David Mirvish/Wicked, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Winnie Holzman, directed by Joe Mantello, Princess of Wales Theatre, closes July 21. Tickets here.
This essay is not so much a review, but more of an appreciation of Wicked, which opened on Broadway in 2003, and in the intervening 21 years, has became the second highest grossing musical in history, falling only behind The Lion King.
Why the staying power, you might ask? The answer is simple — a strong book and a tuneful score.
The musical is based on the 1995 bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire called Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which, in turn was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and its beloved 1939 film adaptation. The subtitle of the musical is The untold true story of the Witches of Oz.
Maguire wrote his novel because he was interested in what the word wicked really means. By taking well-known characters with established personas from a children’s story, he could use them as the basis for his political, social and ethical treatise on the nature of good and evil. In the Baum books, we are told that the Witch of the West is wicked, but are never given any proof that this is so. Thus Maguire took as his point of inspiration, “What if she isn’t?”
The book for Wicked was written by the Emmy-Award winning playwright Winnie Holzman, who, working with acclaimed composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, reduced Maguire’s complex novel to a manageable level by concentrating on the ever-evolving relationship between two of the Oz witches — Elphaba, the Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Witch of the East.
Wicked as a theatrical experience has substance because it deals with family estrangement, bullying, racism, corruption, fascism, and mob mentality, to name but a few themes. As I sat through the musical for a second time, I was aware of just how absorbing the story was, not just because of the torturous way the friendship develops between the two witches with their radically different personalities, but by the choices they make — Elphaba becoming an activist to fight injustice, and Glinda taking the easy route to survival by not making waves.
Composer/lyricist Schwartz is Broadway/Hollywood royalty, a winner of three Oscars and three Grammy awards, along with a ton of Tony nominations. As the musical genius behind Godspell (1971) and Pippin (1972), two works that are always being performed somewhere in the world, he can now add the wildly popular Wicked.
Mercifully, Schwartz is old-school because he believes in melody and variety. Not for him is the current penchant for amorphous soft rock musicals where every song sounds the same. The score of Wicked is filled with a series of musical numbers that advance the narrative, with clever lyrics set on tunes that perhaps sound old-fashioned because they are hummable.
Long gone are the days where touring companies meant the B-team. The cast of Wicked is first rate with stunning performances by Lauren Samuels (the intense outlier Elphaba) and Austen Danielle Bohmer (the popular conformist Glinda). There is not a weak link in the supporting cast and the talented ensemble breathes vibrant life into Wayne Cilento’s evocative choreography and Joe Mantello’s beautifully detailed direction, both established in the original Broadway production.
Wicked also sports the eye-catching 2003 sets by Eugene Lee based on the original 1900 illustrations by W.W. Denslow for the Baum novel, while Susan Hilferty’s imaginative costumes run the gamut from the realistic to the fanciful.
I think what I’m trying to say here, is that Wicked has all the old-fashioned virtues of what made the Golden Age of musicals so beloved. The second time sitting through Wicked was even better than the first.
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