Best Glinda/Elphaba Pair in WICKED?

[defyinggravity2]

Who do you guys think were the best Glinda/Elphaba pair in the musical WICKED? Personally, I like the original Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. Also, I love Annaleigh Ashford and Stephanie J. Block. What do you guys think?

[ljay889]

Stritch and Channing.

[ChildrenwillListen]

Idina and Kristin
Stephanie and Annaleigh
Eden and Megan. (They were my first)

[JohnyBroadway]

Parker and Mauzey.

[steven22]

I really like Idina Menzel and Megan Hilty (during her s/b Glinda days, covering for Jennifer Laura Thompson)

[WithoutATrace]

I have seen WICKED over thirty times to date (including all cast changes in NYC) and my favorite pairing is Stephanie Block and Kendra Kassebaum. Saw them on the first national tour in Washington, DC and it is still the single best performance of WICKED I have seen. Truly outstanding.

[HBP]

^ i disagree. i found kendra's soprano to be horribly forced and unpleasant and stephanie j. block's acting to be dull. and what's with her fake accent and over enunciated diction?

[Wishing Only Wounds]

I have to agree with Alli Mauzey and Nicole Parker... with Annaleigh Ashford and Lisa Brescia being a close second.

[BroadwayFan12]

Idina and Kristin. I was one of the teenage Wicked fangirls who thought it was the best musical ever, but after seeing seeing it without them a couple years later, I found that most of its charm had left with them.

[michellek45]

^Agreed with Annaleigh Ashford/Lisa Brescia. I love them both as individual actresses, and they had great chemistry together. Lisa is certainly not one of the strongest vocal Elphabas, but I'd put her very close to the top of strongest acting Elphabas. (I just wish she wasn't wasting her talent in Mamma Mia)

[beautywickedlover]

Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth
Stepanie J. Block & Kendra Kassebaum
Megan Hilty with both Shoshana Bean & Eden Espinosa
Dee Rosicioli & Erin Mackey
Carmen Cusack & Katie Rose Clarke

[bwayphreak234]

Mamie Parris and Katie Rose Clarke
Mamie Parris and Alli Mauzey
Victoria Matlock and Kendra Kassebaum

[beautywickedlover]

I just added another one to my list.

[shane54]

Dianne Pilkington and Kerry Ellis (London)

[Auggie27]

Having just seen GHOST, I'm curious about Caissie Levy.

[THDavis]

While I agree that Kassebaum doesn't have the stronger soprano, I think that she was the funniest and most endearing Glinda I've seen to date. Katie Rose Clarke mastered making Glinda comedic and yet a real person, in my opinion.

[californiasnow]

The favorite pair that I have seen is probably Eden Espinosa and Emily Rozek (standby filling in for Megan Hilty) in LA. Great vocals, and great chemistry, especially on a day when over half the princpal roles were filled by standbys or understudies.

I was almost tempted to say Caissie Levy and Megan, partly because Caissie gave such a strong performance, but by that point (15 months into the LA run), Megan was in poor voice and obviously trying to entertain herself more than the audience.

[madbrian]

Billie Burke & Margaret Hamilton

[a-mad]

Espinosa/Hilty my faves, with Jackie Burns/Chandra Lee Schwartz (current Broadway cast) as a close second - mostly because of Burns' stunning performance.

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Idina Menzel and Jennifer Laura Thompson.

[bwayguy22089]

I've seen the show many times throughout the years and I've watched it go from being a good, fun, and surprisingly mature production, to a childish theme park show, which is what it is now. That being said, the BEST cast I have seen (in terms of making the show an actual Broadway caliber performance" - acting, singing, and dancing) was Idina Menzel, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Joey McIntyre, George Hearn, and Carole Shelley. I felt that Idina had settled into the role very well. Her voice was not as grand and illustrious as it was when she first opened the show (some 10 months earlier), but it was definitely more controlled. Also, her acting was incredible. I truly believed that she was a misunderstood outcast. She didn't play the typical one dimensional character (angry). Her chemistry with Jennifer (who was also brilliant as an actress... the most notable character arc I've seen) was also excellent.

[mmh1019]

i saw shoshanna bean & megan hilty on tour in Portland Oregon, maybe 5 years ago & thought they were pretty fantastic. it was kind of a kick for them to be doing that part of the tour together because they're both originally from the northwest (bean from OR, hilty from WA). their voices were so strong & they seemed to play off each other really well.

[FindMe12]

Megan with Shoshana, Eden, and Caissie. And would love for Caissie to do it on broadway since shes been asked to do it on bway twice since leaving LA

[JRybka]

Having seen it a bunch of times, I still find myself wishing I could have a recording of Megan Hilty & Shoshanna Bean. I loved them the best !

[BroadwayFan12]

"I've seen the show many times throughout the years and I've watched it go from being a good, fun, and surprisingly mature production, to a childish theme park show, which is what it is now."

Completely agree (although you've probably seen it more than I have). I can't put my finger on what's changed, but the show has somehow lost whatever it was that made it special.