‘Wicked’ lures audience again and again – Reviewed By Michael Morain, DesMoinesRegister.com.
“Wicked” returned to Des Moines Wednesday for its third visit and brought with it another horde of ticket-buyers, drawn in like trick-or-treaters for a sugar fix.
Nobody can really explain why the show hit the sweet spot that by now has generated more than $3 billion from 38 million viewers worldwide. It could be that we identify with the two main characters, the allegedly “good” and “wicked” witches, who feel misunderstood in distinct but understandable ways. It could also be that the feel-good takeaway about being yourself and accepting others is a message that bears repeating. It’s certainly the kind of emotional ride that attracts repeat viewers, who might not return for something like “The Book of Mormon,” which loses some of its shock value the second time around.
As Glinda the Good, the Kansas native Hayley Podschun seems to have inherited DNA from both a chipmunk and Barbie. She is a chattering blonde bombshell, whose perky vanity belies a steely spine and sparkling set of pipes. Her giddy acrobatics win laughs in “Popular,” her signature song, but her voice is no less flexible or energetic. Later she brings something deeper to “Thank Goodness,” slapping on a smile to hide her character’s pain.
Jennifer DiNoia plays Elphaba, the green one, and belts out the empowering anthem “Defying Gravity” with apparent ease, adding musical heft even to its final Tarzan yell. She has an impressive range — listen to her sweet low notes in “I’m Not That Girl” — and she clearly believes what she’s singing. Still, it’s her acting that pulls us in, showing us exactly why the witch was never so wicked as we once believed.
“It’s all in which label is able to persist,” the Wizard (Walker Jones) explains, showing off the lyricist’s knack for internal rhyme. “There are precious few at ease / with moral ambiguities / so we act as if they don’t exist.”
Even without the multimillion-dollar sets and costumes, it’s a moving story with beautiful music and relatable characters. It’s embedded in our culture now, as solid as bricks in the yellow brick road.
Wicked musical will be in Des Moines IA for only 2-weeks through November 10, 2013. From here the national touring production moves to Indianapolis, IN where Wicked will be performing at Murat Theatre from November 13 to December 01, 2013.
Jennifer DiNoia, who is defying gravity as the star of Wicked at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium Music Hall, enjoys being green. DiNoia plays Elphaba in the blockbuster musical and has taken on the role in five different companies of the high-flying show.
Wicked behind-the-scenes look by kctv5.com – Watch the Video Below:
Wicked second national tour is currently stop in Kansas City, Missouri and performing through October 27, 2013 at Music Hall Kansas City (301 West 13th St., Kansas City, Missouri 64105).
41 Action News Meteorologist Kalee Dionne goes behind the scenes of Wicked the musical and met Kansas City native Hayley Podschun, who plays the lead role of Glinda – watch the Video below:
Podschun attended Blue Valley High School and her parents still reside in Overland Park.
Wicked second national tour is currently performing at Music Hall Kansas City (301 West 13th St., Kansas City, Missouri 64105) through October 27, 2013.
Broadway’s meticulous ‘Wicked’ electrifies its Kansas City audience – Reviewed By Robert Trussell, HispanicBusiness.com.
Big Broadway shows that tour for ever and ever are built on templates that guarantee one thing above all else — that the audience gets exactly what it wants. That was certainly the case Thursday night at the Music Hall Kansas City, where the road company of “Wicked” had the audience on its feet before the curtain call.
This touring production of “Wicked” looks and sounds like the first company that played Kansas City a few years ago. The meticulously crafted and inventively designed show works like precision machinery, providing visceral laughs and excretions of sentimentality at specific moments to tug the audience along, no matter where or when you see it. The director, Joe Mantello, has a long, lucrative history of creating hits.
As the show unfolds, it explains the creation of the Tin Woodsman and the Scarecrow, the significance of the ruby slippers and lets us see Nessarose, Elphaba’s younger sister who becomes the Wicked Witch of the East before she meets her demise beneath a falling Kansas farmhouse. We also meet the Wizard, a flimflam man who, it turns out, is stunned to discover his unknown connection to Elphaba. Much of this is inherently amusing and delivered with appreciable wit.
Of chief interest in this production to local audiences is the presence of Hayley Podschun, an experienced Broadway actress who grew up in Overland Park. I’d never seen Podschun in a principal role before and she delivers a superior comic performance, full of spontaneous moments and inventive surprises. She exhibits a sharp instinct for physical humor and possesses a stunning voice.
Her counterpart is Jennifer DiNoia, who handles the role of Elphaba with a strong stage presence and a powerful set of pipes. She makes the character’s inner sorrow and anger palpable, thus anchoring the show with a respectable degree of dramatic weight.
