Tuesday 13th November 2018, today is the first of a number of performances of ‘Wicked’ here at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay this week. With a few weeks off from work I’ve the chance to spend my holiday here in the Bay enjoying my favourite musical and walking around taking in the scenery as I go.I’ve recently been mentioning the songs of Wicked, today I’m moving on to Duets in the show. The first of those is ‘What is this Feeling’, a song from Glinda and Elphaba, summing up how the two girls feel about each other, loathing seems to be general consensus. I love this piece of music with the ensemble joining in on Glinda’s side towards the end of the song, it makes the song stand out.

Following on is a duet between Dr Dillamond and Elphaba entitled ‘Something Bad’, where Elphaba discovers how the animals in Oz are being treated, much to her disapproval.

Two more diets appear in act one, the first is another song from Elphaba and Glinda entitled ‘One Short Day’, this time Elphaba invites Glinda to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard. What follows is a fabulous song involving the ensemble as well, with shades of Green appearing all over the stage, it’s bright, colourful and loads of fun to watch and pleasing to the ear as well.

The final duet of act one is probably the most well known. ‘Defying Gravity’ is an incredible and poignant song from Elphaba and Glinda, a powerful piece of music, showing off the amazing voices of the two girls. As Elphaba is forced to head out alone without Glinda by her side, the song moves towards its crescendo with an explosive end to act one, with Elphaba flying high and reaching some soaring notes as the act ends. Everyone I’ve seen as Elphaba has been just amazing during this scene in the show.

I’ll cover more duets (from act two) on my next blog. Meanwhile the all important cast for tonight’s performance is shown in the caption below.

Once again I have to commend Amy Ross who is an amazing Elphaba and Charli Baptie as Glinda who has been magnificent throughout. I really cannot fault her performance in all the eight shows I’ve seen, so good and so talented, a privilege to watch and listen to.