Wicked - the Wife's Lover

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 7:21pm

Appologies if there's already a thread on this subject. This contains SPOILERS for the 0.000001% of you who haven't seen the show.

I remember hearing, when the show first opened, that Norbert Leo Butz also played Elphaba's Mother's Lover in the Flashback in "No One Mourns the Wicked." Is this true, and, if so, is it still part of Fiyero's Track? I saw the show with Taye Diggs as Fiyero, and he did not play this role (it was a white actor in the role), so I imagine the track is altered if the actors playing Fiyero and the Wizard are of different ethnicities? Also, on the album it's pretty obviously Joel Grey singing this section...Is the Wizard pre-recorded singing this bit?

[two ladies tickets]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 7:37pm

SPOILER WITHIN!!!
Originally whomever was playing Fiyero was supposed to also play the lover at the beginning, just as Nessa, Boq and Dillamond are all members of the mob. Fiyero doubling as the young wizard was dropped when Diggs came in as the actors were different races. Now the lover is played by a member of the men's ensemble, actually it's 2 different actors, as one ensemble member plays the young wizard at the beginning and a different ensemble member plays the same role in the flashback at the end. And yes, the ensemble member lip-syncs to a track of the actor playing the wizard's voice. I believe the flashback at the end was added quite a while after opening.

Updated On: 12/30/14 at 07:37 PM

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 7:39pm

There was no flashback when I saw the show (haven't seen it since the all-but-OBC)

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 7:53pm

Flashback wasn't added until 2011

I meant 2007





Updated On: 12/30/14 at 07:53 PM

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 8:00pm

Is that common in long-running shows, staging changes made nearly a decade into the run? Were any other changes made?

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 8:03pm

The flashback at the end was in the show when I saw it in 2009. Wicked is one show that has received minor changes throughout its run.

[two ladies tickets]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 8:08pm

They made a lot of changes when the show started in London and then incorporated them into Broadway shortly thereafter. I think the flashback of the mother and the lover at the end was added for clarity as most people had already forgotten that plot point by then. If you'll remember the original opening had the mob dancing around a giant witch hat, which was replaced with projections a few years later, so they're always tweaking it somehow. I have heard, but do not know if it's true, that Joe Mantello has it in the contract that the show can never be frozen to allow them to update it and make changes as they see fit.

Updated On: 12/30/14 at 08:08 PM

[Tag]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 8:24pm

Fiyero does still spin the mother's bed at the top of the show.

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 8:32pm

You're right! I meant 2007. I knew it was my freshman year. I mixed up freshman year of HS and college. Sorry. It wasn't added until 2007.



Updated On: 12/30/14 at 08:32 PM

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 8:38pm

^^^ I saw your correction as I was typing this. I was about to say that the flashback was in the 2NT when I saw it in 2009, so it's interesting that it wasn't added to Chicago until 2011-which made me realize that I thought the Chicago production closed before the 2NT even began.

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 8:40pm

"If you'll remember the original opening had the mob dancing around a giant witch hat, which was replaced with projections a few years later, so they're always tweaking it somehow."

Oh-interesting. I've only ever seen the show on tour and knew they used projections for the opening. Good to know it was added to all productions!

Updated On: 12/30/14 at 08:40 PM

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 9:02pm

Yes Wicked Chicago closed in 2009. I was all over the place haha

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 9:10pm

I've seen Wicked 4 times here in L.A. all in these 4 weeks it's been here and I've noticed that during the whole scene where Elphaba and Glinda are at Nessa's murder scene.. Elphaba is lip syncing the whole time leading up to the witch laugh, after the slap.. it sounds so recorded compared to the scene before and after that one.. only Elphaba.. it's even more obvious when glinda sounds normal but Elphaba's mic sounds so blurry.

Do they do this for broadway too? I promise you that I'm not hearing things.. I heard audience members saying the same thing.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 12:20am

I've seen Wicked 4 times here in L.A. all in these 4 weeks it's been here and I've noticed that during the whole scene where Elphaba and Glinda are at Nessa's murder scene.. Elphaba is lip syncing the whole time leading up to the witch laugh, after the slap.. it sounds so recorded compared to the scene before and after that one.. only Elphaba.. it's even more obvious when glinda sounds normal but Elphaba's mic sounds so blurry.

Lip sync what? There is no song in that scene.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 12:42am

I don't think she lip syncs that scene. All I remember about that scene is in regards to the cat fight. The slaps were originally the actors but at some point they added a slap sound effect to make it more defined. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 12:54am

You're right about the slaps. But again, there is no lip sync in that scene because there is no singing.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 1:24am

I know there is no singing... the WHOLE time Elphaba says anything from the beginning of that scene until the witch laugh, after the slap.. the laugh was definitely recorded... and the slap... everyone knows is too. Oh, and the goats noise too.

It sounds like she's "liping"? all the words in that scene.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 1:31am

The cat fight scene isn't lip synced, it never has been. Neither is the laugh.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 1:33am

Well this touring production is definitely lazy then because everyone was talking about it.. people who've seen the show a million times..

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 2:05am

There was this video on youtube that compared and contrasted all the different cackles from actresses who have done it. I'm looking really hard but I can't seem to find it. So the cackle has never been pre-recorded.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 3:17am

I saw the same tour that's in LA right now in Tulsa. That scene was definitely not recorded. I know that Emma hunton has been struggling with illness though.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 3:20am

It sounds like she's "liping"? all the words in that scene.

It may be the way the mic was set for that scene, sometimes the equalization during a tour gives it a reverb that makes it look that the performer and the words are out of synch. This is due to the constant change of space.

But having pre-recorded audio for one single performer just for a short non-singing scene seems almost impossible to me (would be hell to coordinate that). If she wasn't well enough they would have brought an understudy in, and why only the one scene? I think not.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 3:36am

I agree it was the reverb. It usually takes one or two performances at each stop to get everything right. That's why I always try to see a tour's last performance in my city. All the tech kinks have been worked out.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 10:56am

In addition to the reverb in the larger houses you also have to deal with the vocal delay for the speakers in the rear of the house. If you are sitting further back you can get the illusion of sound being out of synch if the delay time is off because the sound from the rear speakers may reach you before or after the sound from the front speakers and the stage.

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 12:56pm

Very much enjoyed revisiting some of these changes in WICKED. I'd forgotten about the large hat. Trying to think of others...

- I didn't like the Glinda "Shiz dress" change which came w/ Megan Hilty.
- I really like the new "book" choreo. in "Dancing Through Life"