Review: Wicked, the musical — the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
Wicked – The Musical
Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Winnie Holzman
Directed by Joe Mantello
Synopsis: Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of Oz. One–born with emerald green skin–is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good makes for a great musical.
The cast features Dee Roscioli as Elphaba, Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda, Randy Danson as Madame Morrible, and Mark Jacoby as the Wizard.
Yesterday, Hyperion and I went to the Kennedy Center to see a performance of Wicked along with several other members of WSFA (the science fiction club we belong to). The play is based on the book, Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
Wicked tells a different story than that told by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Maguire posits that the Wicked Witch of the West was not evil — she was simply misunderstood and feared. One of our group had read the book. Hyperion and I have it but didn’t want to read it before seeing the play. My understanding from the person who read the book is that the play is very close, except their endings differ.
The play was wonderful, mesmerizing, and quite an emotional experience. Elphaba is on stage for most of the play. Glinda also has a big part but did get a few more off-set breaks than Elphaba. The staging was superb — the scene changes were all during the play and done smoothly and cleverly. For the big climax after the song, Defy Gravity, Elphaba rises into the air with the lights all on her face and it was impossible from our seats to see how it was done because the lighting was so good at hiding what we, the audience, wasn’t supposed to see.
The sets had a feeling of steampunk to them and would match the time period of L. Frank Baum. Hyperion said he noticed one of the men in the chorus wore a skirt for a time — which we imagine was a nod to the Oz character Tip. I’m sure we missed many other small background items because we were lost in the story of Elphaba and Glinda — their meeting, growing friendship, and their parting.
I’d highly recommend seeing Wicked if the play is in your area. Especially, if you have fond memories of the original story and movie. The amazing thing is that there is very little in the play that goes against the original work.
The cast was amazing and the acting more so. The musical numbers were well choreographed, and my only complaint was that the crescendos were way too loud. During intermission, I noticed the speakers were only two rows in front of us and above so we were nearly sitting under the speakers, so naturally they were loud.
It was a magical two hours and I’m so very glad we decided to attend when the outing was suggested at a club meeting.
I’d love to hear if you’ve read the book or seen the play. Next up is trying to fit in reading the book by Maguire.