Musical

Title: Wicked
Directors: James M. Nederlander & James L. Nederlander
Cast: Kara Lindsay, Lilli Cooper, Kathy Fitzgerald, Tom McGowan, Matt Shingledecker, Catherine Charlebois, Robin De Jesus, Timothy Britten Parker
Genre: Musical
Running Time: 2.5 hours (with 15 min intermission)

Plot
Wicked is one of Broadway’s biggest and most acclaimed hits, which reframes the classic story of The Wizard of Oz and thereby spins it into a refreshing, creative retelling with new layers (based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West).

He Said
While The Wizard of Oz movie has some good songs and the costumes/cinematography is indeed iconic, I must admit that I wasn’t a fan of the movie. The slow pace and illogical storytelling felt too campy. Truthfully I also don’t love musicals as a genre. I can endure and even enjoy songs interspersed (such as in some of Disney’s classics), but I much prefer dialogue and speedy plotting. Therefore I’m not sure why I wanted to see Wicked for so many years. Perhaps it was just all of the hype (same reason I watched The Wizard of Oz). Perhaps this curiosity was renewed after watching Once Upon A Time‘s spin on Oz/The Wicked Witch of the West during season 3. In any case, I did at last see Wicked. Similar to my reaction to The Wizard of Oz movie, I was underwhelmed and felt like it was too long, but overall the storyline felt more mature and better developed with nice twists all-the-while being truthful to the source material. The costumes and staging were impressive. I didn’t love any of the songs and actually couldn’t make out the lyrics sometimes. We unfortunately also didn’t get to see the “real” star of Elphaba but instead saw her understudy, who felt like a miscast.

She Said
While the plot was excellent with many twists and connections to The Wizard of Oz, I couldn’t help but tune into the orchestra. I honestly hoped to either be seeing a play or a symphony. However, the storytelling was not lacking, with great humor interspersed. Glinda stole the show for me – in acting, comedic timing, and singing. Perhaps this is because Elphaba was portrayed by an understudy, a fact we weren’t informed of until we sat down and read the Playbill… Another complaint: the main love story was inappropriately sexual. There were kids in the audience and I had hoped the show to be more G-rated. Overall, it was nice to see what the buzz is all about, but it definitely felt long. I was ready to leave after Act I…

We Say
Our Wicked viewing exemplifies how much productions (be it TV, movies, or musicals) depend on star power and the right casting. When the lead role suffers, the rest suffers too. While Wicked wasn’t terrible by any means and honestly musicals aren’t our cup of tea, we think we would have enjoyed it more if the character of Elphaba was played by someone else. Wicked is definitely a must-see for fans of The Wizard of Oz and for people who love Broadway/musicals. For everyone else, you can see it for the hype and to experience Broadway (great production values), but it’s not worth going out of the way or to pay lots of money for if you’re not a true fan (which is what we did).