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IDINA MENZEL'S FINAL LONDON SHOW
CLAIRE WASHINGTON was one of the lucky people to see Idina Menzel's final performance in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria theatre.
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What an amazing atmosphere! The lights went down and the show went into the opening number. I am glad to report that Helen Dallimore and the chorus got a tremendous round of applause and I was glad to see that people were appreciating the other cast members. Idina’s simple yet marvellous entrance caused an uproar of applause which lasted about a minute. She just stood there with a huge grin on her face.
I think most people could tell that Idina was putting her all into every song. All the now classic lines got huge amounts of applause especially the "toss toss" scene.
In One Short Day Helen held the "best" in "two best friends" for a long time and when Idina sang "so I’ll be back for good someday" everyone cheered.
There wasn’t any pranks but at the line:
Fiyero: "I’ve been thinking"
Elphaba: "Yes I’ve heard"
Idina, Helen and Adam just fell about laughing.
There were some tears shed by the cast in the first act, but I think most of the audience had cried by the interval. Defying Gravity was obviously what so many people had been waiting for and when it came she didn’t disappoint! She defied gravity for the last time. As she began to fly quite a few people stood and applauded and as soon as she hit the last note the entire auditorium gave a standing ovation.
At the interval I saw quite a few people wiping tears from their eyes and I spoke to some girls on the front row who said that the people with the front row middle seats had queued and camped outside the theatre from the 23rd of December!!
Nothing could have prepared the audience for act two though! I don’t think a scene went by without crying from cast members. "As Long as You’re Mine" came and Idina and Adam sang together brilliantly but then the line came when Elphaba says to Fiyero "we will see each other again, won’t we?" and Idina completely broke down into tears.
Idina sang No Good Deed with all the energy and power that it deserves as her last full solo song as Elphaba.
The song that deserves the most attention though was "For Good". Now everyone that knows the show, knows that this is an extremely sentimental song. By this point anyone who had doubted that Idina and Helen were friends in real life had been proved wrong as Helen literally spoke her part through tears. She probably managed to sing a single line of the song as she was crying so much. Idina held her hand and she managed to sing her part although that too was through tears. At this point the stillness of the theatre was amazing. Everyone was completely silent except for the odd sniffle but it felt to me like I was intruding on a private moment between two friends, saying goodbye for the last time. Idina walked off shaking and melted for the last time.
Now you would think, being Idinas last show, that the huge number of fans in the audience would be crying as she had gone but every eye in the theatre was on Helen who still had tears rolling down her face and had to get through to the end of the show. She was cheered on enormously and managed to get to her bubble. Needless to say when Idina came through the trapdoor she got a huge round of applause. Both in tears they managed to finish the show.
Now the curtain call was fantastic. Again I am pleased to say that the entire cast got a standing ovation, not just Helen/Idina.
Helen made a beautiful speech about Idina. In the speech she made comments about Idina and how she came to rehearsals with new ideas and how she was patient whilst cast members "hit themselves in the head with their wands…..repeatedly" and "failed utterly to swing in on ropes". Idina managed a "thank you" through tears to which Helen replied "I’m not finished yet".
She told a story about Idina in a bar with a tub of crisps, unable to get a meal and exclaiming "I thought they said I would be the toast of the town!" and said that a true diva is lovable. Helen said that it was probably Idina's last performance in the role "she so stunningly created" ever, to which Idina nodded in agreement (in agreement that she wouldn’t be playing the role again, not in agreement that she so stunningly created the role)
She said:
"She is humble, generous, she is awfully talented, admired by all, she is the toast of town. She is Idina Menzel."
Then there was cheering for a long long time whilst Helen bowed down to Idina on stage.
Helen finished by saying, through tears:
"We wish you all the success with your album and everything you take on next, and know that here in London, you will be sorely missed and on a personal level, you will always be with me, like a handprint on my heart."
Idina then just blew kisses and waved whilst still crying and then the curtain went down.
I didn’t visit the stage door but I’ve heard that Idina had photos with everyone that wanted them, signed everything that people wanted signing and took her time.
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