When the musical "Wicked" first landed on Broadway, the word on the street about it was not all that encouraging.
Reviews during the tryout run in San Francisco of the show, which focuses on a Good Witch (Glinda) and a Wicked Witch (Elphaba) from the classic L. Frank Baum "Wizard of Oz" books, were just so-so.
You may wonder what about this show defied critical opinion, and the overall odds, to become a long-running smash. (It's still on Broadway, where Pacific Northwest natives Megan Hilty and Shoshana Bean formerly played the lead roles.)
First off, [mod edit - commercial link removed] has become increasingly family-friendly in recent decades and wicked tickets are selling like hot cake. Some blockbuster Disney shows ("Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King") led the way by becoming must-see pageants for the little ones.
But those kids grew into middle-schoolers — that notoriously difficult-to-amuse and hard-to-please demographic, suspended between mid-childhood and adolescence.
For girls of that uncertain age, at least, "Wicked" was a natural next step in theatergoing.

Well it wasn't the material.

hear hear

because lately..like hollywood..broadway has been caterin g to the lowest common denomiator.

if you read the novel..."Wicked" is far from "family freindly" crap.

schwartz and company made a horrible musical out of a wonderful book.

The book was much stronger but I guess it was too sprawling and... i don't know... un-family-friendly and...


why am I even making excuses for this rubbish?
Sure the musical isn't completely terrible, it does have a few redeeming factors, but it could have been so much better

think of what could have been done with it




and then look at what happened. *sigh*

The only reason I've been to Wicked a few times is to hear the amazing voices they cast (especially the Elphabas) and to experience the set, costumes and effects etc.. Plus the belty score (despite the terrible lyrics) is a guilty pleasure of mine.

As a theatre piece, Wicked is terrible.

Why is everyone comparing the novel to the musical when the musical was just based on the novel? Its pretty obvious that the novel was just base material for the musical and they weren't trying to re-create the novel and put it in stage form.

from what I've read in the book, they are two TOTALLY different story lines, like completely different stories, hopefully when they make the movie they change the script up to make it more...this is gonna be ironic...realistic...easier to relate too, I guess that's why they made the Musical so different then the book, more viewers would 'relate' to the troubles of Elphaba and Glinda, well I guess they would, sorry I'm rambling now...

I have been too much like Elphaba lately lately, constantly looking around me for anyone mistrusting so I know to either confront or avoid. If you knew my past, you wouldn't blame me.

I would ordinarily make my standard response about how Elphaba is deliberately intended to appeal to teenagers by influencing them to believe through her songs that they can deeply 'relate' to her and that there is probably no more basis for drawing parallels between you and her than her and me or any other typical person between the ages of 12 and 20. However, I have already brought this issue up in discussion with you and I strongly doubt from impression that there is realistically much chance of you coming round to my standpoint. I will, however, say this much: most teenagers in developed Western countries experience concerns like friendship breakdowns, betrayals, unrequited love and perceived ostracisation by peers. As such I will stand by general perspective and say that your past likely is not radically different from most other girls you know, whether you are aware of what they have experienced or not. This is not to say that you should not relate to Elphaba; rather I am cautioning you against treating this as though you have a distinct or even uncommon case. Acting in a manner that suggests you believe this empathy to be special will only leave a bad impression on others because it will be perceived as a typical quality of the derogatory 'fangirl' image. I know that from experience.

Yes, I'm well aware of this. I never said in that post that I was relating to her. Perhaps you misinterperted my message.

You just explicitly said 'I have been too much like Elphaba lately'. That's about as direct a comparison as one can draw in the English language.