I think this thread is needed because I notice a lot of threads are started for random questions that don't need individual threads. So, any random Wicked questions that do NOT pertain to the personal lives of cast members, what they think of each other (because we seriously do not need to know about that, we should just be respectful and admire the performers and the job they do), etc. can go here.

Great idea! Anyone else this should be stickied or pinned or whatnot so that people can see it immediately?

is the broadway production the only one to have a balloon in OSD? I know that chicago doesn't anyway.

Los Angeles doesn't have the balloon either. I was... shocked? when it happened.

As far as I know, yes.

wait...what?? When in osd/where does this balloon appear?

In OSD, when they sing:
"who's enthuse about air ballooning... has all of us honeymooning etc." - it comes down on "balloon" or right around there.

Haha I NEVER noticed that...thats realy funny.

I'd actually completely forgotten about it. When I saw Wicked on Broadway again after almost four years (and having seen other productions), it was a pleasant surprise.

They should be pinned. I made a thread just like this, but it died.


Is OSD "One Short Day?" Because this is really confusing me.

you betcha!

THANK YOU DAWN!

I think this was a really smart idea...hopefully people will see it right away so we won't have a bajillion question topics.

Can I ask a question - was it Kendra or Megan (or perhaps even another) who originally auditioned for Elphaba? I SWEAR that I remember reading that one of the Glindas originally auditioned for Elphaba, before being cast as Glinda. Or am I just imagining things?

oo, i have no idea, but i would love to know who! that would be quite interesting!

Well the story was that it was Megan, but I can't say how much truth there is to that.

My question is this:

What is the contingency plan if the lift/trapdoor fails in "No Good Deed"? In an interview, Shona White (ex-London standby) was talking about a time when the lift failed and she couldn't come up. She stepped off the lift and sprinted off up the stairs around the stage and came on through the wings (keeping perfectly in time with the orchestra!). However, she mentioned that there was a Plan-B, but she didn't know it, being only a standby. Can anyone shed some light?

I love the fact shona carried on singing! I'm pretty sure she got applause?

And In Broadway I would assume it was to come up from the stairs, london, i dont know.

Megan said she did. I remember hearing her talk about it in an interview. I thought it was the one with her and Shoshana (they're at a pool or something...?) but I just re-watched it and that wasn't it...but I definitely remember her talking about it.

Christina auditioned for Elphaba. Megan auditioned for Glinda, but when she told her friends she was auditioning for Wicked, they assumed it was for Elphaba.

I think Kendra could vocally be an awesome Elphaba...idk acting wise.

I think acting wise she could pull it off. She is very shy in person so I imagine her portrayl would be more of a shy Elphaba.

Here's a question...does Elphaba have 2 wigs for the first act (the ponytail and the DG one) or does she have 3, some people have said that she switches wigs before she enters the Ozdust but everytime I go backstage she only has 2 for the first act

No, you're right, it's the same wig.

Is the giant witch hat in the opening of No One Mourns The Wicked still used in any production? I really liked it!

No, they all have the hologram instead (which I prefer).

Oh, poop! Thanks for answering.

I thought she only had one wig for act I. She wears the tight braid up until the ozdust, and then they make it into a loose braid for popular, and then I thought they just bobby pinned her "hair" back for the classroom scene/rest of act I? It seems a little unnecessary to have a separate wig just to pin a few little strands put back.

Ok, sorry for the double post but I have a question.

This is kind of a dumb one, but I've seen "the flatheads" referred to several times on here. Usually in regards to them falling down hah. Are the flatheads the huge clownish guys in one short day that come out at the beginning of "wizomania"?

^ Haha, yup, those are the flat heads. One of them falling down is ALWAYS my one wish to see in the show!

Haha oh ok good. And yes, that would be quite entertaining! I'm always sort of secretly hoping something will go wrong when I see the show. Not something terribly wrong with injuries involved, just enough to make people (actors included) laugh. I believe flat heads falling down would cover that hah. I wonder how easy it is to get up after falling in those costumes. It can't be easy...I'm sure you'd need help. And hilarity would ensue!

me too! i always cross my fingers in hopes for bloopers!! but i havent seen any yet. except small ones like drobbed lines (ahem joanne)

I know CJ fell over in one back in 2006, and Idina and Helen were laughing so hard that the orchestra had to stop playing to let them get over it.
I'm not sure if it's the same incident, but a flathead fell, the top half came off, they couldn't get up and stagehands had to come on and be leverage.

