Thursday 1st February 2018, a day off work today, visiting the city of Bristol and the Bristol Hippodrome to see my favourite show of all time, the brilliant ‘Wicked’, I’ve been looking forward to this musical for so long now. Since it’s last tour I watched this incredible show a total of 21 times, so today is obviously my 22nd and counting.

For today’s Matinee performance we have Nikki Bentley as Elphaba, Helen Woolf as Galinda, playing Fiyaro is Aaron Sidwell, Nessarose is played by Emily Shaw, with the Wizard, Madame Morrible and Boq, played by Stephen Pinder, Kim Ismay and Iddon Jones respectively. I have to mention that the standby for Elphaba is the brilliant Nikki Bentley, who I last saw in the previous tour of Shrek, she played understudy Fiona and Gingy on the tour, and was just superb in the roles, she has a stunning voice, and just so happens is appearing today as Elphaba in place of the also fabulous Amy Ross. What a stunning performance she gave today, I was so moved by her portrayal of Elphie that I actually had tears in my eyes so many times, it was incredible to watch. Helen Woolf was also brilliant as Galinda, her partnership with Nikki was just amazing to watch. Need more shows, one isn’t enough.

The Ensemble were just excellent, as they always are, in every show I’ve ever seen. I have so much respect for all of these amazingly talented actors and actresses, who just give their all to make these musicals so special, adding so much to the overall effect of a superb show.

The orchestra has a 16 strong team belting out this magnificent music throughout this incredible musical. I can’t say a bad word about anything this show offers, it’s just perfect, and it has a cast board in the foyer to tell the audience who’s who, I think all shows, however large or small should have a cast board, people like to know who they are watching. Just to sum up ‘Wicked’ is the best show I’ve ever seen, and after today’s performance, I know now that for certain.