http://www.broadwayworld.com/videoinfo.cfm?showid=41

...
what are your comments on the recent cast on broadway?

im sure people will hate me for saying this but...

megan is not funny at all.
everything in that musical is pretty much "Choreographed" but the versions i saw were more out of their own emotions and feelings...

sho did not belt the last note of wizard and i.
for those who have seen it with her, tell me it was just a bad day
anywho, i loved her energy though
the little laugh after "i'd be so happy i could melt"

i dont know
im kinda disappointed..
its a broadway show
and the tour is kicking their butts...

IMO I think the tour kicks the current broadway butt too. I'm sure Sho is good but that video doesn't show it. I don't like her as Elphie and that little laugh after that line annoys me, I just can't see Elphie doing that and in Defying Gravity they need to pick new ways of moving those hands because they have been doing it the same way since she has been on Wicked. I like Meghan though. Its about time to get out of this "Glinda High Pitched voice" steroetype :roll: I wasn't impressed by how they put the clips together either (the way broadway world did the vid), it was kind of boring and nothing went together that well except in the beginning and when Sho says "For the first time I feel Wicked" then it goes to the Defying Gravity. Anyways thats just my opinion. Thanks for posting it!

yeah ive seen a million national tours [well not REALLY]
and this cast for wicked has been BY FAR the best

Megan is really good live.

I disagree, I think Broadway is much better than tour for all the clips Broaway sounded better. I loved Sho's The Wizard and I and Defying Gravity more than Stephs's. Sho kicks major butt. And Megan rocks Popular! And Michelle is a great Nessa. GO BROADWAY!!!!!

Well I can only comment on how the videos sound cos I haven't had the benefit of seeing it live, but I though whoever (excuse my ignorance) was singing on that video clip was actually quite good. Different to Idina, but then when has different matter, we're talking Wicked here Anyway, she sounded like she had a good strong voice, which on a couple of the videos I've seen has occassionally lacked with other Elphaba.

But that's just my opinion, and like I say it can't carry too much weight without having personally heard all these different, wonderful people sing!

I agree with Nessarose.

The broadway cast is better than the tour (judging from the clips) and sho isn't THAT bad.... sure, she's not Idina, but nobody can top her! (except maybe Eden)

I don't like SJB at all.... she is just.... not made for the role! it doesn't fit her!! and her voice.... I don't like it... it's too forced and not natural...

as much as Megan is concerned.... i have heard that her performance Popular is blowminding... meaning hilarious... but it didn't amaze me or anything.... true, it only showed a very small part of it, where there were not so many funny parts... However i think that she has a very beautiful voice...-. just not for the role....

Well... that's what i think... but lately, I have been hearing that they B'way cast doesn't pout much energy to the show as it used to.... what might be happening?

wow, I couldn't disagree more, she was made for the role. I love the way she sings, much more than Idina.

I think in ranking it goes:

1. Steph - very wicked sounding, like a witch should sound.
2. Shoshana - huge voice, adds so much to each song
3. Idina - no a lot of emotion in her voice

Shoshana is AMAZING live, i can't really judge, because i've never seen steph or idina live, but shoshana is my favorite. Megan was REALLY good too

i hate it that people are comparing it just by clips..

like i've seen broadway/tour.
thats why im making the comparison

but i have seen some bootlegs of sho
i think she sounds great

but i still say that the energy for the whole SHOW isnt there..
i dont know.
its probably just me..



and i have to agree on adam on this one.
stephanie is an amazing performer.
this role was made for her, literally...

Some of us don't have any other way, and ever gonna have another way to compare. Besides, I did say you couldn't really count my opinion Who is Elphie in that clip? Because she does have a very good, strong voice!

ive seen the CBC but i havent seen the tour.
judging by boots i really dislike SJB's elphaba.
its just not right, and i dont really like her voice..

Sho is amazing, her voice is unbelieavable. She is a great elphaba.
Megan is hilarious and i love her. i think her voice is great and the whole dtzy blonde stereotype is awesome.
her popular is mindblowing. shes hilarious. i swear shes in crack the whole song. she never stops moving. the teachibng elphie to flip her hair is sooooo funny. Sho looks like shes having a seaizure!
when she tells elphie that shes gonna turn herr frock into a ballgown is funny too. shes like "and now i will turn ur simple frock into an elegant ball gown. ooooooooooooo" as in oooooo amazing.

i love both of them and i think there amazing at there roles.