Alright, I have a random Wicked question....

When I recently saw the show on Broadway, I noticed that right before the singing starts in NOMTW, some paper streamer things are shot out into the audience. It only hits the front/center orchestra section, so maybe that's why I hadn't noticed it until recently....

Does anyone know if the Broadway production has always done this and I'm just too blonde to notice? And do other productions do this?

^^yea i know chicago production does that everytime so im assuming all the other productions do too but yea if u dont sit in the front row u dont really notice it anyways

hahah that's hilarious!!!

Haha as for the streamers, I didn't notice it until like my fourth show, when I must have been in the prime streamer seat or something. I was absolutely covered. I was slightly confused for a little while lol.

The tour does the streamers as well. I saved mine when I was sitting 3rd row center. =)

I've noticed lately that most of the Wicked productions are shifting away from having the Witch's Mother being a Nessarose cover. Does anybody know if there's any reasoning behind that?

^Sorry, I have no idea about that one. But I can tell you that in Chicago, the Witches Mother is not a Nessa u/s. So who knows!

Ok I've got another one. You know in ALAYM on the cast recording, in the beginning where Idina humms and does a few "oooo"'s? Do any elphie's ever actually do that? Did Idina even do that live?

No, I don't think she did that live. I think it sounds great on the cast recording, but if she did it live, I think it would just be odd. Well, odd isn't the right word. It wouldn't fit, I don't think.

I was wondering, how do they control the lion cub?

I'm guessing there is somebody in the cart that is underneath the cage. I imagine it being like a hand puppet. It also makes sense because they don't show the lion after the cage is taken off of the cart.

I was thinking it was a puppet, too, but the cart looks far too small for an adult to fit under it and be able to maneuver his hand. Maybe it's remote controlled, and done from off stage? I have no idea lol

If that happens, the lift is being repaired or the show has to stop. The lift needs to go back up, otherwise there is a hole in the stage and the show can't continue. When it happened at the Generalprobe in Stuttgart Willemijn was lifted up before the show started again, but the lift had to work.

I'm about 99% sure the lion cub is a puppet because I noticed a little hatch on the bottom of the cage that I assumed was for a hand to go through.

The lion cub is a puppet. I believe there's someone in the bottom of that table that operates it.

"It's not lying, it's looking at things another way." -Fiyero/Elphaba

Uh, what???? Can someone please explain, because I really didn't get that.

Well, that's the point of the show, really. Looking at the Wizard of Oz in a totally different way. But it also means Fiyero was looking at Elphaba a different way. He wasn't seeing her as a loud mouth freak anymore.



I'm sad they don't do the hat anymore.

Oh, you'd be surprised, I've fit into places that wouldn't seem possible. Granted, I'm not an adult, but I know some adults my height and size.

I guess I have a random question, does the person who plays Nessa also have an Ensemble role? And are they always an Elphaba u/s?

Another one I thought of, which is Pfannee and which one is Shen Shen?

That was discussed somewhere before. Most people seemed to think the heavier one was Shenshen.

In Chicago at least, Nessa is only in the NOMTW ensemble, and is not an Elphie u/s

How does Nessa's chair move by itself?

I saw the Broadway Show on 7/8 and the NGD Trap door did not work. All was set (music, lighting, fog) and the sound queue came and no Elphaba! The conductor was conducting with his right hand and on the stage phone with his left. It took a few mins, but he kept the music going and Elphaba entered from stage left. Julie was on that night and let me just say that it was one of the very best NGD's I have ever heard! To think that she ran upstairs from under the stage and then belted that rollercoaster number out is phenominal! That alone was worthy of a standing ovation! So, that's what happens, when the trap is not working. The really neat thing about the Gershwin set-up is that the stage manager has a window box that faces the stage just off of the Mezzanine level and can see the stage at all times. So I came away feeling like everything was under control and that the contingency plan was put into play and it came off fine.