Rachaels Wicked Review

Thanks to Rachael for sharing her Wicked experience with us. She very kindly took her sister Claire to see the show for her Birthday. Now I have pictures of both girls with our Rachel but I'm not totally sure 'Witch is Witch' so if either of you are reading this please leave a comment to let us know.


Rachaels Review

My sister Claire and I arrived at the stage door about 12.30pm, feeling very nervous and completely unsure of where to look to spot anyone and what to say if we did. This was highlighted by the fact that Louise Dearman turned up about 10 minutes later and all we managed was a feeble ‘Hi’ and a star struck gaze as she disappeared through the stage door. To be honest we didn’t fully realise it was her until a tick tock after the door had closed, she is so tiny! Which really does not come across on stage.

So, one failed attempt down, we were determined to make sure we got the autograph of the next cast member we saw. We didn’t have to wait long for Julie Legrand to show up, looking much more approachable than her character! She was really lovely and said “ ahhh, the Grimmerie” in a very Madam Morrible like way, when we produced it for her to autograph, she even wrote a personalised message for us.

With one successful meeting under our belt we were feeling a renewed sense of confidence and were lamenting even more deeply our complete fluff up with Louise.
About an hour into our vigil we were joined by a group of lovely American women who were all waiting for Lee Mead and were so excited at the prospect that we agreed that they could push us out of the way as soon as he showed up.

Next to arrive was the delightful Rachel Tucker who was all smiles. The main thing we noticed was how very charmingly Irish she is, you could tell how much work she must have put into her stage voice for Wicked. We asked her to sign a page near the front of the Grimmerie with a picture of a green baby Elphaba, Rachel hadn’t seen it before “is that really in here? I look like a boy!” she exclaimed, nevertheless she graciously signed it and stopped and had a photo with each of us.

Time was marching along swiftly now and we were beginning to wonder who might be left to accost when Clive Carter showed up, who was also very lovely, and stopped to have a little chat with us, asking if we were staying to see the show today whilst he signed our book. George Ure wasn’t far behind and although in a bit of a rush was more than happy to bestow his autograph upon us. He was trying to juggle his drink and bag with our book and pen so I offered to hold his coffee for him. He agreed and thanked us but you could tell that there was a moment’s hesitation where he assessed if we were the crazy stalker like fans who would steal it and sell it on ebay! Ever bright and cheery he disappeared through the door reunited with his coffee cup and calling “enjoy the show darling” over his shoulder.

We waited for quite a while after this, seeing only members of the ensemble that we knew by sight but unfortunately not name. Eventually, shortly before 2.00pm and just as we were giving up hope of seeing anyone else Lee Mead showed up. After the lovely American ladies had a nice chat with him, we got his signature and a photograph. Despite the fact that Lee was running late, he still made time for us and stopped for a chat. He was really friendly and definitely as charming as he comes across on stage.

All in all it was a marvellous first stage door experience and the show only seemed better (as if that was even possible) after having met most of the cast.

Rachel Tucker was brilliant, she has such an amazing stage presence you can’t but help being absorbed in watching her from the very first word. Her performance of Defying Gravity made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and No Good Deed left me with goosebumps! Louise was hilarious in the Popular scene, we noted she had added some extra bits in to it and they worked brilliantly, Rachel had also slightly changed her ‘toss, toss’ attemps only adding to our amusement. Lee Mead was compelling as Fiyero, bringing the part to life and managing to make the characters emotional transition very believable. He appeared to be very comfortable in the role, dancing with movements so graceful he seemed to float accross the stage at times. The only disappointment, according largely to Claire, is that he didn't get more opportunities to sing! (Can you tell who her favourite is?!)

The last time we went I hadn’t paid too much attention to Clive Carter or Julie Legrand apart from when they were prominently feauturing in a scene, this time however, having the luxuary of being better aquanted with the plot and feeling somewhat obliged after extracting conversations and autographs from both, I decided to watch them more closely. I was rewarded by spotting Clive indulging in some excellent background acting. When Glinda and Elphaba are arguing in front of him in Act 2, he sinks to the floor appearing to have a heart attack in reaction to the shock, after a little while he ‘passes out’ until he hears Glinda mention Elphe and Fiyero where he suddenly perks up and sits forward to listen to the gossip attentivly. Completely worth a watch!

We will definitely be booking yet another show while this cast is still together and will make sure that we are looking extra hard next time for a petite blond walking towards the stage door!