Wicked

Last April, our niece Kylie, went to New York City with her chorus and came home raving about the musical Wicked. It sounded somewhat strange to me - what's all this about the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) being a good person, a person who tried to stand up for what she believed in and make a difference?! But then we read the book by Gregory Maguire for book club and I, too, became a strong supporter of Elphaba. As we researched theatre productions in London's West End, I was thrilled to see Wicked on the list... and we managed to get 7 tickets for our last night in London. I built it up so much in my mind, and to the others, that I was afraid that it could never live up to our expectations. In fact, I told everyone that before they complained about it, they had to read the book and then, only then, would I accept complaining emails - one a day for the year.

But I was soooo wrong. During the first act, Lorraine looked over at me and gave me a thumbs up. At the intermission, Jonathan and Maureen loaded up on the soundtrack and t-shirts for their son David, and Brian even bought a t-shirt for Caroline (his 12 year old daughter). In the meantime, I loaded up on ice cream and couldn't wait for the second act to commence.

Although it did, at times, vary from the book, it was fabulously well done. The two leads were so well joined together - and yet so very different. The careful movements of Elphaba's hands to illustrate her passion versus the flighty hair "toss, toss"es of Galinda were in sharp contrast to one another. I will admit that after reading the book, I couldn't imagine where the music fit in - songs such as Popular and Defying Gravity... but they, too, were absolutely perfect. I went to sleep, long after Dave's snores started, thinking about Elphaba and her attemps at making things better for all... and thought, "If only we all could do the same..."