re: Wicked - Official Trailer

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I weirdly have different favorite Elphabas for different songs.

I love Jessica Vosk’s the Wizard and I, I saw Rachel Tucker on the West End and thought she was great at defying gravity. There’s also an incredible Dutch actress who I thought was great at Defying Gravity. And then Idina is amazing at everything.

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First of all, I'm deceased that anyone on this site can speak in these terms.

Secondly, the Dutch actress you're referring to is Willemijn Verkaik. Who, over the course of a decade, played Elphaba in 4 different productions of Wicked in an astonishing 3 different languages.

I think her first run was opening the German production (in German).

Then a few years later, she opened the Netherlands production (in Dutch).

Then she performed the role in English with a run on Broadway, followed by a run on the West End. I think she still holds the record for performing the role the most times (it was somewhere in the range of 2,000-2,500 performances, which is obscene).

Though Rachel Tucker is probably close to that number and may have surpassed it in her last West End run. She had her own Broadway run of course, in between her off-and-on 3-4 years of performances in the West End production.

Can’t wait to never watch that

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Making a movie version that runs at the same pace, note for note, line for line, Would be awful to watch. It would feel rushed, lacking any and all cinematography/exposition/transitions you expect in a film.

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I wish they would give more Broadway shows the same treatment Disney gave Hamilton and record the performance in high quality and release that like a movie. I saw Hamilton when it came to New Orleans because of the hype but really didn't enjoy it. Because of how much many loved it, we watched it on Disney and I liked it a bit more. Probably because I could see the facial expressions better. I also love closed captioning as I get older...there's a lot I pick up now that I didn't in the past.

I've seen Book of Mormon 3 times (once in New York and twice in New Orleans). It's easily one of my favorite shows/movies/entertainment/ect I've ever seen. I would pay big money to own a high quality version of that. Even better if I could see it with the original cast as they were long gone by time I saw it for the first time.

My wife and I would really enjoy just being able to watch classic Broadway shows on TV on a Friday night every now and then. Or since my wife has trouble staying up late, watch Act 1 on Friday and Act 2 on Saturday. I think there are some Youtube versions of a couple but it didn't look like the quality is great. If there's a service that provides that I would love a head's up!

I'm not typically into things like theater but for some reason I love seeing at least 2 shows every time we go to New York. Usually a big one that we plan to see and another random one we would get from the TKTS booth that day. We saw a play from TKTS called something like Airline. It was about a seedy hotel on Airline Hwy in New Orleans with a wide arrangement of characters. I know we saw it early on because it got cancelled after 6 weeks. I still enjoyed watching it. Something about being in New York and watching actors doing what they love just trying to break through.

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Willemijn Verkaik

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Obviously, Menzel and Chenowith are the originating team and everything after was at least based on or influenced by that, but the hyperproductive team of Verkaik and Katie Rose Clarke is my favorite (and the E/G we saw on Broadway).

You people are gonna make me cry. I legit never thought I'd be discussing favorite Elphaba/Glinda pairs on TD.

We'll give some time for more people to join in before we go over the correct answers.

Do they make all the white people frame the poor colored witch in the musical, too?

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Do they make all the white people frame the poor colored witch in the musical, too?

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So... giving the "villian" a backstory and point of view isn't really new, though Gregory Maguire helped popularize the concept when he wrote Wicked back in '95. And created kind of a niche for himself in doing that. He's also written Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (a Cinderella retelling from the POV of one of the stepsisters) and Mirror Mirror (same concept for the Evil Queen from Snow White).

In Wicked's case, the villian just happens to be green. In fact, outside of the initial shock of those she encounters, her greenness isn't really an issue. Oz is a fantasy world after all, with talking Animals, munchkins, people of variety of hues (just none that are green, except Elphaba).

The story is much more of an imagination of how she became "Wicked" in the first place... if she is at all. Like literally every other villain backstory you come across.

Framing it as a race issue (while probably also being one of those who says racism only exists because people keep bringing it up) is... a choice.

That said, here's some Wicked (the musical) trivia for ya:

It may make you happy to know this (which is scary), but Wicked has actually gotten some flack for their casting over the years. There has not yet been a black principal Elphaba on Broadway or the 1st or 2nd National tours. There have been black standbys and understudies, but no black woman has played the role full time in North America.

In fact, the only black woman who has played the role full time in any production worldwide is the sensational Alexia Khadime, the current West End Elphaba.

She's also one of the OG West End Elphabas. Her first run in London was back in 2008. She did 2 separate runs between 2008-2010. Then, last year, they announced she was returning for a year (13 years since her last performance in Wicked). Then, this year, they announced she renewed her contract for another year, which is nearly unprecedented (I think Rachel Tucker did 2 back-to-back contracts, but playing this role 8 times a week for 2 straight years is actually insane because of the vocal demand).

And here's some pics for you, since you love black people so much: