Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
#1Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 4:25pm
Awesome news!
Nick Adams
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#2Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 4:37pm
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#2Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 5:54pm
Good for him. I guess this means he'll be rotated into the Broadway company at some point as well. 
#3Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 8:57pmIsn't this a step down after starring/ featured in a Broadway show?
#4Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 9:13pmNo, a lot of people go between Broadway and Touring and then back again. Also Nick’s Boyfriend Kyle is in the Touring production and Fiyero’s understudy.
Darreyl with an L!
misto625
Broadway Star Joined: 11/10/05
#5Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 9:25pmI wonder if this means the storyline will be adjusted so that Fiyero runs off with Boq instead...
Dean: Can I tell you something?
Lorraine: That depends on what it is.
Dean: I think you're really really pretty.
Lorraine: (after a pause) Ok, you can tell me that.
#7Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 10:01pm^^ I think it was a joke...
#8Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 11:16pmYes, it was a joke. Nick will be great in the role of Fiyero. Unfortunately, I will not be able to see his portrayal, as he's in the Emerald City Tour of Wicked. The Munchkinland Tour is the one that stops in Austin, Texas.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#9Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/30/13 at 11:26pmYes, but what’s the joke? I was assuming because he’s gay, but he’s certainly not the first gay Fiyero, so…..
Darreyl with an L!
#10Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 12:02am
That's wonderful. Nick will do great.
BTW: What happened to Kara Linsday joining the tour?
misto625
Broadway Star Joined: 11/10/05
#11Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 12:20am
I thought Kara Lindsay was joining the other Wicked tour, replacing Jennifer Gambatease, but I could be wrong. I get the tours confused sometimes.
Yes, it was a joke. In my experience of viewing his Broadway and national tour performances, I have never seen Nick Adams play a role "straight," in ANY sense of the term. (Sexual orientation aside, he seems unable to spend 2 1/2 hours on stage without mugging for invisible cameras). So this bit of casting news comes as a shock to me, that any show, let alone a hugely popular one, would willingly give him a lead role.
I'm not saying there is something wrong with a gay actor playing Fiyero, or that gay actors cannot play heterosexual leads, just that this particular gay actor does not seem to possess that basic prerequisite for the character, and hence seems wrong for the role. I just can't imagine him playing the role without any irony in his performance. Especially if his real-life boyfriend is in the ensemble.
Between this and Carly Rae Jepsen in Cinderella, this has certainly been a Twilight Zone of casting announcements in the last 48 hours.
Dean: Can I tell you something?
Lorraine: That depends on what it is.
Dean: I think you're really really pretty.
Lorraine: (after a pause) Ok, you can tell me that.
#12Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 12:48amDid you see him in Little Mermaid?
Darreyl with an L!
#13Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 1:08am
While I am also not a Nick Adams fan, your comment: I have never seen Nick Adams play a role "straight," in ANY sense of the term reeks of homophobia. I'm not sure what playing a role "straight" means at all. Are straight people not susceptible to mugging or overall bad acting?
I'm not sure what you've seen him in but his biggest roles have been a lead in Priscilla playing a gay man and playing a cagelle in La Cage, roles where playing "gay" as you put it would seem to make sense. I happened to see him in the Little Mermaid at the Paper Mill and was pleasantly surprised actually.
I think the casting could really work; it's a man playing a featured role in a touring production who has starred in the original cast of multiple broadway shows. It's not like he doesn't have the resume for this.
Scratch and claw for every day you're worth!
Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming
You'll live forever here on earth.
#14Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 7:07amMisto625: Nick Adams will be a good Fiyero. He's a singer, a dancer and an actor. All his experiences thus far will serve him well in "Wicked."
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#15Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 7:36am
" I have never seen Nick Adams play a role "straight," in ANY sense of the term"
-So what is your definition of what straight is?
