Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

So this was my day yesterday, along with my more detailed thoughts about the show, now that I've almost stopped bouncing incoherently. It got a bit long, she says, understatedly, so I've chopped it up into sections. You can read or skip as you please :)

So I had a ticket for the evening performance of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria in London. There was much fidgeting of the Mitchy all day Saturday; I never do relax properly when I've got somewhere to be at a specific time, especially when it's something I'm really, really looking forward to. My print out of my ticket info so I could collect the ticket at the box office must have been checked like a zillion times during the afternoon.

I caught the 4.20 train from WGC, hopping off at Finsbury Park and catching the Victoria Line to, well, Victoria :) It was packed, it being a Saturday evening, but I got a seat all the way there, only abandoning it the stop before Victoria, just so I could actually get to the doors ready to scamper off. It was barely 5.20pm when I scurried out of the station and got my bearings.

I wasn't expecting the theatre to be so close to the station! I exited by the Wilton Road exit and expected to have to walk a little bit to see the theatre. But no. As I got out, I could see another theatre advertising Billy Elliot right in front of me. I turned right and stopped so dead, I must have pissed off a whole bunch of people behind me. Right there, across the road, was the Apollo Victoria in all its glory, with WICKED spot lit in green and it looked magnificent! I was too nervous to take my camera but I'll have to go back and get some shots of the exterior and post them in here sometime.

Having recovered somewhat, I navigated the matinee crowd and figured out where to pick up my ticket. The earliest you could pick it up was 2 hours before and it was exactly 2 hours on the dot when I presented myself and got my ticket. *coughs and looks sheepish* And after all the paranoia about having the print out of my order? I was never asked for it or asked for any ID. *shakes head* But the ticket was mine, MINE! and there was gloating and then it was carefully tucked away into a pocket and I swear I spent the next two hours with my hand in my pocket clutching it for safety or just checking it periodically :D Yeh, I know, I'm hopeless *hangs head* (As an aside? My Chess ticket is currently pinned to the noticeboard in my hall with TWO pins, for safety, and is frequently looked at and gloated over :))

I then had an hour and a half to kill, wanting to be in the theatre for 7, which is when they generally let people into the stalls. I mooched around a bit, spotting a Pizza Express and some nice restaurants, but truthfully, I was too excited to be hungry. I bought a couple of snack bars at Smiths, in case I got hungry at the theatre, before finally forcing myself to go to Wetherspoons to have a sarnie....and half a cider to help me calm down :) It worked a treat! Finally, it was 6.45 and I gleefully scampered off back to the Apollo, happily texting excited squeakings to jenni as I did so :)

I didn't realise until I read the programme more carefully, but the Apollo Victoria is a theatre I've been to before, waaaaay back in 1981 when I saw "The Sound of Music" with Petula Clark. An excellent production and the funny thing is, THAT was a birthday treat too :) Hee! It's a cool theatre and, amazingly, all the green inside - green theme carpeting, paintwork etc - is all original design, although they HAVE restored a lot of it since Wicked was there. The producers must have thought it was fate when they saw the place the first time around *g*. Anyway, I couldn't resist shopping at the "Ozdust Boutique" (there's actually six of these in the theatre!) and I bought a mug to add to the collection. Like I don't have enough. Heh. I got a programme too but I was actually kinda disappointed with it. But that's always a risk with show programmes, some are great, some not so good. I would have liked more information on the leads and some history of the show at the Apollo, but never mind. Having flicked through the programme, I fidgeted until 7pm when they finally opened up the entrances to the stalls and I was amble to scamper to my seat. Oooh it was a GOOD seat!! I didn't get to choose where I sat when I bought the ticket, it was just allocated to you, but when I was buying, this was the best option that came up. H17, which was not only an aisle seat, but a mere 8 rows from the stage :D :D Excellent position, I really lucked out.

I sat and just gawped at the stage for a bit, admiring the big map of Oz that is the front curtain pre-show and looking up at the big mechanical dragon that hovers right above the stage. The folks up in the higher seats must get a great view of it at the start of the show, it's pretty amazing. Framing the stage at either side are two towers of metal and cogs that are also staircases. I was looking at these with interest when I saw movement high up and realised it was the cast taking their positions! Heeee!! The lights went down, the music kicked in, flying monkeys swarmed down ropes and ladders, and the dragon flared into life, lighting up and blowing smoke and flapping his wings. It was awesome!

