When Menzel opened West End Wicked did she try a British accent?

[csmithmusictheater]

Posted: 8/23/14 at 9:17pm

Just returned from a great week in London. Loved Miss Saigon and Matilda. Had great seats for Wicked, but was a little thrown by the accent - silly me! Got me thinking about what they did when Idena transferred for the opening. Or other Glinda/Elphbas that have done both Broadway and West End. Kerry Ellis was out that night, but totally enjoyed Emma Hatton (was a little visually jarring having a shorter Elphie). Appreciate hearing from anyone who remembers the original cast.

[TBFL]

Posted: 8/23/14 at 9:46pm

Helen Dallimore who played Glinda was the only person to do a British accent ( she was Austrailian)

It wasn't great....

[jonahke]

Posted: 8/25/14 at 4:34am

Willemijn Verkaik had an American accent on Broadway and I think she had a British accent when she played Elphie on West End (although English isn't her native language)

[luke-h***]

Posted: 8/31/14 at 7:59pm

That's not true TBFL. Boq played by James Gillian used a Scottish accent as well as Miriam Margoyles and Martin Ball using their natives. To my knowledge, all actors use their native accents pretty much, including ensemble actors and all the accents were English. The only Americans were The Wizard and Elphaba, everyone else was their native English. (Except for Dallimore's atrocious English accent. I can't remember much about Adam Garcia either, who is also Australian.)

I think the British accent works really well for the show. After all, it's set in Oz, not the USA, or the UK, so why shouldn't either work? Glad you enjoyed C Smith!

[mrkringas]

Posted: 9/2/14 at 9:14am

I'm not sure what was more traumatic: Helen Dallimore's English accent or Helen Dallimore's top As

[DeNada]

Posted: 9/2/14 at 5:18pm

I vaguely remember some "gossip" at the time about the Children In Need performance (I think?) when Helen Dallimore was indisposed for some reason and Idina Menzel reputedly had a moan about Annalene Beechey covering for her instead, blah blah blah drama. I never saw any of them in the show but Annalene Beechey's performance seemed perfectly fine on Children in Need. I've probably misremembered the whole episode, though.

Although now I'm remembering that absolutely dire Legally Blonde performance - thank god they pulled it out the bag for the actual show!

[mrkringas]

Posted: 9/3/14 at 7:37am

Love Annalene but didn't see her go on. Shame never got the role full time. Gorgeous tone and charm and no doubt hit those optional high Es and Fs

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 5:23am

My first time seeing Wicked was actually during a trip to London (from the US) and I completely forgot that they would have accents as well!

I cracked up during "Popular" when Glinda is supposed to say "popuLER... lar" because it sounded the same. I did love the accent though, that's just my anglophile showing!

[sparepart973]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 9:48am

To be quite honest I find it rather grating to sit through Wicked in an English accent. It must be due to the fact that I saw it in the US several times before seeing it in the UK (for the record I am neither English nor American, but my accent tends more towards the latter).

A note on Annalene, I've not seen her nor Helen in the role, but Annalene I find quite overrated. She is so vanilla and unexciting as far as I am concerned.