Thoughts on Wicked: The Musical

I was in Borders a few months ago and was listening to music and thought that I would give it a try and take it home. I fell in love with it. I love the messages of figuring out what’s important in life and about change and how much effect we can actually have in a person’s life. I also love the tongue in cheek humor that makes fun of the original movie while still paying deep respect for the material.

This Christmas Charlotte got me tickets for us to got see the play last Saturday. Man what an experience it was! I have been listening to the soundtrack a lot so it was really hard getting used to the difference in cast members. But at the same time even though they did do things differently they toke the parts and made them their own. I love how Galinda (who later changes her name to Glinda) is so bouncy and an airhead basically. And how Elphaba's (the Wicked Witch of the West) sullenness plays off her. So even though I didn't quite like the difference in who played the two main characters they really did an excellent job of making the characters their own and running with them.

I also loved Henry Gale or the Wizard. He's such a slimy little Politician. Always giving people what they think they want and twisting the truth to convince people of his way of thinking and even getting them to fulfill his needs. The character reminds me of a character named Benjamin Linus on Lost. He acts like he’s a good character and goes be the name of Henry Gale. He’s constantly lying and using people to get his way.




The set design was just awesome. I am always when I see a Broadway production and their set pieces and how they move around and transform to fit each scene. I loved how the gears move as some of the parts move around. I loved the giant dragon the sits perched above the stage. I’m still not quite sure what it was for, but none the less still very cool. The Wizards Mechanical Faces was pretty awesome also how it looked like the Wizards face.



The costumes were phenomenal. I love the bold shapes and colors use to portray mood and personality of each scene and character. Another thing that I loved was the chorography. I love how during Fiyero's song "Dancing Through Life" the characters are trying to study and little by little they are drawn into a dance. I just love the acting of that scene. Another great thing is the monkeys, I just loved how they moved like real monkeys, running around and climbing things just like a real monkey would.

All in all a very good performance!

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page for a storyline and history of the Musical.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_%28musical%29