Wicked, the Musical

2 summers ago, a friend of mine recommended that I read Wicked, The Lives and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire. The concept of the book was intruiging. So, I plunged in. I put the book aside after reading 1/3 of it. The book was not edited well. The sentences dragged on and it took forever to get anywhere.

Move forward a few years, and the musical, Wicked, comes to Broadway. As a rule, I don’t like musicals. But, the kids do. So, yesterday off we went.

Fantastic! So clever. The whole concept was clever in the book but so poorly edited that you had to comb too hard to find the details. Whoever adapted the book into the play did an incredible job.

Glinda, who was played by Krisin Chenoweth, was terrific. She was a joy to watch. Her body movements, her voice and her ability to have fun with this character was so apparent.

I guess what I really liked about the musical was the twists and turns. Knowing the story of the Wizard of Oz seen from a completely different angle was very clever. For the kids, it was thought provoking. They loved how there were so many times during the performance that you said to yourself, “aha.” So, that is how the scarecrow gets there or that is how Dorothy gets here or that is why she had ruby slippers. Just so intelligent.

As my friend says, it is the best thing on Broadway right now. Forewarning, it is long. 1 1/2 hours for the first act and 1 hour for the second act. But, well worth it. The performance pulls you in and slowly brings the audience into the crescendo.

Refreshing to finally see a musical that also has a good solid intelligent yet whimsical story line. This is the type of musical that continues to bring people back to Broadway.