Having seen Wicked again the other night, an interesting thought came to mind...
As most of you would know, Shoshana's rendition of Defying Gravity is somewhat...(searches for the right word...) violent?
She has the tendency to manically throw the broom from hand to hand soon after the infamous 'So, if you care to find me...".
Just wondering, has anyone ever seen an Elphaba drop her broom while hoisted high during DG? Not just at the Gershwin but in Chicago or on the tour at all?
This is how bored I am right now. I'd actually really be interested to know!
"...But Kungurtseva reels off multiple fouettes and the tape is stopped so she can take a bow. The Jester, an abomination introduced to Swan Lake in Soviet times, extorts applause from the audience. The cuts don't help the storytelling, the production is bare bones and they go for the '50s-style happy ending.
The audience cheers like mad at the end. It's the Russian ballet, after all..."
I have thought about this many, many times and would love to hear of any incidents. I know that Shoshana knocked her hat off once on January 11, 2005. I believe (correct me please if you know) it was right after "...the chance to FLY!" and her reserve body mic picked up around "...back from me!!". Sorry to threadjack. I have heard nothing about a broom. I'm guessing we would've heard by now (?).
I'm flying high, deFYing gravity And soon I'll match them in reknown. So look at me, up in the sky 'Cause I don't need a broom to fly And no one's gonna bring me down!
Ha, that's funny. But I read somewhere that NOT during Defying Gravity, actually in the scene where Fiyero tosses the broom to Elphie, right before they run off together to sing As Long As You're Mine, Idina Menzel dropped her broom. Taye Diggs was in the role of Fiyero, and he was supposed to throw the broom to Idina, and obviously she was supposed to catch it. But sure enough she didn't catch it, started cracking up, and made a "take two" sign to the audience with her hands. Taye threw it again, and she caught it, then continued with the scene. Very cute, I think. Sorry I didn't answer your actual question, but I figure it still has to do with dropping brooms :)
haha! I saw something like that too elphieisperky! In that same scene Shoshana droped the hat that JLT threw her... and then went on to ALSO drop the broom when Fiyero (I think it was David) threw that (or maybe it was the other way around...w/e) Shoshana could NOT stop laughing... neither could the entire audience.
again this is just about brooms in general... not during DG
In the tour, in Chicago, Derrick's leg got caught on the wine and he tripped and dropped the gun when he came in. He laughed. It was fun. And at one point Maria (maria Eberline was on as Elphaba) dropped the broom. It wasn't in "Defying Gravity." I think it was around "The Wicked Witch of the East"...anywayssss
just tying into the last post has anyone noticed that the rope from that scene has caused more injury than anything else? Every fiyero had fallen off, to mixed results, at least once. Poor norbert hurt his back and was out for a damn long time. It also as i recall it nailed cheno in the neck and had her out for a bit (and in her bedazzled neckbrace)
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
Last Broadway Wicked showing I saw, saw Shoshana struggling with the contraption that lifts her for the end of Defying Gravity. When she ran back to it, it looked like she was having to open it... when she got to "she has nothing to do with it", she was fighting with it and said that segment with her side to the audience. She barely made it when she got to the "It's me" lifting. It was kind of odd because if one knows how those harnesses work, it is suppose to be open and then close only after the actor backs into it. My ponderance was what would have happened had she not gotten into the harness. LoL It would have been pretty obvious she wasn't defying gravity...
I've come this far with the truth of the heart. Deep down inside I think we're all the same. Try not to judge and never shame... I do believe people are good... they just want hope and respect... to be understood ~Melissa Etheridge
I like the story where Norbert (Fiyero) threw the broom toward Idina (Elphaba) and either she missed or Norbert aimed wildly, for it knocked one of the guards in the face. That must have been hilarious (and actually appropiate lol)
Yeah that Tarzan stunt is dangerous. And honestly, completely unneccesary.
i still don't understand the rope anyway, are we to believe fiyero was waiting in a tree or some crap, armed, waiting for elphaba to show up? with a well placed rope right there
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
That and the bizarre 'dance' everyone does during the classroom scene and the lion cub scene always bothers me about Wicked. I could have written better than that >.>
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
I've never seen it happen personally, but I was talking to someone a little while back who had seen the show multiple times and he said there was one show when Elphaba dropped the broom during Defying Gravity. He couldn't remember who, but one of the understudies either Shoshana or Saycon probably.
Yes When I saw it last year for the first time Shoshanna was on for Idina, she dropped the broom when she threw it from one hand to the other, and just went on with the song as normal.
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Not the broom, but the second time I saw it (complete OBC) during the beginning of "What is this Feeling?" Kristin accidently threw hee notebook into the audience when she was supposed to throw in offstage. It hit someone in the first or second row. Kristin pointed and giggle and once she got center stage with Idina when they say "Loathing!" they both bursted out laughing. It was cute.
"Life is not measured by the number
of breaths we take, but by moments
that take our breath away."
"Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
but how to dance in the rain."
"i still don't understand the rope anyway, are we to believe fiyero was waiting in a tree or some crap, armed, waiting for elphaba to show up? with a well placed rope right there"
That's always bothered me too. Where did this rope come from? Is it even attached to a tree? Or is it like the Punjab Lasso in Phantom, which also hangs in the air magically?
Dropping the broom....wouldn't that mean Elphie could no longer defy gravity?
So with the exception of one vague occurance, I presume this has never really happened.
Oh well. I look forward to the day it does for sheer amusement's sake.
HAPPY NEW YEAR BY THE WAY!!
"...But Kungurtseva reels off multiple fouettes and the tape is stopped so she can take a bow. The Jester, an abomination introduced to Swan Lake in Soviet times, extorts applause from the audience. The cuts don't help the storytelling, the production is bare bones and they go for the '50s-style happy ending.
The audience cheers like mad at the end. It's the Russian ballet, after all..."
going back to Shoshana having trouble with the harness thing in Defying Gravity, Sean McCourt said at the Wicked tour that one time the harness didn't lift her up or something went wrong, so Shoshana put on her Vegas act and finished the song at the edge of the stage . . . the guards in the scene had to do their best and just keep the scene moving.
..anyway kinda not having to do with the broom, but when I saw wicked with Saycon, saw said "FLY!!!!!!!!" and she tapped on her hat and it almost fell off, but she caught it. so funny, but painful to watch.