Written by: Hannah Field | Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content warning: <\/strong>this article contains spoilers<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWicked\u201d is a musical on Broadway following the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz,\u201d the beloved classic from 1939, before Dorothy ever made it out of Kansas. Displaying in Portland, Oregon, from Oct. 16 to Nov. 3 at the Keller Auditorium, \u201cWicked\u201d was filled with bright color, magical sets, beautiful voices and many shades of green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWicked\u201d does not require previous knowledge or recent viewing of \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d to be a spectacular experience, although references are common throughout the show. In fact, \u201cWicked\u201d takes the story of \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d and twists it into something else entirely: a show surrounding different facets of love, friendships, social expectations, justice and of course, wickedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The play heavily focuses on friendship \u2014 or, rather, what turned into friendship. The play begins with Glinda during \u201cThe Wizard of Oz,\u201d when the Wicked Witch of the West has been defeated, and she comes down in a bubble \u2014 a heavy circular mechanism that lifts and moves with Glinda\u2019s actress, Austen Danielle Bohmer, standing on it, her royal dress beyond sparkly \u2014 to inform the people of the eradication of \u201cwickedness.\u201d She admits, however, that she knew Elphaba \u2014 and the play swings into motion with the two characters back in the past, students at Shiz University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A description for \u201cWicked\u201d summarizes: \u201cLong before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin\u2014smart, fiery, misunderstood and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships \u2026 until the world decides to call one \u2018good,\u2019 and the other one \u2018wicked.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concept of \u201cgood\u201d versus \u201cwicked\u201d is reiterated and twisted throughout the play. It is obvious that from the beginning, Glinda \u2014 known as Galinda throughout the first half of the show \u2014 is described as good and pure, yet is the one to bully and harass Elphaba when they are roommates in school. It is because of Glinda that Elphaba is ridiculed at the mercy of their peers due to her green skin and \u201cwickedness.\u201d Eventually, however, they bond as Glinda expresses empathy at last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Elphaba, being so \u201cwicked,\u201d is the one to campaign for the rights of the talking animals in their world and act bravely despite her fear. At one point, another character describes Elphaba as feigning confidence, despite her desire to be loved and accepted to the point of no return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Particularly dazzling was Galinda and Elphaba\u2019s venture into Emerald City, sparkling on stage in various shades of bright green. This is the first time in the show that Elphaba feels comfortable, as up until now, her character has been mocked and teased. She has been called to meet the Wizard \u2014 the one of great magic \u2014 only to find and uncover corruption at his hands in Oz. Elphaba refuses to indulge in his evil cause, despite Glinda\u2019s allowance for the Wizard\u2019s actions as she seeks the Wizard\u2019s approval \u2014 another play on good and wickedness. Is goodness just seeking acceptance? Is it still good if nobody agrees?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to make Elphaba \u201cwicked,\u201d the show pins her for the mutilation and near-eradication of the animals in Oz, which was the Wizard\u2019s doing all along. Because of this, Elphaba must flee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDefying Gravity,\u201d the most anticipated song of the night and by far one of the most well-known, was shiveringly beautiful and performed by Lauren Samuels. The first half of the song, Glinda and Elphaba circle one another, with the colors growing increasingly bright as they lean into singing in unison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elphaba darts off stage, leaving Galinda to sing solo, until she reappears behind her \u2014 in the air with her broom, dangling above the stage as it covers in fog and lights that follow her that replicate the look of stained glass, spilling onto the stage and crowd. Elphaba\u2019s actress delivered an exceptional performance, receiving an outstanding ovation afterward as the play took its intermission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something to note is the way \u201cWicked\u201d shades the stage in regards to Glinda and Elphaba\u2019s signature colors. Glinda is mostly baby blue in the performances, despite her affinity for pink in the original. When the two are singing on stage, often the backdrop resembles the look of twilight, fading from emerald to blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wizard, being Blake Hammond in this performance, often hides in a mechanical box with a face \u2014 the Oz Head \u2014 that rears, moves and shouts horrifically. The movement is smooth and flawless, with lights flashing red across the stage when he expresses fury. \u201cThe head is supposed to be terrifying,\u201d explained a designer. It drips smoke across the stage and invokes a sense of discomfort and fear as it moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One complicated part of creating a prequel is to line the character up, especially if the protagonist is to be the villain, with the original storyline. Elphaba would not be a loveable character if not good; but she cannot be good, or else \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d is invalid. \u201cWicked\u201d was able to twist the concept of wicked so well that Elphaba is both wicked and good \u2014 claiming wickedness as an identity, understanding that she will never be or look like Glinda, nor like anyone else \u2014 but still can make the right choices. It is evident that Glinda does what is easy rather than what is right, as Elphaba makes difficult decisions, condemning herself, in order to do what is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later on, Elphaba sings the following in \u201cNo Good Deed\u201d: \u201cWas I really seeking good, or just seeking attention? Is that all good deeds are when looked at with an ice-cold eye? \u2026 So be it then, let all Oz be agreed, I am wicked through and through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWicked\u201d is a fantastic demonstration of the complexity and duality of people, as well as how hard it can be to stand alone in the face of adversity and injustice. Both Elphaba and Glinda look past their differences to make a bond nobody expected, usurping expectations and changing the world for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9\/10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contact the author at howleditorinchief@mail.wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by: Hannah Field | Editor-in-Chief Content warning: this article contains spoilers \u201cWicked\u201d is a musical on Broadway following the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz,\u201d the beloved classic from 1939, before Dorothy ever made it out of Kansas. Displaying in Portland, Oregon, from Oct. 16 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4233,4232,4238,4234,4237,4236,819,643,191,381,4235,3804],"class_list":["post-21619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-american","tag-broadway","tag-elphaba","tag-galinda","tag-glinda","tag-north","tag-play","tag-portland","tag-review","tag-theatre","tag-tour","tag-wicked"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21622,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619\/revisions\/21622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}