Bad productions of Wicked

[Plannietink08]

Now that Wicked is available for licensing in Australia there's been some absolutely awful productions popping up all over the country. I was fortunate enough to see the very first amateur production by CLOC in Melbourne who were incredible and had terrific production value for an amateur theatre company. But for every fantastic amateur production you have a handful of productions that look like this....

 

[CindersGolightly]

It seems in bad taste to link pictures of an armature theatre company for the sole purpose of making fun of them, no?

[nightnic001]

That doesn't look awful, nor does it look great, but it looks fine for a local theatre. 

[dramamama611]

That's going to  be true of ANY amateur production: some good, some bad.   Wicked isn't going to be exempt from "normal".

[JennH]

1. How in the worlds it already available, even down under?? 

2. I don't think it's making fun, it's more like saying "If you don't have the resources to do a show like this, then don't". There are shows that you can tell are done on the cheap because it was never mean to be done on the cheap and Wicked is one of a great few. These pics make it seem like some of it wasn't half bad, but others... yeah, bad. I will admit, I'd be afraid to hear any of those obvious youngins' singing this material that is way beyond anyone that age. 

[Cat Guy]

CindersGolightly said: "It seems in bad taste to link pictures of an armature theatre companyfor the sole purpose of making fun of them, no?"

 

Yes.

 

 

[CurtainPullDowner]

I like the Car!

[LizzieCurry]

JennH said: "1. How in the worlds it already available, even down under??"

Australia was also the first to get amateur rights to Les Miz back in the early '90s. Things happen!

Apparently so does the misspelling of "Fiyero" by a theatre company too...

[thirtythirtyninety]

this seems fine to me, was expecting much worse.  Looks like a pretty decent local production, honestly

[Plannietink08]

CindersGolightly said: "It seems in bad taste to link pictures of an armature theatre companyfor the sole purpose of making fun of them, no?"

Probably. :)

[haterobics]

Isn't "bad productions of Wicked" redundant?

[CATSNYrevival]

Truth bomb!

[Babe_Williams]

JennH said: "1. How in the worlds it already available, even down under??

2. I don't think it's making fun, it's more like saying"If you don't have theresources to do a show like this, then don't". There are shows that you can tell are done on thecheap because it was never mean to be done on the cheap and Wicked is one of a great few. These pics make it seem like some of it wasn't half bad, but others... yeah, bad. I will admit, I'd be afraid to hear any of those obvious youngins' singing this material that is way beyond anyone that age."

Seems like this would prohibit most high schools, and other amateur groups from performing any musical.....ever. Listen, I regularly attend local theater and have sat through some real stink bombs, but I still think its mean spirited to mock an amateur production, especially because the cast and crew probably worked extremely hard to put on their show. 

[Lot666]

I've seen far less aesthetically pleasing amateur productions. I'm not sure the OP understands what "amateur" means.

[JennH]

Babe_Williams said: "JennH said: "1. How in the worlds it already available, even down under??

2. I don't think it's making fun, it's more like saying"If you don't have theresources to do a show like this, then don't". There are shows that you can tell are done on thecheap because it was never mean to be done on the cheap and Wicked is one of a great few. These pics make it seem like some of it wasn't half bad, but others... yeah, bad. I will admit, I'd be afraid to hear any of those obvious youngins' singing this material that is way beyond anyone that age."

Seems like this would prohibit most high schools, and other amateur groups from performing any musical.....ever. Listen, I regularly attend local theater and have sat through some real stink bombs, but I still think its mean spirited to mock an amateur production, especially because the cast and crew probably worked extremely hard to put on their show."

There are PLENTY of shows that are within high school age capabilities and/or financial resources. Wicked is not one of them. Unless you have some freaks of nature students who are unusually good, or are a performing arts high school, who of that age can sing this material? 

And about mocking...did you see the SNL Legally Blonde parody? Even the most "kind hearted" of us found it hilarious, because, well...truth hurts. The production it was primarily parodying was BAD. I'm not saying mock for mocking sake just because, but I'm also not going to say just because hard work was put in means that the end product is good. I didn't get mocking from the OP at all, just calling a spade a spade on some level. Just from a design perspective, this isn't the worst the could happen, I'll fully admit that.

 

[Fosse76]

It seems that some people on this board believe that if you can't produce a professional-looking production, then you shouldn't do it (similar discussions occurred prior to the release of Les Miz and Phantom). Amateur productions are more for the participants than they are for the audience. And to berate an amateur company simply because they weren't able to duplicate the Broadway production and hire Broadway singers is the epitome of ridiculous.

[Mister Matt]

It looks like that company's biggest crime is lack of imagination as it appears they are just trying to mimic the original designs on a low budget.

[AEA AGMA SM]

That was my thought (and one I have very often when seeing photos from amateur productions).

Work with your budget, folks, and be creative! You can produce good theatre without a huge budget, but it does mean you need to have your own vision about the piece and not be trying to replicate someone else's.

[uncageg]

For an amateur production that looks damned good!

[Call_me_jorge]

I remember finding a YouTube video of an amateur production of wicked(it might’ve been high school) that was in Spanish and I thought it was best thing I’ve ever witnessed. Haven’t been able to find it since. If anyone knows the video I’m talking about and knows where it is HMU!

[DRSisLove]

Call_me_jorge said: "I remember finding a YouTube video of an amateur production of wicked(it might’ve been high school) that was in Spanish and I thought it was best thing I’ve ever witnessed. Haven’t been able to find it since. If anyone knows the video I’m talking about and knows where it is HMU!"

Was that the one with aggressive amount of dancing and Glinda bubble that sways so much you think it might break off?  

I believe that production was completely illegal (done many years ago, too). It's likely off youtube as once it was addressed and posted on multiple theater sites, the producers of Wicked went after them with huge law suits.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Every time threads like this pop up I give thanks to the theater gods upstairs that YouTube didn’t exist when I did high school and community theater.

[Call_me_jorge]

DRSisLove said: "Call_me_jorge said: "I remember finding a YouTube video of an amateur production of wicked(it might’ve been high school) that was in Spanish and I thought it was best thing I’ve ever witnessed. Haven’t been able to find it since. If anyone knows the video I’m talking about and knows where it is HMU!"

Was that the one with aggressive amount of dancing and Glinda bubble that sways so much you think it might break off?

I believe that production was completely illegal (done many years ago, too). It's likely off youtube as once it was addressed and posted onmultiple theatersites, the producers of Wicked went after them with huge law suits."

The only memory I have of it is that they had their Elphaba come up a lift and I remember thinking how cool that was for an amateur production.

ive never heard of any of those law suits. Do you have more information on that,

[Babe_Williams]

Rumpelstiltskin said: "Every time threads like this pop up I give thanks to the theater gods upstairs that YouTube didn’t exist when I did high school and community theater."

Right? That wicked production looks far better than anything I was ever a part of, or that my local theater and school theaters do. But I still enjoy attending them to support the people involved and to help spread the love of theater. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Um isn’t every production of Wicked bad, the original production playing on broadway and every sit down production since leaves a lot to be desired