Wicked: Crap for the masses, or something worth seeing?- Page 3

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 7/13/14 at 8:45am

I love the novel more than the actual show and cast recording combined, but I do like the show. It depends on who you see in it. I haven't seen a Elphaba and Glinda that have worked well together yet. It's always the Elphaba who shines or the Glinda who shines in my opinion!

What I truly like about the show is how it starts a love for theatre in a LOT of people (me included). I always call it the gateway musical drug (along with Les Mis). I also love it because it's a non-Disney show that parents can take their kids too. I love looking around and seeing little girls and her parents and seeing how excited and involved they are with the show.

So I definitely don't think it's "crap for the masses". I think you take out of the show what you want to take out of it, like any other show you go to. It can be fun and entertaining because the music is pop-ish, or you can understand the hidden messages/themes throughout it (albeit way less than the novel provides).

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/13/14 at 8:54am

" It just shows how you don't really know Wicked that well and are just being a pretentious theatre snob. "

Why do you feel the need to resort to name calling just because someone has a different opinion than you (a very common opinion that a lot of people have I might add)? And saying that people who don't like Wicked don't "get it" is just plain ignorant and immature.

Updated On: 7/13/14 at 08:54 AM

[deltatee]

Posted: 7/13/14 at 9:55am

It depends on your taste. I personally love Wicked, and most of the friends I see shows with like it also. But I know some people who hate it. I notice a pattern that for people who loved the book, they are more likely to not like the show. I personally did not like the book at all, so I'm glad the show doesn't follow the book very well.

I was beginning to get worried about how well the Bush-era politics would hold up with time. But I just saw it a couple months ago and found a lot of the politics still on point with government surveillance.

It is a cultural phenomenon and totally with seeing, IMO.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 7/13/14 at 10:50am

Something worth seeing.

[newyorker13]

Posted: 7/13/14 at 11:05am

It is one of my personally favorites and one I stand by for its music and themes presented in the book. The only reason people give it a bad reputation is because it's popular. If it was a barely seen niche show it would be highly praised. There is a reason it's been here 10 years. It endures.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/13/14 at 11:38am

"The only reason people give it a bad reputation is because it's popular. "

This argument is one that all the Wicked fans seem to fall back on, and it's completely invalid. You will probably be hard pressed to find one person on here that does not enjoy something that is popular (except After Eight). Some people don't like Wicked. That's all there is to it. It has nothing to do with popularity of it. For me it has to do with the lousy book and mediocre score that is an extremely watered down adaptation of the novel. Some people love Wicked. Some people just don't like it. Get over it and quit blaming it on the show's success.

[candydog2]

Posted: 7/13/14 at 11:53am

I think it's ok. I quite like the music and I think that the idea behind the story is in fact quite clever. The way it weaves in with the story of The Wizard of Oz is done very well.

That being said, I did find the book a little thin. It really benefits from some great actors who "fill in the gaps" through their performances, so to speak.

Yes, there's some spectacle, but I think it would be unfair to say that it totally relies on spectacle. I think what really brings people to see it is the Oz connection, the songs and to a lesser extent the fan community who almost act as free publicity.

I've seen it. I wouldn't rush back but I'm glad I saw it once. I do think it's important not to be a snob when it comes to any kind of art. If you like it, you like it. Don't hold back your opinion out of fear of sounding like one of "the masses".

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[Scottsacto]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 1:28am

I Agree with PromisesPromises 2 about it being a Gateway Show. Many of my friends that have NO Interest in Theatre--Usually Say that they are dying to see Wicked the next time it is in Town. May get them interested in trying something Else Later---I Hope!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 9:10am

I loved the book. I like the musical. It's hugely popular on an international scale and that reason alone will make it distasteful to some who rate a show's merit inversely to its popularity simply because they deem "the masses" to have inferior judgment. And of course, there are those who need to jump on a bandwagon for their self-esteem. Personally, I think it's fine for anyone OF ANY AGE to enjoy anything for any reason. If you're over 30 and love seeing Wicked and listening to Wicked and singing Wicked, then by all means, embrace it and enjoy it. Shaming anyone for enjoying a show they love is far more worrisome behavior.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 9:12am

It's a great show that i have seen many times- i mainly try to go and catch as many different Madame Morribles that i can. I love seeing the show.
I will say that my mother, who is not a big fan of musicals period saw the Wicked Tour in May with me and actually wanted to see it again the next day- Which surprised the hell out of me. LOL

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 9:20am

This argument is one that all the Wicked fans seem to fall back on, and it's completely invalid.

