Wicked tour coming to Grand Canal Theatre

emeraldstar

pmax86 wrote: »

Hi, I am in Dublin for a weekend in January (10th – 12th) and would really like to see this show but looks like only Matinee tickets are available. Can anyone tell me how different this would be to the evening show (stupid question maybe but I’m new to this!).

It will be the exact same.

Endurance_man

Went this week and it was so disappointing. Elphaba voice was very poor. No volume and the actress just shouted her way through the whole musical.

This was echoed by another group of big fans beside me. They left disappointed.

Surely the lead should have a better voice.

Not worth the money in my opinion.

youngblood

Have been waiting for reveiws to see if any of the underwhelming sentiment mentioned here was true, but cant really find any thorough review which seems odd. Generally the Irish times had some criticisms of the climax of some of the songs in the second act etc but was impressed with the scale and production values. Whether its a given not to compare touring casts with West End/Broadway productions I dont know.
I know there are die hard fans who are expecting what they hear on the CD or what they've seen on Broadway but I'll have to wait till I see it before I can offer any insight!

Evenstevens

Saw it this evening and it is a great night out. I had seen it in London and I have to say I preferred the Elphaba in London but that's not to say this Elphaba wasn't good either I just preferred Rachel Tucker's voice. The girl playing Glinda is fantastic, a beautiful singing voice. I also preferred the Fiyero of this one. Visually it's stunning and it got a standing ovation. Go and see this. Highly recommend it.

Ginny

Going in Jan. I was 50/50 about going as I've seen it in the Orpheum in SanFran with Teal Wicks and Kendra Kassebaum and was blown away. I know there's no way it could be as big and showstopping in the BGE anyway, there's just no room for it. Fingers crossed going in with low exceptions will make it better..:)

Martin Walker

Hi guys. Gona get the better half tickets for this for Christmas. Never been to the venue and just wondering if the seats in the Circle and upper circle are too far for such a show? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Marty

First_October

Was at the 7.30 show tonight. I'm not into musicals at all, but I really enjoyed it. Overall, it was a fantastic spectacle and the lead actors were outstanding. My only quibble was that the second half was nowhere near as good as the first. The songs were much weaker and the plot seemed to just meander around until the anti-climactic finale. The song immediately preceding the interlude was never topped. Great night out, though; would highly recommend it.

tomboylady

I went yesterday. The staging was stunning (even if it did seem a little small and confined), the finer details were noticeable and impressive. I thought Helen Woolf (the Glinda u/s) was really great and played the part excellently, and her upper range was delightful to listen to. Nikki David Jones was great as well. However, I found that she either whispered or shouted when singing, and, as a result, it was difficult to understand the words in a lot of the songs (it wasn't a sound issue).

Really enjoyed it overall!

youngblood

How long is the first half? Intermission etc?
Duration?

tomboylady

Started at 2.30pm, interval at 4.00pm (last about 15/20 minutes I think) and I was leaving the theatre at about 5.20pm.

ShazGV

Was at the matinee show yesterday & was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful it was. I saw it on Broadway in November 2012 and it was absolutely incredible, but because the first time I saw it on stage was on Broadway it means that no other productions will ever compare, ha!
That said, I really enjoyed the show yesterday. I didn't notice any sound problems during the show, only that Fiyero's mic volume dropped for a split second during Dancing Through Life. The orchestra were the tiniest bit too loud at times too, but not enough to detract from the songs. Emily Tierney was a great Glinda, very funny actress. It was my nieces (13) first time seeing it and she was blown away.

FouxDaFaFa

I'm going to the late show of this today, have never seen it before and am very excited.

Posy

Hope you enjoy it!

tommytee

Saw it tonight, painful to say the least, but the majority of my extended family liked it, kids loved it.
Maybe it was the annoying canned laughter from some fanboys (and girls) at nearly every line that set me off, when clearly some lines were just not even meant to be funny :-/
Young kid behind me got totally spooked near end,
Nuff said,
Looking forward to war horse

youngblood

Went to see it on Sunday,
One Word- Spectacular

Am I a fan? I'd seen it before, regularly listen to the soundtrack, been to a good few Broadway & West End shows and with the reviews here I had prepared myself to be disappointed but I was totally blown away with it.

I had been to the West End to see it and it definitely missed the sparkle that was in the Bord Gais, everything just seemed better and Im not sure why...the set (which I presume is smaller), the costumes, the singing, the acting, the lighting, the special effects, everything was 100% better.

Its the biggest Spectacle I've ever seen in Ireland-I would go again in a shot!

(still dont like the Wizard character though!)

Addle

My first visit to the BGE theatre and I wasn't disappointed.
Very impressive and impressed.

FouxDaFaFa

I enjoyed it a lot but we were definitely sitting up too high (upper circle).

At times, it was impossible to understand the chorus because of the acoustics. And the giant head might as well have been speaking gibberish, couldn't decipher a word of it.

spurious

Went last night - loved it. Knew nothing about the story and really enjoyed it.

what the hell!

