This is a late response to an old thread, but the argument against using flying metahpors in the lyrics of this show seems unfair.
This is a show loaded with levitation spells, sorcery classes -- and yes, flying witches. Seems to me that Schwartz tried hard to avoid the most obvious flying imagary (we're spared a cute soft shoe with a broom, or Peter Pan-like retreads about whizzing past the stars, etc), and chose 'defying gravity' because its scientific motif matched the (mored) educated Elphaba's cerebral sensibility. She arrives at Shiz the deeper of the two women, well-read, "serious," and not prone to glib pronouncements or poetic similies. She is articulate from the start, hardly a tongue-tied soubrette, so it actually makes sense that her character might express an emotional epiphany in quasi-aeronautical terms. The moment even organically grows out of a cruel misuse of the "skill" of flying, which Elphaba has a passionate response to (the monkey biz). There may be cliches sprinkled through this show's lyrics, but surely this is one place where employing one - with a fresh spin -- applies.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 11/22/03 at 06:28 PM
