Aislyne Olsen

History of Rock and Roll

April 20th, 2019

Wicked

I went to Wicked at the Eccles Theatre in February. Sunday, February 10th. It was a fun

show, had a beautiful set and amazing vocals! And yes, technically a Broadway show isn’t

exactly a concert, concert, it still had the essential elements of a concert: music, crowd, venue,

and experience. The four most important pieces of any experience. So, let me tell you a little bit

about it.
 The concert was at the Eccles Theatre downtown, which is a high-end fancy theatre in the

city. I mean, when you walk in the building you either feel like a million dollars or a poor

person. I felt like the latter, but I still enjoyed the beautiful construction and elegance of the

building. Because the theatre is high-end, it created an atmosphere that indirectly told you that

the show is going to be high quality. However, I don’t think that venue had any other influence

then that. It was a venue designed to showcase the talent, not take away from it. The fun lies in

the music, which was one of my favorite parts of the night.

When it comes to Broadway shows, they both are their own genre (Showtunes), but they

also encompass other genres/style features. Showtunes have their own style features, since the

songs they perform tell stories and are acted out. Some prominent things I noticed as an active

‘Theatre Geek’ (Someone who listens to musicals religiously) are:

• Complex Sound/Texture

o Overlapping vocals, multiple instruments, emphasized tones.

• High Vocal Quality

o Actors/Actresses are vocally trained for their roles.

• Lyric Structure

o Broadway shows tell stories, and the songs tell that story in pieces, so the

lyrics are built around the plot of the shows.

• Nonsense syllables (in No Good Deed)

• Melisma’s and Belting

• Chimes, drums, guitar, piano, string instruments

• Backbeats (varies)

• Simple and Complex melodies

 Up until the concert, I had seen Wicked twice before. It’s my favorite Broadway musical

and I love seeing it every time it plays in Utah. I will admit, going into the show, I had a standard

that I expected them to meet (since I’ve seen it so many times), but this show actually exceeded

my expectations more than I thought it would. I had expected to not be surprised by the actual

performance, but the whole time my mouth was agape in awe. I think it’s because I focused more

on the structure of the songs rather than the story, which allowed me to appreciate the music

better.

However, I was a bit disappointed by the crowd. I mean, the crowd for previous shows

had been amazing! They would give the performers standing ovations after the shows-

whooping, whistling, even dancing in their seats- but in this fancier theatre people were just...

rigid… like planks. No standing ovations, no loud clapping and joyful laughs, just a general

crowd. That was one of the two downsides.

I like to think that Broadway shows and the people who attend these shows have their

own kind of ‘feel’, their own way of being at shows. I’ve seen my share of shows, but yet the

crowds vary from show and the same went for this show. Since it was such a big expensive

theatre, there were attendees that were -for lack of a better term- snobby and others that were

thoughtful. It just depended on who you stumbled into. However, I remember having a few

conversations with people who love musical theatre and their expectations for the show. It was

nice because after the show a majority of us were blabbering about the music/story. These

‘Theatre Geeks’ were sweet, funny, and charming. I loved their own sort of ‘culture’ because of

the enthusiasm they had for the show, music, and experience- essentially I loved being with one

of my own! It was nice to be apart of a crowd that was understanding and to see the different

sides of those who attend Broadway shows.

 The length of the paper is two and a half pages entirely (word wise), 660 words entirely,

and includes a picture of the set (from the opening of the show, I couldn’t take many

pictures/record). With the picture it’s three pages entirely.