Guys has anyone heard if it's completely sold out? Can't find tickets for any performance. I'll give the theatre a ring in the morning I think.

Ziegfeldgirl27

I haven't heard that it's completely sold out, but a few days ago I saw on twitter that tickets for the remaining shows are extremely limited. Give them a call and see if they can help.

cee_jay

what the hell! wrote: »

Guys has anyone heard if it's completely sold out? Can't find tickets for any performance. I'll give the theatre a ring in the morning I think.

I just came on here to ask the same thing. I can't find availability for any of the remaining shows. I am looking for just one ticket for any of the shows if anyone knows any for sale.

what the hell!

I know one would do me too!

Ziegfeldgirl27

Does anyone know what days the main cast perform in? Saw it on the Sunday matinee on the 1st December, and Nikki Davis Jones and Emily Teirney were performing. Will be seeing it again on the Saturday matinee on the 18th January, what is usually the norm for Saturday matinee performances? Do the stand-ins just do the Wednesday matinee and the main actors do 8 shows per week?

what the hell!

I would assume they do all the shows unless they are sick?

what the hell!

So I rang Ticketmaster and the girl I was talking to said it seems that it is completely sold out for the remaining shows Great for the show but bad for me!

ShazGV

Ziegfeldgirl27 wrote: »

Does anyone know what days the main cast perform in? Saw it on the Sunday matinee on the 1st December, and Nikki Davis Jones and Emily Teirney were performing. Will be seeing it again on the Saturday matinee on the 18th January, what is usually the norm for Saturday matinee performances? Do the stand-ins just do the Wednesday matinee and the main actors do 8 shows per week?

I went to a Saturday matinee on the 14th Dec, Nikki Davis Jones & Emily Teirney were performing then. I'd presume it'll continue to be the same!

leahyl

I'm going to this Friday week (second last show) - can't wait! It's getting pretty good reviews anyway!

athtrasna

Going on Saturday, my 11th performance of Wicked across five cities. Saw it on opening week but have better seats this time and bringing my Mum & sisters who I've been trying to get to London for years to see it so very excited!

Nikki Kaulitz

I went last month, it was amaing, and gong again this Thursday (9th) for my birthday! Apparently we have great seats too, 4th row stalls.

AndrewJD

I'm quite familiar with the show and saw it back in December. I'm coming back up here having written the following to make it clear I've seen this a few times in other places and whilst it's not the perfect musical I like it quite a lot. The criticisms below aren't criticisms as much as small niggles I noticed but probably aren't important to most people. I just thought it'd be interesting to point out some things that weren't as good as they could have been. Overall it was a great show.

I found Davis-Jones' volume to be quite quiet when she wasn't belting, and I think someone unfamiliar with the lyrics would have struggled to make a fair few lines out. Whether this was poor sound mixing or lack of enunciation I'm not sure. Her vocal talent in the big songs was of course excellent, but I felt her comedic lines never really landed, to the degree she clearly runs quickly through to the next line knowing she never gets a laugh with it. I'd have thought the Irish audiences would be more game for a laugh than London, and other bits of comedy went down fine. Don't know what the issue there was.

Tierney was off, replaced by Helen Woolf. She was phenomenal, if a little nervous at times, and I did notice a delayed entrance early on during the quick costume change between the opening number and starting school. The average audience member wouldn't have been able to tell she wasn't the principal performer.

The other roles were performed perfectly fine, it's not a musical that allows it's secondary cast much interpretation. I enjoyed the male ensemble member with the big curly hair because you can keep track of him the whole way through the show. No problems here!

We were there on a night where the performance was signed. I think this is a fantastic thing to do, but would have prefered to have been told when booking the tickets (at the box office, in person, in June) that that is what it was. It's mildly distracting to have someone standing on the side of the stage, with a spotlight on them, gesturing. In addition her position on the stage meant some of the side lighting from stage left left a shadow because it projects back onto the side stage right. Coupled with the gesturing this made huge movements of light which were very distracting for a few minutes, particularly in the second act. I would have booked a different day had I known.

There were a few technical aspects that were a bit off, no bubbles for Glinda, the 'slap' sound effect in the second act was a full second late making the mime a bit obvious. Defying Gravity's lighting was either timed or positioned wrong because the mechanism was the most obvious I've ever seen it (although die-hards will appreciate that it ascends an extra bit during "And nobody in all of Oz...") but the performance still got my heart beating which is the main thing.

The orchestra were fantastic, the sound mixing, conducting and performing were all excellent here. Didn't feel any difference in the slightly smaller orchestrations.

So I had fun, obviously this is a tour and you can't expect the same quality as a sit down production in the West End or on Broadway and I think that was reflected in what I saw. Would still recommend anyone to go see it although as the tone of my post has set out it's not quite as good as it is elsewhere!