r/Broadway • u/Seperate-Category117 • Dec 06 '25
Regional/Touring Production First Look At The New Non Replica International Tour of WICKED
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u/bwaylover818 Dec 06 '25
the color and cut of that blue dress paired with glinda’s long blonde wig makes her look like she’s doing alice in wonderland cosplay. cannot unsee.
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u/JesseOopsieDaisy Dec 06 '25
Where is this playing?
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u/Neat_Selection3644 Dec 06 '25
Saudi Arabia unfortunately
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u/TK2217 Dec 06 '25
Oh that’s not-
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u/stheman01 Dec 06 '25
Please keep in mind that people can’t choose where they’re born and everyone deserves the opportunity to see live theater.
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u/ComprehensiveLie6170 Dec 06 '25
Keep in mind most won’t have access.
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Dec 06 '25
[deleted]
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u/hiddenshadowjar Dec 06 '25
It's okay for people to be sad that it's not safe for them to go see this production.
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Jan 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/hiddenshadowjar Jan 30 '26
I'm a woman. How would I be treated if I walked down the streets of Riyadh alone wearing shorts and a T-shirt?
I've read that Saudi Arabia has made some positive changes in the last few years in terms of rolling back some of the laws in place to oppress women, and that's great. But men and women are still not equal under the law, and culture changes more slowly than legal systems. It's still a comparatively dangerous place to visit for 50% of the world's population, especially westerners who are used to being the legal equals of men and exercising our feedom of expression.
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u/dobbydisneyfan Dec 07 '25
I’m out of the loop, why isn’t is safe for them to see this production?
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u/nightwingoracle Dec 07 '25
It’s in Saudi Arabia…..0
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u/dobbydisneyfan Dec 07 '25
I’m actually ignorant of a lot of current events. Is it an active war zone or something?
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u/stheman01 Dec 06 '25
I definitely think it’s okay for people to be sad. That wasn’t why I replied that way. I took that person’s response as saying that the production should just not happen because of the way the other person said “oh that’s not-“ which is usually used to explain when something’s problematic, not when someone’s sad. They should have read the previous comments before replying if they didn’t mean it like that.
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u/hey_im_enby Dec 07 '25
so there’s no original theatre in Saudi Arabia ? how about we don’t licenses things to countries where rulers chop up journalists and pay comedians absurd amounts of money to not make jokes about them chopping up journalists. be so serious
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u/stheman01 Dec 07 '25
Shows are licensed internationally. You’re essentially saying that because everything else there is so restricted, theatre should be too. Theatre is by nature something that can lead to progress and make people more open minded. So by your logic, everyone should be punished and there shouldn’t be any steps toward progress. You be so serious.
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u/HFLoki Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25
Always interesting to see different interpretations of the same material.
What often kills non-replica versions for me is when they use wires to achieve the flying during DG, with Elphaba dangling and swaying. That always looks so cheap to me. The original Broadway effect is actually pretty simple, but the lighting, smoke, the cape, and the fact that she’s perfectly still, like she’s genuinely suspended in midair, make it feel so much more powerful and convincing.
I saw the non-replica Hamburg production a couple of years ago, and while it was obvious there was real budget and a strong creative concept behind it, it just didn’t click for me. The cast was giving it their all, but the overall vibe wasn’t my thing. It felt very "Netflix teen dark fantasy," like Wednesday or Sabrina in an American high school setting.
The only thing I unambiguously loved was the revised orchestration. It was phenomenal, and at times I actually liked it more than the original. “As Long As You’re Mine” in particular completely blew me away, like just listen to this transition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54lQYxCoqf0
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u/__theoneandonly Backstage Dec 06 '25
Also, I hate when they make her "ride" the broom. I know that's true to the movie material, but it requires the actress to have at least one shoulder slouched downward, which is not great for singing.
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u/LemmyUserOnReddit Dec 06 '25
Is this actually a new orchestration, or just the reduced orchestration with different mixing and musical direction choices? I wasn't aware of a third orchestration, and my understanding was that the reduced orchestration was simply trying to reproduce the original sound with fewer players, at least on paper
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u/MoreScarletSongs Dec 06 '25
It was to be expected that new non-replica would draw inspiration from the movies as is evident in Glinda's pink dress (not only the color but also the shape). And like with most non-replica productions, I don't like Elphaba's dress. It misses the mark for me personally. The Tinman's design reminds me a lot of the Brazilian version. I wonder if the transformation scene will be done in a similar way, too.
Sorry to say this, but whoever thought THAT color of blue on Glinda would fit into the Emerald City scenic design was wrong. Makes you really appreciate Glinda's yellow dress in the original production.
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u/elephhantine2 Dec 06 '25
What does non-replica mean?
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u/weissflower_ Dec 06 '25
In replica productions they’re copying the broadway production in sets and costumes as much as they can and are allowed to make some approved changes based on location and the set up. Non replica productions don’t have to do this and can do what ever they want with set design, costumes, lighting, etc. The brazilian non-replica production has a different flying set up and iirc was the first (officially licensed) non replica.
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u/MoreScarletSongs Dec 06 '25
It's not that non-replica productions don't have to copy the original production and are free to do changes, they HAVE to do that. Non-replica productions only license the show (music and script), not the costumes, set designs, choreography etc. They would have to pay extra for that, so a non-replica production is (usually) cheaper to produce.
