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Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero in the new Wicked's trailers

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Thinking about anxious Fiyero and him being so scared people could perceive him as anything but happy. Thinking about his quiet moments side stage where he's anxiously tapping his knuckle against his opposite hand, fidgeting with his clothes as he looks around at everyone at the ball then putting on a happy face and acting content the second someone looks at him. Thinking about Fiyero tugging at his guards uniform after he commanded the others to fetch water because he knows he can't pretend anymore and he needs Elphaba to know that

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JONATHAN BAILEY as FIYERO — WICKED (2024) dir. Jon M. Chu

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Bereid om voor elkaar alles te geven

Protective siblings tijdens wolvenhorde

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Iedereen wil anders zijn En dat kan vandaag

Want het carnavalfestijn Vieren wij zo graag

2003 vs 2024

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We willen graag met jullie verkeee- Halloooo

Ik kan dat niet. Waldo, doe jij dat maar!

Heerlen 16-06-2024

Credit: @/k3.optredens op tikok

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Hi 3 biggetjes fandom I’ve been doodling them lots & there’s def more to come

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Czech Schatten (explained for people who haven't seen Czech Elisabeth fully)

With the concert recording of Schatten I reposted gaining some traction a while ago, I felt like I needed to make this post because if you haven't seen this production in it's full iteration, I feel like you can't truly appreciate just how genius this staging is within it's full context. I'll separate this post into a few sections, so it's a bit more coherent

Content warning: the following post contains mentions of drug use

The characterizations of Smrt and Rudolf

I oftentimes like to call this production "what Schonbrunn Elisabeth could have been if the creative team weren't afraid of trying out new approaches" and I think the nuanced portrayal of Der Tod in this production is one of the most telling of that. The Tod of this production, Smrt, is unlike any other Tod I've ever seen.

A big difference between the Der Tod most of us are familiar with and Smrt is while Tod takes souls with kisses, Smrt kills merely on touch. And while written out, it might sound like a gimmick that will just hinder the actor during a performance by limiting his range of interactions, I feel like it did the exact opposite and only helped to flesh out Smrt as a character. Sure, some of us might not be a fan of Der Tod being portrayed as a physical supernatural entity, but this way, Smrt ended up a complex self-contradicting being, who despite not being a human had all the human capacity for feeling and who was consequently full of angst due to this, since there was no way for him to properly fulfill his deepest desires for human connection. Anything he touches gets destroyed, yet he must put on a front of indifference.

The characterization of Rudolf was also unlike any production before. I think what played a major part in that was the entire company and creative team doing extensive historical research into everything surrounding the show's characters and time period, so both of the show's Rudolves indeed felt more historical than all other Rudolves I've seen. I can't really put it into words, but there was just this feeling like the way they acted could have happened in the historical time period.

The Rudolf and Smrt relationship dynamic

A unique take on this relationship was that these two felt more like companions brought together by circumstance rather than a physiological pull. When they first meet, both Smrt and Rudolf are full of angst and yearning for a genuine human connection, which draws them together. Both of them have been abandoned by Elisabeth and they find solace in one another. Yet, despite this, despite them equally being fascinated and drawn towards the other, there's also this underlying fear and unsureness they both have.

Also, an important addition: in general, this production, from an outside perspective, very much favors an asexual reading on the source material, especially when it comes to the approach to Elisabeth herself and Smrt as well. The type of outward attraction Smrt shows for both Elisabeth and Rudolf is in no way outwardly sexual, but it's driven by the yearning for a companion, for being understood and for romantic attraction to some degree, but the most prominent is just the simple need for someone who just understands.

Rastlose Jahre

Another very creative choice this production did was making Rastlose Jahre a sort of foreword to Schatten. The two scenes flowed seamlessly into one another and by Rudolf getting included in the scene, we as viewers got more insight into him.

One touching idea the scene had was the way it showed the progression of time (since this single scene spans 18 years). The scene was staged with Franz sitting at his table downstage right and Elisabeth flitting around the stage in the back, followed by a giant entourage of ladies in waiting. During the first verse, little Rudolf appeared downstage left and tried waving at his mom, trying to catch her attention, but after she ignored him, he looked hopelessly into the audience and ran back into the wings. And a few moments later, adult Rudolf ran out in the same manner, showing just how quickly the time went by.

Adult Rudolf tries to catch his mother's attention and she still ignores him. He looks out into the audience again before he suddenly takes off his jacket, rolls up his sleeve, ties a tourniquet above his elbow and pulling out a syringe from his pocket, he injects the contents into his arm with pained gasps before throwing the syringe away. This is a reference to Rudolf IRL actually taking morphine as a drug and this staging cleverly incorporated the historical detail into the transition into Schatten. Rudolf ashamedly rolls his sleeve back down and puts his jacket back on. He tries calling out for his mother, but she once again ignores him (Michaela's Sisi didn't notice him at all, while Soňa's Sisi did notice him, but decided to run away rather than console and help him).

