How wicked was she really?
What do you think the Wicked Witch of the West was like before she got to the stage with the winged monkeys, the
'my pretty-ing' and the preference for remaining dry? If you take
Gregory Maguire's word for it then some of the blanks can be filled in thus: She attended sorcery school with beautiful, ambitious Galinda, who would become Glinda, who she also shared the same taste in men with. Rebelled politically against what she saw as a corrupt government under the Wizard. And was branded 'wicked' for standing up for animal rights.
From this it sounds as if she's not really the 'wicked' witch that everyone says she is. The winged monkeys are with her by choice, apparently, after she frees them from the Wizard, she 'magics' the ruby slippers to enable her disabled sister to walk and the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Woodsman and the Scarecrow all owe her their lives.
As you've just read,
Wicked the Musical, based on
Wicked, the book by Gregory Maguire, is an exciting tale set amongst characters you already know but will come to see a totally different side of here. The set, costumes and design of the show are only a little short of magical and are probably one of the main reasons this is one of the most lucrative shows of all time. In the week after Christmas 2010 the show took more than a million pounds. That's a whole lotta 'bums on seats', and a whole lotta word of mouth recommendations.
The music is, in many respects, more like a film score than a musical, with themes running throughout – and not just different themes for different characters, different themes for different feelings as well. This might throw some audience members, those not caught up in the magic of the production, but most will just enjoy the recurrence of themes they're now learning to recognise.
Clever reviewers never fail to note that the musical has a brain, a heart and courage – after all, this is a very well loved story they're messing with.
