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DIVA TALK: Chatting with Wicked's Ashford, Bean, Espinosa, Murney and Thompson
DIVA TALK: Chatting with Wicked's Ashford, Bean, Espinosa, Murney and Thompson
By Andrew Gans
October 24, 2008
News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.
THE GALS OF WICKED
There can be little argument that the biggest theatrical phenomenon of the past five years has been the Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical Wicked, which is based on Gregory Maguire's novel of the same name. The production, which celebrates its fifth anniversary at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre Oct. 30, has been a massive hit wherever it has played, including sit-down productions in Chicago and Los Angeles, a national touring company, and international stagings in London, Tokyo, Stuttgart and Melbourne (there will soon be a second U.S. national touring company, and the Los Angeles production will transfer to San Francisco in January 2009). Much of the show's success can be credited to the exciting score (years ago, Schwartz gave belting fans "Meadowlark," and his work for Wicked includes the vocally soaring "Defying Gravity," "The Wizard and I" and "No Good Deed" as well as the comic and catchy "Popular" and the touching ballad "I'm Not That Girl") and the its big heart (Holzman's adaptation of Maguire's clever novel offers several touching moments and keeps the audience rooting for its green-skinned heroine). The musical also provides two of the greatest roles for women in recent musical theatre history, and the work of original co-stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel as well as future Glindas and Elphabas — including Annaleigh Ashford, Shoshana Bean, Stephanie J. Block, Kerry Ellis, Eden Espinosa, Megan Hilty, Kendra Kassebaum, Julia Murney, Jennifer Laura Thompson, among others — cannot be discounted. Recently "Diva Talk" posed the same four questions to several of the actresses who have brought Elphaba or Glinda to full life; their answers follow.
( Read more... )
DIVA TALK: Chatting with Wicked's Ashford, Bean, Espinosa, Murney and Thompson
By Andrew Gans
October 24, 2008
News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.
THE GALS OF WICKED
There can be little argument that the biggest theatrical phenomenon of the past five years has been the Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical Wicked, which is based on Gregory Maguire's novel of the same name. The production, which celebrates its fifth anniversary at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre Oct. 30, has been a massive hit wherever it has played, including sit-down productions in Chicago and Los Angeles, a national touring company, and international stagings in London, Tokyo, Stuttgart and Melbourne (there will soon be a second U.S. national touring company, and the Los Angeles production will transfer to San Francisco in January 2009). Much of the show's success can be credited to the exciting score (years ago, Schwartz gave belting fans "Meadowlark," and his work for Wicked includes the vocally soaring "Defying Gravity," "The Wizard and I" and "No Good Deed" as well as the comic and catchy "Popular" and the touching ballad "I'm Not That Girl") and the its big heart (Holzman's adaptation of Maguire's clever novel offers several touching moments and keeps the audience rooting for its green-skinned heroine). The musical also provides two of the greatest roles for women in recent musical theatre history, and the work of original co-stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel as well as future Glindas and Elphabas — including Annaleigh Ashford, Shoshana Bean, Stephanie J. Block, Kerry Ellis, Eden Espinosa, Megan Hilty, Kendra Kassebaum, Julia Murney, Jennifer Laura Thompson, among others — cannot be discounted. Recently "Diva Talk" posed the same four questions to several of the actresses who have brought Elphaba or Glinda to full life; their answers follow.
( Read more... )