What happens during Schatten?

The lyric translation stays very close to the original, while adding some interesting spins to some sections (like Smrt saying that he promised to Rudolf to always be his guardian angel and that he will gladly stand by Rudolf's side).

Rudolf stumbles around the stage, still calling out for his mother, as the drugs take effect and Smrt appears at the back of the stage, holding a whip in his hand and cracking it. The hydraulic platform Smrt is standing on gets raised and a stucco decoration resembling a rearing horse can be seen to the side, making a hint at a carriage.

Rudolf is at first afraid of Smrt arriving, but by the first chorus, he gladly climbs up onto the carriage and lets Smrt lead the ride. But, after a while, he begs Smrt to slow down or stop the carriage and jumps back down.

Smrt sees Rudolf being dejected about how powerless he is when it comes to the political situation and making use of the whip, Smrt lifts Rudolf's chin up with it. But, to Smrt's surprise, Rudolf snatches the whip from Smrt's grasp and runs to the carriage, taking control of the ride himself. Smrt jumps up after him, seeing how Rudolf visibly can't manage the chaos of the situation.

Meanwhile, Rudolf is just trying to get a hand of having control over the carriage while evidently being delighted over actually having control over something for the first time in his life. Smrt tries reasoning with him and offers Rudolf a gun with the words "You can defend yourself".

Rudolf takes the gun, almost sobering at Smrt's words, while Smrt takes his whip back. Rudolf approaches the audience as the Death angels crowd around him and he raises up the gun to his head as he and Smrt sing the lyrics "We are only guests in this world, one must remember that". Rudolf looks almost ready to pull the trigger, but realizes what he was about to do and tears the gun away from his head at the last minute.

Smrt looks at him with a longing look of "I wish I could help you escape the pain now and spare you of any other suffering" before he exits. Rudolf looks after Smrt, both horrified over what he was about to do, but also somewhat contemplating following after him, before he turns back to the audience with tears in his eyes and once again clutching his arm over the spot where he injected the drug. He is left completely alone on the now empty stage, helplessly looking into the audience for any sort of hope he could find.

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Het! Konijn! Heeft! Goed! Gesmaakt!

Zeg dat na!

2003 vs 2024

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No you don't get how much I love them

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Hier is Willy! Kom tevoorschijn mormels!

2003 vs 2024

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Wie, Wie, Wie?

Maakt het hapje klaar Dat ons zo goed zal smaken

2003 vs 2024

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I don't believe you if the last show didn't make you cry

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cant talk rn obsessed over the design concept of this 2017 production of pinocchio as a stage play where pinocchio is the only character played by a human actor and the rest of the cast are portrayed as puppets ,,,

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Wicked Moments

"Well if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost"

"You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart"

The orchestral transition from I'm Not That Girl (Reprise) to As Long As You're Mine

The funky guitar bit in Dancing Through Life

The five cords of As Long as You're Mine played when Elphaba and Fiyero first meet in Act Two

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Production photos from Wicked (Part 2) - Göteborgsoperan, 2023-2024

Photography by Lennart Sjöberg

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I just read an article saying how the Wicked movies should keep Fiyero’s original ending from the novel, which I’m not going to spoil here but if you know you know. The reasoning was because it shows the true villainous nature of the Wizard (as if that’s not shown in the musical when he and Morrible killed Nessa and sent Dorothy to kill Elphaba), it would add more tragedy (as if what happens to Fiyero in the musical isn’t tragic enough), and it would add to Elphaba’s character (as if there isn’t more than enough to her character already, as if she needs more tragedy in her life, and as if Fiyero’s fate in the musical didn’t emotionally wreck her and the pain in No Good Deed is faked).

I think that the movies should, will, and are keeping Fiyero’s bittersweet fate of the musical. I’d also like to point out that the only reason Elphaba didn’t completely lose her mind and kill Dorothy is because she got the note from Fiyero saying he was alive and Boq and the rest of Oz were going to kill her. Him being captured, thinking she failed to save him, and then finding out he is in fact alive has such a heavy emotional toll on Elphaba, both tragically and relieving. Wicked is tragic in any form it takes. For anyone who has been forced to read a Greek play has learned the traits of a tragic hero, and basically everyone in this show has a tragic ending. Elphaba and Fiyero, though able to be together and have a life together, will never see Glinda again. Glinda thinks that her two best friends are dead, she probably feels guilty for Nessa’s death, and now has to act as if Elphaba was wicked just because she promised her she wouldn’t ruin her reputation. Boq has no heart and has basically lost everything in his life. Nessa died. And the Wizard, as horrible and villainous as he may be, lost his daughter.

If that’s not the true definition of tragic, then I don’t know what is.

(Basically, Fiyero’s fate won’t make the story tragic, it already is 💚)