:37 GMT -5
WICKED will open in Helsinki August 26th this year in Helsinki City Theatre! It was finally confirmed today.
It will be directed by Hans Berndtsson, the same man who directed also BEAUTY & THE BEAST and MARY POPPINS.
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Post by Valancy on Apr 8, 2010 9:51:56 GMT -5
There's an article about it here on the theatre's website with a couple of promotional pictures: www.hkt.fi/ohjelmisto/play.php?name=wick It's only in Finnish, but it's not a very well-written article so you're not missing out on anything. They've only told the names of the actresses for Elphaba and Glinda. I don't know them very well, I saw the Elphaba as Evita years ago but I don't remember much to say about her. I hate it that the theatre only gives out the cast list without character names, but at least this time they've first written several names in non-alphabetic order, so they're probably the ones playing named characters... If the list is in a sensible order, then the guy playing Fiyero is one who attracted my positive attention as Georg in Spring Awakening last year. That was a small role so I can't tell how he would be in a bigger one, but if his singing and acting made me notice him already there, he's probably good... So at least one reason to look forward to the production. I'll probably see it, I'm curious since I've never seen this show live.
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Post by santtu on Apr 14, 2010 6:48:28 GMT -5
Anna-Maija Tuokko, who will play Glinda, played Ulla in THE PRODUCERS here. She was great in the role! She belted " When you got it, flaunt it" really well. Interesting to see how she will handle the soprano vocals of this role! Based on the photos and the order of the names in the cast list my guess is that the casting will be: Fiyero - Tuukka Leppänen, who played also Bert in MARY POPPINS and alternated as Jack Favell in REBECCA. Let's see if Antti Timonen will alternate as Fiyero, since he is also in the cast and is an excellent singer. Timonen was the other alternate as Favell in REBECCA. Nessarose - Vuokko Hovatta. She alternated as Eva in EVITA together with Maria Ylipää (who's playing Elphaba) and I saw Hovatta as Eva and I have to say, pardon my language, that she pretty much sucked! One of the worst performances I've ever seen in theatre. Wizard - Eero Saarinen. He was Mr Banks in MARY POPPINS. I've never seen a bad performance from him but neither have I seen a truly magnificent one either. Morrible - Ursula Salo. She was Mrs Potts in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and my god was that a miscasting! I hope she will be better in this role. Boq - Antti Lang. He made a brilliant physical comedy performance in MARY POPPINS. Dr. Dillamond - Heikki Sankari. He's done lots of smaller roles in musicals here. Probably most notable of his musical roles has been Thènardier in LES MIS. Elphaba's Father - Mikko Vihma. He's also done lots of smaller roles and understudied many leading roles here. He played Gaston in BATB (and was excellent) and The Male Tenor in THE PRODUCERS.
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Post by Jo on Apr 17, 2010 22:47:15 GMT -5
Thanks for the link Valancy! W letter reminds me of M something hamburger store logo ;D
BTW I know nothing about Wicked. for some reason it hasn't got my attention yet I once listened to the tunes and I didn't like it.......but it seems to have something so as to go to Finland.... I might have to figure out what it is?? kekeke
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Apr 18, 2010 16:39:53 GMT -5
Good luck with that lol I was never able to like Wicked. The story is as boring (almost silly) as the music is awfull...(which is a shame 'cause I know the composer can do MUCH better)...so I don't understand all the hyppe about it either.
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Post by Jo on Apr 27, 2010 7:43:54 GMT -5
I'll keep an open mind until I see it live ^^
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Post by santtu on Aug 18, 2010 8:39:00 GMT -5
Just saw some new photos about this production which opens in Helsinki next week. Obviously they have Dorothy on stage, in full familiar costume etc! This seems a bit strange, because due to some legal issues they weren't allowed to even refer to Dorothy by her name in WICKED so that's why she's not seen on stage or addressed by her name in the original production. And Stephen Schwartz has been here to watch the rehearsals so he should know. Hmmm, maybe they have eventually changed it, who knows. Well, I'll see the show next week so I'll be a bit wiser then.
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Post by Cia on Aug 18, 2010 13:40:01 GMT -5
Interesting... Of course it's always possible that they simply haven't rehearsed the Dorothy parts when Stephen Schwartz has been there, but it's hard to say. It wouldn't be the first time, though, since apparently they also made changes to Rebecca without anyone's permission (ie. killed Maxim in the end and showed Rebecca herself on stage). This isn't the same director, though. Even if it were allowed, I don't like the theatre's habit of underlining things too much in its productions. There are some new photos, eg. the Dorothy, in this online magazine.
