Wicked Sydney Closing Night

Doomacheal
Feb 19, 2015
3 min read

On January 30, I flew up to Sydney to see Wicked's final show at the Capitol Theatre.

This was the wonderful Lucy Durack & Reg Livermore's final performances as Glinda & The Wizard respectively. This was the main reason that I decided to fly up for the show. I've loved Lucy's work since like 2010 when I 1st saw her in Wicked the last time it was in Sydney (when I happened to be living there as well).

I knew that both Lucy & Reg were going to give the performances of their lives & I was not disappointed. Lucy was hilarious as Glinda. It's the little things she does that makes the way she portrays the character so funny!! Such as the Irish dancing in Popular or the Toss Toss scene. Every part of it was FANTASTIC!!

During this performance in particular, during One Short Day when Elphaba (Jemma Rix) & Glinda are in the Emerald City, a photographer takes a photo of the two witches. Normally they just do a nice pose, but this time Lucy thought it'd be a nice idea to grab Jemma's arm & make a heart out of both their hands. It was such a subtle gesture that was so damn cute for the audience, especially people who have seen the show multiple times (like me) who know that it's not a normal thing.

In all the times I've seen Reg Livermore perform in Wicked, (6 to be exact) his rendition of A Sentimental Man & Wonderful for his final ever show was by far the best I'd ever seen. He gave it absolutely everything he had & it was quite simply, Wonderful (pun totally intended).

Jemma Rix would have to be (in my opinion) the best actress to ever perform the role of Elphaba. Every single time I've seen Jemma perform she has always been on point & clossing night was no exception. Jemma once again smashed all of her songs out of the park. Whether it was The Wizard & I, Defying Gravity or No Good Deed, Jemma killed it with amazing passion that never ceases to surprise me. My fingers are crossed that she finally releases an album sometime this year & let's be honest here, it would be an absolute crime if Jemma wasn't cast as Elphaba in the upcoming Wicked movie. I know, I know, I hear you out there "she's unknown" "how will anyone know she even exists?". But may I remind you that when Stephen Schwartz came & watched the Aussie production he said that apart from his Broadway production our production was the best he's ever seen. So you know, if he or anyone else from the original creative team have any say on who gets cast, we quite possibly have the best casting decision of all time. Also how about having Jemma represent Australia at Eurovision next year? Can I get an amen?

Anyway, back to closing night.

The best part of the night was no doubt For Good. Lucy & Jemma struggled through the song. Both of them were crying & sniffling which made the whole scene so much more raw & emotional. When I watched it I didn't see Glinda & Elphaba saying goodbye to each other. All I saw was Lucy & Jemma. It was truly beautiful. When the song finished & I was on the verge of tears, Lucy & Jemma hugged for well over a minute & a rapturous applause broke out in the audience. It was such a special moment & I feel so privileged to have been there to see it.

When the curtain fell & the curtain call was over. Speeches were made to congratulate & farewell Lucy & Reg.

Maggie Kirkpatrick (Madame Morrible) made a lovely speech about Reg & Ryan Sheppard (Dance Captain & Original Chistery) made a beautiful speech about Lucy.

After all of this they sprayed pink & green confetti from the roof.

I then went upstairs to where the cast were going to come out to greet all their adoring fans. There were already heaps of people already there by the time I arrived so I was a bit disheartened because I didn't think I'd be able to get a photo with Lucy or Jemma. As luck would have it I was able to sneak in & grab a photo with both of them.

Jemma also took the time to sign my Elphaba Pop Vinyl which was awesome!!

I was also fortunate enough to finally be able to meet Steph who I had been talking to for a while on Twitter. It was lovely to be able to have a chat to her while we waited for all the cast to come out after the show.