Emma Hatton’s debut as lead Elphaba – 2nd February 2015
As usual when it comes to Wicked-related posts, I warn you this is going to be a very long post!
Before the show
Before the show
I spent pretty much the whole day outside the theatre, with my
friends (met on twitter) Cecilia, Martin, Sophie and Amy. Cecilia and
Martin are the other two biiiiig Emma-fans, Sophie is a Jennifer-fan and Amy is a Willemijn Verkaik-fan. Not that I don't love Jennifer and Willemijn, but Emma just tops them all for me :)
Around 6.45pm, Lauren arrived and we toasted to Emma, with whatever drink we were holding (for me it was water, of course LOL) and while still admiring the beautiful new programme. Now it was only a matter of minutes before the show! We waited until the door opened, at 7 o’clock, and we went to our places: me, Cecilia, Sophie and Amy central in front row, Martin just behind me and Lauren somewhere in the stalls (though she stayed with us until the beginning of the show). Behind me there was also a man that I have met a few times at previous shows, who has seen “Wicked” over 180 times and has become a friend of Sophie after seeing it together a lot of times lately. He is a huge Jenny-fan and was there just to see the cast change, despite having already seen Emma and not being the biggest fan of hers.
Once I had bought my dayseat ticket in the morning (and the woman who sold
it to me actually remembered my name from Saturday!), I went around the
queue to sell the ticket I already had, for row O. I thought I would struggle,
but it literally took me 5 minutes to find this Asian girl who was very willing
to buy it and skip the rest of the queue :) So I got the money for it and it’s
like I didn’t pay anything for the show, since my dad had bought me the row O
ticket some time ago!
Tickets in our bags, we all rushed to get the tube and go home,
with Sophie coming with meto campus since she had already checked out of her hostel. We had about two hours before
we had to head back to catch Emma at stage door before the show. In this time,
I wrote a little note to attach to the flowers I was going to buy for Emma,
then Sophie and I had lunch and we both got changed into our theatre outfits. Around
1pm we arrived back in Victoria Station and we went looking for some flowers. At
first I thought of buying some from Mark & Spencer, but I didn’t like any
so I chose a little florist in the centre of the station and bought this lovely
little bouquet :)
Less than 20 minutes later, Sophie and I met up with Martin
at stage door and soon also Cecilia and Amy joined us. We stood at stage door for a while and Emma arrived around
2.30pm. we saw her walking in the wrong direction and we all kind of panicked,
but then she walked back towards stage door and awwwww... Cecilia, Martin and I
were so excited! When she reached us she was with her parents and Cecilia and I
gave her the presents :) She was sooooo adorable and sweet and thanked us a lot
and her parents kept saying “thank you so much” until they walked inside. That’s
when both Cecilia and I freaked out xD It wasn’t the first time either of us
has seen Emma, but it was such an important moment, because it would be the
last time before her debut as lead!
We barely had the time to recover from that and immediately
some men walked out of the theatre holding a ladder: it was time for the
pictures on the wall to be changed!! Sophie was on the verge of tears, knowing
that Jennifer’s pictures would be taken down, Amy wasn’t there, and the rest of us
were over the moon. It was so hilarious seeing the three of us following the
workers around while they brought the pictures out. We expected two photos of
Emma to take the place of the two of Jennifer’s... we were very wrong: yes, Jenny’s
were removed, but instead they put up FIVE new photos of Emma, taking down and
reorganising most of the pictures on the wall - Emma really took over the Apollo Victoria theatre!
