|
(1)
WICKED (musical)
Click here now to view video clips from this show.Ever wonder what the real Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, was like?
Back before Dorothy's
house turned her sister into Yellow Brick Road-kill, and Dorothy gave her a
shower, Elphaba was a student just trying to do what was right.
(2)
This is the story of her college years,
(3)
meeting Glinda,
(4)
a campaign for animal rights and the lonely struggle with the fact it is no fun being
green...
(5)
and in love.
Alexia Khadime plays Elphaba until 29th November 2008, with Kerry Ellis
returning from a Broadway run in the role on 1st December 2008), Dianne Pilkington is Glinda / Galinda and Oliver Tompsett
plays Fiyero.
(6)
and Desmond Barrit (not pictured) as the Wizard.
Stephen Schwartz provides the music and lyrics based on a novel by Gregory
Maguire. Winnie Holtzman provides the musical book, Eugene Lee the scenery,
Susan Hilferty costumes, with Joe Mantello directing and Wayne Cilento credited
for musical staging. The monkey's Great Uncle Ex-Squadron-Leader Wilberforce would also like
credit for training the flying monkeys, apparently... even though he didn't.
Photographic credits for above: (from the current / Past London
casts of this production)
(1) Kerry Ellis. Photo by Tristram Kenton.
(2) Dianne Pilkington and Oliver Tompsett. Photo by Tristram Kenton.
(3) Dianne Pilkington. Photo by Tristram Kenton.
(4) Idina Menzel and Company. Photo by Tristram Kenton.
(5) Oliver Tompsett. Photo by Tristram Kenton.
(6) Nigel Planer and Idina Menzel. Photo by Tristram Kenton.
All photographs are copyright of the production and photographer Tristram Kenton as
credited.
Please note that these photographs are used by permission. They MUST NOT be
reproduced on other websites without permission of the above mentioned copyright
owners. Theatremonkey.com will report any abuse of these photographs to the
licensee.
PLEASE NOTE: For copyright reasons, information and
graphics on this
page should not be directly copied and reproduced on other websites / noticeboards. Hyperlinks to this page are, of course, welcomed.
|
|
"Lyrics and music and book, oh my!" Proof, if proof were needed, that the
old-fashioned Broadway musical isn't dead. The story is basically the
traditional "green girl wants boy, boy wants yellow girl" ending with green girl
turning boy yellow, and yellow and green girl settling their differences - with
some animal rights stuff and zingy one liners thrown in. The satisfaction is in
the neat dovetailing with the classic film - find out how the well loved
characters became what they are; the downside is overlong sequences that look
great but add twenty minutes of ballast to the proceedings.
This is very much a show of two halves. The first has Winnie "My So Called
Life" Holzman channel female adolescence with acuity once again. If business
starts to slip, producers should re-paint the theatre walls powder pink,
replace seats with furry-toy strewn beds and provide free popcorn, cosmetics and
a pizza delivery service. Very much attuned to the sleepover crowd, the fun
"Popular" and 'I wish' numbers "The Wizard and I" and "I'm
Not That Girl" are
arrows to teenage hearts. Once the director realises "Popular" works way better
with an American air-head accent than it does with a British spoof-Sloane one,
it'll be the perfect "DVD night in" substitute. That isn't to say Helen Dallimore
should be upset by frank analysis, but the director should consider the show in
need of personality dialysis and restore it to the original (United States)
state at the next cast change. Oh, and that line is probably the "wittiest" in the
show - you can almost hear Sondheim scream as it is sung.
Act two grows progressively darker, and the resolutions come late into it.
Tighter than act one, and noticeably more adult, it eschews the clumsy shifts of
place for a smoother cinematic feel but feels rushed to ensure the show comes in
at the sub-three hour mark. The searing "As Long as You're Mine" and insightful
"For Good" deserved time that "Wizomania" pointlessly occupies and could have
turned a good show into an unforgettable one. Time to contemplate motives, cause
and effect are limited, and the monkey would have appreciated more of it spaced
through the production.
Expensively staged, occasionally buckling under its own spectacular mass,
set (Elphaba could perhaps have flown properly had there been space) and a
desire to give the audience every penny of the production costs in spectacle
over substance, this is the golden era of musicals brought into the 21st
century. Those old musicals had their faults, as does this, but ultimately a
show succeeds on how deep its songs and images engrave themselves in the memory.
Probably too crass for the current "post war" musical lover (though Schwartz
produces some of his best work here), Wicked will still worm its way into the
affections of many - younger people especially - perhaps ultimately ending up as
a "standard" in fifty years time. As the dragon signifies, it is time that
tells, and this show is mostly worthy of the audiences' hours.
|