I personally loved Eden as Elphie. I felt she played the part so amazingly well. I really doubt I would like SJB in the role not because I don't think she's any good or anything but because I personally feel that Elphie should not be portrayed as wicked or a witch. She's just a misunderstood girl. I don't like when she's made out to be evil. But like I said, this is just my personal opinion and I don't think you all should lose your heads over such a silly thing. It's all just a matter of opinion.

very true, i saw some videos of stephanie block before seeing the show. I thought she sucked bad.... it isn't until you see her live that you can tell how AMAZING she trully is. Nothing quite like hearing "she had nothing to do with it, its me, its meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

and have it echo through the whole theater, it just runs shivers down your spine!!!!!!

but shoshana sounds AMAZING from the clips, I haven't seen her live, but I can't die happy until I do... she is sooo good!

omggg
i know how you feel
my best friend who is a STRAIGHT guy
started crying..


i always get goosebumps hearing that dialogue part but stephanie blew it SO OUT OF ORDINARY.. it was like jkladlkjadlkjaskljdklaklsalka all jammed up into "its meeeee" i always do it the "stephanie" way singing it in the car where the part where she sings "no wizard that there is OR WASSSSS" shivers.. :]

they were ok, but Norbert is definetly the best Fiyero that ive heard.

I saw the current cast live like two weeks ago and I've been listening to the CD and clipsicles of the original cast. I dont think that Idina had as much emotion and fiercness as Shoshana because everytime I listen to Sho I get goosybumps and not so much for Idina. But maybe it's just because Sho was my first time seeing "Wicked" (or any Broadway musical for that matter)

I think it also helps that it's live... I get little shivers when I watch the "booties". Oh my gosh, that came out so wrong. I mean bootlegs.

I have seen Sho live and she was awesome! I love her in this video aswell! And Megan is sooooooooo wonderful. Speaking of wonderful, Ben Vereen is great too! I didn't like him at first but he has grown on me...

It is hard to compare them from sound clips. I first saw Wicked with Idina and Jenn and it was amzing (Actually saw them twice) and when I heard Idina was leaving the show I didn't think there would ever be another Elphaba. I heard sound clips of Sho and decided I wasn't going to liek her as Elphie but I decided to check it out live. When I saw her live I changed my mind completely and now think that they are both amazing....just....different!! In two weeks I am going again (I know, I am obsessed!!) and can't wait to see how Megan is as Glinda. It will be different to hear such a change in voices but now I am looking forward to it.

I love this cast, seeing as it's the cast I saw! :heart: David :heart: but not so much the Glinda. I like the touring Glinda so much more. :whatever:

I Love Joey M so much. He was amazing!!! and cute...hehehhehe :mrgreen:

yeah joey m. was okay.

he just isnt a high singer. haha

which is the fiyero part..

Get out of denial and admit Joey M. isn't right for the role and brings the show down just as much as Fiyero's lack of character development does.

From this video it seems that the G(a)linda actress plays her like Rizzo in Grease.

:btw: Sho looks like she's on speed in the "The Wizard and I" clip. And the end sounds better when not belted.

how come all your comments sound so darn negative...

:agree:

Err...Stephanie helped write the role of Elphaba, helped write the music to fit her own voice, and was the original Elphaba...

Well, you're already glorifying all the positive aspects enough for the two of us, darlin'. I'm just stating my opinions. Was not the purpose of this thread to share with each other what we think of the video?

Hey, atleast I didn't say they were all ugly, or something that you might find rude.

ALSO:
i hate it when people automatically compare voices to the "original"... i dont think "original" means anything anyways... someone could sound better then the original.. in this case, idina < stephanie :]

I am confused. When did Steph play Elphaba. I thought Idina was the first Elphie. When did Steph do it?

When I compare to the original, it is because I LOVE the orginal cast. Megan is hilarious, but Kristin is always my Galinda. Idina is the best Elphie ever, though Shoshana can hit some mighty good notes. Norbert is SO good as Fiyero, I laugh just thinking about it and cry at the end when he says "Glinda, I'm so sorry."

So that is why I compare them to the originals.

stephanie was the original elphaba during the workshops..
here ill type the excerpt from the grimmerie

"Stephen wasn't too familiar with the musical theater actors out in LA, and i was recommended to him, back in february of 2000. we started out presenting universal pictures with three songs. then a reading of act 1, which at that point was over two hours long, so they did a cut. i did a lot of readings and presentations for two years out in LA.."

ps]

because of the connection between stephanie and kristin-
"suddenly, it was all about the friendship between glinda and elphaba" -winnie holzman

during that time, joe mantello, the director was holding auditions in new york...
so because of idina's record being on rent and on broadway, as opposed to stephanie being a local actress, they ended up giving idina the gig.

