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.
See The
Official Wicked website