Okay, so I was going to make this a big separate trip report, but with last night's show this very quickly turned in to a Blooper Report... so it belongs in this thread. Three times now, and it just gets better with each show... ;D (It'll be long. Just warning you now.)
Last night's show was absolutely fabulous. The audience was highly responsive- laughing in all the right places, having gigantic reactions to the various plot twists- and was a nice mix of Wicked virgins (a woman next to me had seen pretty much everything on Broadway
except Wicked) and us ol' veterans, (another lady at lotto said she had seen Wicked more times than she would confess to. She'd only say that most of the production crew and a large chunk of the cast pretty much knew her by name now).
Right from her entrance in "No One Mourns", Kristin was highly energetic and in the mood for some ad-lib and improv. The bubble sprayers on her bubble seemed to be just as hyper however- the bubbles were
everywhere while she was singing. She even had to wave them aside so she could see everyone! Throughout the rest of the song when she was in midair she had fun popping bubbles and batting at them.
Last night also brought about a first (at least from everything I've read in this thread) with a Carole Shelley blooper. When she made her first entrance, the audience greeted her with applause- delayed applause. She'd gotten through her first line or two before it started to which she stopped, turned and said, (in character) "Thank you." Idina absolutely cracked up.
I don't know what exactly Idina did, but during the last line of "What is This Feeling?" ("Truly... deeply!") Kristin started giggling like crazy. Idina had kinda done this clawing thing with her hands... maybe that was it? (The "every little trait however small" joke was in there too).
But the best part of the night came during- what else?- Popular. More specifically, it happened during the lead-in scene. As the bedroom set rolled in, Elphaba's bed and shelf came, as well as Galinda's shoe rack... but no bed.
Idina: "Where's your bed??"
Kristin: "I have
no idea!"
Kristin did a little improv dance while Idina laughed helplessly on the bed. Reading this thread, I know it's happened before, but this time there was NO bed. Anywhere in sight. They decided to try the scene all on Idina's bed, but just as they got through the first couple lines, Kristin's bed started to come out- only to stop halfway. She jumped on the bed and started trying to breast-stroke it out onstage. ;D It eventually came out, but as the bed came out, the shoes started to slide away in to the wings again... Gah! Kristin got as far as telling her secret about Fiyero when the shoes started to come back... and she jumped a mile when they clunked in to place. Wonderful little squeak from her which made Idina loose it again. Laughter went on for a while and when it settled down, Idina had completely lost her place in the scene. Kristin re-cued her and things went on as normal as they could...
But, of course, this was ripe for ad-lib on Kristin's part. When she did the "Is this thing on?" with the wand, she added in, "We know that (points to bed) and that (the shoes) don't work, but what about this? (the wand)"
At the end of "Popular" where Kristin ends on the bed, kicking her legs... the bed wouldn't leave. It was literally stuck center stage while the rest of the ensemble started to come on, as well as Idina in the Galinda-fied outfit. They completely cracked up while Kristin and the bed left at a snail's pace... Kristin had time for both the front AND backstroke this time.
Norbert still wasn't over it when he came on, trying hard not to giggle during the serious Dr. Dillamond scene....
This is kind of a minor thing, but when Idina crouched down on the stage at one point, you could see she had some kind of a black knee brace on. Anybody know what it could be from??
The last Act I blooper was during "Sentimental Man" as Chistery was hopping around from rolling set piece to set piece. When he landed on the last one, it clearly wasn't anchored properly as it started to roll a bit. He looked up into the rafters above the stage and started waving like, "Fix this, will ya?!" It took a moment or two, but soon it was secure and he gave a thumbs up.
Act II was mostly back on track with only one or two oopsies. Norbert missed the high note on "pair" during "As Long As You're Mine".... Chistery has some GREAT reactions during "For Good" (ie: trying to read the Grimmerie and scratching his head, waving for Glinda and Elphaba to hug as if to say, "Go on. Gowersh, just hug already!").
The last thing I'll say is that Kristin was also really in to the ending, weeping uncontrollably at one point... so teary in fact, that it was quite clear her mascara was running a bit on her cheeks. Ooops. She also had sniffly/snotty nose during the last scene with the Wizard, having to stop to wipe her nose about 3 different times... Joel very nearly cracked up as she looked for somewhere to wipe it...
So, yeah... I guess I must've jinxed it. I was talking with a couple friends before the show about how I never get to see "blooper shows". Well, I got the mother of all blooper shows last night! ;D
Norbert still wasn't over it when he came on, trying hard not to giggle during the serious Dr. Dillamond scene....
