Wicked the Musical - Jennifer DiNoia's last show

Jennifer DiNoia's last show in London - 31/01/2015 evening

I spent most of my day near the Aollo Victoria theatre, with some friends I made on twitter through the Wicked fandom (including those I had laready met in person when I went to see the show on the 16th - here). Around 6.30pm,  Isabela and her cousin Igor joined me and the rest of the twitter group at the theatre. We had a quick take away dinner at the station and we all took our seats in the auditorium. There were so many of us... all the twitter people, plus Isabela and Igor. Isabela, Igor, Megan (from twitter) and I were in the upper circle so we rushed there after picking up some tissues from one of our friends inf ront row, who had kindly provided them for everyone.

I sat in S33 for the first act, in Igor's place so he could be with Isabela for a while, in the middle of Wicked first-timers. I know this because I asked. And because I had to warn them there would be lots of cheers and tears during the show. I couldn't not tell them what a special show they were about to witness! I had to hire a binocular to see properly... new experiences...

The beginning of the show was normal, until Jenny ran on stage at the beginning "Dear Old Shiz". In that moment half the auditorium exploded in cheers and applauses and screams and it went on for ages. Longer than anyone thought. Longer than Jenny expected because, after holding a straight face for a while, she broke character and a sad grin appeared on her face! The director of the orchestra allowed for the cheers to continue and held the orchestra back for longer than he should have, before starting "Dear Old Shiz". I'm glad he did, as Jenny deserved to be shown all that support!


Eventually the show advanced and the next exceptional moment came near the end of "The Wizard and I". How silly of me to think Jenny's performance of it couldn't get any better, considering her stunning riff on "And I'll stand there with the wizard, feeling things I've never felt"! She shocked everyone and made all her fans squeal in the silence when she rushed the "And thought I'd never show it" to then riff "I'd be so happy I could meeeeeelt"! What a stunner. That was pure amazingness! I'm still not over that riff, none of her fans is. How could we?? She had never done it before and she left us all speechless with that.

The rest of act 1 was normal, for as normal as a Jenny-show can be, until "Deying Gravity" arrived. Then I was back to holding my breath. This time I knew what was coming, she wouldn't let us down! She started the song fiercely, growling parts of it, totally on fire the whole time and by the time the ending came I was already breathless... and then she did it. She riffed that second "Bring me down" and once again I had tears in my eyes. What a first act!!

In the interval, I quickly went to see Isabela, happily going on and on about the new riffs! And then I ran to front row to see the rest of the twitter group and festivate (Wicked-related mistake - it's inteded) together :P It was amazing, even though a few people were in tears for having heard Jenny's last "Defying Gravity". We were all so thrillified, so excited and enthusiastic about that act!!

For act 2, I sat next to Isabela and other Wicked fans luckily. I didn't want to be alone for the last act, the emotional one, because I knew I would cry.

Everything was fine, until "No Good Deed" - Jenny's performance was outstanding and during her "Fiyeeeeeeerooo" riff I started crying too... Isabela was such a sweetheart and was comforting me. She loves Jenny, but she is not as emotionally attached as me and doesn't get as emotional, so she was fine... I was soooo sad that that was the last live Fiyero-riff I was going to get from Jenny...

However, I calmed down and was okay again until the beginning of "For Good", when Jenny and Savannah both started crying on stage. Sophie (a friend of mine in front row) told me she actually saw a tear falling from Jenny's face to the floor. That was too much and I started crying again, as quietly as possible. It's already a very emotional song, but on Saturday night it was even more so... the sadness continued until the very end. Savannah and Jenny never stopped crying, but they managed to not miss a single note... I admire them so much for their strength! Though, I saw that while Jenny and Jeremy (Fiyero) were hugging during the finale, her shoulders were shaking and he was patting her back to comfort her.

If it was this sad for us fans, it must have been devastating for the cast, who had shared so much time with Jenny... especially since she is not simply leaving the show, but flying back to America, pretty far!

In fact, after a huge standing ovation during curtain call, when the time of the speeches came Savannah and Jenny were still crying and had to wait before they could start speaking. The speeches are linked below and I can just say they are beautiful and touching and so sweet... Jenny even thanked all the fans who supported her so much *-*

Stage door

At stage door, I met Cecilia, Bailee and Sophie, who was very very upset so she kept to herself. All of us had tears in our eyes, though, and were all sad. We ignored most of the cast that came out, until Savannah... she was incredibly cute and stopped to chat with us. She signed all of our tickets, and then when somebody asked her how she had managed to keep her composure throughout the show she went like "Well, I didn't! I was crying most of the time!"

Eventually, Jenny exited stage door, welcomed with cheers once again. It took ages for her to reach us, as there were lots of people before us. We wanted to be last, keeping Sophie as the very last one as she deserved to be the last one saying goodbye after all she has done for Jenny (12 shows in a row, 25 Jenny-shows in total, more than anyone else!). When Jenny arrived we all complimented her a lot, told her how much we will miss her and she thanked us once again for supporting her as much as we have. She also signed our tickets of course!

We stayed there until the last moment, then I left with Isabela and Igor. I wasn't much of a company to Isabela that night (she was sleeping over in my room to leave hers to Igor), between sadness and extreme tiredness. 

Jenny's last day in Wicked UK was something special, something to remember and cherish. She is such a talent, such a wonderful performer and a lovely woman! Jennifer DiNoia, London and your fans here miss you already.