We literally squealed when we
saw the “Popular” picture coming out
and then went on giggling and smiling at every new one
that they put up :) Then there was the biggest surprise: an “As long as you’re mine” proshot that nobody
expected at all! They had already released an enormous and unexpected amount of
proshots of Emma, plus a couple of videos that had sent us fans crazy, but that
“As Long as you’re mine” was such a
gift... it’s so beautiful. Also, we found this stunning, sweet picture of Emma
in “The Wizard and I” online and we
were starry eyed forever afterwards :)
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| "Wonderful" picture |
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| "For Good" and "No Good Deed" |
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| The "Popular" picture! |
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| Surprise surprise - first glimpse of the "As Long as You're Mine" pic |
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| Isn't it just a beauty?! |
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| Such a sweet "Wizard and I" image! |
Once all the pictures were up, they went to change the cast
board – it remained pretty much the same, with a couple of exceptions... which
obviously included Emma’s name taking the place of Jennifer’s!
Eventually all of this was over, Cecilia and Amy went inside
the station because they were freezing, while Martin and I stayed with Sophie
(despite the fact that we were freezing ourselves), who had some flowers for
Savannah Stevenson (Glinda). After about half an hour of Savannah not showing up, she decided to
give them to the orchestra director and we all joined Cecilia and Amy indoor.
The five of us found a place upstairs at Victoria Station,
and we still had over 3 hours to wait before the show started. Honestly, this
wait was the longest ever... We were just so excited for Emma and couldn’t believe the day
had finally arrived for her to become lead. I have only known Emma for three
months or so, whether Martin and Cecilia have been following her for almost a
year – I can imagine that if I, having known her for so short, was in
disbelief, they must have really felt like it was unreal! During the hours that
we had to wait, we ate a little bit, listened to audios, chatted, laughed a lot
and went to the supermarket to buy ourselves some water for the show.
Finally it was 6 o’clock and we could get inside the theatre
to go to the Elixir Cafe upstairs as we had planned: we wanted to have a proper
celebration for Emma’s first! We took a seat and then waited for Lauren (another Emma-fan), who
was going to arrived a bit later, before toasting. In the meantime, at 6.30pm,
the Ozdust Boutique opened and Cecilia, Martin and I ran to get the updated
programme with Emma’s pictures inside. It’s perfect – this programme is utter
perfection *_* Emma is everywhere,
practically in every page. She has so many pictures, either big or small... I
can’t believe how amazing this programme is! And there’s also a new photo of
Savannah, from “Popular”, which is stunning – well, it’s Savannah, how could a
picture of her be anything but stunning?!
Around 6.45pm, Lauren arrived and we toasted to Emma, with whatever drink we were holding (for me it was water, of course LOL) and while still admiring the beautiful new programme. Now it was only a matter of minutes before the show! We waited until the door opened, at 7 o’clock, and we went to our places: me, Cecilia, Sophie and Amy central in front row, Martin just behind me and Lauren somewhere in the stalls (though she stayed with us until the beginning of the show). Behind me there was also a man that I have met a few times at previous shows, who has seen “Wicked” over 180 times and has become a friend of Sophie after seeing it together a lot of times lately. He is a huge Jenny-fan and was there just to see the cast change, despite having already seen Emma and not being the biggest fan of hers.
The last 30 minutes before the show dragged on forever... I
had watery eyes and so did Cecilia, while Martin was simply over the moon (like
us). Fangirling went on until the last moment, with hugs and excited “enjoy”
whispered as soon as the lights went down!
The show
<<Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this performance of “Wicked”>>
I’ve been as nervous as on Monday night during this
announcement only the first time I’ve seen Emma. And back then I didn’t have
nearly as much excitement as I had this time! I was dying for Emma to walk on
stage and for her takeover to be effective! I’ll go through the show step by
step, so bear with me.
“No One Mourns the
Wicked” was as perfect as usual, if not better, because Savannah was
amazing in my opinion. However, I couldn’t concentrate on the song that much
and in my mind it went so fast.
At the beginning of “Dear
Old Shiz” I held my breath and I heard I wasn’t the only one doing so. “...We
were both very young...” – and the back door opened: Emma Hatton ran on stage in
her lovely make up, portraying the tiniest and cutest Elphaba. We all erupted
in cheers, and we held onto those cheers and applause for a long time. At first
I was worried it would be just the few of us cheering her entrance, but most of
the auditorium joined in (even though it was half empty) luckily and Emma got
the welcome she deserved.
