Wicked in London – October 4th and 7th 2006 – 2:30pm

I’ll do one review for both shows I watched.

Well, where do I start? I’ve been wanting to see this show ever since I first heard the Broadway Cast Recording. So when I first heard the show was coming to London I was totally thrilled. And when the cast was announced I just couldn’t wait to see all these great people on stage. I was especially looking forward to seeing Idina Menzel – the original Elphaba. And Adam Garcia as Fiyero certainly was an extra bonus. ;-)

They managed to give the Apollo Victoria Theatre a completely new look – very green, to say it in one word. It looks amazing and adds to the whole atmosphere you experience when seeing the show. The stage is fantastic – it looks like it was taken out of a fairytale. Absolutely beautiful! And the costumes – wow! I’m still amazed how detailed they were and how perfectly made for each character.

Here's a pic of the theatre:

The show itself is breath-taking. I’ve never seen anything quite so wonderful in my life. This show is a must see when you’re in London. It’s not only that is has a great cast.. the show itself is amazing. It has everything: humor, tragedy, great songs, well developed characters…. I could go on for hours. ;)

So, on to the cast….

Elphaba: Idina Menzel
She is a star! Totally and without a doubt and I can understand the extreme enthusiasm she causes amongst her fans. That woman has a stage presence very few people have. When she first came on stage I was caught straight away. Her acting was spot on, she seemed to live the character. And her singing was amazing. Defying Gravity left me sitting in my seat with my mouth open in astonishment. And Idina blew me away with No good deed. The notes she hit were unbelievable!
I guess you can see from what I’ve written that I totally adore her. She is amazing!

Glinda: Helen Dallimore
A British Glinda was something I had to get used to. But Helen did very well in making the character her own. Her comic acting was faultless – Popular had me laughing almost all the way through. Her singing was very good – I’m not too fond of Glinda’s songs but that’s not Helen’s fault. ;)
All in all a great performance and I’m looking forward to seeing her on stage again!

Fiyero: Adam Garcia
Definitely not the strongest singer but then he never was – he’s an actor and a dancer. I really enjoyed his performance especially on the acting side. His facial expressions were spot on – from total surprise to pure non-understanding to joy and anger. So much fun to watch!
And the guy looks the part! And I’m not only saying that because he is good-looking. He’s just what I imagine Fiyero to look like with his boyish features.
I really hope I’ll get the chance to see the show again before he leaves the cast!

Madame Morrible: Miriam Margoyle
Great acting – I never thought Madame Morrible could be quite so scary. On the other side her singing or better: The lack of it. She didn’t sing any of her lines. This was very annoying – at least in my eyes. The character doesn’t sing a lot anyway but if you play Madame Morrible you should at least be able to sing those few lines.

Dr. Dillamond: Martin Ball
He was brilliant – he made me suffer with the character all the way through. And even with the goat mask on he managed to express the character’s feelings through his facial expressions!

Boq: James Gillian
Beside Idina he was the highlight on stage for me. That guy is amazing as Boq – so cute and what a voice! His accent (Scottish? Or was it some kind of a British accent?) made the character look even more cute. I couldn’t think of anyone better to play the part (ok, maybe one guy – but he’s not in the London cast so that doesn’t count. .. hehe).

The Wizard: Nigel Planer
Until now I didn’t know Nigel was such an amazing singer. I’ve seen him in We will rock you and he had one song in that show. But only now that I’ve heard him sing Wonderful and Sentimental Man I know what a great voice he really has. And he is a fantastic actor. He fits into this role perfectly.

Ensemble
There was a full cast for both shows so no swings on in the ensemble. It was great to see Dominic Shaw again who used to be Gus in Saturday Night Fever in Düsseldorf. Green suits him. ;)
And always good to see Jye Frasca on stage who I really liked as Cliff Richard in We will rock you.
Beside those two Kerry Washington stood out for me with her great voice. Hope I’ll get to see her as Madame Morrible one day.
The rest of the ensemble did a fantastic job. I can’t say one bad word about them.

So once again: Go and see this show! It’s so worth it!!!

Here are some pics taken before the show on October 7th.

Adam Garcia (feeling brisk as he was saying when the pic was taken.. haha)

Miriam Margoyle

Dominic Shaw