Wicked
The Musical
Wicked is a fantastic ride and comes alive on
stage now. Wicked has been transformed into a Broadway
musical by the brilliant Stephen Schwartz, the great
and powerful talent behind Pippin, The Magic Show, Godspell,
Children of Eden, as well as the lyricist for a few
Disney movie musicals (Pocahontas and The Hunchback
of Notre Dame come to mind).
Wicked the musical is not Wicked the novel. While the
novel is its source, the musical presents only pieces
of it, in a much simplified form, and often diverging
wildly from the novel's narrative. One might be tempted
to think all this destroys the work; but in the end
it improves it, shining a bright light on the story's
numerous ironies and interlaced levels of social commentary.
Wicked is a layered piece of drama that uses its musicality
as a way to convey some of the deeper issues it sets
forth. When Glinda (played to perky perfection by Kristin
Chenoweth) floats onstage in her metal bubble, you know
you're in for something different. She announces that
the Wicked Witch of the West is dead, and the Ozians
rejoice -- until one of them asks if Glinda and the
Wicked Witch were friends.
Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet
in the Land of Oz One, born with emerald-green skin,
is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful,
ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of
their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends
grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda
the Good Witch.
Wicked-the Untold Story of the Witches of Oz is a new
musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and
book by Winnie Holzman based on the 1995 novel by Gregory
Maguire. The musical is directed by 2003 Tony Award
winner Joe Mantello and features musical staging by
Wayne Cilento.
Wicked Tickets
In less than 14 months on Broadway, the hit musical
Wicked — with a whopping $14 million capitalization
— will recoup its entire initial investment just
prior to Christmas.
Wicked co-producer David Stone told the Associated
Press that the show, which plays the 1,800-seat Gershwin
Theatre, also has a $26 million advance. "The advance
and the weekly grosses are now higher than they have
ever been," said Stone. In fact, the grosses for
the musical tend to exceed $1 million every week; for
the week ending Nov. 7, the musical took in $1,196,658,
more than any show on Broadway.
Wicked, which turns every Oz myth inside out, explores
the early life of the witches of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba.
The two main characters meet at Shiz, a school where
both hope to take up sorcery. Glinda is madly popular
and Elphaba is, well, green. By a misunderstanding,
they wind up roommates and, after an initial period
of mutual loathing, begin to learn something about each
other. Their life paths continue to intersect through
a shared love, entry into the Emerald City and interaction
with the Wizard himself. Eventually, their choices and
convictions take them on widely different paths.
Wicked began previews on Broadway Oct. 8, 2003, after
a summer tryout at San Francisco's Curran Theatre. When
the musical officially opened Oct. 30, 2003, the original
cast featured Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, Idina Menzel
as Elphaba, Joel Grey as The Wizard, Carole Shelley
as Madame Morrible, Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero, Michelle
Federer as Nessarose, Christopher Fitzgerald as Boq
and William Youmans as Doctor Dillamand.