Greetings from the surface of the sun (AKA Arizona). I went to the matinee yesterday (116 freaking degrees outside, so no, didn't stage door). I will write more of a review later because I'm seeing it two more times during it's run here. We sat on the 3rd row and while I loved seeing facial expressions, hearing comments from the ensemble, etc., I'm wondering if we were too close to hear the full sound. It's like we could hear them singing on stage, but the speaker sound was going right over us. Does that make any sense?

But for those of you seeing the 1st tour, you won't be disappointed. I'm a die hard Megan, Eden/Caissie fan, but Katie and Donna are WONDERFUL. Katie's Popular antics are a VERY CLOSE 2nd to Megan's. So funny. Lenny Wople is my new favorite Wizard. I'm seeing it again on Tuesday and will write more. I'm on the 12th row for that one and hopefully will be able to hear the songs better.

I have to mention one part that I think was new, or at least I never noticed. When Fiyero flies in to rescue Elphie, after the guards let Elphie go, he turns the rifle on Glinda/back to the guards/back to Glinda. In previous shows, he then just put the rifle down and gave up. In this show, he had the rifle pointed at Glinda and Glinda walked towards him with a hurt look like, "You really don't want to do this, do you?" She got almost to the end of the rifle and he just dropped the rifle and slumped to the ground. Is it just me, or is that different?

I took a friend who had never seen the show. She's now going on Craigslist to see if she can find tickets to go again! A new convert!

Great review! I totally understand what you mean with the sound. I was siting in a partial view seat in New York and the sound seemed just awful. I was in the second row and I just couldn't understand a thing! Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed Donna and KAtie. THey are such a joy to watch. I saw them in Cleveland.

Sorry - just realized there is a seperate thread for the First Tour. Can someone move this there? My bad.

I'm seeing the tour in Tempe exactly one week from today, can't wait!! Do you have any idea how crowded the lottery's been? My tickets are for Sunday night, but I'll be there for a few days, so I'd like to give the lotto a shot for a couple other performances.

I don't know, but I am guessing it hasn't been crowded. Two reasons:

1) It is just so blasted hot I'm thinking not too many are die hard enough to wait in the heat. If it was January, I would be there everyday for lotto. But, no way am I going to try it.
2) It really hasn't been advertised. There was one small article about the show 2 weeks ago with two sentences about the lotto.

So, if you don't mind the heat, I think it's worth it to put on some sunscreen and go for it.

There are lots of tickets on Craigslist selling for face value, but don't buy any in the balcony. Terrible seats.

^ Thanks for the info! Though what's wrong with the balcony seats? We were late in getting tickets, so that's what we ended up with (plus my friend wasn't really willing to spend a lot).

Ooops - Sorry - guess I should have kept my mouth shut about the balcony. It's just VERY HIGH, and I'm a bit afraid of heights. I feel like I'm looking at the top of the actors heads. BUT- I saw Wicked for the first time from the balcony and that's when I fell in love with the show, so it won't affect the greatness of it! We did have a problem seeing Elphie fly - the dragon was in the way. Definitely take or rent binoculars.

Good luck with the lotto!

It's fine, thanks for the heads up! My dad's got some binoculars, so I'll be sure to bring them. One of my favorite shows was when I was sitting as high and far back as possible in the theater (with Caissie Levy in LA), so that's why I didn't mind too much to start with that we ended up in the balcony for Tempe.

I don't think this has been rewritten at all, but I did notice when I saw this tour a few months ago that Richard has a little different take on the character during that scene. Most Fiyeros point the gun at Glinda and the guards to give Elphie a better head start, but after that they sort of look like they aren't sure what to do, and they slowly realize that they have nowhere to go, so they give up and put the gun down. Richard, on the other hand, seems to surrender valiantly, as if that was always Fiyero's intention, and he knew he'd be giving up his life to save Elphie. I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of Richard!Fiyero, but I absolutely loved him in that one scene.

I don't remember KRC walking toward him like that, but I could be remembering wrong. I'll have to look the next time I go.

On an only slightly related subject, has anyone been to the lotto in Tempe and can let us know how busy it's been? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

My nephew and his wife were going to the show last night. Well, about 6pm I get a call - he has a migraine and she has the flu. Would I consider taking their 10-year-old daughter? Ummmmm-YES! So, for the 4th time in 10 days, I went again! Katie and Donna were on. Again, the sound from the two girls just wasn't loud enough. Gammage is just a cavern. My grand-niece knew the songs by heart, so she was very into the show and had a great time, and I had a great time watching her have a great time.

I think I would pay to see this show for "Popular" alone - if I knew Katie or Megan were on. Katie is great, and VERY GOOD with a wand. I got a seat for her last in San Diego, then I'm done with "Wicked" for a while!

I have a review of the other 3 shows in the "Theatre Lounge" portion if anyone is interested. Mods haven't moved it yet.