Darreyl with an L!
misto625
Broadway Star Joined: 11/10/05
#16Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 11:12am
Sure, I can clarify. When I say playing a role "straight," I meant playing a role earnestly and honestly, and not in a "tongue-in-cheek" manner. It seems to me that Nick Adams has the tendency to play a parody of the character, rather than the actual character, as if he is mocking the role he is supposed to be playing instead of just playing it. I almost feel like he is using his performance to double as an audition for "Saturday Night Live" or something. I find it rare for his face to show any emotion other than other than over the top mugging or bemused detachment. I thought he was the weakest link in the trio of leads in Priscilla, partly because of the way his character was written, and partly because of the way he played it.
I am surprised that no one else has heard of this definition of "playing a role straight," as I had heard of this usage before I heard about "gay" and "straight" differentiations.
I did not even know that Nick Adams was in Little Mermaid. The performances that I have seen him in are Priscilla, A Chorus Line, Guys and Dolls, and possibly Chicago. I would have to check my Playbill on that last one. And with two of those shows, there were threads on here discussing the amount of clothes that he was wearing on stage, rather than his actual performance ability, which I still feel is a bit slight.
Nick Adams has a lot of credits, I am not denying that his resume is solid. I am not denying that he can sing, or that he can dance. But an actor? Only by way of job title, not by actual ability. I still state that I have not seen Nick Adams play any role other than "Nick Adams". Maybe "Nick Adams as ______(insert role here)," but not just "_______"(role) by itself.
I am still surprised that he was the chosen as the best performer willing and able to play Fiyero on tour.
Dean: Can I tell you something?
Lorraine: That depends on what it is.
Dean: I think you're really really pretty.
Lorraine: (after a pause) Ok, you can tell me that.
#17Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 11:23amMost people who have posted in this thread are pleased that Nick Adams will be a touring "Fiyero." Most people don't have a problem with it.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#18Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 11:51amMost people probably don't care one way or another who's playing Fiyero in a tour.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#19Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 12:50pm^This.
Scratch and claw for every day you're worth!
Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming
You'll live forever here on earth.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#20Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 1:12pmYeah, I don't even get why this is even a thread. Who cares. Isn't he more of a bass/baritone? Isn't Fieyro more of a tenor? Eh.
#21Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 1:21pm
Playing a role straight is an idiom. In that phrase, "straight" is short for "straightforward." As in not mocking the material, winking to the audience, camping it up or going meta, just playing the role. It's different than "playing straight," as in playing a convincing heterosexual.
For an example- Neil Patrick Harris can play straight very well, to the point that many are shocked to discover he is gay. However, he rarely plays a role straight- everything he does is often laced with irony and self-awareness.
broadwayguy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
#22Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 2:14pm
Oh lord.
So many things I want to say after reading this thread...
I will restrict it to "Congrats, Nick! Make the big bucks and be a star in cities that haven't found you yet."
I will follow that with "Some of you here need Jesus."
#23Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 3:00pmLet's do a BIG detour here---I am nudging 70 so grew up being entertained by Liberace.I never once thought of him as being gay-just that his act was very camp and eccentric.He certainly wasn't trying to act 'straight' like a Burt Reynodls straight,but just entertaining-that was his act.[Don't really think that has anything to do with this post-just a flashing related thought-forgive me].Nick seems to have mannerisms that come across slightly camp but with his body and face,very hard not to when he is such hot visual candy-so,let's enjoy him in those Wicked tight tights and have him swish about with the directors' blessing.We can judge his 'straightness' when he does a Pinter play. Happy Healthy Safe 2014 to all on BWW.
#24Nick Adams Joins First National Tour of Wicked
Posted: 12/31/13 at 6:28pm
Two of those roles were drag queens; the other two were just ensemble. I think it’s hard for you to say what a person can’t do it you haven’t seen it. Like some other people are saying, he was great in Little Mermaid, and passed for straight (at least in my eyes). But like others are saying, he is like the 1000th Fiyero to come along, so at this point it isn’t much of a big deal. However, I am certain he will be great!
Also, it always makes me wonder about people’s criticism of him wearing very little clothes on stage. It isn’t like he himself decides what he wears- I assume he only has some say in what he will wear on stage. Also, I never got the criticism of him showing off his body. I mean he (and basically EVERYONE on Broadway) has killer bodies and work super hard to get and keep them, so if they want to show it off, they have earned that right. Not just him, but anybody.
Darreyl with an L!
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