One short day in the Emerald City

*with apologies for blurriness, but both were taken on my phone

Ever since I saw excerpts from ‘Wicked’ on the series about the history of the Broadway musical, I’ve wanted to see the show. It’s about the Wicked Witch of the West, what could be better?

Since it opened at the Apollo Victoria, I’ve wanted to see the ‘first run’ cast with Idina Menzel who created the role of Elphaba on Broadway, as she’s only in it till the new year. And so, we booked tickets for yesterday’s matinee, and I found myself with V at York station at 7am yesterday morning. The night before, I was on line and checking out a few sites, and spotted that Idina had been off ill for a couple of days…oh dear…but at least we didn’t get to the theatre before finding out. It turned out she was still sick, and we were to see Kerry Ellis, who takes over from her in January. I was glad, though, that we’d not gone for the top price £55 tickets, and had in fact got £15 tickets in the Circle, which whilst some distance away from the stage, had great sightlines, as there was an aisle in front of us.

They’ve refurbished the theatre since we saw 'Movin Out' there, and it’s now the Emerald City, decorated in green and silver, complete with ‘witchified’ cocktails (and, sadly, warm wine in plastic glasses, which the theatre snob in me objected to!)

The set, the costumes and the lighting were fantastic. It was one of those shows where you could see where the money had gone, even if I couldn’t work the significance of the huge animatronic dragon over the proscenium arch. And there was a real sense of excitement through the auditorium as it started.

I’m not going to spoil the show for others by talking in detail about the synopsis, but it opens just after the melting of the ‘Wicked Witch’ and then tells the backstory of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. All the central characters were excellent, and once I’d got over the momentary disappointment that Kerry Ellis wasn’t Idina, she was great, with a tremendously powerful voice (and boy, do you need one for this show!), though I’m not sure what happened in ‘Defying Gravity’, as she failed to levitate, thus we lost probably the most dramatic effect of the show. Miriam Margolyes was excellent as Madame Morrible, tutor turned Wizard's spin doctor, who sees Elphaba as her route to power. Adam Garcia (very cute) was a dashing hero, moving from airhead to the romantic hero who saw beyond outward appearance, and Helen Dallimore a suitable ditzy Glinda, with some gorgeous frocks.

The songs, with a couple of exceptions, take the story along, rather than being stand alone ‘showstoppers’, and by the end, yes, once again I was in tears. I was also the owner of a souvenir programme**, a cd, a t shirt and a lapel pin! Oops!

It was all I wanted it to be, and more, and I’d happily go and see it again. After all, as it was a matinee, I didn’t get to wear the ruby slippers!

**for once, very good value, I thought.