Why does everyone love WICKED?- Page 4

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 6:03am

I only wish I hadn't read the book before seeing the show. I was expecting something dark and ominous, with great lyrics and soaring melodies. I guess I've just never been a fan of Schwartz' work. But anything that gets people into the theatre has some merit. It certainly is providing a lot of employment in the industry.

[RENTingFAME]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 9:38am

I'm in the same boat, redhotinnyc. Considering the amazing material they were working with, I think Wicked could have been so much better. It's a perfect commercial show that will most likely run for a very long time, but it's not the book. It's something completely different. My favorite parts of Wicked are the costumes and the lighting, technical stuff, not the story or anything. *shrug* whatever. I saw it twice in Chicago and that's quite enough for me - $25 seats in the first row both times.

Posted: 5/18/06 at 9:51am

Go and see WICKED, if you must. Hopefully you'll grow out of it someday, although many people here seem to have trouble moving on

Posted: 5/18/06 at 10:04am

Wicked is about acceptance, which is why so many pre-teens are obsessive about it. They most likely don't know it now, but they can relate to the character of Elphaba, because she isn't accepted.

In my opinion, it's a great show. Sure, there are better written scores and books, but it projects a good moral for younger kids.

Not to mention that the material itself draws in a huge crowd. The Wizard of Oz is a story that most of America grew up with, unless you were living underground. So of course, people are interested in how these characters that we know so well are going to look and act on stage.

I just think people need to stop whining. Wicked's here, it's popular, get over it. Constant bantering isn't going to get rid of it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 11:03am

As amazing as the book is, it is completely useless as a theatre piece, "as is." There is SO much narrative in it that things have to be cut, changed and rethought to make it work on stage (or in a film adaptation). They tried for a long time to do that, until Schwartz got involved, and Marc Platt said the early attempts to do a more faithful adaptation of the book were all disappointing failures. My guess is that it would play something like "Dune." Interesting characters in cool settings, spouting ENDLESS amounts of psychobabble, political theory and religious arguments. Oh, and somewhere along the way, we'd get a fragmented story about a witch who wanted to do good. It would bore the brains out of most people as they twitched in their seats.

I'm not saying Schwartz and Holzman did the ultimate adaptation of this story, but they were definitely on the right track by focusing and consolidating the story's time line, characters and major plot points. Whether they struck the right "tone" by bringing out a lot of humor and pumping up the "college/tweener" appeal of the story is debatable. It sure keeps most audiences involved and invested in the outcome though. If they were 38-year-old, isolated, cold women, as they are at the end of the book, I'm not sure we'd have the same interest in these ladies and their situations. Sad, but true.

Updated On: 5/18/06 at 11:03 AM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 12:29pm

Agreed - it's terrible and useless.


My new favorite quote:

"If you like or seen Wicked it doesn't mean you know much about musical theatre or Broadway."

-Muscle


Do you get dimmer by the hour?

[elphaba432]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 4:27pm

People enjoy Wicked because the message in the story is not only important to women but to children.

[WickedRentEder]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 4:33pm

<>

Wrong! I normally don't do to shows with flying anythings and couldn't care less if the score is pop, classical or what not, as long as it's GOOD! I've seen all types of musicals and Wicked to ME, is right up there with Sound of Music (which is my favorite ever). I find Wicked being so big it seems bigger than life at times, yet it has a simple and familiar plot(s).

It IS the 'popular' show at the moment, but it's an amazing show! If I had the money I would've seen it more than once. I felt no ounce of regret paying what I paid for it (and that's a lot to say)!

[cturtle]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 5:26pm

being a fan of WICKED has nothing to do with not growing out of it or not moving on. i'm not obsessed with the damn thing ...

... even if i DID plunk down 50 bucks at the oz dust boutique for the book WICKED: THE GRIMMERIE. but i just couldn't resist! ha

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 5:37pm

Oh, cturtle! You gotta check the discount Web sites. You paid too much in a moment of "passion" for your show.



That's how they GET YA.

elphaba432---I'm neither female nor a child, so that's not the reason as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad it reached you on those levels, but there's more to it than that.