THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
renthead333
Featured Actor Joined: 3/9/06
#0THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:08pmhow often does elphaba not fly in DG? i saw her this summer w/ sho and she didnt fly up. it was kind of disappointing but she she sort of made up for it w/ her vocals!
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#1re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:12pm
how she does fly: mechanical arm and prayer.
Updated On: 3/12/06 at 08:12 PM
popcultureboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#2re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:14pmHuh?
Nothing precious, plain to see, don't make a fuss over me. Not loud, not soft, but somewhere inbetween. Say sorry, just let it be the word you mean.
ihearttheatre
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/12/05
#3re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:17pm
Rough Translation:
How frequently does Elphaba stay on the ground during Defying Gravity? I saw Wicked this summer, and Shoshana Bean did not fly. I was disappointed, but her vocals were so amazing that it didn't matter as much.
Updated On: 3/12/06 at 08:17 PM
#4re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:22pm
Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKA08GGFmu4&search=defying%20gravity
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#6re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:31pmSometimes the Defy Gravity machine breaks...when this happens Elphaba steps foward and the esemble kinda goes to their knees. Live theatre, things happen. They try to have this not happen as much as they can help it.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
JustChillin8908
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/31/06
#7re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:35pmThat would suck if that happened the first time you saw it. It rarely happens right? I'm seeing it for the first time in April and I would be really dissapointed if it did.
#8re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:37pm
How does Elphaba fly?
In the words of Idina Menzel... "With her magic broom of course!"
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#9re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:55pmI've seen the show five times now, and Elphaba has flown every time! I'm guessing this must happen very rarely.
#10re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:56pmYes. It has happened to Eden in LA, I believe Jenna on tour somewhere, Sho, and maybe Stephanie.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
#11re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 9:34pmIt happened to Jenna the first time she performed as Elphaba (for the public). It doesn't happen all too often -- and generally, everyone hears about it when it does.
"The tick BOOM tick BOOM is so loud I can't hear the rain on the grass. I can't hear the wind. I'm about to scream. But I realize I'm not alone."
#12re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 10:09pmDoes anyone else think Stephanie kind of looks like a green Cher in the Elphaba makeup? lol...
I hold a degree in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University. It is useless. Now I'm funny for money. Oh, and I sing.
#13re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/12/06 at 10:18pmMy music teacher went to Jenna's famous first show and she said she didn't notice a problem - of course, she didn't know Jenna should be in the air. Then, I showed her a picture of what it should look like and she was like "Damn!".
Fabala9
Swing Joined: 3/5/06
Link Larkin Wanabe
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/1/04
#16re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 1:00am
Hah...I was chatting with Jenna right after her first show and she was saying how she was freaking out a litle when it didn't go up, and how it was a little dissapointing. She got me tickets to her third show ever, that same week and when she soared...boy did she soar.
Akiva
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#17re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 1:23am
wait a minute..she isn't really flying?? but...i thought the broom was like...magic!
seriously..there is a great clip of stephanie showing how it all works...it was so cool! i was DYING to get in that little contraption and do it! HEEHEE!!
#18re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 1:43amThanks to the "In-ter-net", anyone with a desire to do so can see the Defying Gravity number the way it was originally intended. As a life-long theater-geek, I would actually be more thrilled to witness a show where something DIDN'T go right, and the cast had to work around it. It sounds like schadenfreude, but it really isn't. I just enjoy seeing how a live company works around a problem without interrupting the story they are telling.
And no one grew into anything new, we just became the worst of what we were."
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#19re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 1:59am
How was it originally intended?
Are the rumours that there was no flying in the San Francisco try out true?
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#20re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 2:38am
blaxx,
That rumor is somewhat true. Idina flew in "Defying Gravity" in SF. The flying monkeys didn't fly at all during the show though, or at least thats how I remember it.
#21re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 8:07am
I would find it more difficult for the lighting people than the actors, if the machine didn't go up, as it is supposed to. They must have to make a quick change of lightnig designs, right then and there, to get Elphaba lit.
-Vincent
AllNite429
Understudy Joined: 7/28/05
#22re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 11:56amI have seen the show 8 times and Elphie has flown each time. For those of you who saw her not fly, was she still in the machine or was she able to get out and go out on the stage?
popcultureboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#23re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 12:00pm
They must have to make a quick change of lightnig designs, right then and there, to get Elphaba lit.
I imagine that change is a plan B that is already established and can be done in a heartbeat anyways. Watching that clip (which by the way is not illegal to post on here, not this time), getting into the cherry picker is a very precise operation so it wouldn't surprise me that it goes awry every now and again.
Nothing precious, plain to see, don't make a fuss over me. Not loud, not soft, but somewhere inbetween. Say sorry, just let it be the word you mean.
#24re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 12:00pmI love that a cherry picker with some black cloth barely hiding it is now considered" The Defying Gravity Machine.
#25re: THE DEFYING GRAVITY MACHINE
Posted: 3/13/06 at 12:06pmPatent-pending, of course. But hey, if they can take a loop of plastic and sell it as the Topsy Tail, it's not that much of a stretch.
