We See "Wicked"

"Wicked" opened on Broadway in 2003 and is still, almost a  full fifteen years later, packing the house in New York.  It has been staged in over a dozen countries, and it tours the USA endlessly.  It is currently enjoying its fourth visit to Pittsburgh as part of the Broadway Series, and last night Marilyn and I saw this show for the very first time.

It seems that almost everyone we know who is of a mind to attend such shows has seen "Wicked" at least once, and many have seen it several times.  When it was announced that it would be playing here again, we purchased tickets, bought the Original Cast Recording to familiarize ourselves with the music, and waited for January 25 to roll around.  Oh, and it was obvious, that those in the audience who were like us, seeing it for the first time, were probably in the minority.

So, how did we like it?

Simple answer - we loved it!  It is the back story to "The Wizard of Oz", the classic book and movie with which everyone is familiar.  How did Elphaba become the Wicked Witch of the West?  How did Galinda become Glinda, the Good Witch?  Did you know that the Wicked Witch had a sister named Nessarose (I did not), and whatever became of her?  And just how is it that Elphaba has green skin?  And just how does Dorothy and her little dog become a part of this whole narrative?

All of these questions are answered in a simply spectacular production that features amazing performances by the actresses playing Elphaba and Glinda.  These roles were created on Broadway back in 2003 by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, respectively.  Menzel won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, one of three Tonys that the original show won (it had ten Tony nominations back in 2004).  The leads in this production are Mary Kate Morrissey as Elphaba and Ginna Claire Mason as Glinda.  While their names may not be familiar to you, when you read their biographies in the Playbill, you see that both of them, along with everyone else in the cast, have theatrical credits a mile long.  The talent level of these folks is simply amazing.

There are great songs throughout the show, but we especially liked "The Wizard and I" and "I'm Not That Girl", sung by Elphaba, the popular "Popular" sung by Glinda,  the spectacular "Defying Gravity" that closes the first act, and the fabulous eleven o'clock number, "For Good" sung by both Elphaba and Glinda.

Just a terrific show, and we certainly understand why people keep going back to see it ("I want to see this again." - Marilyn Sproule).  It was interesting, though, to see what the almighty critics had to say about "Wicked" when it first opened.  In doing some research before writing this post, I stumbled across this article from the Daily Beast written in 2013 to mark the show's tenth Broadway anniversary:

What did critics think of the Broadway blockbuster Wicked when it opened in 2003?

An “overproduced, overblown, confusingly dark and laboriously ambitious jumble,” ruled Newsday. “The show’s twenty-two songs were written by Stephen Schwartz, and not one of them is memorable,” wrote The New Yorker. Perhaps The New York Times carried the most damning review: “Wicked does not, alas, speak hopefully for the future of the Broadway musical.”

Oh, well, what did they know back in 2003?  Nothing that those high and mighty New York critics said could have stopped "Wicked" from becoming so popular....lar.

Anyway, following a year where we saw great shows - "In The Heights", "Beautiful", and, of course, "Hamilton", we got our theatrical year of 2018 off to a great start with "Wicked".  Can't wait to see it again someday.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

From the first balcony of the Bendedum

just before curtain time.