Lesbians and Terrorists and Oz, Oh My!

Wicked. Orange County Performing Arts Center. 8/10/06.

My thoughts on Wicked are extremely influenced by a lecture given by Professor Stacy Wolf on the structure of this musical. I highly recommend that you hear or read her thoughts on this subject if given the chance. She discusses the ways in which the Galinda/Elphaba relationship is established in the musical in a careful imitation of the traditional romantic dyad of a ‘classical’ musical such a Rodgers and Hammerstein show (Wolf used Oklahoma as an example). In Wicked, the two women, clearly the main characters, share several duets and their relationship develops over the course of the play from “unadulterated loathing” which is also “exhilirating” to a close friendship. They are also positioned on a butch/femme spectrum of sorts with Galinda being blond and pink and frilly while Elphaba wears simple black clothing, demonstrates failures of femininity, and takes the lower notes in their duets. In addition, Idina Menzel, who originated the role of Elphaba, is most famous for playing another lesbian character, Maureen in Rent. It’s not hard to read their relationship as lesbian, and can be quite rewarding to do so. This interpretation alone was enough to make me appreciate the show, even though it is unfortunately subtextual.

So that was the interpretaion of the play with which I entered the theater, and it played out quite well. But I was delighted to discover several other important issues raised clearly and concisely in the form of a Broadway musical, which one doesn’t necessarily expect to be at all political or relevant these days. Wicked raised issues of terrorism and political demagoguery, Victorian morality threatened by unrestrained female sexuality, and conflicts between technology and language. It approached these issues in complex ways that made them visible enough to allow people to really think about them while not sacrificing plot and entertainment in order to make its points. While I believe that there is no limit to people's capacity to ignore intelligent political commentary in the guise of entertainment, this show had a lot to say. This is one musical that is refreshingly intelligent and deep, while being entertaining enough to have sell-out crowds. I’m profoundly impressed.

The cast for Wicked was also quite strong for a touring cast years after the show opened. Kendra Kassebaum covered the range from cute and ditzy to menacingly manipulative required for Glinda quite proficiently while Julia Murney's Elphaba commanded the show throughout. Personally, I was profoundly impressed by Sebastian Arcelus as Fiyero, a role that would in most plays would have been the male lead but in this one was very much a secondary role. Arcelus delivered his major song, "Dancing through Life" with commanding power and grace. I was also impressed with Jonathan Ritter, the understudy who went in for the role of Boq on the night I saw the show; he did a memorable job in a fairly strange role, and without the announcement I would have had no idea he was the undestudy.

The creative team that contributed to this show was quite impressive as well. While I've never been much of a fan of Stephen Schartz (though I have a nostalgic affection for Pippin), the music for this show was appropriate, fun, and memorable and Joe Mantello's direction probably had a lot to do with how entertaining and relevant the production was. Winnie Holzman, the book writer who adapted Gregory Maguire's novel into this musical, did so very liberally, but I will post thougths on that soon. Overall, this musical was profoundly enjoyable, while communicating many layers of meaning and I very much appreciated its complexity, which is rare on Broadway these days.