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Post by Cia on Aug 29, 2010 4:27:14 GMT -5
Here are more photos of the production. (Copypaste a single photo's address, remove the -72 from it and you'll see the bigger version.)Visually, it looks like HKTs standard musical to me. Some good things, some that look pointless and cheap. Apparently the Wizard is supposed to remind us of Stalin. The official critics I've heard haven't been praising the production that much, and based on the photos and my knowledge of the musical, I agree with them. I'm not too fond of the story and the music, and since the theatre's productions often lack spirit and atmosphere, they make nice decent productions but nothing more, nothing special. I probably won't go and see this with their prices, but let's see if I manage to get some discount or half-price ticket... In a way I'm curious to see it, but at the moment my financial state doesn't allow me to be very curious.
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Post by Valancy on Aug 29, 2010 4:42:28 GMT -5
The review in my/our regional paper was actually very positive. I just couldn't make heads or tails out of it. I don't think anyone who doesn't know the show came out any wiser from reading that article; I didn't either. (Cia, it's the usual person who writes the musical reviews for Aamulehti, this time she just made even less sense than usual. On the positive side, now she didn't trash either the musical in question or the musical as a genre.)
I'm curious, too, but my first priorities, as far as musicals in Finland go, will be Les Mis in Turku and Rebecca in Kouvola, as well as the shows in my own town. Wicked may happen next spring if I have money.
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Post by Cia on Aug 29, 2010 5:48:21 GMT -5
The review in my/our regional paper was actually very positive. I just couldn't make heads or tails out of it. I don't think anyone who doesn't know the show came out any wiser from reading that article; I didn't either. (Cia, it's the usual person who writes the musical reviews for Aamulehti, this time she just made even less sense than usual. On the positive side, now she didn't trash either the musical in question or the musical as a genre.) Anne Välinoro? If she likes it, it can't be good. Nah, I don't have high expectations but I liked the London production and would like to see what HKT has done with the musical, because sometimes non-replica productions have fresh ideas that work. Sometimes. Looks like they at least don't have the huge dragon over the stage. I kind of like the Wizard's Big Brother -like eye, though, and I never got the point of the dragon, anyway.
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Post by Valancy on Aug 29, 2010 6:05:55 GMT -5
Yeah, it's very suspicious to see her praising a musical production for a chance. I agree, non-replica productions can be interesting. Even though in this case I haven't seen the original that it's a non-replica of... Maybe I should watch some *cough* material...
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Post by Valancy on Sept 5, 2010 8:44:58 GMT -5
Ran into a trailer:
Hmm, can't say I'm too impressed based on this... I like Fiyero lots, but otherwise everyone's acting is so stiff, forced and exaggerated. The ladies sing okay, though they're a bit too nasal for my liking. I'm not familiar enough with this musical's normal staging to compare, but what's up with Glinda's pink dress? She looks like she's planning to go out on the street to sell herself. And somehow I don't think that's the point of "Popular", at least not literally.
The translation sounds like the usual mediocre. There are bits that flow better than I'm used to when it comes to Finnish musical translations, though.
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Post by Cia on Sept 5, 2010 10:16:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the link! Nothing really surprising there. The acting is awful and the singing better than I expected, though I agree with you on the nasal voices. Maria Ylipää (Elphaba) told in an interview in today's Helsingin Sanomat that her voice sounds so metallic because it's a part of her Afro-American singing technique and Finnish critics just don't understand it. If you go to any store selling teenager's clothes, there's probably something like Glinda's pink dress there. I don't know why, but dresses are really short right now and an average teenaged girl going to some party (or even more official party like a wedding) is apparently likely to wear something like that. Which of course doesn't make it look any less sl*tty.
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Post by Valancy on Sept 5, 2010 12:07:56 GMT -5
Yeah, I know about the dresses nowadays, that would be one of the many reasons why it's so hard to find anything to wear. But I still don't think Glinda should dress like that. My impression of the costumes of the other version is that it's closer to fairy-tale-come-real than... well. I guess we can be glad nobody's wearing leopard pattern leggins? It's a good thing there are always excuses handy for those who can't sing! I still like the Fiyero, though. Think they'd sell me a cheaper ticket if I just went to see the Fiyero scenes?
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