WICKED: the musical
The official summary of the musical:
"The untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy dropped in, two girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years."
asdfghjkl; I saw this with a friend for her birthday. All I can do is flail happily. Honestly? This was absolutely amazing to watch. Stunning in its delivery, in the music, design, dancing, plot, everything. Let me make a list.
- Costumes: stunning. Those were some outfits I'd love to have, even if they would be too flamboyant for practical wear. A lot of sparkling and flowing material. So damn pretty.
- Dancing: it wasn't a focus point but it was well done. Very beautiful, in time, all flair and grace and, tied in with the costumes, made for some really pretty visuals.
- Singing/Music: oh my God. I loved loved loved the music. I want it on my iPod. The acoustics of the theatre was beautiful. We were unfortunately far from the stage, up in the balconies, but I could hear the actors' footsteps. And the singers (all of them) were astounding. They could hold notes like it was nothing. Very clear, strong voices. Again, very stunning.
- Set: holy crap. I was kind of engrossed by the singing, so when the set changed I only noticed it when they revealed it. So once second it's a castle and them BWAM it's a field! The changes were done so smoothly and really set the scene.
- Actors: I have to add a little kudos to the actress of Glenda; the actress of the Wicked Witch accidently dropped a mirror and she smoothed it over that you could almost believe it was intentional. Not to mention their voices. They definitely deserve the starring roles, those two.
- Plot: you wouldn't believe how smoothly it all could have fitted in to movie!canon. I swear to God, the attention to detail was amazing. It lived up to the reviews. They made me sympathise with the witch! They gave a backstory to all the characters. asdfghjkl; So brilliant. Comedic relief was also well done and welcome, balancing the darker, more serious moments nicely.
I could sing its praises 'til the cows come home, but none of my words will really capture the magnitude of awesome this play had. Go and watch it if its showing near you, seriously. It's totally worth the money, I think. I loved it. I wish I could see it again. If a DVD or something comes out, I would seriously consider getting it (though I believe plays/musicals are best appreciated in live format).
You know, it was so well done that I forget it was a play for a while. I felt like it was a movie, or something really happening. The only thing that reminded me that it was happening in front of my eyes was how the singing would ring in my ears like no stereo could. Their voices, along with the orchestra, really made the music come to life.
Actually, this play made me ship something I never would have shipped before in The Wizard of Oz (because this play is totally making head!canon for me). But I won't tell you the ship because it would spoil a vital part of the play, which I'd rather not.
The only downer of the day was a child who sat in front of me, whose mother felt fine to allow her to wear a witch hat (merchandise) throughout act two, and it was distracting in the worst way. If I was feeling bitchier, I would have snapped at the kid to take off the hat. But it was my friend's birthday, we were having a good time, so I decided not to be mean.
I am in suuuch a goooood moooood. *Sighs and bounces away*.
tl;dr: WICKED: the musical is a backstory to the witches of Oz, and was so amazing I tell you its a must see.