Are there recordings of Stephanie J. Block's Elphaba?

June 7, 2007 9:34 AM

BroadwayFilter: Is it possible to get a non-broadway cast recording of Wicked?

I've slowly turned into a fan of Wicked: the Musical. The first time I saw it was the first national tour, when it featured Stephanie J. Block and Kendra Kassebaum as Elphaba and Glinda. Unfortunately, as much as I like the original 2003 cast recording, it does not feature these two (Trust me, I like Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, but you only get once to make a first impression).

The only things I've been able to find is bits and pieces on youtube, and bits from the video trailer for the official tour (see here and here).

Is there a recording of these two wonderful women out there? or am I stuck with these clips?

posted by Rowgun to media & arts (5 comments total)

There is only one official recording of Wicked, and you've got it. You might be able to get a bootleg of the whole show from some of the theatre boards, though I'm not sure exactly which ones.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:35 AM on June 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

What ThePinkSuperhero said. Sometimes (especially with bigger names, like when Ana Gasteyer played Elphaba) you can find bootleg mp3s on file-sharing networks... but even that's iffy, and doubtful for a touring cast, AFAIK.
posted by Zephyrial at 10:42 AM on June 7, 2007

Try one of the tape-trading/DVD-trading websites or Yahoo mailing lists (some are hidden under descriptions as "discussions of Theatre discount codes" or stuff like that so they don't attract attention). Most of them also have audio versions available. Or you could buy a bootleg video version of the tour and use your computer to strip out the audio to a WAV file.
posted by Asparagirl at 12:59 PM on June 7, 2007

I once spent a delicious summer with a Broadway sound producer. From him I got a ton of bootlegs, test recordings, and other delights. Yes, perhaps there is an easier way to get these recordings, but I wouldn't recommend it.
posted by munchingzombie at 4:24 PM on June 7, 2007

Thanks so much for the responses - I took a look at the trading websites.. although it seems like a pretty big world to jump into.

I ended up finding a couple of the songs on youtube, so I just ripped the audio into mp3's. Not the best solution, but it gets the job done.
posted by Rowgun at 9:19 AM on June 8, 2007