To nitpick is a critic’s prerogative and I still find this show too long, with a score that turns to hyper-melodrama when a memorable melody can’t be found.
That said, “Popular” is a fine musical-comedy number and the blistering “No Good Deed” is a high point of Act 2.
Wicked musical will be in Kansas City MO for only 3-weeks through October 27, 2013. From here the second national touring production will be moving to Des Moines, IA where Wicked will be performing at Des Moines Civic Center from October 30 to November 10, 2013.
Wicked touring musical is currently stop in Minneapolis MN and performing at Orpheum Theatre Minneapolis (910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55403 ) through October 27, 2013.
There’s more to “Wicked” than what meets the eye at the Orpheum Theatre. In terms of a production, Wicked is astonishing – Reviewed By Morgan Halaska, TCDailyPlanet.com.
There’s something to be said about the vast popularity of Wicked, being that The Wizard of Oz is one of the most parodied stories of our time. Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) starring James Franco is a recent example of a failed attempt to reap the benefits of a story with established success. Wicked has taken on a life of its own, though, and has dominated that sect of the “what really happened in The Wizard of Oz” take. Opening night on Thursday, September 19 at the Orpheum Theatre proved that team Elphaba has the potential to go as strong as its team-Dorothy counterpart (although the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive).
Wicked the musical (2003) rips its genius straight from the pages of Gregory McGuire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995), a revised look at the classic 1939 film. We learn the other side of the story, in which we see The Wicked Witch of the West as Elphaba (Alison Luff), the “beautifully tragic” student who stands up for her beliefs even if it’s not the popular one. Because of her green-colored skin, she’s automatically outcasted both by her father and her fellow classmates, who instead favor the “tragically beautiful” sister Nessarose (Jaime Rosenstein) and the blonde-haired winsome Galinda (that’s right, Galinda with a “guh”) (Jenn Gambatese) respectively. Elphaba and Galinda are paired as roommates—a travesty of justice of course, for Galinda, who’s used to getting her way.
In terms of a production, Wicked is astonishing. The set design, choreography and of course the music is nothing short of impressive.
Wicked is a standing production in London, United Kingdom and Coming into it’s 8th year at the Apollo Victoria Theatre the show continues to be a fun and huge musical that pays homage to, and poke fun at, the classic Oz tale – Reviewed by RuddleMatthew at TQSMagazine.co.uk.
Wicked is boldly epic in both plot and presentation: beginning at the end with the Wicked Witch of the West’s death, we flashback to her (Elphaba) birth, school days, and first meeting with Glinda as the musical tracks her rise and fall, revealing the ‘truth’ behind her wicked ways (no prizes for guessing all is not as we’ve been lead to believe).
Louise Dearman (Elphaba) and Gina Beck (Glinda) are the musicals true MVPs and they shine brightest whenever together on stage (‘What is this Feeling?’ showing off both their talents). While Dearman’s vocals are powerful and soaring, and her Elphaba passionate and defiant, Beck’s vocals (and portrayal of Glinda) are light and fun. Dearman inhabits Elphaba so thoroughly, while Beck’s Glinda is so charmingly air-headed, that the strength of the characters carries the musical alone.
The songs in the first half are universally excellent, giving insight into characters’ personality and emotions while working to the story’s emotional beats, from fist-pumping solos to fun duets. However the songs in the second half do suffer compared to the first, never finding one as fun as ‘Popular’ or with the playful harmonies of ‘What is this Feeling?’ or as strong as ‘Defying Gravity’ (although ‘No Good Deed’ comes close).
But by this point the characters’ actions have come to a head and the plot itself catches up with the Wizard of Oz; seeing the reinterpretations and ‘behind-the-scenes’ moments is thrilling and the less memorable music doesn’t detract from the anticipation in seeing Elphaba and Glinda will resolve their differences.
Wicked wowed a full audience with magical music and visual effects – Reviewed via HispanicBusiness.com.
Wicked wowed a full audience with magical music and visual effects at the Stranahan Theater on Thursday night. As the play opens, Glinda (Hayley Podschun) confirms the Wicked Witch of the West’s death and the production unfolds as a flashback about how the two came to know each other.
The Good and Green met when they arrived at Shiz University. The daughter of the Munchkin governor, green-skinned Elphaba (Jennifer DiNoia), was sent to school to keep an eye on her fair-skinned younger sister Nessarose (Jenny Fellner) who uses a wheelchair.
There is friction between the two at first, then a competition of sorts as they share an interest in the popular prince Fiyero (David Nathan Perlow), who turns out to be much deeper than his deep pockets and good looks. From there, the musical twists and turns, surprising the audience.
