Saw Wicked for the third time last night; this time from the circle, which others have recommended. Once again, this changes the experience in ways I hadn’t expected – most notably, the visual effects are much more noticeable, both the front/back projection and some clever fixtures directly above the stage which produces assorted dynamic gobo effects on the stage. From the stalls the later in particular are hard to spot. Similarly the set takes on lot more interest from higher up.
What you lose (compared to being near the front of the stalls) is some of the facial expressions, the costume detail and the sense of the set and cast being almost on top of you.
Musically, it was a different G(a)linda and Elpheba; both were miked much more noticeably than before (or is that another effect of being in the circle?) and Elpheba in particular sounded very nervous at the start, but settled down beautifully after that. Some of the acting seemed to work better, or have a little more prominence – partly due to Elpheba being very petite and vulnerable looking, compared to Idina Menzel.
And yes, three times is probably enough for the moment, I should go see some other things.
