Wicked the Musical #2 - I was even brought to tears!

Hello,

Once again I am not keeping my word and not posting about what I said I would write about. The post about Italy requires more time than I have now and I really want to post about my new “Wicked” experience :)

I wasn’t meant to go, but I happened to get a ticket and I couldn’t miss the chance of course! Especially since Jennifer DiNoia (current lead Elphaba) is leaving at the end of January. I saw the show with a lovely Korean girl called Yoon, sitting in the first row (again!) just a couple of seats away from the very centre :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, I found myself captured by the beautiful scenes, costumes and dances put up by the ensemble. This time I knew most of the ensemble and I could at least recognise their faces thanks to my twitter activity (yes, I didn’t mention it, but since before Christmas I run a fan page on Emma Hatton, current standby Elphaba and future lead). It made the experience even more amazing, because I could go like “OMG Jasmin/Joseph/Kerry/anyone is doing this!”
Moreover, knowing the songs and the story behind made me feel the emotions even more and I found myself on the verge of tears pretty often (especially during "No One Mourns the Wicked", "Thank Goodness" and "For Good")!

Main Cast tonight

Elphaba – Jennifer DiNoia
Glinda – Savannah Stevenson
Fiyero – Jeremy Taylor
Wizard – Martin Ellis
Madame Morrible – Liza Sadovy
Nessa – Katie Rowley Jones

Being the second time I saw it, I had the chance to pay attention to details I didn’t notice the first time. I fell in love with Glinda’s dress at her engagement ball, I had the time to admire Savannah and Jennifer’s facial expression a little bit more and focus on the way they performed the songs instead of only getting a general impression. I can only confirm my immense admiration for these two ladies and my love for their voices.

Jennifer DiNoia is pure magic, she brought tears to my eyes two times just with her magnificent voice. I am serious, I wasn’t crying for a particularly emotional moment but for the beauty OF HER PERFORMANCE! The first time it happened when she did her amazing “And I’ll stand there with the Wizard, feeling things I’ve never felt” during “The Wizard and I”, next it happened during the final riffs of “Defying Gravity”. I was speechless. If last time I thought “Defying Gravity” was Jennifer’s weakness, her only less-than-perfect song, this time she made me change my mind: she nailed it, she was perfect. Total, utter perfection!
Since she is leaving soon and I won’t have the chance to see her many more times, I concentrated especially on her during this show, looking at her acting and every little particular of her performance, of course, to remember everything she does :)

Savannah Stevenson grew on me inexorably. If at first I wasn’t too sure I liked her completely... well, now I am. She is my favourite Glinda, with her voice able to transmit real emotion to the audience and her acting always on the spot. She is funny, so so funny, talented and gorgeous! I have fallen for her “And Goodness knows the Wicked’s lives are lonely, Goodness knows the Wicked die alone” (“No One Mourns the Wicked”) and her whole “Thank Goodness” :D In addition to her unique and spectacular “Popular”, of course, with which she overshadows any other Glinda I know of (and I swear I have checked a lot!).

I don’t really like Martin Ellis as the Wizard, because I don’t like the faces he makes and because he spits so much while he sings! From the first row you can see everything and I had already noticed this detail last time... 

Liza Sadovy is a good Madame Morrible, but not my favourite. I don’t know their names, but my favourite are the one that was here in London before Liza and the one that was touring with Jennifer in the USA! I don’t know what it is... she doesn’t have the same power in the voice as the others, the same fearsome voice.

I also paid more attention to Jeremy Taylor and Katie Rowley Jones this time and I totally approve of them :) Sure, I don’t love them the way I love the leading ladies (Jennifer and Savannah), but they are great!

At the end of the show I obviously went to Stage Door and added a couple of autographs to my collection: I finally managed to get Martin Ellis to sign my programme (yes, I am always travelling to the theatre with that programme with me) AND I got a second signature from Savannah... who signed with her pink pen – so on character! It made me grin so much :) She is too cute haha 

From the main cast I am still missing Liza Sadovy and Katie Rowley Jones' signatures: hope to get them next time!

Aside from the signatures, I took a picture with Jeremy Taylor, Jennifer and Savannah – all of them are a bit of a mess because it was windy and my hair kept going in my face... especially during the picture with Jeremy (it’s an awful photo -.-“). I also found the courage to say more than three words (“You were amazing”) to Jennifer and Savannah! I told Jennifer how she had made me cry twice during the show and I also said I was glad she had liked the fan book that she has been given a couple of days ago and in which there is also a photo of me with her (it was organised by the girl who runs Jennifer’s fan page). She was soooo sweet and was like “Ooooh thank you, I’ll have to go through it again and find you in there!” :) To Savannah, I don’t know where I found the courage, I managed to say that she is the best Glinda for me and that she passes on so much emotion through her acting! I think what helped me being able to talk to them was the fact that there were other two Italian girls next to me who didn't have any problems in speaking out, so I tried to do the same.

(Awful) picture with Jeremy Taylor

Jennifer!!

And Savannah (how her hair remained that
perfect with such wind is a mistery to me!)

Right, I’m over the moon again, still so excited about the show... I can’t wait to go back and see it soon. No, I mean it, it’s already planned! Next time it will be the 31^st of January, Jennifer’s last show in London (I foresee even more tears!) and then the 2^nd of February to see... Emma Hatton’s first show as lead Elphaba. Emma is my absolute favourite Elphaba so far, even if I still haven’t seen her. I hope, and I am pretty positive, she will live up to the expectations I have on her :) 

By the way, I managed to get Emma and Sophie’s standby cards even though neither of them was performing tonight (Emma is standby Elphaba, Sophie standby Glinda)!

To conclude, I just want to write down the updated version of my Elphabas and Glindas rankings:

Elphaba:

1. Emma Hatton (current London standby, lead from 02/02/2015)
2. Jennifer DiNoia (current London lead)
3. Jemma Rix (current Australian lead)
4. Eden Espinosa 
5. Idina Menzel (original Elphaba)
6. Jacqueline Hughes (current UK tour standby) and Michelle Pentecost (ex-understudy)

Glinda:

1. Savannah Stevenson (current London lead)
2. Katie Rose Clarke
3. Kristin Chenoweth (original Glinda)
4. Lucy Durack (current Australian lead)
5. Hayley Podshun (ex - US tour, she was Jennifer's perfect Glinda)