Wicked: No One Mourns The Wicked Awesome

Gravity isn't the only thing Elphaba plans on defying when she sings the song at the end of Act I. It is both a literal and figurative declaration (and can now be seen as a bit of a meta-reference); when her spell creates a magic flying broomstick, she defies gravity to escape her captors, but she also intends on taking on a government intent on bringing her down. And looking at the show's success, it can be said that Wicked defied everyone's expectations. Who would think that a show that both cynically and lovingly turns an American classic on its head could be so successful. Who knew that there was so much story to tell about Oz before Dorothy showed up?

After the intermission, we see that the representatives of the Wizard have been so successful in their campaign to smear Elphaba's name that all of Oz lives in fear of her. We never see her interact with the public after being declared as "wicked", and I believe that this is meant to emphasize the fact that Elphaba is not truly wicked. The people of Oz believe something because their government tells them its so, even though there is no evidence. Instead, Elphaba's green skin is seen as a mark of her evil ways, and the belief in her wicked ways causes her actions to be viewed by the Ozians through a skewed lens. Benign actions like flying around on her broomstick are seen as "lurking".

The only person who still actively believes that there is any good in Elphaba is Fiyero, the new Captain of the Guard in the Wizard's army. Glinda is seeing her dreams come true before her eyes, and while she probably deep down believes in Elphaba's innocence, she chooses to go along with the lie to retain her place as "Glinda the Good". She is loved by the populace, is a sorceress in service of the Wizard, and is engaged to Fiyero. She thinks that she couldn't be happier, but silently admits that there was a cost for her happiness.

Meanwhile, Elphaba is struggling to get by. She wants to save Oz from the Wizard, and, in a sense, itself. They are wrapped up in the lie of the Wizard, and she thinks that they need someone to snap them out of their blind allegiance. The play isn't nearly as political as the book, but it is during these scenes where the brilliant satire of the show shines. More than a few veiled references to the Bush Administration are made, and there are a few priceless lines in the song "Wonderful", sung to Elphaba by the Wizard. It starts with him explaining that, in the place he comes from (our world), there is no black and white, only perspective. He tells her that few people are "at ease with moral ambiguities, so we act as though they don't exist". Wonderful.

Unfortunately for Elphaba, the Ozians don't want to be saved. Everything she does with good intentions backfires, and only causes people to resent her even more. Things finally go right for a change when she learns that her unrequited feelings for Fiyero weren't so unrequited after all. However, this drives the wedge between her and Glinda even farther, and the happiness is short-lived. The last straw for Elphaba comes when the Royal Guards torture their captain to get to her, and she decides that there is no hope left for Oz, vowing to truly become Wicked (after seeing Sweeney Todd, in which the title character sings a song about an epiphany he has about losing his faith in humanity, I can imagine this show going a lot darker, with Elphaba using her powers to do some serious damage).

At the same time, the citizens of Oz have become fed up with the Wicked Witch, and decide to get rid of her once and for all. With a little girl from Kansas in tow, a mob makes their way towards Elphaba's hideout. At the last minute, a shocking discovery brings Glinda to her senses, and the two of them reunite for the last time. Their final scene shows the tragic aspect of their relationship. They can never allow anyone to know that they remain friends, and they will probably never see each other again. The pair acknowledge that the other did in fact make the right decision for their journey in life, as well as for the current situation. Glinda's placement in the Wizard's inner circle will allow her to finish Elphaba's work of bringing him down, while Elphaba's active role in getting herself exiled showed Glinda that there are more important things in life than being popular.

Now, I want to talk about the final twist. I implore anyone who has not yet seen the show to skip this paragraph, since I don't want to ruin it, but I do want to discuss the end. Skip ahead to the next picture. Ok, let's go: Now, I thought that the show was going to end in tragedy, since the protagonist was doomed to die. There were even references to the fact that she couldn't get wet earlier in the play. Therefore, I was surprised and delighted when Elphaba revealed that she was alive to none other than Fiyero, who had become the Scarecrow (remember his song about being brainless?). I later realized how brilliant those "references" to Elphaba's hydrophobia were. The first was when Madame Morrible gave her an umbrella, telling her that she doesn't want to get wet. The audience thinks that Morrible is trying to keep her from melting. But how many people have said, "You don't want to get wet" to a friend who is going out into the rain? It is not an uncommon expression, since people don't like walking around in the rain without an umbrella. You get cold. It sucks! Morrible wasn't afraid she'd melt, she was looking out for her health (probably the one good act Morrible does in the whole play). The other reference is made by a random Oz citizen who is repeating a rumor about how Elphaba's soul is so unclean that water will melt her. Fiyero hears this and is disgusted that people could believe such bullshit. But these two comments do their job, and remind us that our hero is doomed. This state of mind makes her survival all the more rewarding to see.

This play is incredible, but what about its source material? I fell in love with the play. It was subversive and political, but was also sweet without being over the top. So I wanted to read the book. Unfortunately, I think that my love of the show hurt appreciation of the book. They started similarly enough, but then branched off dramatically around the time Elphaba and Glinda went to meet the wizard for the first time. After that, I kept thinking to myself, "If [current event] is happening now, how will [future event] later?", which really took me out of the story being told. And the story in print is much darker and more political than the story on the stage. Elphaba is much angrier in Maguire's book, while the Wizard is full-blown evil dictator. In the show, he is not a good person, but he does have the Ozians' best interests at heart (well, except for the Ozian Animals). The book's Wizard is more Hitler or Stalin, while the play's Wizard is George W. Bush. The play can be enjoyed by children and adults, by people looking for a fun story or people looking for a subversive one. The book is NOT for children, and it is extremely dense and slow-paced, especially when Elphaba is hiding out with Fiyero's family (Fiyero is extremely different as well). But what I liked least about the book is that it does not have as much fun with the mythos of Baum's world as the play. The play gives incredible origin stories to Dorothy's three companions on the Yellow Brick Road, Elphaba calls attention to the absuridity of Glinda traveling by bubbles, and the fact that the Wizard is seen as "wonderful" is believable (I don't know how or why a coup has not taken place in the book, since everyone detests the Wizard).

To end, here is the performance by the original Broadway Elphaba and Glinda, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, singing "Defying Gravity" at the Tony Awards. They are introduced by Joel Grey, the original Wizard.



If you've never seen Wicked, you absolutely must. Everything about it is wonderful, from the story to the songs, the effects and the set (I did not mention that I find the steampunk-esque set in Chicago extremely beautiful). It did not win the Tony for Best Show (that honor went to Avenue Q, which is also incredible, and is coming up soon), but I believe it should have.

Up next: Island girl...