Alert: If you plan to
see Wicked, don’t read this. If you say
Wicked and you loved it, I warn you that you may not like this piece. Read at your own peril.
Second alert: I
didn’t feel like polishing this writing.
I am feeling too lazy. It’s a bit
sloppy and rambling. . .
Everyone told me it was awesome. Amazing.
I heard the hit song and I liked it pretty well. Tickets go for about $400 here in SLC, so I
figured that might be evidence of it being a good show. So, when I had the change to see Wicked in
Minneapolis for under $100, I jumped at the chance.
My co-workers and I anxiously awaited the time for our
conference. Sure, it would be a good
conference; but we were super excited about our “treat”: Wicked on Wednesday
night. We took pictures outside the
theatre. We go there early. We admired the beautiful old building (The
Orpheum in Minneapolis).
Then. I was
disappointed. It didn’t deliver. Not even barely. Were my expectations too high? What was I expecting?
I am not a theatre aficionado. The only big time professional productions I
have seen are Les Miserables (twice), Phantom of the Opera, and Joseph . In addition, I’ve seen Westminster College’s
production of Man of La Mancha, and a couple of HS musicals. So, while judging Wicked, I didn’t have a ton
to compare it to. I did find myself
comparing it to my favorite musical: Les Miserables. Is that fair?
Does any play compare to that one?
I don’t know—maybe others that have seen more plays might be able to
help me out.
At any rate, here’s my take on Wicked, primarily contrasted
with Les Miserables.
Storyline: Okay,
maybe the book is good (I have no idea)—but the writing for the play left much
to be desired. Few poignant lines in any
of the songs. I enjoyed Defying Gravity,
and the one song where the Glinda and Elfaba detest each other is funny. I remember one line that made me think:
yeah, that’s true! In the song Popular,
sung by Glinda, she sings: “It's not
about aptitude, It's the way
you're viewed.”
There are too many
threads in this story, where none is fleshed out at all. I understand that in 2-3 hours, there isn’t a
lot of time to do that, and perhaps the writers are depending a bit on the
audience having read the book (I don’t think so). Wicked tries to pull
off a love story, but it flops big time.
I don’t know these people, and it seems too forced. They are characters made up for the specific
purpose of teaching me a lesson, and I know it—so it has no power over me
whatsoever. When the main star says her
climatic line: “For the first time in my life, I feel wicked”, I just rolled my
eyes. It was pretty lame, really.
I didn’t fall in
love with any of the characters. Here’s
the kicker for me. I felt like the
writers were trying to shove a life lesson, or a moral of the story down my
throat. It was simply too elementary, as
though a 7th –grader wrote it.
Simply shallow.
In Les Miserables,
I am told a story about people and their lives.
I fall in love with the characters.
The music is moving. My blood is
boiling at points (Red and Blue, One more Day) and I am crying at other points
(Bring Him Home, I Dreamed a Dream). The
songs’ lyrics tell me more of the story.
It is truly masterful. Sure, I
don’t know Marius enough from the play, nor do I know the grown Cosette, but that
doesn’t bother me because I know Val Jean, Javert, as constants. The writers of Les Miserables don’t shove
anything down my throat. They tell me a
story of people—and I am left learning lessons over and over again on my own as
I ponder the story and sing the songs.
Music: This was very
disappointing. Good music could have
made up for the choppy storyline, but that didn’t happen. Both in Phantom and Les Miserables you can
easily feel the theme in the music throughout the entire production, each number
being a brother, sister, or cousin of numerous other songs. I couldn’t detect any common musical
theme. If there was one, it was way too
subtle or sophisticated for me to notice.
None of the songs were catchy.
Frankly, I think the songs from Phineas and Ferb and Veggies Tales are a
whole lot better musically and lyrically.
Some might think that’s sad or harsh for me to say; but have you
listened to Silly Songs from Veggie Tales?
Those guys produce some amazing music.
I laughed genuinely
about 3-4 times at Glinda. She had some
good lines. But they were lines I would
expect from a sit-com, not a musical production. Furthermore, I do concede there is a nice
cluster of take-away lessons about history, revisionist history, politics, and
power. But those lessons are not worth
$400, or even the $75 that I paid.
There you have
it. Don’t waste your money. My money will have been well spent if I can
but save a couple of people from wasting theirs!
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