Wicked is showing at the famous Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. It was written by Winnie Holzman and is based on a novel written by Gregory Maguire. The play is directed by Joe Mantello and the live orchestra is conducted by Brian Perri.
The play begins in Munchkinland where Glinda the Good tells the Munchkins that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead, however, we discover that Elphaba was not dead, she and Fiyero planned her death so they could be together and assure no one would attempt to use Elphaba’s power for evil anymore.
The Pantages Theater, with picturesque walls and glorious high ceilings, was a perfect choice for a show of spectacle. Wicked was committed to bring a theme of extravagance to the stage and assure a night of quality entertainment for everyone. They even place a dragon above the stage that looks like it is part of the theatre until the play begins and then it springs to life with incredible animation and introduces you to Munchkinland, a city in Oz. With the backdrop fully exposed, you can see the stage is a giant dragonclock. This gives the stage the look and feel of a mystical place. It shows the exact time that the Wicked Witch of the West has died. The clock opens up from center stage to let other props slide out through the middle. There are also two rails on the stage for sliding props around that move left and right, so when the set change occurs it happens all at once.
1. Do not pretend to know everything about someone at first glance or you may never meet them.
Munchkinland is filled with flawed and unique characters that interact together through song and dance. Their small stature allows them to live in treehouses and float in bubbles (at least the witches can). Oh yes! Witches! There are both good and bad witches that live in the land of Oz, and Munchkinland is part of that world. They have goats that speak so well they teach students English in school. In fact, many animals are speaking out about politics in Munchkinland and are being silenced by having their voices removed.
The dragonclock moves to a time in Oz when a miracle is about to happen. The governors wife sees her husband off to work. He is quite a bore and rather clueless that his wife is secretly having an affair with the great Oz before he was Oz. In a blink and a beat later, there she is popping out a green baby girl. The girl becomes the miracle the animals need to get their voices back. Her name is Elphaba. She becomes known as the Wicked Witch of the West because she has a gift; Magic!
Now the clock moves forward to a time when Elphaba is attending school with her disabled sister Nessarose. They are both daughters of the Governor but Nessarose is Daddys little girl (actually his only girl). Elphaba has become conditioned to playing second fiddle in the family, but she still adores her sister and does everything she can to please her father. One of those things is looking after Nessarose.
2. When we truly love someone we wish for their happiness even if that means they need to be with someone else to be happy.
Nessarose cannot walk and uses a wheelchair that is custom crafted with expensive wood and fancy wheels for her to get around. Later in the play, we see the chair become like a royal throne once the father dies and and Nessarose becomes Governess. Elphaba is very green and this scares the people around her. She acts dismissive and tries not to care about being different but it is because of this she relates to the animals being mistreated in Oz. Elphaba is not the witch we think of her as in the Wizard of Oz, but rather a girl who has been mistreated her whole life because she is green.
Glinda is the good witch of Oz. She was first introduced to the audience by floating down to Munkinland in a giant bubble wearing a Cinderella dress with diamond sparkles. She is as beautiful as she is loved. As Glinda descends into Munchkinland with her magic wand and perfect hair, the Munchkins dance beneath her blissful and happy that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead. Glinda has been blessed by becoming a good witch because her wits may have prevented her from becoming much of anything (typical dumb blond).
The munchkins ask Glinda if she was friends with the Wicked Witch of the West and she is forced to explain. The dragonclock moves backward in time to the school that she and Elphaba attended together. After a swift costume and set change (that happened quite often) the audience is whisked away to the classroom where it all began. There is a statue pushed out from the inner clock for the dancers to jump and swing around on. As Glinda glides out among her classmates in some kind of rolling carriage, with mirror and lipstick in hand, she is greeted by her admirers at school. If Elphaba and Glinda were magnets, Glinda is the side that attracts and Elphaba is the one that repels. The students scamper whenever Elphaba comes near them and then they run swiftly to the side of “Ga-Linda”.
Glinda and Elphaba end up becoming roommates and as the story of their relationship begins to change so too does the stage. Two beds roll out from center stage and a large shelf full of nothing but shoes. Glinda has got pumps in every color. This is one of the few scenes that is does not include background dancers. It is only Elphaba and Glinda, and Glinda is putting ribbons in Elphaba’s hair and promising to make her popular. Sometimes the characters exchange dialog through songs they sing together and this is one of those scenes.
The chorus changes constantly from munchkins to students with books to Gaurds or students with briefcases. The set changes occur fast and flawlessly. Each new song begins a transition in space and time before your eyes. .
3. Sometimes we must lie to people we love, but when we do there is always a good reason for it.
This play is politically charged and reveals Elphaba as the protagonist who uses her powers for good deeds like attaining the animals of Oz’ freedom. When a spell was cast out of the sorcery book, Elphaba would place the book on the floor and a big circle of light with various patterns within it would shine down and spin around her while she said magic words. This causes unexpected things to happen during these episodes and we learn that the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Straw Man were all created accidentally through blind spells cast.
When we get to the Emerald City, the clock in the background becomes a glorious emerald sun, and the whole stage is lit up by florescent green lights. A routine equivalent to the “umpa-lumpas” in the Wizard of Oz occurs with three characters on stage that have extra long necks.
Oz, with his beady red eyes and large animated face, can be spun around to use the back of it for a new set change. The face was incredibly animated and was amazing to watch. The voice blared out loud and scary through the speakers.
There scene with the Wicked Witch of the West staging her own death was incredible. In order to seem like she was melting they closed one of the back curtains and shined a light behind it to create a silhouette of the witch as someone threw a bucket of water on her. Her image diminished slowly until she disappeared. This effect made it seem very real and magical.
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