A wicked green witch who flies on a broom. A beautiful good witch who flies around in a bubble. A scarecrow with no brain. A tinman with no heart. A lion with no courage. A wizard with no real power at all. And a little girl who brings them all together.
Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? When most people hear about these things, they think of The Wizard of Oz, written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum, and turned into a film in 1939 by MGM, starring Judy Garland. However, since October 2003, these characters have taken on a very new meaning.
In 1995, Gregory Maguire wrote a novel titled, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Eight years later, after award-winning lyricist Stephen Schwartz and book-writer Winnie Holzman got a hold of it, what came of it was a phenomenal musical that tells the story of what really happened in the Wizard of Oz.
The Wicked Witch of the West finally has a name. It is Elphaba Thropp--or Elphie, as she is affectionately called by Galinda Upland. Not Glinda. Galinda. Green from birth, Elphaba has been shunned by peers and despised by her family for her entire life. When her sister, Nessarose, also known as the Wicked Witch of the East (she's the one who gets the house dropped on her), goes off to Shiz University to study sorcery, Elphaba goes with her to care for her because Nessa is in a wheelchair. Upon arrival, after a brief mixup with rooming, Elphaba is assigned to a room with pretty, popular Galinda, much to the dismay of both girls. The two eventually become friends, and, after a professor, Madame Morrible, discovers that Elphaba has great powers, they head off to the Emerald City to meet the illustrious and infamous Wonderful Wizard of Oz. When Elphaba finally meets the Wizard--something that she has dreamed of for her whole life--she is less than pleased, and rebels by running away with the Grimmerie, the Wizard's book of spells. Madame Morrible quickly informs all of Oz that Elphaba is a "wicked witch" and cannot be trusted. Despite Glinda's pleading (yes, she is Glinda now; for more on that, you'll have to see the show), Elphaba refuses to back down from what she knows is the right thing to do, and begs Glinda to join her, but the call of popularity is too much and the two part ways.
Skip a few years, and Elphaba's reputation as the Wicked Witch of the West has grown, and Glinda, Madame Morrible, and Fiyero--Glinda's sweetheart--are all government officials. They've been trying to catch Elphaba for quite some time, with no success, so Madame Morrible conjurs up a plan that is sure to work. She plans for a little storm that ends with a house falling on Nessa, the Wicked Witch of the East. Enter Dorothy. The rest of what follows in Wicked is pretty much The Wizard of Oz...if you take the camera and move it to the side a little bit. In the end, Elphaba melts, the Wizard leaves, and everyone lives happily ever after--or so the story goes. But, if you want the true ending, then you'll have to see the show for yourself!
With a spectacular score and interesting book, Wicked is a delight for anyone to see. The original cast recording received the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album in 2005 and was certified platinum on November 30, 2006.
It originally starred Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, and Joel Grey as the Wizard. The show received ten Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and went home with three: Best Actress in a Musical (Idina Menzel), Best Scenic Design (Eugene Lee), and Best Costume Design (Susan Hilferty). It has also received numerous other nominations and awards including Helen Hayes, Drama Desk, Drama League, Jefferson, and Outer Critics Circle Awards.
The show began its first national tour in 2005, and, in late June of 2005, a permanent production opened at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre with an open-ended run. A second sit-down production of Wicked opened in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre, which resulted in four simultaneous productions of Wicked within the United States.
Internationally, it opened at the West End in London, England on September 26, 2007, and starred Broadway's original Elphaba, Idina Menzel, in the same role again. A condensed 30-minute version is currently running at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, and full productions in Japan and Germany will open in 2007. An Australian production is scheduled for 2008, and future productions have been proposed and rumored for the Netherlands and Canada.
Wicked on Broadway currently stars Julia Murney (Elphaba), Kendra Kassebaum (Glinda), David Garrison (Wizard), Jayne Houdyshell (Madame Morrible), Sebastian Arcelus (Fiyero), and Cristy Candler (Nessarose).
Print
E-mail
