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Wicked (2024 film)

Because Cats sucks. It’s the most overrated musical of all-time, imo. I love musical theater, but sitting through this show is a drag, holy crap.

As bad as Cats on stage is, I think the movie may end up being way more liked than the musical. Universal has a history at adapting stage musicals to well received films (Mama Mia, Les Mis, Phantom, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Wiz, Flower Drum Song, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Throughly Modern Millie, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat)....

It also is why I'm not really too concerned about WICKED quality wise.
 
But she sucked as Rizzo in Grease live....she is really hit or miss.
I think she was horribly miscast as Rizzo. Rizzo is hard-edge and cynicism. Maureen is hyper-passionate, hiding pain. That sort of Elphaba - more wounded and distrustful than angry and cynical - is pretty spot-on with the book.
That’s my fear as well is that it won’t translate over to the big screen as well as the musical did. It is my all time favorite as of right now or at least top 3 so I hope that it does it justice and doesn’t disappoint.
I really think they should either a) adhere extremely close to the musical, or b) adhere extremely close to the book. If they try to mix it up, it's going to fail. The book is the dark story of a bullied outcast becoming an begrudging enemy of the state and face of a revolution. The musical is an odd-couple pair of friends growing apart. They're both extremely good, but tonally extremely different.
 
Has anyone thought - just maybe - that this movie keeps getting pushed back because it's performance on Broadway hasn't diminished? After all of these year's, it's still consistently in the Top 5 grossing shows every week. They may be scared that a movie will hurt ticket sales to the broadway show.

I think she was horribly miscast as Rizzo. Rizzo is hard-edge and cynicism. Maureen is hyper-passionate, hiding pain. That sort of Elphaba - more wounded and distrustful than angry and cynical - is pretty spot-on with the book.
I agree that Hudgens would be a good choice for Elphaba. I think she is so much more talented than most people realize. I didn't even mind her performance in Grease... at least I don't remember not liking it. The only stand-out in that show was Jordan Fisher as Doody. His rendition of "Those Magic Changes" was great and I enjoyed his Mark.

As for Fiyero, if we want to go with someone with name recognition, was in the show and would knock it out of the park, i'd say Adam Lambert would be a solid choice. Can't go wrong with him. There's a whole host of people that could play the character, but when I think about the role, I really think that it suits Anthony Ramos perfectly.
 
I think a newly cast actor as Elphaba that not many people don’t know of would be the best decision. Hudgens seems too soft and not very ambitious choice for the role. They have to look and sing the role well, and Hudgens doesn’t have the look of Elphaba.
Side note* I watched wicked as my first broadway show a few weeks ago and it was amazing to say the least.
 
I think a newly cast actor as Elphaba that not many people don’t know of would be the best decision. Hudgens seems too soft and not very ambitious choice for the role. They have to look and sing the role well, and Hudgens doesn’t have the look of Elphaba.
Side note* I watched wicked as my first broadway show a few weeks ago and it was amazing to say the least.

I remember you talking about going to see it a while ago. It’s a great show and I’ve never heard a bad word about it from anybody and all walks of life.

Glad you enjoyed it.
 
Because Cats sucks. It’s the most overrated musical of all-time, imo. I love musical theater, but sitting through this show is a drag, holy crap.

Agreed. Have never understood it's popularity.

Wicked has the potential to be a really good movie, love the show.
 
I do know there was talk about animation previously on the Universal lot but I think due to how long it takes to create an animated movie vs live action they will rather go live action. Additionally Universal's two animation studios already are jammed pack with projects. However here is an interesting storyboard.



Additionally if they decide to add in some more adult parts to the book to the film (two new songs are being added) then animation will not be the way to go.

Lastly, the director of this film created/produced/directed Billy Elliot the musical for Universal, won a tony for his direction, got Emmys for the Netflix series Crown, and has a list of Oscar Nominations for best picture and best director. This film is in very capable hands as all the team in charge of making the musical is making this movie.
 
The character designs here look a lot like Tangled (Rapunzel, Flynn) and Frozen (Anna, Elsa, Hans).
 
Because Cats sucks. It’s the most overrated musical of all-time, imo. I love musical theater, but sitting through this show is a drag, holy crap.

I watched a documentary that Cats is actually just actors trying to get on broadway who make their own costumes and just join the show and sing random lines and makeup insane names. They make their money from stealing stuff from under the seats when they go out into the audience.
 
Cats is probably the worst thing ever on Broadway that made big money. I would have to imagine it is because it was popular with the tourist market and people who didn't speak English bought tickets.
 
Cats is probably the worst thing ever on Broadway that made big money. I would have to imagine it is because it was popular with the tourist market and people who didn't speak English bought tickets.
There's also the pretentious broadway fans that see it as a "performance piece". I'm sorry, but no.

The Royal Caribbean I went on about a year ago had the full broadway version with intermission. What a mistake that was. Just about nobody came back after intermission (and it was clearly advertised as a 15 minute intermission). I stayed because I wanted to be able to fairly judge the show, but wow it's just bad. The performers were great, but the show just gives them no room to shine. Some of the original shows that RC put on saw the same performers be able to show their vocal range much more while also being entertaining.
 
But she sucked as Rizzo in Grease live....she is really hit or miss.
The Live shows are dumb period; the Christmas Story one even had a number with the cast of The Greatest Showman, it really is bad. The part that I don’t understand is wouldn’t it be easier to just film the broadway performances rather than having a new cast and all that fluff.
 
The Live shows are dumb period; the Christmas Story one even had a number with the cast of The Greatest Showman, it really is bad. The part that I don’t understand is wouldn’t it be easier to just film the broadway performances rather than having a new cast and all that fluff.
Why would a show on broadway want to let their show be recorded and broadcast for millions to see for FREE when they can make a ton on ticket sales? Rent was actually really cool stage design by doing it in-the-round... very clever way of keeping the crowd involved but making it feel like you are "there" no matter where the camera was aimed at. It's just a shame that they didn't get to actually perform it live.
 
Why would a show on broadway want to let their show be recorded and broadcast for millions to see for FREE when they can make a ton on ticket sales? Rent was actually really cool stage design by doing it in-the-round... very clever way of keeping the crowd involved but making it feel like you are "there" no matter where the camera was aimed at. It's just a shame that they didn't get to actually perform it live.
I didn’t get to watch Rent though
 
Alright, let's swing this back to Wicked.
*thumbs*

I was thinking about it, and there is one story aspect that was in the book but lost in the musical I want to see return. It's not the tiger sex dungeon. I want Fiyero's wife and kids to show back up. It's such an important reason for why Elphaba goes West and how she gets her castle and the Vinkus guards.

I also wouldn't hate the Fiyero/Boq charactizations flipping back. Elphaba falling for the aloof, mysterious foreigner always felt truer than the braggadocios heartthrob.
 
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