i think Elphaba would be the hardest to play, then the Wizard and Morriblea. There are so many sides to Elphaba, and it takes one fierce actress to play the part well.... and to not seem to be underacting. it's a very subtle role at the start, acting-wise, and she develops so much. it'd be easy to make the audience not like you by the end if you were elphie, but it takes a very skilled performer to capture every side of her.



I've had my rant now. I'm just tired of people saying Glinda'd be the hardest to play... it's not that hard. really. it isn't. she's the typical "popular" kid, who everyone loves to follow around pretending they like her, but is actually just a normal girl. Nessarose would be kinda easy too, tbh. She needs to be obnoxious and bratty, but not as bratty as little red in ItW... lol . she's selfish, and has blamed her sister for everything that has gone wrong in her life....
i think the only challenge in Nessa is to make the audience feel kinda bad about her dying, but Elphaba's dialogue really helps this to happen. I think she's just someone who's led a pretty sheltered life, and has always looked down on her sister.

I'm done now

Congratulations on the most uninteresting interpretation of Glinda Wicked has seen since Erin Mackey.
Glinda has the widest emotional range to cover and the most interesting character arc.

I agree with Felix Felicis.

Disagree on just about everything you said.

^^ fair enough

Care to elaborate? Glinda is just a pretty annoying and shallow character if you ask me.

And you think that Glinda is more interesting than the Wizard?

^Have you been reading this thread at all?

We have been elaborating on that subject for like the past two pages.

I was talking to Felix Felicis.

Look at her emotional journey. She has to have a believable transformation from ditzy little girl to regal queen by way of loss, betrayal and grief. And if Glinda is acted right, she will be devastating rather than annoying.

The Wizard? Perhaps more interesting, but certainly not a more difficult act. He has to be cuddly then creepy. That's pretty much it.

I agree with Felix. Glinda doesn't really have to be THAT annoying. In fact, I think it's a pretty poor acting choice to play her completely annoying shallow the entire show.

She really doesn't have that much of an emotional journey. She goes from the spoilt, ditzy girl to a "celebrity' in Oz. But she is still just as annoying when she becomes the "public figure" Glinda. She's actually really similar to Paris Hilton. She grew up rich, spoilt, pretty and popular. She finds fame and thinks she is an important, role model but is really just that same shallow, annoying, pretty and popular girl. Nothing really changes except her social status. The only interesting thing in the whole show is her decision in Defying gravity to leave Elphaba to find fame (although she was going to go with her, but, again, just because Elphaba was telling her they would get fame and power). She's really not a nice person. She wants fame, that's it. She doesn't really care about her "friends" (again, the comparison with Paris Hilton).

If any character has an emotional journey throughout the show it has to be Elphaba, even though the role is quite badly written.

And the Wizard isn't just "cuddly then creepy". It really annoys me when people say that. He is basically George Bush. There's so many political undertones and witty messages in every line he says he is easily the most interesting in the show. He is evil and powerhungry and tries to manipulate Elphaba with that friendly cover-up persona. He is really (excluding Morrible) the only layered character in the show. Easily the hardest to play.

I obviously disagree completely. Firstly it is wrong to suggest that the Wizard's writing is all golden - 'A Sentimental Man' is painful. There have only been three actors who really explored the Wizard in the ways you suggest - Joel Grey, George Hearn and Ben Vereen. No one else has really bothered.
Secondly, to equate Glinda with Paris Hilton shows that you either do not understand or do not appreciate her tragedy. If an actress plays Glinda without any growth as you suggest, she is doing it wrong.