A 'Wicked' Good Time

My love for anything Wicked dates back to junior year of high school when I first discovered the soundtrack and began to listen to it.  From that moment on, I fell in love with the story, the music, the actors of the original Broadway cast, everything.  Despite all my admiration, however, I never actually saw the production while it was in the States!  One week after I came to London, the play left my hometown of San Francisco, never to be seen again (for now).  Thus, knowing that Wicked was still playing here at the Victoria Apollo Theatre, I made my way there as fast as I could – I had been waiting five long years for this!

I will admit, my initial expectations may have affected my overall reaction to the performance.  But nonetheless, I truly did enjoy Wicked.  After having listened to the original soundtrack for so long and always associating certain types of voices with certain characters, in the beginning it was hard to hear new and different voices take over.  But by the second or third song, I had gotten used to the fact that Glinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero were all now British and that this Glinda had a drastically lower voice than Kristen Chenoweth.  Apart from the accents, all the actors had amazing voices, and I could listen to the actress who played Elphaba sing “Defying Gravity” any day.

Apart from singing, the acting and storyline were equally as good.  Seeing as how the soundtrack I know left out parts of the actual play, there were some very surprising moments and some very enlightening moments.  After seeing Wicked I now look at The Wizard of Oz a whole lot different – so much really did happen in Oz before Dorothy came around!  And maybe Dorothy really didn't have the whole story, or the right story for that matter!  The actual story was funny, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and all together entertaining.  The actors really got into character and made them their own.  The ‘Popular’ scene showed Glinda’s character and how, underneath her façade and her charms, she actually has a good sense of humor and does want to help Elphaba.  I also loved the scenery itself and the amount of props that were used.  They truly helped bring the story to life, and with every scene I only had a few details left to fill in with my imagination.  They were so well constructed and so detailed that one really does not have to struggle to understand the setting or the scene.  The props also added a lot to the story, as in the case of the “Defying Gravity” scene in which Elphaba really is defying gravity and one can understand her desire to break free and become her own witch, so to speak.

As for the eight myths of playwriting that we recently discussed in class, this play has so many of them!  From Elphaba’s “unrecognized virtue[s] being recognized” by Fiyero, to Elphaba’s love for the animals of Oz being her “fatal flaw” and causing all of Oz to “turn against her” (or so we thought), to the Tristan myth with Elphaba and Glinda fighting for Fiyero, to the Romeo and Juliet myth embodied (again) by Elphaba and Fiyero, and lastly (if you choose to see it this way) the hero who can’t be kept down in Glinda.  Five out of eight myths is not bad, and the way the story is written and the way all the myths intertwine, truly makes for an intriguing story and captivating play.

All in all, I had an amazing time at Wicked and after some initial hesitation, it really did live up to my expectations!  It is definitely a play I would like to see again while here in London.

Samantha Fiacco

UC Santa Cruz