What if Sondheim had written WICKED?

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:26pm

I wonder what we would have on our hands if Sonheim had written Wicked...
Don't worry die hards, we can keep Kristen and Idina. I'm just curious. :)

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:31pm

My head would explode

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:33pm

It would definitely have been Best Musical Material then. He has the perfect style for a dark story like this one (should have been, based on the book). Schwartz butcher'd it.

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:35pm

It probably would've been more like the book, and who says how it is isn't Best Musical material, I would love to see Schwartz get his long deserved Tony.

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:40pm

Does anyone else think that some of Wicked's "chorus music" sucks?

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:41pm

geez - not for that piece of stuff, puhleez. He was better at his craft many years ago - even though I don't actually like the show because of it's sappiness, I think Godspell is a much better crafted musical than Wicked, anyday.
Now if Sondheim had Written Wicked - it would be very dark, melancholy and beautiful, with lyrics that MEAN something and have lovely, haunting melodies.

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:42pm

One of the problems I had with WICKED was that the chorus is made up of primarily dancers who sing. But because the choreography was villified in SF, much of it was reduced and the chorus then could only make an impression vocally, which was not their strong point.

I give them credit for putting up with that, though. It could not have been easy.

[NYCbabe3789]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:48pm

If Sondheim had written it I'd have eaten myself.

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 2:59pm

Ticket and OBCR sales would be down, that's for sure.
Schwartz is able to attract the all important music hoarding teenage girl squad. Sondheim usually embraces a slightly older crowd... Nothing wrong with that.
It's kind of like Justin Timberlake and Mozart. Everyone to their own side.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 3:12pm

It would have closed out of town.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 3:23pm

..And there would be HORDES of people on this board claiming that "Sondheim's "Wicked" was "misunderstood" and that if mounted with the right cast, in the right theatre, with the right director, with the right alignment of the stars and the right astrological influences.... IT WOULD BE A HIT!

(rolls eyes)

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 3:27pm

so much for open minds...lol....

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 3:40pm

the book is so much better than the musical anyway. the show took the easy road out on EVERYTHING, the only concept they really kept was that the "wicked witch" wasnt really wicked, so they turned her into a saint, something she most def. was not in the book becasue she was a character with actual human traits- and not joan of arc. i'll give the show this: it is a fun night at the theater, but after reading the book i feel that the story was cheapened. the book gave so many opportunities for an amazing show with a thrilling score and wonderful dramatic moments, and i think that sondheim deals with those in a more true, and amazingly still theatrical way.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 4:01pm

But there would be no bubbly Cheno-style "Popular". And no amazing "Defying Gravity" with Idina belting out "It's meeeeeeeee!". I do think the story might of been better if Sondheim was invovled with WICKED, and probably some of the music, but only some. I'm not a huge fan of Sondheim, and I might not have fallen in love with WICKED if it had been another Sondheim musical. Plus, Schwartz wrote some of Glinda's character with Cheno in mind and she would defintly be a different character had Sondheim had his way with WICKED. I think we should leave WICKED te way it is. It's brought some new people into the theater world. Lots of my friends are starting to see and listen to more Broadway musicals because they love WICKED so much. Let's just stick to the orginal why don't we?

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 5:20pm

Schwartz is keeping up with the times, which he seems to have done consistantly.

[Plum]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 5:24pm

Sondheim writes Sondheim, and that's just as true today as it was 30 years ago. He doesn't "keep up with the times" because he's outside of them. He just writes whatever style he thinks is best-suited for the story.

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 5:27pm

And Schwartz doesn't, that doesn't make him any better or worse. I've noticed being on these boards that alot of people are very closeminded and geared strictly towards Sondheim.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 5:37pm

Schwartz hasn't 'updated his style' in 30 years. He's writing the same psudeo-folk pop that he wrote when he wrote 'Godspell' and 'Pippin.' Strip away the orchestrations and 'Wicked' is same old Schwartz songwriting: 'pop' music for people who have apparently never listened to the radio.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 5:44pm

"Schwartz is able to attract the all important music hoarding teenage girl squad. Sondheim usually embraces a slightly older crowd."
Well, I'm a teenage girl, and I like Sondheim. But then again I'm loony : )

[Plum]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 7:05pm

Same here, broadwaystar. :) Schwartz is sometimes okay, but Sondheim is capable of making my jaw drop. It's understandable that the latter doesn't attract the teeny-bopper crowd, though.

But then, I was never a teeny-bopper.

And BroadwayBound, are you serious? The Wicked crowd here is downright frightening at times, and you think Schwartz has no support? Updated On: 4/30/04 at 07:05 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 7:11pm

But he didn't.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 7:18pm

If Sondheim had written it, it would be a money loser. Try & name one of his shows that have repaid its investment

Updated On: 4/30/04 at 07:18 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 7:31pm

This is an intrestng what-if, but does no one see the influence of INTO THE WOODS on WICKED, even if inadverent/unintended? Really, take "No Good Deed," which has some of the eleven o'clock spot brio of "Last Midnight," and not just because both numbers have witches and arrivals/departures via holes in the stage. Glinda's musical idiom owes a lot to some of the fractured fairy tale (remember those, baby boomers?) style used in WOODS, particularly in the Baker's wife stuff. Schwartz writes pop-infused material, but in these two witch-centered shows, both he and Mr. Sondheim contemporized fantasy, freely and consistently use an anachronistic vocab for archtypes to voice deeper feelings. And at least one SF review called "No One Mourns the Wicked" a Sondheim-flavored melody. So I'm not crazy.

[Plum]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 7:57pm

Okay, Mr. Roxy.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Little Night Music
Into the Woods

And money isn't the only judge of a good show, but I'm sure you didn't mean it that way. Updated On: 4/30/04 at 07:57 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/30/04 at 8:08pm

I meant it from a financial standpoint. He is extremely talented & the 1970's original version of Follies is still in my mind today. A defining moment in musical theater history