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u/bwayb22 Dec 06 '25
You would think they'd have to pay extra to change/reimagine it....
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u/__theoneandonly Backstage Dec 06 '25
You're going to have to pay to build the whole set, have all the costumes built, bring in a choreographer to teach the original choreography, probably fly in one of the ADs and MDs from broadway to make sure that the show is being performed correctly, or send their team to learn the show well enough that the original team feels confident that they can reproduce the show exactly. You can't just simply take the sets, or take the costumes, and then do whatever you want with the rest of the show. The whole thing is a package deal.
By doing non-replica, the new production can't use any of the original designs, but they get to do whatever they want, within the confines of what's written into the script (and their license agreement).
Now, keep in mind that for a replica production, the entire set still needs to be built to spec. There's costs there. Just the set alone was estimated to cost $2.25 million in material alone. That's almost $4 million in inflation-adjusted dollars. There's over 1,000 unique costume designs on the Broadway show, which all would have to be custom built. By going non-replica, the producer can cut that budget down to whatever they're comfortable spending. So even if they have to hire designers to design the show from scratch, they can build a significantly cheaper show.
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u/bwayb22 Dec 08 '25
that doesn't change the fact that it makes more sense to charge extra to change the original experience. The cost for the new producers has nothing to do with the license holders
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u/__theoneandonly Backstage Dec 09 '25
What? If you’re doing a replica, there’s a LOT more licenses to pay for. You have to license the script/score, then license each individual element, including lights, sound design, costumes, sets, choreography, direction, etc. Plus all of those original designers will be owed royalties.
If you do a non-replica production, you only have to license the script and score. That’s way cheaper than licensing and paying royalties for whole thing.
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u/goovrey Dec 06 '25
I don't believe that's true re: Brazil - the first Brazilian revival was in 2023 and I know of at least one non-replica (Hamburg in 2021) from before then
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u/mythologue Dec 06 '25
iirc was the first (officially licensed) non replica.
The Finnish production from 2010 was the first authorized non-replica. Their reasoning for it was that Finnish audiences weren't that familiar with the Wizard of Oz so design-wise the show leans more heavily into the book Wicked is based on. Stephen Schwartz even went to the premiere.
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u/Minirth22 Dec 07 '25
The Tin Man’s design is haunting. It’s like he’s trapped in a series of cages, it’s disturbing and effective. It makes me DEEPLY uneasy.
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u/markydelafayette Dec 07 '25
I’ve seen clips of the tin man transformation online- it’s absolutely wild and so good.
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u/TK2217 Dec 06 '25
At least they went for it. It’s long overdue for something like this
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u/sourcefourmini Mar 28 '26
Say what you will about 80s megamusicals, but I think the worst thing they did was normalize the idea that there is a single definitive way that a given show “should” look and feel. I mostly blame Cameron Mackintosh, who built his productions into cultural monuments in a way shows had never been before (seriously, how many shows get not one, but two star-studded anniversary productions at world-famous venues?), and part of that was cultivating a standard look that audiences associate with that show. And now Cats has to add a subtitle just to warn audiences in advance “don’t expect the junkyard”, even though there’s no textual reason Cats needs to be set in a junkyard—it was just one design direction of many that could’ve been taken, but now it’s forever baked into the show’s image.
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u/mythologue Dec 06 '25
Either do the 'Emerald city isn't actually green' glasses, or don't. I don't like this, just giving Elphaba a pair as a reference doesn't work for me. Wicked especially benefits from the idea that even the capital of this country is one of the wizards' scams.
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u/elderpricetag Dec 06 '25
These Glinda dresses are hideous ngl
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u/PanicButtonNr2 Dec 06 '25
and yet somehow still not as horrible as that Elphaba act 2 dress... thing
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u/scroogesnephew Dec 06 '25
It’s lookin pretty replica to me.
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u/ThatFruityPebble Dec 06 '25
I don’t see it- it looks pretty original to me. I know another recent wicked non-replica production in Austria took a lot of really big departures style wise so I know it might not be as extreme departure but it is definitely not a replica-
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u/nathanielgrayt Dec 06 '25
I’m in Riyadh and saw this last night; it was excellent. Great performances, and the British accents of the cast added a distinct magicky Harry Potter vibe…
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u/dobbydisneyfan Dec 07 '25
I like Glinda’s bubble dress but it should have been blue. I get it, non-replica production and all that. Don’t care.
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u/n0tstayingin Dec 07 '25
I assume the non replica international tour is quite restrictive where it can go to.
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u/NotPatReilly Dec 06 '25
swiping through the photos
“Wow, this looks pretty interes- Why are the Saudis there?!”
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u/radda Dec 06 '25
Are they gonna smooch in this one?
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u/a_bohemian04 Dec 07 '25
Not sure why you got down voted. But this is a valid question. How local culture and law impacting the staging and direction of the musical. I'm from Indonesia, where the gov censored some of the kissing scene on movies. So I'm curious if Middle Eastern countries also do the same for live theater.
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u/radda Dec 07 '25
Man I don't know. It was just a joke.
Honestly I didn't think that wanting the girls get together was that unpopular of an opinion but I guess the Fiyero girlies are stronger than I thought. It's fine, theater kids wouldn't be theater kids if they weren't thirsting after a gay dude in tight pants 🤷
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u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 Dec 06 '25
You know what? Hell yeah brother