The cast dazzled in beautiful costumes and stunning sets and special effects. Even with a sound system that rendered some lyrics incomprehensible, the vocal performances soared, entertaining an audience that applauded thunderously after each scene.
The production is based on Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel, Since its Broadway opening in 2003, it has been wildly successful, bringing in more than $3 billion in ticket sales and viewed by more than 35 million people worldwide. Seven productions of Wicked are being staged worldwide, including two national tours and more than 4,000 Broadway performances.
In the year 2010, Most of the Wicked shows were sold out or near capacity at the Stranahan. For the current engagement also Wicked Stranahan Theater Tickets are selling fast online. Click here for the Wicked Toledo OH Tickets Availability and Buy before they go on sale completely.
“Wicked!” and “Awesome!” – Reviewed by Chris Harding via Boston Neighborhood News.
The musical , which depicts an alternate history of the witches of Oz, has repeatedly broken box office records in Boston and around the world, having been seen by 37 million people (largely those of the female persuasion). You don’t need green spectacles to perceive that the young leads have greater vocal power and stage presence than many a better-known performer could muster.
At the heart of this prequel is the ever-changing friendship and rivalry between two women who meet at the Hogwartian Shiz University. Alison Luff plays the green-skinned, thin-skinned Elphaba, who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West while Jenn Gambatese portrays her blonde-headed, air-headed roomie, who becomes Glinda the Good.
The show was adapted from a best-seller of the same title written by part-time Concord, MA, resident Gregory Maguire. Librettist Winnie Holzman’s stage version is more light-hearted and conventionally romantic than Maguire’s somewhat grim and definitely adult take on the Frank L. Baum classic series. Creator of the lauded TV series “My So-Called Life,” she highlights “Seventeen”-ish issues like body images, dangerous boyfriends, school rivalries, self-esteem, and animal rights. However, Holzman doesn’t shy from the book’s existential reflections on how well-intentioned deeds can turn out to have evil effects.
So “Wicked” fronts up with more than enough spectacle and laughs to enchant the first-time viewer, but its haunting, tangled plot and intelligent lyrics just seem to grow richer and more intricate with each subsequent visit. So slip on your ruby red party shoes and head over to the Boston Opera House.
Broadway’s highest grossing show is running now through September 15 at the Boston Opera House. Watch the Awesome musical Wicked by owning Wicked Boston Tickets.
Touring musical is a ‘Wicked’ good show – Reviewed via HispanicBusiness.com.
A decade after opening on Broadway, “Wicked,” the musical back-story of “The Wizard of Oz,” is still vibrant and exciting, with absolutely gorgeous music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.
The touring production that opened this week at The Boston Opera House had some uneven singing, but better acting and dancing than in the two other touring shows I’ve seen.
Jenn Gambatese’s Glinda the Good is a terrific blend of a ditzy exterior and a genuinely nice person hidden within. The character is also hilarious. A Broadway veteran, Gambatese is comfortable on stage and well-versed in handling the musical demands of a show like “Wicked.” Her soprano is smooth and warm, bringing to life the opening number, “No One Mourns the Wicked,” as well as “Thank Goodness” and the widely sung, and very funny, “Popular.”
This is definitely a “Wicked” good production worth seeing, even if you’ve seen the musical before. But without a crystal ball to see Luff, the Elphaba regular, it’s hard to say if the chemistry will be as good as it was between Gambatese and Harris, and whether Luff’s singing as Elphaba will be even better.
Wicked Shines When Glinda the Good Witch is on Stage – reviewed by D.L. Groover.
The set-up:
With all the aerial modes of transportation on display in Stephen Schwartz’s (and book writer Winnie Holtzman’s) megahit musical Wicked – winged monkeys, broomstick, tornado, fairground balloon, and bubble – you’d think this theatrical juggernaut from 2003, the fourth incarnation to visit Houston via Gexa on Broadway, would have learned how to fly.
The execution:
Based very loosely upon Gregory Maguire’s adult “prequel” to L. Frank Baum’s classic series of children’s books, this Broadway adaptation owes whatever magic it possesses to the long-ago, golden age wizards of MGM. Wicked’s creators should be on their knees in thanks, because without the cinematic references to characters, costume and set design, even lines of dialogue, this show would be nowhere.
The verdict:
The show, immensely popular and still selling out on Broadway as well as in every city it tours, is impervious to criticism. Ten years down the road, it has lost none of its power to beguile and will probably be around fifty years from now packing the house. This is family entertainment with a vengeance, and it’s heartening to see young ones in the audience so thrilled by live theater. But I think they marvel at the quantity, not the quality.