From the moment she arrived, her acting was particularly entertaining,
hilarious very often and perfect in every moment. Her face is just incredibly
expressive and her eyes can transmit so much emotion!
“The Wizard and I”,
normally one of my favourite numbers from her, was slightly undertone. It was
still great, but she was clearly nervous (well, clearly to us who knew her) and
didn’t give her best – she would have if she hadn’t been that nervous, but it’s
totally understandable considering what a big step she was taking. After all,
she is the first London standby to be promoted to lead, not counting Kerry
Ellis because she knew pretty much from the beginning that she would take over
Idina. No matter what, her “The Wizard
and I” got to me and once again, when the high and long notes came Cecilia
and I were holding and squeezing each other’s hand. Emma has that effect, yes!
In “What is this
feeling?” both Emma and Savannah were awesome, they were perfect. Though,
that’s when I could really see how
nervous Emma was: while she was holding the letter at the beginning of the
song, her hands were shaking. And later on I saw her tapping her fingers
nervously on her leg... poor Emma must have been working so hard to stay calm!
That aside, her acting in here was different from what any of us had seen
before (and by that I mean that everyone else agreed with me, it wasn’t just me
noticing it – I’ve only seen her once so I can’t judge differences in her
acting that much). During the first part of the chorus of the Shiz students she
rolled her eyes in a way that had all of us burst out laughing.
During “Dancing
through life” Emma simply couldn’t stop smiling, she was clearly excited and
happy of being where she was. Her Elphie-dance was the funniest ever and then
she and Savannah had me melting when they held hands and smiled at each other
fondly!
“Popular” was
something else, something unbelievably funny. As I have already said
previously, Emma takes part in this song, so it’s not only Savannah’s song when
Emma is on as Elphaba! The two of them are the perfect pair here, because they
are hilarious with their faces and acting :P And during her debut, Emma gave
particularly funny and expressive faces LOL
Her acting before and during “I’m not that girl” is simply the best ever and her performance of
the song is my absolute favourite. Nobody else does it like her, in my opinion,
also because of the beautiful high note she puts at the end. Utter perfection!
“One Short Day”
saw even more smiles than usual, as Emma couldn’t hold her smile back... I
guess the reality of what was happening was catching up with her and she was
just so happy! I was smiling myself, happy for her :)
“Defying Gravity”
was slightly undertone at the very beginning, but she must have calmed down
half way through it because she gave a stunning performance of it and the
ending was so powerful and moving! I had tears in my eyes, for how amazing she
was and because I felt the emotion of the moment (the first “Defying Gravity” as lead!). The final
riffs had me and Cecilia hold hands again, and I’m so glad I had somebody’s
hand to squeeze in that moment!
When she walked out of the wardrobe in her visit to
Nessa, Emma had me burst out laughing like no one else does: Jennifer’s “Did I
scare you?” is sort of dramatic, Emma’s is hilarious!
There was soooo much enthusiasm in “Wonderful”, in the jazz hands, in the singing, the facial
expressions... and the spin that Philip Childs (playing the Wizard of Oz) gave her, almost
making her fall haha
“As Long As You’re
Mine” was the best one I had ever heard. Chemistry between Emma and Jeremy (playing Fiyero) aside, which was
impressive, Emma’s vocals were pure amazingness and brought tears to my eyes
during this song for the first time ever. Astonishing!I don’t like Jeremy’s
voice at all, here, but he makes a good Fiyero to Emma because they’ve known each
other for ages.
I was laughing so hard during the catfight scene! Emma’s
cackle was spectacular and I laugh even just remembering it LOL Then the slap
to Glinda didn’t work properly: the sound came a couple of seconds after the action
and that cracked everyone up (well, everyone who knew what was meant to
happen). I really couldn’t stop giggling until we were already half way through
the next scene haha They were nearly laughing on stage as well!
