For the Better, or For the Good?

(Warning: Slight spoiler alerts ahead.)

There’s a list of things in my life that I only have come across because I love my wife.

That list has two parts – first, the “yes, I love my wife, see I did this” part.

That list includes things like eating broccoli on occasion, sitting through yet another amateur production of a Tennessee Williams play, and scooping up kitty poop.

The second part – the “wow, my wife is cool ‘cuz I never would have found this if it weren’t for her!”

That list includes SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, whatever-is-in-the-cupboard nachos, and the movie ENCHANTED.

And now add to the list the musical WICKED.

I wasn’t too excited to see WICKED, what I assumed to be a simplistic musical exploiting the popularity of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Sure it would be cute, and probably somewhat humorous, akin to a skit put on by the youth group at a church.

But as a sacrifice for an anniversary present? Hey, there are worse things to suffer, so spending a day getting tickets and sitting through the show was an easy call.

And wow.

I mean, Wow.

Complex story-telling, intricate themes, sweet reversals. Marvelous music, very fine performances, interesting characters.

From the beginning, as the Ozians sing what should be a straight-forward “nobody mourns the wicked,” the audience is treated to a sophisticated subtext. Side-long glances and masked looks of concern show that this celebration has an undercurrent of unease – what if I’m found out to be wicked? ("For all have sinned...")

And as to stage craft, let me just say that when a certain little someone decides to actually defy gravity, my wife grabbed my arm and gasped in delight.

The conceit of the show puts all we know about Oz on its ear – good is maybe not so good, bad (in a spin on Mae West) may be even better. One would think that fans of the movie would be upset by the changes – but not so, as the rabid nine-year old Dorothy fans behind us made clear.

They loved it – maybe even more than casual fans of the Emerald City, because they knew it was written for them.

You see, everything isn’t just altered – all changes and character choices are justified, point by point, with hints from the story.

Think about it: Frank Baum’s Wizard is a humbug, a phony, right?

So run with the idea that a fake is running the government, spinning himself and his actions into something grander than it really is – and you have an idea of what is going on in WICKED.

WICKED nestles itself quite neatly into Oz Lore (we’re talking the Hollywood lore, here, people), allowing for both to exist simultaneously.

It’s all there, with a delicious explanation: the pointed hat, the shoes, the broom, the bucket of water. Even the heartlessness of the Tin Man, the freakiness of the monkeys, and why that Lion is so cowardly.

And for the book lovers, on every page is a throw-away meant for you. The non-readers won’t even know they are there. (At one point a character says “time is running out. Tic-toc!”)

I do wonder what Frank Baum would think of the piece. He wasn’t a fan of big themes, or romance – felt both were too over the heads of children. And I think he may have seen too much of himself in this new Wizard to be comfortable.

But yet again, he may well have seen this re-imagining as personally redemptive.

In one part of the story line, Elphaba makes a stand for the disenfranchised, trying to protect the extermination of the talking animal minority.

Baum wrote an editorial once about the obvious abuses that the US was making against the American Indians during his day. He thought that we had gone so far, in fact, that the only way to be safe from retaliation would be the complete extermination of the Native American race.

It’s a claim he only made once, I think. And I would like to believe a scenario he regretted even contemplating. I would like to think that he would admire Elphaba for her courage and righteousness, and wish to see himself in her shoes (or pointed hat, as the case may be).

I don’t think it is a mistake that WICKED, while sending Oz askew, sets Baum’s world aright.

Just my thoughts,

Sean