The Wizard and I – Wicked

I was thinking before I went in to the show that I had seen it twice before, and then realized while waiting for the curtain to come up, that it was actually three times. I guess the two times I saw it in Toronto have kind of run together in my mind. I still remember New York vividly, and it’s the one that I would be mostly comparing it with.

I also need to state that I was taken off guard right from the beginning by the British accents. I know, I should have expected it, but for some reason I just hadn’t thought about it! And I’m so familiar with the show, it kind of threw me for a second. 🙂

The sets and staging were very comparable to either the Broadway or tour productions. The only thing I really noticed was different was towards the end, when Elphaba was yelling at Dorothy – she opened a trap door and yelled at her, rather than just yelling offstage. But that was pretty much it!

Let’s start in on the cast then – Kerry Ellis was Elphaba, and she did a really good job. She has great enunciation, which is perhaps a bit weird to mention, but often I find parts of dialogue or songs getting lost when people do it on stage, but I understood everything she said. She also had a great voice! Her “No Good Deed” was probably the highlight of the night musically for me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite as fond of Helen Dallimore’s voice as Glinda. Her interpretation of the character grew on me throughout the night, but her voice was just not to my liking. Totally personal thing – I’m sure others loved it!

We had understudies for both Fiyero and Boq, but they were both very good!! Oliver Tompsett was actually fantastic as Fiyero, and would be a close call to being my favourite Fiyero that I’ve seen. Doesn’t hurt that he’s REALLY cute. 😉 I do have to say, though, that no one can deliver the line “Let the green girl go” quite like Norbert. Jye Frasca was also really good as Boq. I found it interesting that he and Katie Kowley Jones as Nessarose got a laugh in “Wicked Witch of the East”, when she says that it changes everything, and he says it does – it was said so earnestly, I think a lot of the audience thought that it was going to be all cheesy and that now all of a sudden he would say that he loved her. He let the laugh go, and another pause as well, before continuing with the scene. I thought it was an interesting choice – not sure if I prefer it, but anything that makes me think more about a scene is always good!

Susie Blake was a very good Madame Morrible, although she had a small flub with her lines in “We Couldn’t Be Happier”, which always makes me really worried for the actor! But they got it back on track very quickly. And Nigel Planer was very good as the Wizard, really playing up the “hick”-ness of the Wizard more than anyone I’ve seen before.

Overall I really enjoyed the performance, and yes, still had some tears in my eyes at certain points. I am certain I will see it again before too long!