I'm glad I guess. I mean, it's no Les Mis, but it was decent. My little sister, theater rat that she is, loves Wicked. One night we had a long car drive so she played the whole soundtrack for me, giving me the action blow by blow.
My personal favorite snippet:
No one mourns the wicked!Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I like the nice little explanation of why it hasn't happened sooner.
I'll probably go see it in theaters. I saw it in a Houston two years ago and its fun enough. I wouldn't call it Broadway's best. Doesn't even make my top 10 or 20. But Glinda's role is fun and her joy is infectious. It'll take a pretty good actress to win me over as far as Elphaba goes. When I listen to the soundtrack, I always think that I don't identify or relate to her as much the creators would probably want me to.
I'm more interested in the remake of "Jesus Christ Superstar." Don't know if its a good-interested or a bad-interested...
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Shanna: I like the nice little explanation of why it hasn't happened sooner.
Universal Pictures owns the stage version...they wanted it to have a good long run before they did a film version. Five-plus years with no signs of slowing seems to have proved to them the time is right. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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The musical is very different from the book. People tend to be disappointed in whichever they encounter second, so it's really best to think of them as two different but similar works.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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oh no! DAMN. I hate it when stuff like this happens; i didn't mind the musical, but a movie adaptation of the musical will kill any chance of a movie adaptation of the book, which could have been awesome.
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It's easy to understand why someone would be disappointed in the musical after reading the book. Not so much the other way around.
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Gregory has stated (paraphrasing) that he's on shaky ground to begin with, given that Wicked (the novel) is incredibly unfaithful to it's own source material, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He has no problem with a musical comedy "Witchly Sisterhood" version of his story. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: It makes my top two.
I'm curious to hear the other one of your top two.
I'd like to know your top five picks, actually.
I saw this on Broadway, and Idina Menzel was awesome. It was different from the book, and I agree that it is best to judge them as entirely different. It's not like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone the book and movie, where you could follow along with the novel and a penlight in your lap while you sat in the cinema.
I liked it, but didn't love it, but I am also a poor judge of Broadway shows, because whenever I get to go see one, I feel so lucky and happy and determined to have a good time that I tend to be pleased with whatever show they are putting on.
When I saw it, the actor playing Fiero missed his cue, leaving Glinda and Elphaba standing on the stage with nothing to do. They ad libbed for a minute, to a puzzled audience, when Glinda turned to Elphaba and said, "Did he go to the bathroom?" The audience laughed and was good-natured about it, but, come on, this isn't a high school production. That really ought not to happen.
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I want adaptations of Les Mis and Miss Saigon so I don't have to pay steep prices to see them on Broadway . . .
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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The other one in my top two is Joseph. I'll have to get back to you on a top five--I don't want to dash off a thoughtless answer and realize later on I've left off something I love. Chess would be up there somewhere, though.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: That OTHER chick?
LOL
She has a great birdlike sort of voice, but her name is sooooooooo long and hard to remember or spell.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I'd love to see an *Actual* film version of Les Mis, not that we're-so-awesome-you-don't-have-to-see-the-whole-thing 10 year anniversary 'concert'.
Miss Saigon really didn't do anything for me when I saw it. Granted, I saw it as a student production, but I liked the use of the set pieces way better than I liked the music, characters, or plot (The moral of the story? Don't ever have sex. Ever.). Blech.
Film has got to discover Frank Wildhorn. Scarlet Pimpernell, Jekkyl and Hyde...*sigh*. I would love to see those films (sans David "The Suck" Hasslehoff). Throw in Jason Robert Brown also for good measure -- I'd love to see a good serious musical like Parade on the big screen.
edit: to tone down a bit.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:It's easy to understand why someone would be disappointed in the musical after reading the book. Not so much the other way around.
I heard the musical soundtrack first, read the book, then saw the stage show.
What I like about the musical is the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda, which wasn't in the book. Its one of the reasons why I don't like some fantasy writers...they become too impressed by the world they've created. Like, "look at me, what an amazing imagination I have!"
For me the book dragged. The musical is a good combination of humor and darker themes.
As for the casting, Idina and that other chick (Kristin Chenoweth) are too old to play the parts. Idina playing a 20-something in "Rent" was already stretching it. Neither could play schoolgirls. Which is unfortunate because I love Kristin's voice and she IS the role, right down to referencing her squeaky voice. Idina, on the other hand, was disastrous when they performed "Defying Gravity" at the Tonys.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by EmpSquared: It's easy to understand why someone would be disappointed in the musical after reading the book. Not so much the other way around.
I hated the book. I hated all the sadness and pain and hurt with no bright moments. Not one thing ending well, just people in pain and people refusing to forgive. I never want to read something so depressing ever again.