“No Good Deed”
left me speechless in its perfection. No words to express how incredible her
riffs, belts and acting were here. Whatever nerves might have held her back in
first act, didn’t have any effect on her second act, she was a force of nature,
she nailed it and blew me away.
For the first time I saw a “For Good” that had smiles all the way through. Emma must have been
trying hard to hide it, but she couldn’t keep it from us in front row... her
smile never faded or left her face, she was just too happy. And I (we) were so happy for her. Despite the
smile, or maybe also because of it, this performance of “For Good” brought tears to my eyes – it was such a lovely one.
The “Finale” was
so beautiful and sweet! And it put an end to Emma’s first show as lead, which
hit me while she was walking out of the back door. It was over, it had
happened!
All the way through the end of “For Good”, the talk between Glinda, Madame Morrible and the Wizard and the final
there was a terrible buzzing noise in the theatre that nobody could indentify. I
actually saw a couple of cast members looking around for it, and the director
of the orchestra did the same a few times!
At curtain call there was a huge standing ovation, which
luckily involved most of the theatre, and us Emma-fans literally screamed our
lungs out when she and Savannah walked on stage. She had this huge grin on her
face and looked radiant :)
Right, it might not have been a perfect show, because she
was very nervous at the beginning. Act 2 was absolutely incredible, though. It wasn’t
a perfect show, but it’s understandable, and it was still magical no matter
what. Seeing my favourite Elphie take over as lead alongside my favourite
Glinda, and her being so happy and excited made me joyous beyond words. I am so glad I
was there in front row to support her and see her shine in her own right. She
earned this role as lead Elphaba and deserves to be cheered and to have a
wonderful run!
Stage door
We stood at the very end of the barriers in front of stage
door and waited for the cast to come out. To be fair, we ignored everyone apart
from Emma and Savannah!
When Savannah arrived she talked to Sophie first and then
she turned to me and... she recognised me!!! I mean, the previous times she had
realised she had seen me more than once, but on Monday night she actually
associated my face to something! We had a brief conversation about Jennifer’s last showand our dedication to "Wicked" and the actresses (considering how
often the others and I had been there lately). Then she was like: “Oh, I love
your hat!” about the hat I got for Christmas, with the big puffy pon pon. It was
a little consideration she made, but I had starry eyes the whole time
afterwards and I froze when she said that. Right – Savannah Stevenson likes my
hat! That aside, she signed my programme and ticket, once again. Awww she is
just the sweetest person...
The next one coming out was Emma. As soon as she stepped out
of stage door I had tears in my eyes, really... I had been fine until that
moment, but seeing her so close after such an important night made me
emotional! She looked a bit down at first, but when she got to our section of
the barriers (aka Lauren, Martin, Sophie, me, Cecilia and Amy) she suddenly
cheered up. She signed everyone’s programme and when she looked up at me... she
recognised me as well *_* I was over the moon hearing her “Did you give me some
flowers today?” :) I was just starry-eyed and barely nodded and... awwwwwwwwww!
I love Emma too much! I tried to recover quickly and I actually spoke to her,
with something like “Congratulations on becoming lead” and then told her how
amazing her new “I’m not that girl”
final note is. She was very humble, and answered “Let’s pretend it’s a choice, but
it’s actually because I can’t do it low” or something very similar. That isn’t
really true though, as we all know, because until a few shows ago she had
always done the low version of it and everyone was amazed when she came up with
that note on the 16th of January (when I saw her for the first
time). Why would everyone be so amazed by it if she had always done it this
way, for as beautiful as it is?! Anyway, she also signed my programme and my
ticket and then took a Polaroid photo with me (thanks to Sophie once again). I can’t
stop staring at this photo now!
When she left our group, we didn’t
leave immediately. We were all so overwhelmed, so amazed, so emotional. What a
day and what a night it has been.
