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Hopefully, this one won't disappear. Don't know if any of you have heard of this show -- or the book it's based upon -- but it's gonna be a huge -- HUGE -- Broadway smash!
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I spent 3 hours and 10 minutes (including a 15-minute intermission) of my life Saturday, May 31, totally transported by a p-h-e-n-o-m-e-n-a-l musical fantasy called "Wicked" currently in a pre-Broadway preview at San Francisco’s Curran Theater.
It's the first time I've seen a musical without having been familiar with the music beforehand. The surprise to me was that I fell in love with so many of the songs (21 songs – count ‘em – 21 – with 6 reprises), instantly loved two of the performers and grew quite fond of a third after not having been initially impressed.
I have a more profound respect for Stephen Schwartz than I did before. I’ve always liked his work. But I never knew he could write like this! This was a great storytelling opportunity and his music soars.
The show offers many stunning surprises, plotwise, throughout its three hours, and the great news is that ALL the cast is not only up to the task, but totally at home in an Oz L. Frank Baum created but never imagined in quite this way.
First, Kristen Chenoweth is perfection as a ditzy blonde who calls herself Galinda, but eventually accepts the shortening to "Glinda.” She plays the "blonde" for all she's worth, and she’s hilarious in its execution. Her voice is a miracle and it gets a thorough workout.
Comedy is her forte and they give her some dazzling opportunities to shine. First and foremost is her entrance at the start of the show -- descending in a bubble that spouts bubbles! Her opening line, delivered to the cheering Winkies: “It’s good to see me, isn’t it!” Total kitsch played to the nth degree.
She has some wonderful songs, but it is "Popular" that reveals the most about her character and her philosophy of life.
Idina Menzel is g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s as "Elphaba" (who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West) and she has, by far, the best songs in the show. Among them, the Act I closer "Defying Gravity" is a house-bringer-downer. It's chill-inducing and tremendously moving.
Elphaba is the heart and soul of the show. The green-skinned beauty causes many extraordinary things to happen, and is blamed for many things that are not her doing. Menzel is a powerful talent – almost as powerful as the “witch” she portrays, and the character is a perfect fit for this young actress.
Make no mistake: This show is Idina Menzel's vehicle to superstardom."
Both women share a bittersweet ballad called "I'm Not That Girl" that is destined to become a standard. It’s Elphaba’s in Act I and Glinda’s in Act II.
Norbert Leo Butz seemed to me, at first, a bit miscast. Primarily, because his character "Fiyero" is introduced in a number called "Which Way's the Party" -- more a dance number than a song -- and Butz's dancing moves aren't on a par with the company's (which are MOST impressive). His character enters and immediately imposes itself as a cool dude with all the moves. Only they don't quite impress.
Once the emphasis shifts to character and song, he immediately hits the same level as Chenoweth and Menzel. He has an amazing voice! (There is an eerie, seemingly calculated, connection between Butz' dancing and the ultimate fate of his character, which cannot be divulged here. I have to go with my first, gut, impression on this, but in retrospect, his dance seems to have been deliberate).
Robert Morse's wizard is a real treat. So, too, is the Throne Room "head" of the wizard with its glowing eyes and it's stentorian voice.
The "old" Bobby Morse is there – with quavering voice and patented expressions – but so, too, is the aging Morse and he fits the wizard extremely well. He has a number with Elphaba called "Wonderful" that is totally that. Well, I might shorten it a bit. I'd do the same with one of Elphaba's big numbers – "No Bad Deed" – which is much in the same vein as the first act closer. Both songs went on just a tad too long and would still be extraordinary were they shortened.
Stellar support is lent by Carole Shelley as "Madame Morrible" (imagine a "Mrs. Slocum" type – "Are You Being Served" – without the British accent). The book is filled with wonderful made-up words – with a few malaprops, and Shelley has her share and then some and delivers them with delicious aplomb. I would be remiss if I failed to mention Kirk McDonald as the Munchkin named "Boq" (who's rather "tall for a Munchkin") and Michelle Federer as "Nessarose", Elphaba's sister (and Yes, she becomes the Wicked Witch of the East). Both are wonderful and have pivotal, deeply moving moments in the show (one non-verbal moment brought gasps and great applause from the audience). John Horton has brief, but totally outstanding, moments as "Dr. Dillamond" (the only animal faculty member at Shiz University).
The play is full of wonderful lines. One Winkie guard stopped the show (momentarily, while applause lasted) with his only line.
The dancers who performed as the flying monkeys are nothing short of amazing and they were well-rewarded by the audience at curtain call.
