Everybody has their favorite Elphaba, but every single actress who has played the green girl has something they could change... I want everyone to say ONE bad thing about their favorite Elphaba.

EXAMPLES OF BAD AND GOOD:

You are NOT allowed to say:

"OMGEE MY FAVORITE ELPHABA IS SJB AND NOTHIGN IS BAD ABOUT HERRRR SHEZ AWESOMEMEEEEE"

That was a BAD example.

You ARE allowed to say:
My favorite Elphaba is Shoshana Bean, and one bad thing about her is that when she sings, she places her "E" vowel very nasaly.

That was a GOOD example. (And my critique.)

On your marks, get set, GO!

Scott

^ you're right, she can get nasal at times.

Shoshana is my FAVORITE Elphie and I think she's amazing...but, you're right, she does sound a tad nasaly... I didn't really notice it until someone pointed it out to me though. Someone said her "Home" was nasaly...and I was like, :Uh NO, it's incredible!!" Then I listened to it again, and I understood what the person meant. I don't mind it though, she still ROCKS my green socks :ha:

-Katie :wicked:

I adore Idina's portrayal, and her only flaw (in my eyes) is her voice at times. It's amazing, but, it cracks during Defying Gravity sometimes, and other songs and can waver.
Other than that she rocks! :rock:

Um, okay, Kristy Cates. I love her to bits, but sometimes I think she emphasizes some words more than they need to be.

i heart shoshana bean


but it gets annoying when at the end of songs, like ngd and twai, when at the VERY end, she adds a short A sound, and it's okay a little, but she makes it way to big and loud.

other than that, she's perfect :mrgreen: :rock: :drunk: :drool: :bow:

Since someone had to post this, I'll just say that I think Idina and Eden belt too much. Eden screams and no offense, but I don't like it!

:agree: her its meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee scream kills the ears...but other than that [A+]

Stephanie J. Block is my favorite and there is NOTHING bad about her... AT ALL.

... ok, in the sake of fairness, and not diminishing my love for her at all:

Sometimes, when she's belting those crazy awesome notes and holding them out for a very long time, longer than is humanly possible, she goes flat... but then corrects herself immediately. I have pretty good pitch and I notice when ANYONE is flat, and I've noticed her do it sometimes. Other than that, though... there's nothing bad about her.

Also, I adore Idina and I have to agree that she can crack a lot, or her belt can get really ragged, or she can start to gasp... but when she is ON, she's ON... just like Steph.

I also love Kristy Cates but I agree that she can overenunciate a little, but now that she's had more experience she's controlling that, and she's becoming the perfect Elphaba.

This is has the potential for being a great thread, but I'll ask that we follow these guidelines:

1. Constructive criticism--NO BASHING! Don't go on and on about the flaw. Just state it and move on.
2. Don't bash anyone else for what they have to say. Face it--you might have the SAME opinion, or someone else might. Don't attack someone for what they believe.
3. BE NICE! And have some cake: :cake:

idina = :heart:

but her gasping...

My favorite is Ana. I never noticed anything off about her voice live, though on recordings sometimes she has a weird "er" sound or something to certain words, but I didn't notice that live so it's not really fair to say since it may just be the recording. Acting-wise, I never really liked how she totally over exaggerated the parts where Elphaba loses control of her powers (the "Let her go!" part and with the lion cub).

I love Kristy, too, but I though I think she has a great voice, sometimes it's hard for her to hit the money notes at the end of TWaI and DG. Her voice seems to kind of run out of steam.

I love Steph, but I just think that her voice was a little higher. It's kinda low.

My favorite Elphaba is Jenna Leigh Green. Her acting was PERFECT. Her flaw would probably be power songs like DG and NGD. She doesn't every sound angry and she's not really a belter. Her slower songs (tWaI and INTG) are to die for! Her reditions of those 2 songs are the best I've heard.

My 2nd fav. is Sho. Her "E"s are really nasal. Other than that Sho is really great. Her cornfeild sene was hilarious as was her performance in Popular. Her and Megan had great chemistry.

i love SJB! but i have noticed that when she is belting long and high (end of dg) that she can sometimes go flat. like at the end of dg on the wicked tour trailer. i kinda cringed but for every time she has made an uh-oh she has a hundred great performances! :mrgreen:

I LOVE SJB! it's hard to say anything about her but...sometimes she tries to hold notes to long and ends up cutting off early, and when she does hold them long she starts to go flat...probably the most common mistake for any singer. i don't hold it against her.

Yeah Sho is Elphie Love, and her biggest fault is how she says her "Me"'s. But she is still God, so it's all good. LoL

:agree:

ummm ummm this is HAAARDDD!!!

