Extra Credit: Wicked

Late in coming, I know but this is the extra credit blog on Wicked Alisha said that I could do.


Well, lets start of with the stage space. Anyone who has been to a production at Keller Auditorium, has no doubt found themself in awe at the size of the audience. A grand total of 2,992 people can see a single show. That is about 5 times the amount of seats our College Theatre can seat. The stage is a proscenium arch, and in this particualr production the picture frame idea was accented by a border around the procenium.

The script was also amazing. I loved not only the songs but the words spoken, also. I remember Glinda going on and on about what Elphaba is, in some not so nice terms, and all Elphaba had to say is Glinda is blonde. That humor made for a fun night and only added to the great story that was being told. Of course, the songs were fantastic. I doubt anyone will ever forget the song "Popular" after seeing the show, especially if like me they were wondering the Glinda was accidently going to impale her head on the shoe heel when she did her little kick during the number.

The design was great all around. Wonderful costumes that were unique while still going well together. They stuck to color schemes that worked and it was a great watching the lighing and special effects as the stage progressed. I must admit that the only thing I had a problem with were some of the chorus songs. I was pretty high up and some of the words were lost. I wish they had put mics on at least some of the chorus memebers so that it did carry up to my seat audibly.

Well, this is a Broadway Across America performance, so as you can expect, the acting was magnificent. The actors did their job amazingly. There isn't anything negative that I can really say about it. We even had an understudy the night Nici and I went, but had we not been told ahead of time, we never would have known. I think that they all stepped up and into their roles fantastically and would have loved to been able to see it again.

The director did a great job with his choices. I loved watching the entire thing and was a bit disappointed when it was all over. The only problem that occured was in some of the blocking. At one point oin the shwo the character of Fiyero did this little turn and he did something upstage with is back downstage that completely blocked the movement. I am rather disappointed in that, especially since I never found out what he was supposed to have done.