Sound was uniformly good, but I was on the second row, right orchestra, and 5 feet from the stage rim. Fortunately, I was treated to a lot of Chenoweth and Menzel as they had quite a few numbers that few feet from me. On the other hand, I was close to some of the speakers and the more powerful numbers are loud, bordering on shrieking. It probably didn't sound that way five rows further back.
The set design and the lighting were SUPERB. And I thought the costumes a treat. They are colorful, and not a little odd. I thought them Oz-like (comparable to costumes in the movie "The Wizard of Oz"). That said, every character in Oz seems to have a full, unique costume and it's nearly too much to take in during their brief times on stage. Also, with no contrast (simple clothing, for instance), it overhwhelms.
The Oz sequences themselves, however, are PHENOMENAL – all the emerald green sets and lavish costumes and glorious green lighting. (One great line occurs during an Oz sequence -- literally everthing is green -- and a voice rings out: "Stay off the green carpet!")
This was one of the seminal theatrical events of my life. There haven't been that many, but I have to tell you that this show is going to be a major hit.
Ron Pulliam
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Finally caught up with "Wicked" on Broadway last year, with a replacement cast. Loved it, was greatly entertained, and thought the songs very good. A lot of people I know seem to despise it, maybe for its pop-psycho-babble book, which, frankly, makes more sense than the novel it's based on, which is very strange, and singularly darker, much, MUCH darker!
I understand Schwartz is doing some project at the Pasadena Playhouse, or maybe some theatre in the whereabouts of Santa Barbara, an opera based on something well-known. Can't remember the title, though I do rmember reading about it at some point.
I also love Schwartz's songs for PRINCE OF EGYPT.
I saw the original cast of PIPPIN on Broadway, in previews, and enjoyed it, though it seemed more of an exercise in Bob Fosse choreography and stagecraft, than focusing on the Schwartz songs. Schwartz had just come off from doing a big hit with GODSPELL, which still probably rakes in royalty checks for him. His career has been spotty ever since, since he also writes lyrics-only for this and that, including POCAHONTAS, for which, as I recall, he won the Oscar for "Colors of the Wind," which I still regard as a wonderful song.
WICKED is a monster hit show, which originally received mostly luke-warm reviews. It just opened in London recently, and looks like it's doing well there, too.
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Ron: Have you heard of any plans to film it?
BTW: PBS is telecasting a performance of another musical, "Legally Blonde," this month. Maybe they already have.
It would be interesting to see how "Wicked" might transfer to the screen.
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Flashing forward 13 years from the original post and 6 years from the last!
"Wicked" is still packing them in at the Gershwin Theater in NYC.
There are plans to make this show into a film.
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Idina Menzel won the Tony for Best Actress for the original cast of WICKED, but it did not win Best Musical. That went to AVENUE Q, a musical send-up of "Sesame St.," with notably raunchier lyrics and characters, and which has mostly disappeared in years since.
WICKED, on the other hand, is still a monster hit. Universal has the movie rights, as I recall, and Disney has been trying to get them for years, even to co-produce the movie, but they have always been rebuffed. Consequently, Disney has tried to make their own WICKED, viz. OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, which mostly came and went, and also FROZEN, which was their monster hit, even to the extent of hiring Ms. Menzel to sing the big power ballad, "Let it Go," which also seemed to pretty much defy gravity. Now, a WICKED movie version has finally been announced, though I don't recall the director, and it may take a while before we see it onscreen.
In the meantime, Schwartz has been working on other projects. The Pasadena Playhouse project was his opera, based on the movie, "Seance on a Wet Afternoon;" I've heard it, and it's somber, and not particularly melodic. There was also a project this summer to showcase a stage version of PRINCE OF EGYPT, but that was cancelled, because of numerous complaints that the announced cast for it was "too white," and didn't have enough persons of color. True. (I find that ridiculous, but that's just my personal opinion....)
I still play the WICKED cast album frequently, and look forward to seeing what they do with the movie. I wonder if it wouldn't be better animated; that way, all the original cast members can do the voices for their characters.
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I finally saw Wicked when the touring production came through town two years ago.
It was the greatest theatrical experience I remember having.
I think part of the power for me came from the fact that I had just finished being in a production of Wizard of Oz with my kids (their first stage experience). I was basically coming to the show a month after having lived the original Oz story, so the Wicked inversion of events and tale told from another point of view couldn't have been more resonant for me. I essentially cried the entire evening. And Defying Gravity was simply an emotional powerhouse.
This past March I saw Hamilton on Broadway, with the original cast still intact. And as amazing and transformative as that was, it still couldn't rival the pure emotional impact Wicked made on me.
I can't wait to see it again one day. And next time I'll bring my kids.
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