Unnaturally Green, Highly Recommended

Felicia Ricci, who has joined the San Francisco production of Wicked as Elphaba understudy/ensemble has recently started a great blog where she's writing about her experiences there.

Her blog goals, in her own words:

Um...hoping to set a tone that is--can ya tell--pretty irreverent, somewhat fragmentary, never long-winded, maybe interesting enough to read! Content will include behind the scenes glimpses at rehearsal and performances, recounting of my San Franciscan adventures, and personal musings about the bizarre and miraculous turn my life has taken, from semi-profesh, wide-eyed dilettante to production-contract-wielding dilettante...

Anyone who wants an inside look at what it's like to be part of such a large musical should definitely take a look!

Memories of '09

Looking back, 2009 has been a great year for me. One of the highlights was spending two months in London - and thus, two months of all the West End theater I could fit in. To wrap it up, I thought I'd make a quick list of some of my favorite theater-related memories of the year.

I've made two lists - one Wicked, and one general theater. Otherwise my Wicked moments might have taken over!

Wicked in 2009

5. Sabrina Carter as Elphaba - My last time seeing Wicked in London turned out to be her first full performance, and I loved seeing her make the role her own. She's definitely my favorite of London's current Elphies, and I hope she's bumped up to standby in 2010.

4. Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda - I went to San Francisco intending to see Wicked once, but loved her so much I went back the next night. She really puts so much depth into Glinda, and she stole the show for me.

3. Meeting Stephen Schwartz - Originally he was scheduled to perform at my school in 2008, but it was postponed. So when it finally happened in 2009, I couldn't be happier.

2. Wicked's final performance in LA - The atmosphere of the audience was amazing, and the performances that night were among the best I've seen.

1. Kerry Ellis: Cast Change and Great British Songbook - My first, and favorite, Elphaba. I wasn't really upset that she was leaving, but just thrilled that I could see her one more time. And her performance at the GBS certainly leaves me very excited to see what's in her future.

General Theater in 2009

5. Romeo and Juliet at the Globe - So I was about 20 minutes late due to bus confusion and traffic. And we were groundlings, standing the whole time. And then it started to rain. But still, seeing Romeo and Juliet at the Globe is pretty legit.

4. Forbidden Broadway x 2 - Once in Malibu, and once in London. Hilarious both times, but quite interesting to note the changes between the two. (The second being slightly modified for a West End audience.)

3. Sister Act - Not really a groundbreaking show, but lots of fun, with some fantastic singers.

2. Scott Alan at LA's M Bar - Great performances, and lots of laughter. Read this entry for more details.

1. West End Live - A whole day of free musical performances? Count me in!

Tell me, what were some of your favorite theater memories from the past year?

Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd

Long time no blog! I'm wrapping up my final semester of college, which has resulted in too many papers and projects, and not enough time to write a new entry.

On November 14, my job as an usher at my school's theater finally paid off when I got to watch our student production of Sweeney Todd for free. I had to stand the whole time, and it's not like tickets were expensive to start with (only $10 for students), but I was excited to watch it just the same.

My school is very conservative, and that's generally been reflected in the fall musical. My freshman year it was Damn Yankees, and last year it was Thoroughly Modern Millie. (I'm not sure what it was the year in-between, as I was in London at the time, but I'm sure it was a show in the same vein.) So it was quite a surprise when it was announced that Sweeney would be the show this year.

I don't have the time to go into too many details right now, but I loved the show. Great sets, a talented cast, and funnier than I'd expected. I had the pleasure of seeing it again the following afternoon, this time as an actual audience member, and was glad for the opportunity to catch some of the lines I'd missed the first time around (as I'd escorted late arrivals to their seats).

Then over Thanksgiving break I watched the 2007 movie version, to compare. It was interesting to see the adaption, but I still strongly prefer what I saw on stage. I'm not sure how much of this is due to our specific cast, and how much comes from general differences between the musical and the movie, but I found our Sweeney to be much more understandable and our Mrs. Lovett to be much more personable than their counterparts in the film.

I was also highly disappointed that one of my favorite songs, "Kiss Me," was cut from the movie. Not only is it entertaining (It was a gate! It's the gate! We don't have a gate!), but it allows for further development of Johanna. I loved her in the musical, but didn't care for her much in the movie.

I now have 25 pages of a novel to write, and one week to complete it in. So long, farewell, and I'll blog again once finals are over.

Defying Gravity Falls Flat

I was excited when I first heard that Glee would be covering "Defying Gravity" on an upcoming episode. Though I don't consider myself a Gleek, I have been watching the show each week, and was eager to hear how they'd approach the song.

My excitement quickly turned to disappoint when I heard the song. They used the pop arrangement that Idina Menzel released as a solo, which just doesn't do the song justice. Defying Gravity is about Elphaba's realization that she's no longer happy with following the status quo. Now that she sees the Wizard for who he really is, she's deciding that she needs to take action, needs to defy gravity, to do the impossible. As Elphaba's emotions build, so does the song, until she finally breaks free in the last verse, ending with a yell of triumph.

