“Wicked”
Everyone knows and loves the storyline of the movie “The Wizard of Oz”. A girl from Kansas drops into a magical land, where she teams up with a scarecrow, a tinman, and a lion to defeat a Wicked Witch. It’s the classic story of good beating evil. But in the musical “Wicked” that’s not the case. In the musical “the heroine is not Dorothy but the Wicked Witch of the West. The good witch Glinda is vain and ambitious, and the Land of Oz is oppressive” (Eveld). The musical has the audience rooting for the Wicked Witch the whole time and questioning the movie. Idina Menzel, who played Elphaba from the original cast of “Wicked”, says, “We like to say that ‘Wicked’ is behind the scenes of what you saw in the movie. The film is (the witches') public persona; their real life is what you see in our show” (Iris). “Wicked” has grown to be a phenomenon worldwide (Everett). So what is the story behind the Broadway, musical “Wicked”, and what makes it one of the most popular, well-known musicals today?
Gregory Maguire wrote the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is what the musical is based off of (Eveld). His book tells the story of the two witches and how they came to be the two witches that we all know and love. As a child Maguire watched the movie “The Wizard of Oz” and he became curious about the characters and themes of the movie. He became extremely curious about the theme of peoples “concept of evil”. Where does evil come from, and how does a person become evil or wicked? The first character that Maguire developed was Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. In an interview Maguire states, “Everybody knows who she is, but nobody, knows why she was bad and how she came to be in the castle” (Eveld). And so the book was created. Maguire created the book to tell the story of how the witches came to be the way they are. As Maguire was first developing Elphaba as a character, he pictured her to be like Hitler, “someone seriously troubled mentally or spiritually” (Eveld). But the further into the book he got and the more developed Elphaba became, the more she changed into her final character. Maguire also states in the interview “…the story was going to be the history of a very complicated character who was quite good in a lot of ways but also capable of making mistakes and doing harm. She was going to be human” (Eveld). Maguire wanted people to know more about The Wicked Witch, than that she was green, evil, and wanted the ruby slippers. He wanted people to see that she was human, and although she wasn’t perfect, she wasn’t all that evil either. (Eveld)
In Maguire’s prequel to “The Wizard of Oz” it’s not just the Wicked Witch of the West that is changed. Glinda the Good Witch isn’t the perfect, nice witch that travels by bubble in the book and musical. She’s all about herself, but she’s not dumb, even though she does act ditzy sometimes, she’s just very conceded. But still she is good and cares about the well being of others in Oz. She just doesn’t “have to prove herself worthy of others’ affections and high regard” like the Wicked Witch does (Eveld). And the Wonderful Wizard of Oz is actually the cause of all the problems in Oz. The Land of Oz isn’t the perfect magical place in the book and musical, it’s gloomy at times and has problems like the world today. Maguire “wanted to put politics and sex and romance and family dysfunction into a novel that has dragons and flying brooms and curses and spells. So in a way one could recognize Oz as more than just a painted backdrop of a 1939 film” (Eveld). Maguire made Oz a more realistic place and the characters more in-depth than how they were in the movie.
The musical “Wicked” is based off of Maguire’s book, but there were some changes made in order to appeal to a broader audience of all ages. The book’s tone was softened, some elements of the plot were simplified, and a few characters were taken out (Lindsay). One of the key changes made between the book and musical is Elphaba’s motives for what she does, that are supposedly for good (Lindsay). In the book Maguire doesn’t make her a misunderstood hero like she is portrayed to be in the musical (Lindsay). He says, “I intend her motivations to be pretty admirable, but like most of us, her motivations overwhelm her and her actions become less than admirable. The means are not justified by the ends” (Lindsay). In the musical Elphaba is the “saint and misunderstood hero” but in the book she starts out with the right intentions but gets overwhelmed by her motives. Maguire “meant it to be a probing and fairly honest portrait of somebody who, if things had turned out a little bit different, might’ve turned out to be a terrorist or a suicide bomber out of real passion for justice. She would nonetheless have the capacity to make the wrong choices and to hurt people” (Lindsay). So to make the musical more appealing to the audience Elphaba was made to be a person with good intentions that go wrong, and is just misunderstood. In the musical Elphaba has the right motives, but messes things up along the way. Like Elphaba sings in the song “No Good Deed” in the musical, “no good deed goes unpunished”. While talking about his book, Maguire says, “The story arc is sad. There’s an extreme sense of bittersweetness at the end. But bittersweet is one thing and tragic is another, and my book tended toward tragedy” while the book seemed to be more uplifting and a drama (Lindsay).
