Broadway's
big hit of the season features full makeup on the main character,
outrageous costumes, a tuneful pop score, and a large foreboding
presence overseeing the whole thing — and no, we're not talking about Taboo.
It's Wicked
of course, the new musical based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, which
tells the back story of two main characters from L. Frank Baum's Oz
books, Glinda, who would come to be known as The Good Witch, and
Elphaba, who would be forever known as The Wicked Witch of the West.
While the novel explores such adult themes as animal rights, political
oppression, and the nature of evil, the Broadway production, featuring
a book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz,
tones down the politics to zero in on the relationship between the two
women, from their meeting — and tentative friendship — at Shiz
University to their fateful journey to the Emerald City to their
eventual iconic destinies. Directed by Joe Mantello and starring
Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Wicked
received mixed notices both in its San Francisco tryout at the Curran
last summer and in its Broadway opening at the Gershwin in November,
but has garnered spectacular word of mouth plus hefty advance ticket
sales, and as of now looks to be the show to beat come Tony time.
By MARK BLANKENSHIP
