On Tuesday night, I saw WICKED with Mom and it was, well, amazing of course! It was my 8th time seeing this show (5th time seeing the L.A. installment) and my first time seeing some new cast members in L.A. I hadn't seen the show since Eden Espinosa (original L.A. Elphaba and original Elphaba standby for Idina Menzel on Broadway. She pretty much owns the part!) left and I figured it would start to get messy upon her departure. Eden is the best Elphaba I've ever seen (yes, better than original Idina) because her voice is so mind-blowingly powerful and her character arc is just perfect. Plus, we had a special moment when we met last summer at the Stephen Schwartz Cabaret. She was so, so nice and I was so speechless around her. But we did get to snap a photo together and that made me giggly! So when I heard she left the show and Caissie Levy would be replacing her, I thought it would be tough to accept a new Elphaba. BUT, I didn't even
get to see Caissie on Tuesday night so I saw the standby, Teal Wicks, and she was great. Lacked a little bit of power and soul, but she had wonderful presence. Fresh out of Broadway's THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, Joanne Worley as Morrible (instead of the awful Carol Kane) worked for me. She kind of played Madame Morrible like she'd had way too many martinis, so a drunk villainess was kind of entertaining! Kristoffer Kusick was out as Fiyero so we saw Ensemble member and Fiyero understudy, Adam Lambert. I was actually glad to see him since I know him from a completely different show (a bad one). He was Joshua in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS which had a very short stint at the Kodak a couple years ago. I never got to see it, but I did help him get to press junkets and other market-y things. He was very nice and talented and totally best-friend-material (i.e., I would have had a naive crush on him if I knew him in high school, given my track record with boys I liked that liked other boys instead). Anyway, Adam was good and stands out as being more of a dancer than lead-role material, but with enough opportunities, maybe he'll get more polished and will own the role himself someday. Megan Hilty still remains my favorite G(a)linda ever. She is just so flippin' funny and cute that I think I have a theatre crush on her!
Funny thing is, I didn't even really PLAN on seeing WICKED again for a while (I saw it in January with BFF Kevin), but when Mom called me a few weeks ago and said "hey, do you want to see Wicked with me?" (stupid question) I had the tickets checked out on Ticketmaster before I even answered with a hearty "YES!" I guess she'd been on a WICKED kick with the cast recording in her car and the power of the whole enterprise caught her at a weak moment. We are alike in many ways, but she is not the type to see a show she likes over and over and over again like moi. However, I should note, to her credit, our little evening together was her 4th time seeing this masterpiece so she's on her way to my status. :)
It's a special show to see with a best friend or a mom. I'm not sure why, but that seems to be the trend and I whole heartily support it anyway. Neither of us are very mushy gushy, but it's nice to share it together. We had a nice evening out talking and talking (mostly about things that I don't think a lot of mothers and daughters talk about, so it's special) and taking in a great show in good seats. It was a really nice night and I'm so glad we went! Thanks, Mom!!!
1 comment:
Hi! I googled Eden Espinosa because I was looking for all the Elphabas my favorite American Idol 8 contestant (wouldn't you know...) Adam Lambert, starred as Fiyero with, and haha, I stumble into your entry w/c mentions Adam himself. Your post is really cool to see, like how Adam was pre-AI. Would you know how to compare him now (if you watch AI) to how he was when he was the Fiyero understudy! I'd love to find out how he's developed musically. <3 Yay! Thanks.
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