A Wicked Review

[Darren]

The Wizard of Oz tells the story of Dorothy, a young girl who finds herself in a strange land meeting a succession of equally strange people and creatures. Helped by Glinda, a Good Witch and pursued by The Wicked Witch, she travels to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard to send her home.
This is not her story.

Wicked is a touching, funny and dark tale of the lives of Elpheba (fated to be known as The Wicked Witch) and Galinda ("it's Ga- linda!"). Beginning with Elpheba's birth, revealing the cause of her green skin, we see her attending college tasked with looking after her disabled younger sister Nesserose, by their father.
Almost universally hated because of her colour, after an uncontrolable display of magical abilities, the lonely Elpheba finds herself being groomed for sorcerey tutorials by headmistress Madame Morrible. She also becomes reluctant room mates with Galinda, a supremely shallow and dim- witted socialite. Thus begins a new friendship...

In TWOO (nice acronym, eh?), Good and Bad are clearly defined, but in Wicked they don't exist. The character's we meet are all merely flawed. It is their actions of anger, jealously, treachery and desire that affect the lives of everyone with often dreadful consequences.
As events spiral out of control, we witness the origins of familiar characters the cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and Scarecrow, and the Flying Monkeys. And of course The Wicked Witch of the West.


This ingenious musical is not merely a prequel. It is almost a re-imagining of Frank L. Baums story, which takes established characters and events and alters our perceptions and perspectives. The story is brought to life by a fantastic cast headed by the phenonemal Kerry Ellis as Elpheba, Diane Pilkington as Galinda and Nigel Planer as the misguided and somewhat devious Wizard.

A spellbinding evening of entertainment.


Wicked

[Anthony Williams]

I've read the book, but haven't seen the play. Having thoroughly enjoyed the read, I'm very tempted to see it someday, but I'm worried that it'll ruin the effect that the book had on me

Ant x

[Darren]

I haven't read the book so I couldn't comment on differences in tone and content, but as with most adaptations, there are changes.
Gregory MacGuire has written a sequel- Son of a Witch.