What is the animosity towards Wicked for?

I really do not think they dislike the show...it just seems that every post on this board is about Wicked. They are negative torwards the Wicked threads, not the show...I think.

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The musical is 'based' on the book, not a musical staging of the book.

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I'm w/ BwayTheatre11 -- I've never even seen the show & my hair stands on end whenever someone says the title just because of the fanbase's behavior. Idina this, Kristen that, ohmigod - what's w/ Q taking the Tony, it's the best show EVER. Egad, please stop. It's a musical that was faulted for forgettable music, for pity's sake, so it's probably not going into the books as The Best Musical Ever. And, as talented as the performers are, they are replaceable(sp?) & will be. I will see it & possibly even like it, but I'm very put off by the behavior of the people who adore the show. I like this board because there are some people here who can actually have an intelligent conversation about theatre & get frustrated by all the Wicked adoration that interferes w/ that. We had the same problem w/ Taboo & Rosie O'Donnell worshippers, btw, so it's not unique to Wicked.

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JakeB you are one smart lad. Everything you said is 100% true..
If you remember on broadway.com's boards everyone there was TracyTurnblad4life and Ednasbighouse
and then came Wicked.

I think the strangest thing about WICKED is that the VERY reasons why people love the show are also the VERY reasons people hate the show.

My roommate saw it and hated the two leads. I loved them.

I hated the book. She loved the book and the acting.

I loved the sets and the costumes. She thought they were servicable.

I thought the plot line was thin and somewhat not understandable. She thought it was fine.

WICKED is a family show, also. All families will go to it and love it. That's why it will always sell tickets. ALWAYS! It's the next LION KING or AIDA (I say AIDA because they had great sales for three years and I see that for WICKED, then maybe a short downturn). It's not the next Les Mis ... BY ANY MEANS ... I kind of wonder if it will be around forever. Well, NOTHING lasts forever. Everything has it's time. It will, however, be Stephen Schwartz's long running peice.

I, for one, have heard some pretty interesting things about the creative team. I don't think they are one big happy family.

Thank God I am not one of those teens!

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too many people won't forget "Defying Gravity" because that's the ONLY number anyone EVER hears performed or about... almost as if it's the ONLY number in the ENTIRE show...

Oh God, here we go again.

I forgot all about "Defying Gravity". Actually, the only thing I remember about it is that it sucked! (Mwahahahahaha!)

(And before you click on REPLY, you should know I said that JUST for the hilarity of getting your nerves going, because goodness knows Wicked fans are a testy bunch. The teeny-boppers of theatre.)

And regardless whether you liked Wicked more or less than Les Miz, I think it's pretty obvious that Wicked will never be seen as the reverent and redefining classic that Les Miz is. For Christ's sake, Les Miz is 18 years old, and from the reviews of the recent New Jersey performances, it's still as fresh and loved as ever.

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Updated On: 6/12/04 at 03:46 PM

I didn't say "a musical can't be good or better as an older b/c it's newer," I said (or implied, rather) that Wicked won't be around in 18 years. (Certainly not with its current production costs.)

Wicked, as does most theatre, certainly has something to say about society and people. It's just that Les Miz is something else - it has overwhelming crossover appeal. It's been staged around the world, in a myriad of different languages, for nearly two decades. I believe its success is due to the fact that the show touches upon social, political, moral, and spiritual truths - the whole gamut. It's a universal musical. Remember in 1990 during the Tianmenn (sp?) Square massacre, and people were drawing parallels to Les Miz? Or when 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables' was used to describe the AIDS epidemic? Or how 'One Day More!' was part of Clinton's first presidential campaign? Les Miz takes on much greater depth because of its undeniable applicability. It really was a worldwide phenomenon.

I think it's pretty obvious that Wicked will never reach those colossal heights or universality.

But let's get back to the subject at hand. Why IS the board flooded with Wicked posts? I want to hear more about Assassins!

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i didn't enjoy wicked. i found the tunes monotonous, the staging flat and the performances adequate at best. the animosity is a result of such praise being constantly heaped on a product that many feel is unworthy of our love (that was a reference, find the show). plus i like to take shots at bobbleheads whenever possible.

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and its not all about *teens* either-i mean im a teenager-and im not obsessed over the show-yes i want o see it-no i dont talk about it nonstop-or even post about it nonstop-so yes-a lot of teens really love the show and talk about it a lot-but don't generalize young people

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dramaqueen, I never implied that *all* young people are obsessive Wicked fans. But my observation is that the majority of the Idina/Kristen worship that does go on, is coming from young people (and keep in mind, coming from an old fart like me, that encompasses a wide age range...)

Now, on the other hand, if you want to see some out of control middle aged women, go sit in the balcony at The Man From Oz. We are talking menopausal hysteria every time Hugh changes his shirt. The day I was there, two women a few rows ahead of me gave him a standing O every time he sang a song AND every time he changed clothing. The reason the Wicked fans get picked on here, and the Oz fans don't, is because it seems like the Oz fans haven't discovered, en masse, the wonderful world of message boards (or at least THIS message board)..

Oh, and DQ... I can't speak for everyone, but I have a hell of a time trying to read what you write. An occasional period or comma would help get your point across. (No snotty tone intended.)

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