Last week I was in New York, which even now feels like a surreal sentence to say and now I'm home it half feels like it was all a dream. I've always wanted to visit New York and see a show on Broadway. I don't know if I've got a 'bucket list' per se, but it's just always been a life goal of mine. I've been a fan of musical theatre for most of my life, since I saw the Oliver! revival on the West End as part of a school trip when I was 7 years old. I grew up just outside London and each year my school would trek into the city centre for a matinee performance, a privilege which I took for granted. I was probably about 16 when it went from being something I casually enjoyed to something I was passionate about, and I had wanted to make it my career but life had other plans (which looking back I'm thankful for as I prefer just being a fan, it keeps the magic alive).
I regularly travel into London to see shows, and of course New York has always seemed like the bigger, brighter option. Last November I decided that I'd had enough dreaming and wanted to put things into action. Moulin Rouge had premiered for a limited run in Boston earlier that year, and I was really excited at the prospect of it being adapted to the stage as it's always been one of my favourite movies. I had already felt a little envious watching everything unfold second hand through my computer screen, and decided to turn those negative feelings into something positive. I promised myself that when Moulin Rouge opened on Broadway, I'd be there and would see it with it's original cast. It didn't have a date at that time so I still had the comfort of it feeling a way off. For about a week anyway, and then the dates were announced and panic set in! I realised that I was going to have to buy a ticket on a random date and hope that I could scramble together a trip around it. And that's basically what I did, buying bits of the trip as and when I could afford it and hoping it would all come together. And I did it! And although Moulin Rouge was the catalyst for finally getting me to actually make the trip a reality, obviously seeing Wicked was also very high on my priority list!
I was really glad I picked to see Wicked first as it felt kind of comforting and allowed me to ease in to the differences between Broadway and the West End. It also felt really special seeing my favourite musical in the theatre where it originally opened and as such the original production, or as close to. My first impression of the differences between Broadway and London was mostly just the sheer scale of the theatres themselves. London's theatres are obviously really old buildings, and because of this they're really small and can be really uncomfortable to sit in. The Apollo Victoria where Wicked plays is one of the largest theatres in London, and yet it's probably about half the size of the Gershwin. I was sitting third row from the stage in the orchestra/stalls and could stretch my legs out in front of me and had plenty of elbow room which felt like a real novelty! What I do like about the Apollo Victoria though is that it's all green - the carpet, the chairs, it's all green because it's Wicked, and I was mildly disappointed that the Gershwin didn't go to that level of extra. Also from outside the Gershwin is pretty underwhelming - compare that to that, you know?
I was really happy to see that the London production is almost an exact replica. I don't know what I was expecting, but the only differences where things I already knew about. There were some really minor costume differences (Fiyero's collar on his green suit, Madame Morrible's bustle, really minor stuff that only a fanatic would notice), and obviously some minor staging differences just as the Gershwin stage is so much bigger. In Defying Gravity Elphaba and Glinda come up from a trap door which makes it feel more obvious that they're in an attic, and after Elphaba's levitating spell the broomstick rises up through the stage - I always expected this to be a better effect than London where it floats through the air from the wings, but it just looked like someone lifted it out of a trapdoor and was kind of underwhelming. The one thing I really did like about Broadway was Fiyero's entrance. In London Avaric pulls him in on a cart, whereas on Broadway Avaric is riding the Sawhorse, which probably seems like a small difference but it's pretty huge as it's a reference to Baum and foreshadows Fiyero becoming the Scarecrow and is just a really nice nod to the original Oz lore (and makes Avaric look more like a chauffeur than a man servant).
As for the actual performances, they were as good as you'd expect. I didn't know much about the cast going in as I didn't want to spoil it for myself so had looked up as little as possible.
→ The actress playing Elphaba is brand new to the role (Hannah Corneau) which was kind of exciting as I know they've been recycling actresses for a while.
→ I really loved Ginna Claire Mason as Glinda, her Glinda was really sweet and endearing. I feel like she's read the book of Wicked as she just had all of these little touches and mannerisms that felt more Maguire Glinda than Schwartz Glinda which I really appreciated and gave her a lot more depth. Glinda is usually portrayed kinda 'Mean Girls'-ish and bitchy in the first act, but Ginna made her more naive and impressionable. I liked it a lot!
→ Kyle Dean Massey was Fiyero which kind of made me laugh when I saw it on the cast board as when there's not a Fiyero being advertised you can bet it's him. Vocally he's the strongest Fiyero I've ever seen and his dancing was on point. I was also disappointed that at the end as the Scarecrow there was no Scarecrow walk - is this normal for the Broadway production or did he just not bother? I know the previous Fiyero Ryan McCartan had an ankle injury from the Scarecrow walk, I hope it's not been taken away because of that :( It was weird seeing the Scarecrow just strut onto the stage like he wasn't made of straw.
→ I really like Nancy Opel as Madame Morrible, she's less pantomime-ish than other's I've seen. She played her like a sweet old lady who you gradually realise is more and more problematic the more you get to know her, and I liked that realism as we all know THAT old person.
→ My absolute favourites though were Gizel Jiménez as Nessa and Jesse JP Johnson as Boq, they were just PERFECT. I think Boq can be a difficult character as he can easily come across as an entitled ass, but he made him seem really well meaning and kind hearted but in a clumsy way, which made it all the sadder when he became the Tin Man. And Nessa similarly was played very emotionally instead of as a straight up bitch, and when Boq changed and left her it was genuinely heartbreaking.
