2008 Woodie Awards
Popular musical brings Oz to the Opera House
Wicked takes a new look at the back story behind the wonderful land's witches
Carey Purcell
Issue date: 4/20/06 Section: Arts and Entertainment
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"No one mourns the Wicked," sings the touring company of the latest Broadway blockbuster, currently playing at the Opera House. This song does not describe the title character of Stephen Schwartz's musical, but it does describe the show itself:
Few will mourn seeing Wicked.
It is easy to be spell-struck by Wicked. The songs are soaring, the costumes are colorful and the dance scenes are dizzying.
Adapted from Gregory Maguire's radical retelling of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, the musical examines the woman behind the name, and there is quite a story to tell.
Elphaba, whose name was inspired by the initials of Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, is first introduced to the audience at her birth, when her father rejects her due to the color of her skin, which is inexplicably green.
She returns as a young woman, attending the sorcery school Shiz University. Due to a misunderstanding, she is assigned to share a room with the most beautiful, popular girl at school, Glinda. The two girls are enemies at first sight, but soon develop a deep closeness that lasts throughout the years.
Elphaba is more than just a green girl. She possesses unusual powers that she does not know how to control.
She is also an activist who feels strongly about the mistreatment of anyone, something that is both a gift and a curse for her, and which gets her in trouble more often than not.
Wicked is an unusual combination-it is a story of intimate teenage friendships, but with larger and darker political undertones. The true success of the show comes from the relationship between the two women, acted out on a stage filled with massive props and dazzling special effects.
The script's lines include deliberate mispronunciations and invented words, but also statements of startling truth.
It is the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda, however, that truly drives the story and the leading ladies of this cast manage to pull it off with wit and sincerity. Elphaba, performed by Julia Murney, excels as the uncomfortable outcast and Kendra Kassebaum's Glinda balances the ability to be both superficial and on-the-spot with her cutely cloying declarations.
Few will mourn seeing Wicked.
It is easy to be spell-struck by Wicked. The songs are soaring, the costumes are colorful and the dance scenes are dizzying.
Adapted from Gregory Maguire's radical retelling of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, the musical examines the woman behind the name, and there is quite a story to tell.
Elphaba, whose name was inspired by the initials of Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, is first introduced to the audience at her birth, when her father rejects her due to the color of her skin, which is inexplicably green.
She returns as a young woman, attending the sorcery school Shiz University. Due to a misunderstanding, she is assigned to share a room with the most beautiful, popular girl at school, Glinda. The two girls are enemies at first sight, but soon develop a deep closeness that lasts throughout the years.
Elphaba is more than just a green girl. She possesses unusual powers that she does not know how to control.
She is also an activist who feels strongly about the mistreatment of anyone, something that is both a gift and a curse for her, and which gets her in trouble more often than not.
Wicked is an unusual combination-it is a story of intimate teenage friendships, but with larger and darker political undertones. The true success of the show comes from the relationship between the two women, acted out on a stage filled with massive props and dazzling special effects.
The script's lines include deliberate mispronunciations and invented words, but also statements of startling truth.
It is the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda, however, that truly drives the story and the leading ladies of this cast manage to pull it off with wit and sincerity. Elphaba, performed by Julia Murney, excels as the uncomfortable outcast and Kendra Kassebaum's Glinda balances the ability to be both superficial and on-the-spot with her cutely cloying declarations.
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