Wicked - Girl power in Oz

Taking place mostly before Dorothy skipped across Oz, Wicked is the tale of the wicked witch of the west and her one-time friend Glinda-the good. You really should have heard about it, there are long running productions all over the world. And last Saturday as part of an extra special birthday treat I went to see it in London. I really enjoyed myself, it offers everything you expect from a west end musical, slick choreography, great performances, good laughs, expensive interval sweets, hum-along songs and lots of magic. The Oz magic even begins before the curtain goes up (and the incredibly sweet giant dragon begins to fume) as the underwater themed Apollo Victoria theatre is bathed in green light.

I have no knowledge of the book (the Oz series or the prequel the musical is based on) but I really enjoyed the change of perspective that Wicked provided. I was terrified the first time Glinda sang (No-one mourns the wicked), so high and squeaky was she that I couldn't distinguish the words. Fortunately all later songs were sung at a more comprehend able pitch and were generally awesome. The easily recognisable quotes from the Wizard of Oz that were included in the musical, really made me giggle. Glinda's comedic character makes it easy for her to steal most scenes, but I was rooting for Elphelba, which is a testament as to how she is written and performed.

Oz is apparently well known to be something of a pro-women novel and it follows through in 'Wicked'. How often are musicals written about the relationship between 2 women, with the love story in firm second place? It was no accident that all the best numbers were between the two witches rather than the love-interest(s) or the wizard. Whilst I appreciate that the film and musical never really cross , I felt that the end melting sequence was a bit of a let down. Played in silhouette on a quickly drawn across curtain, the scene seemed like a high school worthy dodge and not worthy of an otherwise very resourceful set design. But this is a small quibble, I loved the rest of the musical. Sure it only has a few numbers that really stick in the brain but the fact that I tried to sing 'defying gravity' for the rest of the evening after hearing it only once is quite a credit (And I'm really bad with music). I was also utterly dejected that I couldn't take the dragon home.