Wicked Musical currently Stops in San Francisco CA for almost 4-week run. Wicked will be performing at Orpheum Theater SF through February 17, 2013. Wicked musical play at Orpheum Theater reviewed by Robert Hurwitt – Here is the review:
Elphaba, the green girl, flies high and sings with beautifully modulated power as she becomes the Wicked Witch of the West in the touring production of “Wicked” that opened Thursday at the Orpheum Theatre. Glinda the Good matches her vocally and dazzles the audience with charm. And that may be the bigger story.
Understudy Cassie Okenka rose from the ensemble to don Glinda’s blond locks, pink frocks and sunnily self-absorbed personality when co-star Patti Murin was sidelined with the flu Thursday. From her glittering first notes through every step of an assured performance, Okenka more than gave the audience its money’s worth at the latest show in SHN’s season.
It was another nice turn in San Francisco’s long relationship with composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz and librettist Winnie Holzman’s adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s dystopian “Oz” prequel. The show had its world premier here in 2003, before going on to become one of Broadway’s hottest tickets, and returned for a prolonged run in ’09.
It’s very much the same, well-oiled production as last time, staged with quick-paced clarity by Joe Mantello and inventively boisterous dance by Wayne Cilento. The great smoke-breathing mechanical dragon looms above the massive gears and clockworks of Eugene Lee’s Victorian steam-punk set. The cast creates sharp individual portraits in Susan Hilferty’s scruffy peasant, odd animal and glittering Emerald City costumes.
The heart of “Wicked” is the story of Elphaba and Glinda, accidental roommates and rivals in wizardry and romance at Shiz University. Dee Roscioli shines as the shy but assertive, sharp-tongued green girl, the eternal outsider blessed – and cursed – with magical powers she’s only learning to use.
Though she’s played Elphaba more often than anyone else, Roscioli keeps the role fresh and immediate, whether navigating her uneasy growing closeness with Glinda or confronting the villainies of Kim Zimmer’s outrageously formidable Madame Morrible and the vaudevillian con-man Wizard of Kevin McMahon (also filling in for an ailing regular).
Read the complete review {Via SFGate.com}
Wicked musical will play through February 17, 2013 at Orpheum Theater, 1192 Market St., S.F. Buy Wicked San Francisco CA Tickets Online – SAVE $10 when you spend $350 or more, Use code AFF$10.
