I didn't particularly like Timothy Britten Parker as Doctor Dillamond. Michelle Federer was okay, but Dee Dee is still my favorite Nessa. Dee Rosciolli spits quite a bit when she sings (yes, I was THAT close! *spaz*) The Shiz students actually make some pretty mean remarks to her...I thought they just whispered to eachother. Dee has twitchy fingers/hands. In a bunch of the scenes, when she's looking for a word, she shakes her hand. Kyle Dean Massey was understudying for Fiyero. He was good, but smaller than Dee, so they looked a little odd together. Dee's Elphie dance is so jerky and awkward, but that made it hilarious. Popular was funny; not crazy or over the top. Laura did a couple of goofy things, like a crazy hair toss and swishing her skirt around when she walked. When she threw her wand off, it made a huge clattering sound...I wonder what would happen if it flew out into the audience. For the first time, I noticed that the mirror is fake. P.J. Benjamin made a really good wizard. I didn't really care for his voice, but his comedic timing is great. His gestures in his scenes were fantastic. Defying Gravity was awesome, even though you could see the platform from the front row. I'm really happy that I've seen it before, because you lose the overall effects sitting up close. Act 2 was much, much better. Dee seemed like she'd warmed up more, and her voice was a lot stronger. No Good Deed was, in my opinion, her best song. Her voice was so strong and powerful! She did some pretty amazing riffs, that I'm not even going to try to type, but her "Fiyero!" and "Again" were incredible. The audience seemed to enjoy the corn field scene the most. The slapping looked real, and Dee's cackle went on forever. The lines in this scene got the most laughs (we can't all come and go by bubble, feel better?, wand twirling, etc.) Laura is so small, the guard just picked her up with one arm and carrie dher across the stage. Wonderful was cute with P.J. Benjamin's acting. Glinda seemed to evolve so much after standing with Madame Morrible. She seemed a little ditzy in Thank Goodness, but by For Good, she was totally changed. The big hammer that this lady was holding in March of the Witch Hunters made me laugh. :-P For Good was really sweet. Dee overpowered Laura at some points, but it was still done beautifully. My mom said that Laura reminded her a little of Kristin Chenoweth (she's basing this off the Wicked CD). Elphaba's final dress must be such a relief to wear, after having to run around in the big Act 2 dress. At curtain call, P.J. announced all the equity fights aids donation/events. When he announced the raffle to be onstage, Alex/Boq came over with $20, and said he wanted to buy a ticket. P.J.'s like, "you're already in the show!" Haha! When the curtain was going down, Laura did a little chicken dance, and Michelle and Alex did a jig.
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Behind the Emerald curtain!!! I never thought about how much went into making all the costumes...I knew they were elaborate, but I had n oidea how much work goes into them. Anthony Galde is hilarious! He talked about messing up his lines. He was Dr. Nikadik once, and couldn't remember the word "benefits", so he kept looking at the ground for it to come to him. The cast kept whispering the word to him, but he had no idea what they were saying. Elphaba ended up giving him the line. Another time he was supposed to say the Wizard's line, "discontent and distortment," but ended up saying "discontortment" Haha! Elphaba was silently laughing. She hid behind the Grimmerie, but her shoulders were shaking. He told us about the hundred dollar Oz buttons that the costume department panicks about if they fall off the costumes. He cut them off all the guard suits before, and they knew it was him. Tony told us about what it's like to be fitted for costumes (you go into a room of mirrors, strip down to your underwear, and then 15 people squeeze into that room. They don't say anything to you, but whisper to eachother. Someone takes your measurements, yelling them out to everyone. They scribble stuff down, while occasionally saying things like "problem areas." Then you go to the next stop and do it again.) Jerad and Tony showed us things around the theater, like the lighting area (apparently Elphaba changes shades of green...they have green lights to shine on her as she gets angrier.) The lighting guy on the right eats doritos during the show, which sometimes drop on the cast. Jared described the quick change process...sounds insane! A video played showing how the tour stages get set up...that really insane! They have about 30 hours to get everything up and running. Tony was talking about costumes, and tried to talk about the hooks on costumes, but ended up saying hookers! Ha! He's like, "the whole cast is going to hear about how I talked about hookers during the tour!" hahaha! They told us about their limited vacation days, and what happens if they get sick during a show. Tony said that he was in a period piece before, and regarding the costumes..."The costumes were all wool. Wool hat, wool coat, leather boots, leather gloves, and then we go onstage--lights and all--and the people tell us we don't look cold." Haha!
The whole Wicked and Behind the Emerald Curtain Experience was great. I definitely hope to get back to New York someday.