Ok Shoshana Bean: umm...sometimes at the end of songs she did like this short A sound. like at the end of tWaI, she'd go, "The wizard, and IIIIIIIIIIa."

SJB: uhhhhhh....uhhhh.....same thing as Christa said! she went flat sometimes, but she always fixes herself right away.

Eden Espinosa: the only thing that bothers me is her, "ITS MEEEE." I can't stand the way she screams it. other than that, I love her.

IDINA IS AMAZING but her gasping is bad sometimes... but i dont notice it all the times. just some times more than others. but other than that she is wow! :ha:
and SJB- OMG she is SOO amazing too! but one thing that always annoyed me was how she said eleka namen namen atum atum eleka namen... idk why... its probably just me, but other than that she is like... omg wow!

:ha: :ha:

:agree: I do love Idina though, it's just the gasping I cannot take.

Idina - I agree with about all the others--her gasping. but it doesn't really bother me in many songs unless I search for it (except in TWAI where i always notice) but she's just AMAZING

Julia- I adore her, she's probably my favorite Elphaba-but her vibratto can be a little crazy

Doesn't Idina have asthma or something like that? Maybe that's why she gasps like that. These songs are freakishly hard for ANYONE to sing, nonetheless someone witth asthma. As for a complaint for my fave Elphie it's hard to say. I'm not even sure who my favorite Elphie is, since I haven't seen any of them live yet. I'll just do my top three faves. Okay I really like Eden, but I don't like the cheesy little laugh both her and Sho do in TWAI after "I'd be so happy I could MELT!". Kristy Cates rocks! But her voice cracks really, really bad toward the end of DG. It's sorta like she's straining just to keep her voice alive. I like Ana's portrayal of Elphaba for the most part. But I have to say, it seems like her acting could do with some improvement. I go for more Idina's and Kristy's approach of how to bring emotion to the character. But in the portions of Act II which of seen of the Original Chicago Cast, Ana went for the overly-dramatic Elphie. She always sounded like she was about to burst into tears. Other than this, I think they all rock! :mrgreen:

I love Ana Gasteyer to death and it's going to pain me to say anything bad, BUT...

- During "Popular", Galinda would apply a coat of lipstick, and Ana rubbed her lips together. I don't think Elphaba would have known to do that.

- Sometimes, especially in Act I I think she spoke a little too fast. Just a little, not much.

I know I should have a singing critique, but I can only think of little differences I do like since, well, I can't sing and I don't know how you're SUPPOSED to do things, if that makes any sense.

But I LOVE how she made Elphaba darker, and a little.. angstier.

Idina was PERFECT as Elphaba except...she sometimes didn't have enough breath and would go flat.

Ms. Block is my favorite. Her flaw is that she's so perfect that it is uncanny :mrgreen:

Er... the only flaw I can think of is that during the end of her tour she had to stop cackling in the cornfield scene. Of course, her throat was bleeding, so we can't really blame her. But that's the only thing I could think of.

And Maria is also spifftacular, except she's sort of short compared to Kendra :disagree:

i can't even pick who my fave elphie is...but it bugs me when both steph and eden say the "it's MEEEEEEEE" and like yell it up an octave instead of just singing it

and julia's vibratto sometimes grates on my nerves...but just sometimes not always

Yeah, Julia has too much vibratto sometimes.

I like how Eden screams "ITS MEEEE!" When she goes up! LOL!


Shoshana- I dont like her b4 she started riffing

Steph- She is spitchy sometimes and sometimes she sounds too young and yells her lines.

Eden- Her voice does something weird sometimes idk how to descrbe it.

I saw it in Pittsburgh and she didn't cackle. Afterwards I watched clips of cornfield scenes and I remember thinking i don't remember steph cackling and I was sad that she didn't. I had no idea about her throat bleeding. Now i won't feel as bad that she didn't cackle.

I completely agree with you on Shoshana. I loved her after I noticed her riffs. Before that, I just thought she was okay.

GalindaInTraining Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:53 pm Post subject:

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idina =

but her gasping...



yes he gsping is a little annoying and her voice tends to crack at the end of Defying Gravity but she is still awsome.

Ana went flat sometimes on the last "Ahhhh" of Defying Gravity. Though even when she went flat, she would adjust when the ensemble came in.

Also, I hate Eden yelling "It's Me!" and both times I've seen her, she's broken character a few times.

Breaking character bugs me so much! I think it's a really fine line at certain points in the show because a lot of the lines and jokes require that the actor play to the audience in a way. That would be one of my critiques of Kristy. She is a fantastic actress and very funny, but sometimes she acknowledges the audience's response a little too much. I think most of the instances this happened were in some of the things she borrowed from Ana's portrayal of Elphaba. Obviously, comedy was one of Ana's strengths and she really knew how to tread that line of bringing the audience in on a joke without seeming like she was breaking character. Kristy just hasn't learned that subtley yet. Though, most of the times it seems like she just getsswept up in the moment so I suppose you can't really blame her!

