Broadway Review - Wicked

MegaSoulhero It’s been a while since I’ve done a review of a Broadway musical, but I just saw an absolutely amazing musical and I just needed to talk about it. It’s time to talk about a very popular musical about a misunderstood green character. That’s right. The Shrek Musical.

Obviously since Shrek is one of the most memorable animated movies of all time, of course they gave it a musical. Even though it was a pretty dumb idea and there were so many other movies more deserving of getting musical adaptations. SpongeBob got a musical years later, and while that is good, it doesn’t even begin to compare to the brilliance that is the Shrek musical. So let’s discuss why this musical is such a masterpiece. I’m joking. I’m obviously reviewing Wicked. I haven’t even watched the Shrek Musical. Wicked is truly a great show. Let’s talk about it.

It’s basically the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West. Her name is Elphaba and she’s actually not evil. She’s very nice but misunderstood. People think she’s weird because she’s green. Despite being in a school where a goat is a teacher. She was actually friends with Glinda. Despite hating each other at first, they started to get along. As the show goes on, we see how she transformed into the witch that everyone thinks she is. I think it goes without saying that this is the best musical of all time. It is just so amazing. Everything about it. This performance in particular that I went to was outstanding because of how great the actors were. The two actress that played Elphaba and Glinda in the performance I saw at the San Diego Civic Theatre were Jackie Burns and Kara Lindsay. If you don’t know who they are, Jackie Burns currently holds the record for longest running Elphaba and Kara Lindsay, who has had experience playing Glinda on Broadway, also played Katherine in the original Broadway cast of Newsies. Both of these actresses are amazing. Jackie really stole the show with her incredible acting skills and her incredible voice. Elphaba has some pretty high notes throughout the musical and she hits all them perfectly and smoothly. Unlike Idina Menzel. As for Kara Lindsay, she was pretty much born to play Glinda. The jokes really worked with all of her actions and line deliveries. Watching the show, one might think she was making her voice sound different to sound more happy, but that’s actually her real voice. It’s perfect. I really felt the connection between the two characters. I actually believed that they were best friends. I’m sure off stage they are, but they really gave a believable performance. Especially in the song “For Good” which brought a tear to my eye. You can tell they were actually trying. Unlike Mackenzie Foy in Nutcracker and the Four Realms. I’ll talk about that another time.

Given that the musical is showing us who Elphaba actually is as opposed to what she was portrayed as in the Wizard of Oz, this could’ve gone bad. However, they actually managed to make it work. They actually Elphaba some pretty great development. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone. She’s just different but everyone is afraid of her. They also give some character development to Glinda. Not only that, but they also managed to take elements from the Wizard of Oz and incorporate them into here. The whole second act pretty much takes place during the events of the Wizard of Oz and it shows us how certain things came to be. I won’t spoil anything, but I thought these were very clever. Another character I really enjoyed was Fiyero. I thought he was really funny at times and he helps out the two leads a few times. Even though his first scene made it seem like he would be the kind of character we would end up hating. It’s great that he grows more as a character as the musical goes on.

Now I have to talk about the scenery because while this musical has top-notch writing and top-notch acting, it is also a very beautiful play to look at. A great example of this would be the Emerald City. Everything is green, but it’s so bright and beautiful looking. It also helps that they have a lot of props that help us get immersed into their world. That mechanical head that the Wizard used looks really awesome. There’s even a part where we see a bunch of flying monkeys in a cage. That part only lasts a few seconds, but WOW was it awesome to look at. I also absolutely love Glinda’s “bubble” that makes her float in the beginning and the end. The costumes are also very impressive. Not only does Glinda have some amazing outfits, the outfits of the Ozians are VERY detailed. They all have a unique style and they don’t look the same as each other. And finally, I just have to talk about the songs. These are some of the most powerful songs in the history of anything ever. Okay, not all of them are THAT powerful, but they’re all really amazing. They also all serve a purpose in some sort of way. There’s the song Popular which is the most humorous song in the musical. It also gives Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship more development. There’s No Good Deed which is about Elphaba accepting that people will always see her as a wicked witch. There’s For Good which is easily the most emotional song in the entire musical as it is a duet between Elphaba and Glinda and it shows how much they care about each other. And of course there’s the best song and the best scene in the entire musical, Defying Gravity. There are times when there is something so amazing happening in front of me that it makes me cry. This is one of those times. Again, the actresses work off of each other very well. They also have really great voices. Especially Jackie who was singing with as much effort as possible. When she started flying I got goosebumps. The audience started applauding as she got lifted into the air. The lighting looks incredible, the background music is amazing, and her voice is so powerful. This is easily the highlight of the show.

As you can clearly see, I absolutely love this show. I’ve seen it once before on Broadway, but seeing it again really made me fall in love with it all over again. This is definitely a must see. Everyone will love. It’s best thing to ever be put on Broadway. It’s better than Hamilton and better than the Lion King. You know what? I think I’m gonna review another thing that stars a green character. Don’t worry, it’s not Shrek. I’m talking about something very recent. Anyway, Wicked is great. I hope they don’t mess up the movie.

Grade: A+

Comments

Wicked best thing to do with Oz - iliekpiez

Also, does Oz the Great and Powerful count as a Wicked movie? - iliekpiez

No. No it doesn’t. - MegaSoulhero

But very comparable - iliekpiez

What are your thoughts on Detective Pikachu?

Honestly I can't tell if I like or dislike it. - Drawbox

It looks pretty cool. Definitely better than the Toy Story 4 teasers. - MegaSoulhero