My+Favourite+Musicals

I'm on of those people that go and see musicals when i can because i am a bit of an actress myself and i love it. I hope to do alot more acting in my life time, its one of my passions. The first broadway musical i ever saw was 'Wicked' in Melbourne in 2008. It was amazing!!! Im also going to see 'Mamma Mia' in Feburary 09, i loved the movie so im sure i'll love the musical as well. I've written some stuff up on my favourite musicals of all time so have fun reading it!! :)

//**__WICKED__**//
Wicked is a Tony Award winning Broadway musical, with songs and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz with the book written by Winnie Holzman. The story is based on the best selling novel 'Wicked:The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire, a parallel novel of the classic stort 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'. 'Wicked' tells the stroy of Elphaba, the future Wicked With of the West and her relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. Thier frienship struggles through their opposing personalities and veiwpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, thier reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government and ultimantely Elphaba's public fall from grace. The plot is set mostly before Dorothy's arrival from Kansas and includes several references to the very well-known film, 'The Wizard of Oz'. 'Wicked' the musical first premiered at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in May of 2003. In October of that same year the show moved to Broadway's Gershwin Theatre. It was produced by Universal Pictures and directed by Joe Mantello. The original stars were Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Joel Grey as the Wizard. Although the production did have many mixed reveiws and was dished by The New York Times, but it has proved to be a favourite among patrons. The Broadway production's success spawned productions in Chicago, Los Angeles, Londons West End, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, Stuttgart and San Francisco as well as 2 North American tours that have visited over 30 cities in Canada and the United States. Wicked has broken box office records around the world, holding weekly gross takings in New York and Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Lois and London,and the record for the biggest opening in the West End ( £ 100,000 in the first hour on sale). Both the West End andthe North American tour have been seen by over 2million people. The show was nominated for 10 Tony Awards in 2004, winning those of Best Actress (Idina Menzel), Scenic Design and Costume Design. It also won 6 Drama Desk Awards.

Stephen Schwartz discovered the 1995 Maguire novel while on a holiday and immediately saw it's potential for dramitic adaption. He met Maguire in Connecticut in 1998 and persuaded him to release the rights for a stage production. Schwartz considered how best to condense the novel's complicated plot into a more practable script. To this he collaborated with Emmy Award winning writer Winnie Holzman to develop the outline of the plot over the course of only a year. While the draft followed Maguire's idea of retelling the story of the children's book from the perspective of the main villain. As Holzman observed in an interview with the 'Playbill', "It was Maguire's brilliant idea to take this hated figure and tell things from her point of view, and to have 2 witches be roommates in college, but the way in which their friendship developes, and the whole plot, is different on stage." Schwartz justified the deviation saying "Primarily we were interested in the relationship between Galinda, who becomes Glinda, and Elphaba. The frienship of these two women and how their characters lead them to completely different destinies." The changes also included Fiyero's apperance as a scarecrow, Elphaba's survival at the end, Nessarose's using a wheelchair instead of being born without arms, Boq having continuing love for Glinda, the complete cutting years of Elphaba's years in the Vinkus and Doctor Dillamond not being murded.

The book, lyrics and score for the musical were developed through a series of readings. For these developmental workshops, Kristin Chenoweth, the Tony Award winning actress whom Stephen Schwartz had in mind while composing the music for the character, joined the show as Glinda. Stephanie Block had read the role of Elphaba before Idina Manzel was cast in the role in 2001. In early 2000 the creators recruited David Stone, the New York producer, to begin the transformation to a full Broadway production. Joe Mantello was bought in as the director and by April 2003 he had assambled a full cast and the show was prepared for a public production.

On June 10, 2003, 'Wicked' was officially opened for a pre-broaway tryout at the Curran Theatre in San Fransisco after previews began on May 28, 2003. The cast included Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, Idina Menzal as Elphaba, Robert Morse as The Wizard of Oz, Norbet Leo Butz as Fiyero, Michelle Federer as Nessarose, Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible, John Horton as Doctor Dillamond and Kirk McDonald as Boq.

Stephanie Block served as an ensemble memeber and an understudy for Elphaba. The musical staging was created by Wayne Cilento. Tony-award winning designer Eugene Lee created a set and visual style for the production based on both W.W. Denslow's origninal illustrations for Baum's novels and Maguire's concept of the story being told through a giant clock. Costume designer Susan Hilferty created a 'twisted Edwardian' style through more than 200 costumes while lighting designer Kenneth Posner used more than 800 individual lights to give each of the 54 scenes and locations "it's own mood." The trial run ended on June 29and extensive retooling for Brodway began. Elements of the book were rewritten and several songs underwent minor transformations. One song from the pre-Broadway version was scrapped before the musical opened. "Which Way is the Party?" was replaced by "Dancing Through Life", each were used to introduce the character Fiyero.

The Broadway production began preveiws at the George Gershwin Theatre on October 8th, 2003 and officially opened on October 30th. Most of the original production team and cast members remained with the show when it opened on Broadway except for some minor ensemble changes and Robert Morse being replaced by Joel Grey. William Youmans replaced Horton as Dr. Dillamond and Christopher Fitzgerald replaced McDonald as Boq. In addition Eden Espinosa and Laura Bell Bundy were added to the cast as the "standbys" for Elphaba and Glinda. Since then the standbys have been a part of nearly every production. The Broadway production has consistently been one of the two highest weekly grossing shows since its opening and has grossed over $1 million everyweek. Notable replacements have included Shoshana Bean, Eden Espinosa, Ana Gasteyer, Julia Murney, Stephanie J. Block, Kerry Ellis, Marcie Dodd, Nicole Parker and Dee Roscioli as Elphaba. Jennifer Laura Thompson, Megan Hilty, Kate Reinders, Kendra Kassebaum, Annaleigh Ashford, Alli Mauzey and Erin Mackey as Glinda. Taye Diggs, Joey McIntyre, David Ayers, Sebastian Arcelus and Aaron Tveit as Fiyero. George Hearn, Ben Vereen, David Garrison and Lenny Wolpe as the Wizard. Rue McClanahan, Carol Kane, Jayne Houdyshell, Miriam Margolyes and Rodni Reed as Madame Morrible, Jenna Leigh Green as Nessarose, Randy Harrison and Robb Sapp as Boq and Sean McCourt and Timothy Britten Parker as Doctor Dillamond. 