Idina Menzel was definitely the best IMO - but the show is brilliant, and Rachel is very good in it I loved the skating as well. A brilliant goosey moment:)
I thought idina was horrendous. Which is a shame because she is a fantastic singer. To be fair, I didn't see her play the part but all of the audios and videos I have seen of her have just not been up to the standard that she sings on the cast recording. The songs really did damage to her voice, and the audios towards the end of her run are awful, especially Defying Gravity. She was fantastic in Rent though!
I thought idina was horrendous. Which is a shame because she is a fantastic singer. To be fair, I didn't see her play the part but all of the audios and videos I have seen of her have just not been up to the standard that she sings on the cast recording. The songs really did damage to her voice, and the audios towards the end of her run are awful, especially Defying Gravity. She was fantastic in Rent though!
Idina absolutely destroyed her voice in her run in Wicked. Her earliest performances are awesome, but she sounds awful thereafter.
The problem was, the part was actually written for Stephanie J. Block, and wasn't adjusted for Idina's voice.
Don't even think about not going, it's absolutely fantastic. Even if you get the cheaper tickets, I do everytime, you still have a perfectly good view and it's well worth the money. Rachel is just fantastic in it and sings Defying Gravity even better in the show! Just youtube her to hear some of her riffs.
And watch out for Louise Dearman who plays Galinda, she too has some pipes on her!
I once worked with Louise when she was starting out,she was so sweet! She was a temp for an agency nothing to do with theatre lol.
Idina absolutely destroyed her voice in her run in Wicked. Her earliest performances are awesome, but she sounds awful thereafter.
The problem was, the part was actually written for Stephanie J. Block, and wasn't adjusted for Idina's voice.
Oooh that explains it. Its a shame because she does have a fantastic voice aswell, she should have stopped when she felt it going.
Rachel seems to be holding up well though, alot of Elphabas seem to lose their voices. Shes been in it a good 10 months and she sounds even better than she did when she first started. I hope she can just maintain that standard. They really are some of the hardest songs to sing around I think, especially night after night and sometimes twice a day.
Sometimes theatre songs and singers don't translate very well in a TV studio - this was one of those occasions in my opinion. If you thought this performance was good, you will be blown away if you see it in the theatre.
Sometimes theatre songs and singers don't translate very well in a TV studio - this was one of those occasions in my opinion. If you thought this performance was good, you will be blown away if you see it in the theatre.
Indeed a lot of the better trained musical theatre people didn't look as good as they should on all the ALW casting shows on the BBC - sometimes because they are taught how to project to a big theatre not to a camera focusing on their nose. Rachel is performing in one of the biggest theatres in the WE and she's portraying a witch who is getting mad - she's going to frighten some folk if the camera chooses to go in very close.
Agree its pretty mind blowing live in the Apollo -nothing I have seen now gets the same reception either - particularly since Sheridan Smith left Legally Blonde where she was getting a similar personal standing ovation every show.
Don't even think about not going, it's absolutely fantastic. Even if you get the cheaper tickets, I do everytime, you still have a perfectly good view and it's well worth the money. Rachel is just fantastic in it and sings Defying Gravity even better in the show! Just youtube her to hear some of her riffs.
And watch out for Louise Dearman who plays Galinda, she too has some pipes on her!
Go on the morning you want to see it and at 9am they release the front row tickets for that day's show at £10 each! At least, I'm assuming they still do that... myself and several friends have all benefitted from that knowledge before!!
I realise I'm in a minority of 1, but I hated the show, found it completely boring, and if it hadn't been that we were with a group of friends, we would have left at the interval. Mostly it consisted of the 2 lead "witches" screeching, mostly tuneless, songs at each other, and the dialogue in between was abyssmal.
you're not - i went to see it with some friends too and thought it was just awful. 80's style synth american music just doesn't cut it for me. i love the book actually - but the show was just dire.
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I thought idina was horrendous.
I wouldn't mind going again before she leaves in December.
Idina absolutely destroyed her voice in her run in Wicked. Her earliest performances are awesome, but she sounds awful thereafter.
The problem was, the part was actually written for Stephanie J. Block, and wasn't adjusted for Idina's voice.
I once worked with Louise when she was starting out,she was so sweet! She was a temp for an agency nothing to do with theatre lol.
Oooh that explains it. Its a shame because she does have a fantastic voice aswell, she should have stopped when she felt it going.
Rachel seems to be holding up well though, alot of Elphabas seem to lose their voices. Shes been in it a good 10 months and she sounds even better than she did when she first started.
Indeed a lot of the better trained musical theatre people didn't look as good as they should on all the ALW casting shows on the BBC - sometimes because they are taught how to project to a big theatre not to a camera focusing on their nose. Rachel is performing in one of the biggest theatres in the WE and she's portraying a witch who is getting mad - she's going to frighten some folk if the camera chooses to go in very close.
Agree its pretty mind blowing live in the Apollo -nothing I have seen now gets the same reception either - particularly since Sheridan Smith left Legally Blonde where she was getting a similar personal standing ovation every show.
Go on the morning you want to see it and at 9am they release the front row tickets for that day's show at £10 each! At least, I'm assuming they still do that... myself and several friends have all benefitted from that knowledge before!!
I think "many" is overdoing it. There was only about three people, but you get people claiming Idina Menzel can't sing. They are called trolls
you're not - i went to see it with some friends too and thought it was just awful. 80's style synth american music just doesn't cut it for me. i love the book actually - but the show was just dire.