Of course, some of the impact is lost when sung out of context, but it shouldn't be gone completely. The pop arrangement used is too passive, never building or going anywhere. The last verse, the most memorable part from the original, was cut, yet they still left the big money note. Either cut the ending completely, or do it as it was written, but don't pick and choose. As it is, the ending of Glee's version is jarring and out of place, and appears to have been left just so Lea could sing it, rather than as a natural progression of the song.

While I disliked the arrangement, I do think that both Lea Michele and Chris Colfer did well with what they were given. And I actually enjoyed the version in the episode more than the iTunes version, if only because seeing the characters as they sang at least added a little more emotion to the song.

It was their originality in songs like "Don't Stop Believing" that really hooked me to Glee in the first place. Hopefully Glee will return to those roots, rather than reusing arrangements that weren't very good to start with.

Coming Around to Next to Normal

First, I'm trying to win tickets to see In the Heights, when it comes to LA next summer. If you could spare a couple seconds and just click this link, I would really appreciate it.

Now, moving on... Over the past few days I’ve been listening to the cast recording of “Next to Normal” on repeat. And for most of that time I was still trying to decide if I actually liked it or not.

I first gave the musical a listen in May, on a long bus ride. Earlier that day I had listened to “The Last 5 Years” for the first time as well, and was hooked from the first song. “Next to Normal,” on the other hand, failed to hold my attention.

So it wasn’t until the past week or so that I really gave it another chance, and it was partially because I was just looking for something new to listen to. One time through, still nothing. Second time, zip. Third… one of the songs actually stuck, “Superboy and the Invisible Girl.” So I listened to that one on repeat for a while (and learned all the lyrics, and scribbled them in the margins of my notebooks) before returning to the rest of the CD.

And now, according to the play count on iTunes, I’m on my 15th listen of the whole thing. In addition to “Superboy,” many of the other songs have also lodged themselves into my head. Once you've listened to something so many times, the melodies start to stick.

But it's not really the music itself that's finally gotten to me, but rather the story and characters behind it. Natalie especially stood out, first in "Superboy," then in "Everything Else," and just her sarcastic comments in general ("It's going well..."). And then after that, it took a few more listens to better understand the parallels between Henry and Natalie, and Dan and Diana. It probably wouldn't taken so long had I been paying full attention to the music, but I simply let it play while I did other things.

I still wouldn't say that I'm in love with the show, but I like it a lot more now than I did after my initial listen, during the summer. And it's gone from a show I'd see just because I've heard it's good, to a show I really would like to see. Hopefully someday I'll get the chance.

No Good Voice Goes Unpunished

Wicked needs to give its leading ladies a break, and make their Elphaba standbys into alternates.

In 2008, Caissie Levy had to end her contract early in LA due to vocal problems. Teal Wicks took over as lead, but fell sick in the last few days of her run. This sickness carried over to the San Francisco production, which she opened early this year (though the standby Vicki Noon actually performed the first preview), and Teal had to take over a full month off to recover.

Kerry Ellis, who is arguably one of the strongest Elphabas vocally when she's on her game, had various vocal problems and sickness throughout her three years in the role as well. Most notably near the end of her first London run she missed many shows, and that unfortunately carried over to Broadway as well in mid 2008.

In summer of 2009, Amanda Harrison, Melbourne's Elphaba, had to take a full two months off, and returned only just in time to close the production before moving to Sydney.

And more recently Alexia Khadime in London (pictured above) has been off more often than she's been on. At the moment Alexia and Ashleigh Gray (s/b) are switching off, and Shona White (Elphaba s/b from 2008) has been brought back in case she's needed.

These are just the more recent, and severe, examples. Nearly all the women who played Elphaba for an extended period of time have finished with varying degrees of vocal damage.

There are, of course, exceptions. Nicole Parker recently finished a 6 month run on Broadway with excellent attendance. She also often noted how Wicked is a "24-hour-a-day job," and all of her days were spent preparing for that evening's performance.

But Teal had excellent attendance as well through the majority of her time in LA, as did Alexia during her first run in London. Who's to say Nicole wouldn't suffer if she were to return?

The German production of Wicked has an Elphaba alternate, and I believe the remaining productions should follow their example. Elphaba is demanding not only vocally, but also physically due to the amount of time the character is on stage, and the weight of her costume (especially her Act 2 dress!).

Let an Elphaba alternate go one just once or twice a week. The lead will stay healthier. The standby-turned-alternate now gets guaranteed scheduled shows. Fans will know with greater confidence when their prefered Elphaba will be on, and most of the general public who sees the show won't know any different. Not to mention the powers that be won't have to do as much scrambling to find temporary covers for Elphaba when the lead is gone for extended periods of time. (Before setting up Shona's return, the producers were ready to have Stephanie J Block take over for two weeks in London!)

Seems like everyone wins.

"That's also from the show!"

Not much to say this time around, just sharing a new youtube video that I've fallen in love with:

In the Heights: Run This Tour

(I'd embed it, but the video overlapped with the sidebar on the right.)

I haven't yet had the pleasure of seeing In the Heights, but you can bet I'll be at the Pantages next summer when the tour comes through. And while I would have loved, of course, to see Lin-Manuel Miranda in the show, I'm really looking forward now to seeing how Kyle Beltran does as lead.