Good Prevails in “Wicked”

                                                                                by Pat Lindsey

For the past 20 years, audiences have been flocking to the theaters to see “Wicked,” a sensational epic tale about Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who was born in the Land of Oz years before Dorothy and Toto. The reason for this is simple. “Wicked” has everything.

The three-time Tony Award-winner is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire. “Wicked” has outstanding music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman.   Lissa Deguzman as Elphaba and Jennafer Newberry as Glinda give phenomenal vocal performances as     they team up for duets with “Defying Gravity” and “For Good” and sing other favorite songs from a    thrilling score.

“Wicked” also has a Tony Award-winning director, Joe Mantello, and musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento. From the opening curtain to the last flying monkey, the stage sets and costumes are out of this world. But more than anything else, “Wicked” has passion and it takes its audience on an emotional journey to empathize with the underdog.

Elphaba was born green due to her mother’s indiscretions and she suffered from being different her entire life. Her father didn’t want to have anything to do with her, so he sent her away to boarding school to care for her disabled sister, Nessarose (Tara Kostmayer). Her roommate at boarding school was Glinda, a self-centered, but very popular, bubbly blonde. At first, Glinda encouraged everyone at school to ridicule Elphaba, but all that changed when Madame Morrible (Natalie Venetia Belcon) discovered Elphaba’s gift for sorcery.

When an anti-animal campaign begins to sweep across the Land of Oz, Elphaba and Glinda decide to go to the Wizard (Timothy Shew) to get something done about it. Their plan backfires when they discover that most of the people of Oz do not agree with them. They want the animals locked in cages and stripped of their dignity. And instead of seeing that Elphaba’s intentions are good, the people decide that she is an evil witch who must be destroyed.

The story takes a lot of twists and turns for nearly 2 hours and 45 minutes, but the heavy parts are always lightened with a little levity from Glinda. If she’s not inserting one-liners such as, “It’s good to see me, isn’t it?”, she’s singing a song about being “Popular.” Of course, there has to be some romance in every tale and that comes in a love triangle between Glinda, Fiyero (Christian Thompson), and Elphaba.

It’s not easy being green and Elphaba proves to us that looks can be deceiving. She also teaches us not to believe everything we hear–unless it’s just how fantastic this production of “Wicked” is.

“Wicked” will be performed at the Fabulous Fox Theatre now through May 7. Tickets are on sale at MetroTix, 314-534-1111 or visit MetroTix.com.

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