I won the lottery last night, and since I read the board yesterday I hoped I'd get to see both leads performed by standby/understudies (not that I dislike JLT or Shoshanna; I just enjoy seeing different takes on the roles). They put up the "At this performance..." board around 7, and it only had one name on it: Stacie Morgain Lewis as Glinda.

I brought a friend of mine who'd never seen Wicked before, and as much as she ended up loving the show, her first comment about the evening stood as her most emphatic: "Oh my god, the conductor is adorable. Can we take him home?" He was directly in front of us, and turned around to greet the front row with a huge smile. He never quite reached Oremus levels of bopping around in the pit, but he was ridiculously cute during Popular--crossing his fingers and clapping that Stacie was well-received by the audience. Ok. Enough gushing about the conductor.

NOMTW: Stacie looks gorgeous in the gown and crown, but she got a little overpowered by the ensemble toward the end. Her higher notes are pretty, but not very loud. Her line delivery was also a little strange--slightly flat. Since I last saw the show toward the beginning of the month, they've changed the Elphaba birth scene--the action is downstage now, with Elphaba's mother on the bed behind her father and the midwife. I guess people on the sides have a much better view now, and the scene plays the same otherwise.

DOS: Nothing out of the ordinary. In the following scene (and for the rest of Act 1), Galinda's two main cronies are different ensemble members than they used to be. Kathy Deitch was noticeably absent from the ensemble (her voice makes her hard to miss)--does anyone know who's taken over these small parts? One of the girls looked like Kristen Leigh Gorski.

Wizard and I: Oh, dear. I had been wondering how well Shoshanna recovered during her missed performance Wednesday night, and the answer seems to be, "Not well enough." Most of the audience didn't seem to notice, as she got quite the ovation at the end, but Wizard and I went mostly through her nose. She sang an entirely different set of notes for, "...and I'll stand there with the wizard feeling things I've never felt." Like, perhaps a spontaneously-made-up set of notes. They worked, and I'm sure they sounded much better than the alternative would have, but...I was worried for her ability to get through the show.

WITF?: There were a few synch problems at the beginning, but that worked itself out once both women stopped looking at their letters home. Stacie Morgain Lewis earned a permanent place in my heart by doing the "I'm crushing your head!" gesture at Shoshanna during the song (if there are any Kids in the Hall fans here, I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear this). This is where Stacie's bouncy, athletic interpretation of Galinda kicked in--when the ensemble joined her on stage, she started jumping up and down and wiggling about. That sounds bizarre, and it kind of was, but I think her interpretation of Galinda involved being an unabashed attention hound (which bears itself out well in the second act).

Something Bad: William Youmans could not keep his glasses on his face to save his life, and adeptly ad-libbed, "I seem to have lost my glasses...and my appetite." Shoshanna managed not to laugh, and the audience applauded him. I was happy for poor William Youmans gettin' some love, when his role is usually pretty thankless.

DTL: I wasn't a fan of Stacie's Galinda in this scene/song. She kind of got lost on stage among all the action. Jeffrey Kuhn has gotten better in the few months he's had the role, but I still wish they'd take off that damn hat. David Ayers is just a big goofy scarecrow, but some of his line readings have drastically improved since January. Stacie did deliver during the Ozdust humiliation scene--her Elphaba dance was very awkward and got serious applause.

Popular: Stacie's acting in this scene was fantastic. Singing-wise, she only managed to hit the "pop-u-u-lar" correctly twice...but she was so much fun to watch that I almost didn't care. Her Galinda is the most physical I've seen, and she gave herself a workout during this number.

INTG: I wish they'd change the final note. If Shoshanna can't reliably hit it, and Stacie can't hit it at all (which we learned later), it's not really serving the score anymore. Otherwise, Shoshanna did better with this than I've seen her do before.

OSD: Stacie's Glinda is a lot better than her Galinda. Once she loses the over-the-top perkiness (which she never really commits to), she seems to be more confident in the role. Both girls made it back on stage by "...dress salons!" Nothing else unusual here.

ASM: George Hearn, stately as always. Just once, I want him to break into "I Am What I Am" instead of "Sentimental Man." I don't ask for much.

DG: Stacie got kind of overpowered by Shoshanna. Stacie's voice is lovely, but it's not very loud (even with the mic amplification). Shoshanna was coughing a lot before running back to the flying machine, but it must have cleared out whatever was in there. She sang the end beautifully, though she didn't hold the F as long as she usually does. Audience went nuts.

