On Friday the 23rd of August, I managed to get last-minute rush tickets for that night’s performance of Wicked; as it was a show I hadn’t seen before, I thought I should take the opportunity and see a beloved musical…here are my thoughts on what I saw.
Whilst it won’t be a musical I see over and over again, I did enjoy it. It’s a story of
The Cast
As I hadn’t seen the musical before, I had no idea what to expect but I enjoyed the whole cast!
I was very fortunate that I was able to see not 1 but 2 Elphabas the first of which was
Nikki Bentley; the principal Elphaba, she was great in Act 1! She sang so well and with so much strength. Her versions of Defying Gravity and the Wizard and I were great! She sounded incredible and was an amazing belter.
I also enjoyed her and Helen’s (Glinda) duet ‘What is this Feeling’, it was a song I had never heard apart from some clips on social media/youtube but I liked hearing it live a lot and was probably one of my favourites from the show! I loved their friendship that blossomed through the first act.
As I said I got to see two Elphabas, during the intermission there was an announcement that the standby Laura Pick would be taking over from Nikki for the second act.
Laura was
Both of these girls were amazing and I’m glad I got to see both!
Next, we have Glamourous Glinda who is played by Helen Woolf! She brought comic relief and happiness to the show. I can see why so many former Phantom Christine’s go on to play Glinda! Helen had gorgeous floaty operatic vocals which made me yearn for a more serious Glinda song where she could really show off those vocals! That being said I did love her solo song Popular, the comedic timing and humour during it were great! I loved her duets with both Laura (For Good) and Nikki (What Is This Feeling); as well as her duet with Carl ‘Dancing Through Life’, I thought their voices complimented each others and they both sounded amazing together. So glad I got to see her!
Alongside Helen and Nikki/Laura we had Carl Man as Fiyero – the love interest of both Glinda and Elphaba. Carl is the understudy Fiyero but you wouldn’t know! I thought his parts in Dancing Through Life were great and enjoyed his parts in the song As Long As You’re Mine.
Carl’s Fiyero was so sweet and deserved better than what happens to Fiyero in the 2nd half of Act 2 (If you know the musical you’ll know what I’m talking about), So happy I got to see him smash the role!
Moving on to the supporting cast!
First up is the Wonderful Wizard of Oz! Played by Adam Hockley.
I enjoyed the twist to the character that I thought I knew. . . is the Wizard really that wonderful?
Speaking of which I enjoyed his songs ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Sentimental Man’, specifically Wonderful and all of the puns that came with the song!
I thought Adam played the role of the Wizard well!
The Wizards right-hand gal and Shiz professor played by Kim Ismay is called Madame Morrible who is another good character – whilst she didn’t have much focus/stage time I enjoyed what I saw.
Whilst her character wasn’t always the nicest character in musical, I enjoyed her scenes with Helen and Nikki/Laura.
I’m curious about her character though…might have to read into the musical a bit more!
Moving onto Simeon Truby who played Doctor Dillamond – the character who pratically starts Elphaba’s journey for the musical!
I wish so badly we could get a spin-off with Dillamond and Elphaba so we could see more of their friendship which was one of the sweetest things in the musical!
Great character just wish we could have gotten more happy scenes with him and Elphaba!
Elphaba has a little sister called Nessarose who was played by Natasha Ferguson. I really enjoyed Nessa’s character arc throughout the musical.
Just wish she could have at least one solo, please!? Is that too much to ask?
Nessa is in a wheelchair and is one of the only people Elphaba is sort of close with which is nice to see; would have loved to have seen more of it!
Overall enjoyed Nessarose/Natasha’s character just wish we got more of it!
Last but by no means least we have Idriss Kargbo as Boq, Glinda’s friend who later turns into Nessarose’s love interest after being friend-zoned by Glinda. Like Nessa, he is a character who deserved more! He was a pure character and he was great for Nessa, really wish we got to see more of both Idriss and Natasha but I did enjoy the small parts they both had in the song Dancing Through Life…that being said can they please have a spin-off?
Overall
Like I said whilst I won’t see it hundreds of times like I have with Phantom of the Opera, I will likely see it again with friends because it’s a great story of friendship! Before seeing it I was never really able to get into the soundtrack but it proves that context makes a lot of difference because I have listened to it a fair few times now! For this show I was in row Z and I could still see everything ok! So there are great seats even at the back of the stalls!
If you like the sound of this musical you can book your tickets here!
Get your tickets here!
If you want to buy a recording of the show to listen to you can do so here;
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
