Review: Wicked
by Michael Meigs
The musical Wicked is certainly epic. It's in its tenth year on Broadway, with no signs of flagging. The 2014 touring company visits Austin for a three-week run only two years after the last tour date here. They'll depart for Cinncinnati and then they'll be back to Central Texas to perform at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio March 12 - 30.
I saw Wicked in Chicago almost nine years ago and enjoyed it greatly. After that interval I had retained only the major plot outline, so I was ready to be dazzled all over again. And I was.
Wicked is a clever inside-out on the beloved Wizard of Oz, principally the version imprinted deep in the American consciousness by the MGM film. Ephaba the protagonist is a brainy green-skinned adolescent, unloved and lonely, who will eventually become the cackling, sneering black-garbed baddie played so deliciously by Margaret Hamilton in the film. It's an alt-Oz where Elphaba is roomies at school with cheerleader-type rich girl Galinda, who'll eventually become the simpering Glinda the Good. We will find ourselves rooting for Elphaba as she endures disappointments and humiliations, and all the original story elements are cleverly rewoven to present to us everyone except for Dorothy of Kansas the mild and meek (present only for a moment, unseen, beneath the stage).
The lyrics are imaginative and surprisingly profound. The story is that of an idealistic and talented teenager facing up to a craven and corrupt world. The comedy is lively. Pairing the two apprentice magic-makers gives us not one but two coming-of-age stories. And the touring company comes complete with extravagant costumes by SusanHiferty, astonishing sets by Eugene Lee, wildly steam-punk designs and transformations, a kaleidoscopic lighting design by Kenneth Posner, and a core traveling orchestra of six that plays with a locally recruited component of nine musicians.
The day will eventually come when this fabulous property is released for regional and local productions that cannot possibly rise to this level of sophistication -- although the Zach Theatre will certainly try -- so now is the time to revel in the color, magic and visual wit of the original concept.
When I first saw this musical I understood it as Elphaba's story. After all, she's the title character, or almost, for she becomes the Wicked Witch. The show at Bass Hall suggests a more subtle interpretation. There's wickedness aplenty to go around, and in the view of author Gregory Maguire and adapter Winnie Holzman, Elphaba is hardly wicked at all.
This time although our plucky li'l witch prevails, the real story of this libretto seemed to belong to Galinda-cum-Glinda the Good, for it's the blondie's movement from airheaded-ness to understanding. Hayley Podshun as Glinda is a lithe and amusing comedienne in the first act, even though her first appearance in that mechanical bubble was undermined by inadequate amplification. The second act belonged entirely to her, for in addition to expected vocal strength and ability, she communicated vividly the bewildered emotions of a habitual winner who realized that all her triumphs and popularity were hollow.
Alyssa Fox, the stand-by Elphaba, didn't miss a beat in that evening's performance, and she fully deserved her part in the duo curtain call with Podshun at the ending. But against my expectations, our hearts remained with Glinda.
Male lead Matt Shingledecker as the proudly self-proclaimed shallow Winkie prince Fiyero delivered a vigorous portrayal and Lee Slobotkin as Boq, Munchkin-land's future man without a heart, was plausible and sincere. Walker Jones as the Wizard of Oz was a bit of a disappointment, particularly when he styled his key number "Wonderful" more as a ballad than as the jaunty vaudeville number that the music suggests. And Kathy Fitzgerald as Madame Morrible was predictably overbearing and full-throated, an easy caricature of every grande dame who ever disdained hoofing upon the Broadway stage.
Wicked
by Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, Gregory Maguire