BTW, don't try to convince me I'm wrong. It's not worth your time. Just enjoy your book and leave me to my own opinions.
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It worries me to think that a difference of opinion about the merits of a book, or a musical, might warrant less-than-classy replies.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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There is a richness to the book that I just don't get from the musical. That, and another gripe about the musical is a gripe that I have with a lot of musicals; if I don't pay attention, the music blurs and I lose interest. The singing is usually fantastic, but the compositions don't do anything for me. But I do understand that I have particular tastes when it comes to music, so maybe my statement was a bit too broad.
Shanna: I see where you're coming from. I can see where the book could drag.
Eaquae: It's really irritating when someone presents a counterpoint and then tells me not to bother with a rebuttal. Kind of like saying "I don't care what you have to say, and I'm going to have the last word no matter what." I respect your opinion dude, but I think I'll be the judge of what's worth my time and what isn't, ok?
TL: Agreed, though I'll be the first to admit that I can be overly protective of the art that I love.
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Sure. I have the same problem at times... And this is a rare book. I think it's a pity how it's been abused. Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:It's Oz...only DARK and GRITTY and REVISIONIST!" is hardly rare, TL.
That's not the book I read. The book I read was full of audacious ideas and deeply real people. It was as rich as a handful of earth. It was as beautiful a display of world-building as I've had the pleasure to read. It didn't abuse L. Frank Baum's work, it added to it, gave it the weight of reality and morality. There was a lot of poetry in the book I read. It was a wonderful book.
Those books -- in any form, in any genre, on any subject -- are rare. Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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By the way, I take a little issue with this:
quote:he's on shaky ground to begin with, given that Wicked (the novel) is incredibly unfaithful to it's own source material, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Because Wicked (the novel) is not an adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in remotely the same way that Wicked (the musical) is an adaptation of Wicked (the novel).
As I say: I don't mind the musical. I don't hate it or anything.... But I'm against them making a movie of it, because Wicked (the novel) still deserves, somewhere, somehow, a good adaptation. Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: The other one in my top two is Joseph. I'll have to get back to you on a top five--I don't want to dash off a thoughtless answer and realize later on I've left off something I love. Chess would be up there somewhere, though.
Just this past week, my husband brought home a copy of Joseph and the Yadda Yadda Dreamcoat (starring Donny Osmond as the Dreamcoat) from the library. I wasn't that enthusiastic about seeing it, but once we popped it into the player, I got caught up in it. That has some really good music in it. I liked better the stage show I saw, but that may just be that my attention was more focused when I was stuck in a theater seat than when I'm at home, answering phones, leafing through the paper, and attending to my family's needs while the movie goes round and round (or whatever those DVD disks do in there).
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:It's Oz...only DARK and GRITTY and REVISIONIST!" is hardly rare, TL.
That's not the book I read. The book I read was full of audacious ideas and deeply real people. It was as rich as a handful of earth. It was as beautiful a display of world-building as I've had the pleasure to read. It didn't abuse L. Frank Baum's work, it added to it, gave it the weight of reality and morality. There was a lot of poetry in the book I read. It was a wonderful book.
Those books -- in any form, in any genre, on any subject -- are rare.
\
I suppose, but there were also some scenes that seriously freaked me out...
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by EmpSquared: Eaquae: It's really irritating when someone presents a counterpoint and then tells me not to bother with a rebuttal. Kind of like saying "I don't care what you have to say, and I'm going to have the last word no matter what." I respect your opinion dude, but I think I'll be the judge of what's worth my time and what isn't, ok?
Well, you can certainly post about what you loved about the book, what it meant to you, etc. It's cool that you liked it. I'm not out to stomp on other people's literary choices, and I have no aesthetic objection to Wicked like I do to Dan Brown, for example.
But trying to convince me, personally, that I should like this book IS a waste of your time. My best friend and my fiance both love it, and neither has been able to change my mind. The most ground they've made in the issue is to get me to admit that reading it while my mom was in the ICU was probably a bad idea.
I just didn't like it. I'm glad other people do, but I did not. At all. And I'm not interested in being changed. Sorry. But enjoy your book. Really.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: That OTHER chick?
LOL
She has a great birdlike sort of voice, but her name is sooooooooo long and hard to remember or spell.
Kristin Chenoweth?
Yes, HER! She sure does have an adorable voice. So high. Like birds chirping. I loooove it No love smiley. But I also love Indina Menzel's rather dark deep tones too. Purrrrrr.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I prefer the musical to the novel. The novel is full of bad language and deviant sex and is way too dark for my taste.
Posts: 571 | Registered: Mar 2001
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