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