I watched the December 22, 2011 West End production of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in DVD. It was apparently a new casting headed by Rachel Tucker as Elphaba and Gina Beck as Glinda. The supporting roles were played by Matt Willis as Fiyero, Lillie Flynn as Nessarose, Adam Pettigrew as Boq, Christopher Howell as Dr. Dillamond, Julie Legrand as Madame Morrible, and Desmond Barrit as the Wizard of Oz.
The plot was a very interesting portrayal of a story having two sides. It was a retelling of the Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the original story's villain, the Wicked Witch of the West. It tells that a lot more went than just Dorothy finding her way back to Kansas, making strange friends along the way, killing the witch, finally meeting the great wizard, and returning home. It tells of the political climate of the place which the audience might relate to as similar to real-time affairs; the "real" relationships between the witches and wizards including the real identities of the scarecrow, tinman and cowardly lion; and even the popularity contests prevalent in today's school environment. It portrays a heroine Elphaba, most commonly known as the Wicked Witch of the West, as someone who preferred to stand up against the injustice of society, brave, ambitious, and terribly misunderstood. The story reveals the interesting twist that she and Glinda, the "Good Witch of the North", were actually best friends and loved the same man, but Glinda was on the path of social success and chose not to join Elphaba in her fight. It was revealed later that Wizard of Oz, against whose dark agendas Elphaba was fighting against, was really her father. Glinda fighting from the inside, eventually was able to assist Elphaba with her cause, and Elphaba reunited with the handsome Fiyero (who, for a time, was cursed and became the scarecrow) and they went off away from the madness of Oz to spend their lives together. And dear Dorothy, completely oblivious of the bigger plot, was implied to have gone happily back to Kansas.
It was a stunning performance. Upon gazing at the stage, an audience would already be mesmerized by the curtain with the glittering map of Oz on it. The music of the production is akin to contemporary music that a wider audience can easily appreciate it. The story was opened with the gorgeous Glinda, in all her glory, gliding through the scene in her bubble, and introducing the twist in the plot from the original story when she stammers upon the question of being used-to-be good friends with the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. It demanded a lot from Rachel Tucker to play an insecure, green-skinned witch and still outshine her anti-thesis in the pretty, glittery Glinda, but her songs and dialogues were magnificent and she came through. It was not an easy job though, as Gina Beck, playing Glinda, portrayed the popular and highly confident character with amazing skill as well. The other characters where just as stellar, notable among them the character Nessarose, the physically lame Wicked Witch of the East, as her performance stood out when she went begging the character Boq not to leave her after being abandoned by her sister, or so she felt. The experience of the whole production was exhilarating and heartfelt that it was hard not to give a standing ovation at the curtain call. The only negative critique I can give is that the story progressed using a lot of clichés in my opinion, that might have been able to be related to by a lot of the members of the audience. But for me it came to a point that some parts of the scenes became boring for me because of it. Typical of these are the cliché love scenes and some of the emotional scenes as well.
Wicked is falls under the genre of contemporary musical theatre. It is one of the latest variations of the art, and considered rather original. The story is a combination of drama and comedy that is signature to contemporary, lighted-hearted stories. Its music appeals to the pop and rock types that musical theatre has been playing with ever since the success of the musical "Rent" - a stray from the operatic type of musical theatre made famous by Andrew Lloyd Weber. (Tommasini)
All in all, it was a worthwhile experience, and why it won awards such as Best New Musical can be easily seen.
Work Cited
Tommasini, A. Opera? Musical? Please Respect the Difference. The New York Times. 2011. Web. 5 July 2012.
Wicked. Perf. Rachel Tucker, Ginsa Beck, and Matt Willis. Apollo Victoria Theatre. 22 December 2011. Musical Theater
