As you sit down in the theatre, you get an idea as to the detail that is going to be in this show by all the surrounding staging that is not hidden by the main screen. I love it, all the old wood, vines and steps, set back into the sides keeps you busy for ages whilst you are waiting for the show to start. Across the theatre is old style mine lighting, suspended across by its wires. It really gets you into the show and I think also reminds you that this is not the usual wizard of oz story. I found that we had to wait a while for the show to start and it started a couple of minutes late but this was probably a good thing as some stupid people still did not manage to find their seats in time. This time round, I was on the upper tier but we had very good seats. The screen lifted and the performers came out. I really love the lighting with this production, it changes so often and they seem to use very rich colours which make the performance feel very captivating. I will not give too much away as I do not want to spoil the show for the people that have not seen it but the only thing that I want to criticize with the scenery is that there are two very tall column divider things that have moving cog wheels on them, the cogs spin when these parts of the scenery move. They appear so often and I kept on thinking to myself “what are they!?” “why are they in a classroom, in a forest and basically everywhere in Oz?” The scenery was so beautiful and then you get these column things move in and I just cant fathom as to why they had to be used so much in the production? Could they not have replaced them with trees in the forest and bookshelves in the classroom? I don’t know, maybe there is a reason that they are there. Apart from that criticism of the scenery, I have to say that the acting and singing was amazing. Rachel Tucker that plays Elphaba, sings in such an amazing way, her acting is perfect and I just wanted her to take her costume off so you could see the beautiful lady underneath it (I think this shows that she did a very good job!) If Elphaba was such a great character then you know that Glinda, played by Louise Dearman just stole the show! Glinda was funny, sexy, underestimated and of course... blonde! The one thing that I would comment on is that Dearman does not speak very clearly and some of the time it was impossible to hear what she was saying. Whilst I am sure that all of her joes were funny, because you could not her her all the time it was hard to understand some of them. The rest of the time, she was 100% amazing and really made you love this character all the way. Dearman acted how I imagine Glinda to be and had the character nailed down to a T in my eyes. Whilst Dearman had the character, Tucker had the voice and I think that we should not forget Tucker because of this. Whilst the two leading ladies really made the show, there are two guys that have to be mentioned. Mark Evans who played Fiyero is just amazing. He did not have to speak, he could have just stood in the middle of the stage, silent for three hours and I am sure that it would have impressed most of the people in the theatre! He has the looks of a hunk and the acting and singing voice of a dedicated actor. I know that most people will love him because he is a complete charmer but I have to say that he does his job incredibly well. Maybe they should create a production just based around Fiyero! The other little one that has to be mentioned is Ben Stott who played the munchkin, Bok. Whilst Stott is not really small and does not look like a munchkin, he plays his character very well. (I do wish however that he was smaller to match the character!) You really feel for him and nothing goes his way (this is why I think that me and him should fall in love and live happily ever after) It is a huge production so it is understandable that everyone in the production is going to be good. You can tell that it has had money pumped into it from every angle and I think people that watch it from all ages, knowing about the Wizard of Oz or not, you will enjoy it. As I stated in my previous blog, I found it very inspiring and I know that I will go and see it again in a year or two. By that time, me and Boq will be madly in love and they will have to change the storyline! The show is rather expensive but if the money is putting you off, I want to reassure you that it is money well spent and that you will have a phenomenal evening. Victoria Apollo theatre is rather large and one this that I love about this theatre is that nearly all of the seats have views. If you are worried about being too far back then I recommend that you sit on the upper tier. The upper tier has a better slope than where the stalls are so I think that you can get a better view (unless you are near the front where I was the first time round and then you will have the best seats in the house!) The closer you are to the speakers however, the bigger your headache. As a warning, when the Wizard of Oz speaks, you will want to put your hands over your ears. Apart from that have an amazing time and dribble over all the talent that this production has to offer!
Signing out, Thatmfeeling
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