Wicked

I held off writing a blog about Wicked at first because I wanted time to let what I had seen sink in. And after that passed, I wanted to wait until I saw it for the second time. That’s right. I saw Wicked and it had such an impact on me that I redirected the money I had put aside to see Hairspray to go again.

And I wasn’t the only one. The first time I went, I was with Ashley, Danica, David J and JKelly. We saw it on a Wednesday. By Saturday afternoon, Jenn had already bought tickets for her, David and I to go about the next Sunday.

Spending around $200 to see this production twice is probably the most worthwhile thing I’ve spent my money on since my memory foam mattress cover. I mean, it was insane, but I think it’s a decision that I will never, never regret.

Just to be clear, Wicked is a musical inspired by The Wizard of Oz. It’s supposed to be “the untold story of the witches of Oz”, which basically means that it gives you an alternate perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West.

The aforementioned witch is named Elphaba, who is the result of an affair that her mother had with a traveling elixir salesman. The elixir causes Elphaba to be born green, which is hard enough. On top of it all, her father is ashamed of her, her wheel chair bound sister is embarrassed of her, and her mother is dead. Life is tough.

In order to watch over her sister, Nessarose, Elphaba is enrolled at Shiz University, where she rooms with Galinda, who grows up to be Glinda the Good. Points of interest are the relationships that develop between Elphaba and Galinda, Elphaba and Galinda’s love interest Fiyero (who it must be said, is attractive), the dismissal of the only remaining talking animal professor at Shiz and the emergence of Elphaba’s magical talent.

Said talent lands Elphaba a meeting with the Wizard of Oz, a rather large man who has no magical powers and who wants to domesticate animals because SOMEONE has the be the bad guy. He tricks Elphaba into giving his stock pile of monkeys wings, Elphaba is outraged, steals an important book of spells and begins her life as an enemy of the state slash vigilante.

Throughout the rest of the musical, Elphaba and Fiyero end up together, a house falls on Nessarose, Fiyero gets turned into a scare crow, Elphaba escapes Oz, and Glinda not only clears her name, but discovers that she is the Wizards daughter before sending him on his merry way and freeing Oz from oppression.

Contrary to what Jenn thinks, Glinda is NOT the protagonist of this musical. It is definitely Elphaba.

Everyone is this production was amazing. Because I saw it twice, I was able to see 2 understudies and even they were really good. I mean, not as good as the people they were performing for, but still great. Notable performances were the woman who plays Madame Morrible, Fiyero (especially when he is singing high), and obviously the woman who played Elphaba. Jesus, she was amazing. Also, special shout out to the chorus who were freaking ridiculous. Their sfz’s were better executed than on the Broadway recording.

This musical is so good. There are themes that are woven seamlessly throughout, which is something about Les Mis that I love love love. It’s probably my favorite thing that happens in musical productions. The music is interesting, and powerful, and there’s always something unexpected around the corner. More than once, both times I saw this, I felt myself getting misty-eyed because the brilliance is completely overwhelming.

My favorite part of the whole production is in “No Good Deed” (which is my favorite song from this production) when Elphaba sings “Let all Oz be agreed/ I’m wicked through and through since I cannot succeed/ Fiyero saving you/ I promise no good deed will I attempt to do again”. It’s beautifully crafted, and I feel like it’s representative of the entire venture.

I love musicals. I just. They are so amazing. And Wicked is probably one of my favorites. I don’t understand how you could watch something like Wicked and NOT be inspired. Ugh. I want to do that. The point? Go see live theatre. It will change something in you.