Wicked Review
This is my first Musical Theatre review so it may not be the best in the world and so I apologise in advance in the hope not to lead you into the false impression that what follows is a brilliant work of literacy (there is probably a number of spelling and grammar mistakes if you look carefully). With this disclaimer out the way here is my opinion of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.
I went to see Wicked on January 14th 2009 having finally picked up the courage to travel from my home in Bristol to the Apollo Victoria in London having wanted to see Wicked for just over a year and I have to say that the production more than lived up to my expectations.
The story is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire which in turn is a reimagining of Frank L Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which means that many of the characters will be instantly recognisable to many people. The story tells of how the characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz came to be told primarily from The Wicked Witch of the West’s point of view and Kerry Ellis as Elphaba does a brilliant job of making you really like Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West).
Dianna Pilkington likewise really brings the G(a)linda character alive, i’ve read many people criticise her ‘childlike voice’ but I honestly think that it really fits in with her character. Not forgetting the remainder of the cast that make Wicked such a must see show.
Wicked is framed by a brilliant set which takes over the stage culminating in a time dragon situated right at the top – you will most notably see this when you enter the auditorium and will only really see it during the show if you are sitting where you can see the whole stage, I was sitting right at the front (seat B17 if you are interested) where it was visible if you craned your kneck upwards. Howver it’s only used once or twice and seeing it (or not) doesn’t effect the dramatic effect of the performance in any significant way.
If you’ve got the soundtrack then you will already know how uplifting and brilliant it is and trust me it sounds even better in the Apollo Victoria compared to listening to it through laptop speakers. I have a number of favourtie tracks but Defying Gravity just has to grab your attention and seeing Elphaba ‘fly’ on the stage is a moment that will stay with you for a long time.
Throughout the entire performance I was getting goosebumps by just how impressed I was with Wicked which leaves me with only word that I can use to describe it – Wicked!
Have you seen Wicked? What did you think of it? Please feel free to post your reviews in the comments below.
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