Last night was the first preview of Wicked in London! Overall it sounds like it was a success with it compared to more like a rock concert which is completely unlike British theater audiences. However, there were a few glitches.
In the opening song, No One Mourns the Wicked, they got to the "Look! It's Glinda!" part yet there was no bubble or Glinda!
They had to stop the show, lower the Oz map curtain and then restart from the beginning. But the audience was so into it that it didn't really matter.
Also the benches didn't come out in the first class scene with Dr. Dillamond. The students had to sit on the floor! The beds didn't come out in Popular either and had to be moved by stage hands.
Some mixed reviews for Helen Dallimore as Glinda. People who are used to Kristin's Glinda are having a hard time adjusting to Helen's take as a British upper class snob rather than a ditzy blonde.
OH and one guy got smacked by some moving lighting, blood everywhere and had to go to the "casualty ward." I hope that Idina takes care and doesn't have a repeat of her trap door incident.
Idina was welcomed with thunderous applause of course but also had some mixed reviews on her singing-although her No Good Deed was supposedly fantastic. I have not seen anything good about Adam Garcia as Fiyero though. I hope he steps it up a bit and gets into the role as the previews continue.
Madam Morrible is speaking her lines instead of singing them??
There were not a lot of changes to make it more British as some had speculated. Some reviews questioned the accents - Elphie is American, Boq is Scottish, The Wizard is American (but the actor is British) and the rest British, but oh well that doesn't really bother me.
That's all I can remember now but check out the Wicked blog by Martin Ball (Dr. Dillamond) I LOVE him! -
http://www.wicked.lastminuteliving.com/