My squiggy squiggy cute sweet boy and I went to see Wicked on Friday night. I had caught a bit of the hype sweeping San Francisco, and yet every commercial I heard had music that just fell a bit flat.
But all the hype! Every time I turn around, someone I know, or someone who knows someone is raving about it!
But then there’s that song…”no wizard that there is or was is every gonna bring me down!” Sigh. It’s JUST. SO. CHEEZY.
And then there’s the book that I read and was completely taken by. It was an amazing story, which made me feel like I had learned something about something relevant and important, when what I had learned about was the fictional land of Oz. And instead of feeling duped by my faux learning, I was rather charmed.
The costumes were beautiful and the set was impressive.
Glinda was ridiculous, but actually quite funny. She made me do that “ha ha” noise **out loud** so there is that. And Elphaba was also very good. I felt for her and her plight and was completely behind her vision for a better Oz. If only she could sing better about it.
As the play progresses, it turns out that the plot is more about the friendship of the wicked witch of the west and Glinda the good witch. They are forced to make choices that separate them and Glinda leads a crusade to turn the people against Elphaba. A man comes between them (Feore), which is very disturbing for the blonde, pretty, popular one.
So they are separated, come back together, have a heart wrenching exchange about the impact they’ve had on one another’s lives, and then Elphaba dies. Well, its actually just a trick to make people think she’s dead but everybody, including Glinda believes it and Elphaba and Feore take off for a whole new world. Which I believe takes us to a different country all together, one populated by magic carpets.
At the end of the day, I enjoyed it. And there’s a bit of me, even, that kinda wants to see it again. I feel like maybe I missed something. That if they could just sneeze on me a bit more solidly, then I too can catch the love.
Even so, it suffered from having some poor music sadly. The chorus songs were terrible. Even the “good” songs, were only good because one line of the chorus was nice. So sigh.
Which leaves me still unknowing: do I like musicals or not?
margaret edith 