The main plot of the musical ends differently than that of the ending of the book. The book ends on a sad note, while the musical ends on a happy, unexpected note. But the major theme comes through in the musical. Maguire says there is one way to check if the theme comes through. After watching the musical, “if you leave the show with a lump in your throat ask yourself this: Am I living my life in such a way that when it comes to the end, when I have to say goodbye to somebody for the rest of eternity, can I hold my head up high for making the right choices? Can I be forgiven for what I’ve done wrong?” (Eveld) If so then Maguire’s intended theme definitely comes through. As Gregory Maguire said “the musical catches almost pitch perfect what was worth taking from the novel for the stage” (Eveld).
When ‘Wicked’ first premiered on Broadway, in October 2003, critics were not too fond of it. But just three and a half years later and ‘Wicked’ was the “highest grossing show on Broadway” (Zoglin and Lofaro). Marc Platt, Wicked’s lead producer, says, “Wicked has had a magical effect on audiences since the very first reading of its script…Something about this show just moves an audience in some deep, resonant way” (Zoglin and Lofaro). So why is it so popular? Just simply the fact that the musical is a twist on a classic draws people in. “It offers a fresh perspective on one of the English language’s best-known and best-loved stories, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (Everett). Everyone knows The Wizard of Oz, so this alone made people want to watch it because they know that story, and this gives them a story to put before it. And it’s not about Dorothy, but about two young school girls who eventually become Glinda the good Witch and The Wicked Witch of the West. That alone “is enough to generate interest among fans of…the classic 1939 movie musical that is the most widely know version of the story” (Everett).
People love to root for an underdog, someone who is picked on by others but then comes out ahead and who will “prove their worth in spite of the odds” (Zoglin and Lofaro). Elphaba is a misfit that proves her worth, and although she doesn’t become the hero that all Ozians love and worship, the audience roots for her the whole way. People like Elphaba because she’s different and she’s not the perfect girl that’s extremely popular and loved. She is more relatable and real, so people, especially young girls will love her because she is different (Zoglin and Lofaro). ‘Wicked’s’ main fans are adolescent girls. “Making the musical about the friendship of two different types of girls finding themselves and growing to womanhood gave the show what many consider its secret weapon: its special fascination for adolescent girls” (Everett). Both young and old girls can relate to the story. ‘Wicked’ is bringing back the younger generation to the theater. “Younger people are coming back to the theater—and yet older people aren’t leaving” (Zoglin and Lofaro). Wicked is making the theater popular again.
But ‘Wicked’ appeals to more than just adolescent girls. It’s a musical for people of all ages. “If Wicked’s appeal were only for teen girls, it might sell out for a season or two. But not for seven years. No show could achieve what this one has without the across-the-board appeal,” says Marc Platt, the shows lead producer (Everett). There is some aspect in the show that every person can relate to. “A child can go and enjoy it for the imaginative fantasy, the sets and colorful production. The adolescent girl or young woman can get caught up in the emotional lives of the two heroines. A parent or grandparent can go and get into other levels of the show, such as the political level, the leader who turns out to be a fraud” (Everett). With how much popularity ‘Wicked’ has had after seven years, and considering it doesn’t seem like it will be slowing any time soon, it seems like ‘Wicked’ will be here for a little while longer. “With its powerhouse heroines who literally defy gravity maybe it’s no surprise Wicked has handily defied its critics and a Tony snub” (Everett). And like Glinda says “Nothing else matters if you’re very, very popular” (Everette)
Bibliography
Eveld, Edward M. “Author Gregory Maguire explains how he created the alternate Oz of Wicked.” Kansas City Star, The (MO) 08 May 2008: Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 7 Oct. 2010.
Everett Evans. “COVER STORY Smash hit Wicked casts spells.” Houston Chronicle 27 Jun 2010, ProQuest Central, ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2010
Iris fanger Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor. “A new twist on the Land of Oz :[ALL Edition].” The Christian Science Monitor 30 Oct. 2003,ProQuest Central, ProQuest. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.
Lindsay Christians. “Extraordinary Oz: In Author Gregory Maguire’s ‘Wicked’ Fantasy, the Possibilities are Endless.” Madison Capital Times 16 Sep. 2010, ProQuest Central, ProQuest. Web. 12 Oct. 2010
Zoglin, Richard, and Lina Lofaro. “Girls! Girls! Girls!.” Time 169.19 (2007): 82-83. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Oct. 2010
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