Okay, didn't mean for that to be so long-winded. Hope it made sense.

For Maria, my major thing with her is that she seems to be a little too active at times. At times, she seems more hyper than Glinda.

I LOVE Idina, but she had herbad singing nights when she couldn't reach certain notes as well. Her good nights were AWESOME but her bad nights were just ok. And as for her gasping- I know sometimes it's annoying to people but to me it's just pure Idina- hey, everyone has to breathe, right?

YAY FOR IDINA! She is perfect! Her flaws just make her more special then the rest!

yes!
idina love!

it's like ela ka namen namen AHHTUM AHHTUM ela ka namennnn

Yeah, she kind of growled it... I thought it was kinda hot... ?

haha she sometimes sounds like a man??

LMAO! This is why I love this site......and broadway! You don't have to be perfect!

haha so true.
but like in some TWAI audios, she'll do her awesome amazing "feeling things I've never felt" then she goes "and I'll want nothing else till I die" and on the word die, she sounds so manly sometimes. hahaa

why was her throat bleeding

aw. I think that laugh is kinda cute :ha:

I don't think her throat was actually BLEEDING. It just means that she had been working so hard, it was sore or something.

I love Idina sooo much, but she does take do deep of breaths when she sings. I understand that its not very easy to belt the songs she had to sing, but sometimes, Tony Awards as an example, it can get a little distracting.

I also love Ana Gasteyer. I saw her in Chicago. I had no clue she can sing, but she can sing! But, sometimes she sings her Rs too much. And, they stick out. "No wizerrrd that there is orrr was" Not all the time, but some of the time.

But, anyway, these are two great actresses, as are all of the actresses who play or have played Elphaba. Sometimes, people need to understand that, 1, you can't judge a persons performance from videos online, you need to see them live. 2. People have off nights. The women playing Elphaba may not be at there best all the time, because when you do 8 shows a week, belting Stephen Schwartz, it takes its toll on you.

I'm not preaching to anyone on this thread, I've just seen alot of arguments over whos better on here, and youtube, etc. and it gets annoying after a while.

Yeah, I agree, but I think this thread is a way to acknowledge other people's criticism of our favorites. The first step to solving a problem is admitting it, correct? :mrgreen: I mean, I just view it as a way to say that, hey, Steph and all the other ladies are pretty darn perfect, but they're human and they do have their off days. Just like we can acknowledge their perfection, we can also acknowledge their imperfections. It's a credit to them, I think, that we can say, "You know what, you're great, and we love you in spite of [blank]."

Honestly, it can get pretty frustrating saying, "STEPH IS PERFECT OMG!" when She Herself says, "No, I'm just Steph." But I really WOULD tell her that she is, because--despite that one flaw that I mentioned--she really IS... and sometimes... I don't know... I can get defensive if someone were to say that she isn't and phrase it in a harsh, offensive manner. This way I can say it myself and read what other people have to say, and I'm assured that no one means any harm by it.

:agree: what she said!!

and Christa. Mr. T is broken in your siggy. :mrt:

Ya, it's hard for me to listen to her Live, because whenever I start to notice the gasps, I only notice them.. I think it's just a bad habit..

Shoshana - The Eee vowels of course.. Odd enough, it's not like that when she sings other things besides Broadway.. Must just be the style.

Stephanie - I'm trying to think. I actually really love her! I saw her in Houston and was blown away. I would have to say that I think the thing I don't like so much is when she gets in the lower range, well not necesarily the lower range but on certain notes, she seems to swallow the notes. Does anyone else understand what I'm saying? LOL, like when she goes up un the Tour Trailer or whatever it is.. But I didn't notice it Live..

Ana - I just don't like her. Personal opinion, but I don't think she is bad. I think she is actually very talented. I just don't perfer her (don't hurt me :mrgreen:)

Julia - She kinda country-twangs "Defying Gravity".. Not the song, the lyrics.. I believe it is her; I could be mistaken..

Anyone I have forgotten?

OH EDEN! - I just don't like her DG ending right now.. But I'm sure she will be filling in some notes in the ending riff. She continues to get better and better each time I hear her!!



*NOTE* - I tried not to step on anyone's toes, or upset anyone. If I did, I apologize. I'm not bashing any of them, because obviously they have what it takes if they have the role.. Just my personal opinions

Its ok Everyone is entitled to have an opinoin!

just felt like bumping this one back to the top. it was fun!

(the glinda one too!)