That's not how it works. Nothing makes an opinion "invalid."

If you are entitled to express your opinion, then I am entitled to have an opinion about your opinion.

That's how it works.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 9:57am

You will probably be hard pressed to find one person on here that does not enjoy something that is popular (except After Eight).

Exception aside, you really won't be hard-pressed at all. Have you ever read any threads on Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera or The Lion King?

Some people don't like Wicked. That's all there is to it.

For some people, yes.

It has nothing to do with popularity of it.

For some people, it absolutely does. One of my favorite fickle changes in trending group opinion was Rent.

[newyorker13]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 11:32am

Exactly. Popularity can play a role and has countless times. And calling someone else's opinion invalid is completely unnecessary. Once other people's opinions lose their validity then the whole point of healthy debate in these threads is gone.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 12:31pm

I hadn't seen Wicked but I had heard Defying Gravity and loved it. I was very excited to see the show but the rest of the music didn't seem very good. I then listened to it a few other times and couldn't enjoy it. I did love Popular, No Good Deed, and Dancing Through Life.
My opinion had nothing to do with how popular it was. It was just flat and overblown. I left feeling empty.

[Hackasaurus_Rex]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 12:35pm

You left what feeling empty? The experience of listening to music meant to further a story that you aren't watching and therefor on some level is out of context?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 12:42pm

It's not my favorite show and I do feel it's overblown but I'd never say I dislike it. From a critical standpoint, it is lacking in substance and sophistication.

I will say, watching it with my kids was one of my favorite theatrical moments. Ever. (For them, it was magical.)

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 1:07pm

I'd put aside any comparisons to the terrific book. As musical theater literature, the show has to stand on its own merits anyway, and that's where it half-succeeds and half-fails for me. I think there's some thrilling music there, (and some purely pedestrian stuff like "Dancing Through Life") and the libretto is more solid than many lesser shows. It gets the job done carrying us from scene to scene with some wit and some nuance.

Where I think the show fails outright is in its lyrics, which saddens me no end since I know Schwartz is capable of lyric greatness (see RAGS) when he wants to be. For me there isn't a song in the whole WICKED score that avoids a false rhyme, a cliche, a clunky phrase that doesn't scan with the music, or a ludicrous sentence structure to make a poor rhyme work. Wait, there IS one song I think is simple and perfect as is-- "I'm Not That Girl" shows the best of what WICKED can do when it sets all the Wagnerian angst aside and speaks simply and from the heart.

Is it worth seeing? Hell, yeah-- any show with this large a footprint in the musical theater world for the last ten years demands that we see it, just to make up our own mind as to its worth. I think it rates very low on the list of great shows of the last half-century, but then, I'd say that's true of most of the shows I've seen since 2000.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 2:41pm

Hack
I left the show feeling empty. It didn't have any emotion.

[Hackasaurus_Rex]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 2:58pm

Reading your post, Ice Cream it reads as if you've made this decision not seeing the show but listening to the OCR.

[Larcen26]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 3:11pm

Both.

Extremely overrated but certainly not crap.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 3:12pm

^agreed

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 8:19pm

Ah, the you hate it because it's popular argument. I wish the song "Popular" was about that.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 10:17pm

It is like the old saying re Chinese food. An hour after eating, you are hungry again. A lot of empty calories.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 10:22pm

I'm surprised at all the hatred the score receives here. I rather like the OBC album and think it ranks with Schwartz' best.

But NOBODY I know--including my teenage, theater-savvy niece--has come out of the show particularly excited about it.

So I save my money and listen to the album.

(BTW, I think "Loathing" done as an up tempo Latin number is musical theater at its most brilliant!)