You all know I'm a big mushball right? I mean, this isn't news. So it won't surprise any of you much, I guess, to tell you that I got a little emotional during the overture, as the curtains lifted and the cast started the first song? No, didn't think so. It was just so overwhelming to actually be there and see it all! I took a firm hold of myself, though, and calmed down and then just lost myself in the show for 2 and a half hours. The story is that the Wicked Witch of the West was a green skinned girl called Elphaba who was ostracised and misunderstood. While attending Shiz University, she is first enemies with and then best friends with Galinda, who becomes Glinda the Good Witch. The story is how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch, and asks a lot of questions about labels and moral ambiguities.

The music, well, the music is astonishing. If I have a gripe at all, it's that the first half of the show is almost top heavy with the good stuff, while the second half (which is half an hour shorter than the first) is a bit lighter. And then there's the cast. Now, I got into Wicked because I'm a fan of Idina Menzel, who originated the role of Elphaba on Broadway and subsequently in London. I was prepared to tolerate whoever played the role and as I mentioned in yesterday's post, got THAT assumption handed back to me with interest. Kerry Ellis was absolutely brilliant and her versions of "The Wizard and I" and "No Good Deed", particularly the latter, blew me away. She really sold me on her as Elphaba, particularly during the ballroom scene that follows "Dancing Through Life", where she was particularly affecting. Her "Defying Gravity", which is the song by which all Elphaba's seem to be judged, is strong and as powerful as Idina's and she's made it her own. Not an easy thing to do with a signature song, so kudos to her. She deserves her shot at the Wicked production on Broadway, where she'll be from June 17th this year, and I hope she does really well.

It took me a while to warm up to Diane Pilkington as Glinda. She was a smidge too squeaky for me in the first few songs, particularly "What is this Feeling?" which is an early duet for the leads and I found it a smidge wanting, because her squeaky voice and Kerry's vocals didn't blend well. However, by the time she kicked arse and took names with her version of "Popular", I was a fan. And to be fair, on the other big numbers, she lost the squeakiness a lot and it sounded way better.

Suzie Blake was another joy, she played Madame Morrible to perfection and got a lot of big laughs. If you're wondering why the name is familiar, you may recall her as the really sarcastic news presented in Victoria Wood on TV :) Nigel Planer, as the Wizard, was on form; he's been in the show since it opened in Sept 2006 and I'd heard his performance was looking tired but he was on form last night and I really enjoyed his signature number "Wonderful". Quite why he feels he has to have an American accent, I'm not sure. Maybe it's a production thing.

Oliver Thompsett played Fiyero, who starts out as a careless, happy-go-lucky character who Glinda finds herself attracted to, but who has his eyes opened to real life by Elphaba and who comes to love her instead. Fiyero's big number is "Dancing Through Life" and I have to say, Oliver is NOT a dancer. But he has a great voice and is a good actor, so he carried it off, just about, and got a big ovation at the end. His duet with Kerry Ellis, "As Long As Your Mine", was as good as any I've heard.

An aside here; they're very, very fond of their dry ice during this production but I felt that there maaay have been technical problems last night, because during the above mentioned duet, Kerry and Oliver were almost hidden at times by the smoke! They're not standing while they're singing this number, they're kneeling on the stage. I'm tempted to write to ask if there were actually problems because if not, they need to consider reducing the smoke at that point, it was overflowing the stage and threatening to suffocate the people in the front row. And I'm sure the musicians in the orchestra pit were't happy either!

The supporting cast was all great and the scenery and staging was clever and impressive. The whole thing is just a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed. And yes, there was a standing ovation for the two leads at the end, which I wholeheartedly joined in :)

I shuffled out in something of a daze, I have to admit, which eventually gave way to total euphoria. I think I had a grin on my face the whole way home and it took me until 3am to wind down enough to go to bed and go to sleep. What a show! Worth every penny that was and I shall tell Aunty Eve so when I see her next weekend, because it was thanks to her I went and thanks to the Shadowy Ticket Buying Committee for enabling me to buy a camera with other funds :) And I have to, just HAVE to, go and see this again, oh yes. *nods determinedly*

Oh to hell with it, I must squee. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! *bounces off, like a very happy Mitchy*