Intermission: I learned that the two girls next to me are friends of Phillip Spaeth. They mocked him good-naturedly for awhile ("I bet he's sooo pissed that they make him hide behind a monkey mask so no one can see how pretty he is.").

NOMTW(reprise): It's weird to see someone who isn't Kathy Deitch singing The Kathy Deitch line.

TG: All of the bad things I said about Stacie Morgain Lewis in Act 1 are wiped out by the fucking gorgeous job she did here. I can't think of a Thank Goodness I liked better than this one, and she even managed to nail the last notes audibly over the ensemble. Stacie does heartbreak and disappointment well.

WWOTE: Nothing unusual, unless you count the woman from the tour group behind me who, upon seeing Boq enter in his silver suit, loudly announced in the thickest southern accent I've ever heard, "*gasp* Y'all, he's gon' be the TIN MAY-UN!" Yes indeed, lady. Yes indeed.

Wonderful: I love George Hearn in this song. Shoshanna was singing through her nose again.

INTG(reprise): In the scene leading up to this, Stacie again showed that she's better in scenes that call for more nuanced and unpleasant emotions. As for the song, the lower notes were a little off, and the final note was just mangled.

ALAYM: Less impressive than usual, but maybe that's just because I was trying to send psychic signals to David Ayers: "Don't kiss her. Don't kiss her. Can't you see she has the plague? Do you want to catch it, too? Go for a friendly hug. Maybe a hand-shake?" Alas, there was much making out.

Cat Fight: I think this was Stacie's best scene, acting-wise. However, she should practice the wand-twirling. As she got more into the twirling, she managed to knock her giant crown off her head. That thing is clearly stuck in place by, like, ten bobby pins, so her wig ended up quite the mess. Shoshanna tried to keep her shit together, but Stacie just looked like a deranged poodle with a crown in one hand and a wand in the other. Stacie managed to recover, but forgot to pull of Shoshanna's hat...so Shoshanna had to rip it off her own head and hand it to her, all while trying not to laugh. Everyone recovered by the time David swung in, but then he turned to face Glinda for the first time and just stopped mid-line of, "...while Glinda the good was slain." He had a moment of panic/hilarity, finished the line, and then everyone finished the scene while Stacie wandered the stage looking insane.

NGD: I'm not sure what hidden reserve of energy and vocal ability Shoshanna pulled this out of, but damn! I'm sure from about five rows back, you couldn't tell she was sick. Being as close as we were, we could see her steeling herself for the big notes, clearing her nose and throat, and using down beats to kind of huff the phlegm into less problematic areas of her head. It was kind of fascinating, and she sang the hell out of it as usual. I just hope she doesn't make herself worse by performing and end up missing the entire weekend.

MOTWH: Something was up with Carole Shelley's mic during this, but they got it under control by her, "Now you listen to me, dearie..." Stacie made the interesting choice to follow Morrible's directions of, "Just smile, and wave..." She looked like a freaked-out prom queen, which was kind of awesome.

FG: Stacie hit a few bad notes in the first verse, which was weird. She seemed to push herself to cry, which just didn't seem organic or real (but that probably also read differently from ten rows back). This was another nose-song for Shoshanna, who seemed a little out of it.

Post-Melt: Stacie was great at pronouncing the fates of the Wizard and Morrible. Again, if it's a serious or nuanced scene, she's fantastic.

Finale: The audience must have been full of first-timers, as there was much gasping and cheering at the trap door.

Overall, I think if Stacie can get a handle on her Act 1 portrayal of Galinda to make it segue into her Act 2 Glinda, she'll be great. I've heard she's heading to Chicago for the sit-down production (I assume she'll be the stand-by...can anyone confirm or deny?), which is why she and Megan have been trading off during Jen's vacation--to get her some more stage practice time.



A question brought up by last night's performance: How sick does a performer have to be to decide not to perform the show? I know it's a personal issue for each performer, but at what point do you decide that a second-rate performance by the lead actor does less to serve the show than a first-rate performance by a standby or understudy? If you continue to go on while you're sick, and you have a role where making out with other actors is a daily part of your job, what's your responsibility to them? I don't know what I think about this issue, but it's certainly an interesting one to think about.