Wow. I never knew that. Ok, ok, I'll go read my Grimmerie. *hangs head*

AHAHAHHA

That is very interesting to know. But personally to me, Idina's acting skills and comedic timing and voice is the best.

everyone is entitled to their own opinions :]

Yes, we definetly are. What a boring world it would be if we all liked the same exact things.

yup :]

:rock:

You didn't know that? I guess I'm more obesessed with Stephanie than I thought I was...

yeah lots of people dont know much about stephanie and how she started..

but its all good.
people learn..

grimmerie is a great way for people to get to know about stephanie
its always like "oh stephanie is trying too much to be different from idina" and all this negativeness (im not talking about this board)

so yeah,
i knew as well about stephanie
although i dont remember how i found out..
i just knew.

I'm not sure how I found out either. Probably on this board back when I had like 15 posts LOL.

Ok...Well after watching that....I really don't like Megan's voice...It's deep in some parts and high in others....Weird... And I don't really like Fiyero in that one either.....

Ok. Now, don't yell at me for this, diehard Sho fans

I really don't think Sho looks the part.....I mean, going back to Margaret Hamiltion, lol....Idina and SJB look more like the part...sorry lol



mike^ :elphie3:


[:broom: :broom: :broom: :broom: :broom: :broom: Omg....... Major clean up in this post.... ~ snowie's OCD]

I tell myself Shoshana was having an off-day so I won't judge her so harshly. True, I've never seen her live and will never get the chance to, but I've heard enough recordings and seen enough videos and TV appearances to have a pretty good judgment of her sound. While her voice is a little too poppy for my tastes and while I don't appreciate her excessive riffing (I prefer to perform--and have things performed--as is), I can't deny that she's a powerhouse.

Also, I'm wary of judging her harshly from a poorly-put together video when I haven't seen her live, because I did that with the Tour trailer. I loved Idina so much that I hated anyone who wasn't her (Shoshana included), and when I found the Tour trailer it was just something else to mock. My friends and I would watch the trailer, in silence, and then mimic (perfectly, I might add), Steph's "And nobody... in all of Oz... is ever GONNA..." (well, maybe not perfectly--we kinda made her sound a little more (ok a lot more) mannish than she does, but man voices are my speciality).

But then I bought The Grimmerie and read up on her. Before we bought the tickets in late August (during Katrina, if you'll believe it!) I didn't know that Steph had the role before Idina or that she was injured before the Tour began. Those things, and especially what she said in The Grimmerie about performing "I'm Not That Girl," really made me feel for her and made me a lot more positive about her performance.

Then we got to Houston, sat down in Sarofim Hall, watched the curtains go up, heard Kendra nail the high notes in "No One Mourns the Wicked" and saw Steph run out... to my applause, because I was so caught up in my excitement to see her that I was the only person clapping for her.

SO, to sum everything up... judging from videos is bad, I miss Idina, but Sho's OK and Steph's great, and I'm the silly person who claps when no one else does!

Now that "Storytime with Auntie Christa" has concluded (and since I really didn't mean to turn this into a Steph lovefest, since this is the Broadway forum after all), let me hope that there's a moral to be found!

I am totally same as you....I didn't like Steph so much until I watched the tour trailer like 5000 times...lol

i think sho is a talented actress

if you saw her on martha on halloween..
her expressions were wicked and she adapted well to the new surroundings of not being on stage but in front a close audience

plus she was sick
i thought she did great!

and yeah,
lots of people judge stephanie before the saw her
i mean i saw the tour video AFTER i saw her and i was like.. this video did NOT do her justice.. i thinks its more of... being there in that moment with the cast that really brings it justice.


no one can judge someone just from a clip
BUT one can have preferences.. you know?

I... don't like Kendra.... esp. her "Popular"...

I like her alot! She is one of my favs.

Actually, Popular is my favorite number with Kendra....I love how she kicks her legs off the bed when she says,"Look! It's Tomorrow!"

It was so funny, and I like how she turns her dress into a "prop" sometimes during Popular....

Eh... Kristin, JLT and Hilty are my top 3.

Here's my list: (of only main actresses, no understudies or standbys)

1.) JLT
2.)Kendra
3.)Kristin
4.)Megan
5.) Kate