What is the animosity towards Wicked for? — Page 2

I'd actually like to see Wicked in a venue more like the Marquis.....

I'd like to see Wicked in a dump truck! Ahahahahaha!

(Ok ok, I'll stop it. But I do love getting the "teeny-boppers" mad! Oh, there I go again! LOL!)

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Updated On: 6/12/04 at 05:25 PM

I truly only like 3 songs...two of them being the comedy ones. "Loathing" and "Popular" and I think Defying Gravity's wonderful. I actually really like the music, but think the lyrics are weak. It felt like Schwartz had to write it for school and cared about getting it done, not the quality of it.

I am a writer as well as an actress, so I'm picky about lyrics. The cheesiness works sometimes-"Popular", etc. But when they rhyme "Nessa" with "confess-a" it just feels so forced to me. I also feel like they Disney-fied it; I know it's not meant to be exactly like the book, but I feel like they should've kept the importance of Fiyero being African American. I also wish they hadnt made Galinda as central. I ADORE Chenoweth, but I wish they had gotten more of an unknown so the plot would be more similar. They totally flattened Fiyero, too.

My opinion was perfectly summed up at the Tony's- i think Menzel is AMAZING herself, but I'm just not a huge fan of the music.

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Yes, it's true that the London critics panned the show when it first came out - but then Les Miz had phenomenal box-office sales due solely to word-of-mouth. The positive buzz was so great that it had to move to a bigger theatre. When it arrived in New York, of course, it received across-the-board raves and won 8 Tonys.

The situation was Wicked is notably different: lukewarm reception from critics and lukewarm reception from the theatre community. I wouldn't say the show has buzz - more like a gimmick (the Oz connection) to reel them in.

(By the way, the reaction to Les Miz from the London critics wasn't that the show was bad, but that someone DARED to tackle and trim Victor Hugo's masterpiece.)

I can't believe we're trying to compare Les Miz and Wicked here, because it's pretty obvious they're completely different.

Does anyone here actually think that Wicked is some great revelation to musical theatre, or that someday it will be seen as such? I really don't think it's good enough. Wicked is pretty standard fare - it just has the distinct privilege of being attached to a real seminal work, The Wizard of Oz.

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Updated On: 6/12/04 at 06:29 PM

"It hurts me to hear someone say that Wicked is better than Les Mis but I digress..."

Yeah, I know, I'm flabbergasted as I type. Next thing you know, someone's gonna say that Wicked is a more seminal piece of theatre than West Side Story. Let's face it, Wicked is no Les Miz, no West Story, no A Chorus Line.

But it IS the next "Mamma Mia!"....LOL!

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I thought the main point of my argument about Les Miz was that it has a certain universality and power that Wicked doesn't have. Hell, that the vast majority of musicals doesn't have - that's why Les Miz is a worldwide phenomenon.

I'm not really arguing how long Wicked will run (although its weekly running costs are pretty high, which is a detriment to its life), but rather its place in musical theatre history. Beauty and the Beast has run for over a decade, but I wouldn't say it has a place in the canon of musical theatre, other than being a statistic (and perhaps being known for initiating the Disneyfication of Broadway, but that's not a good thing). Personally, I really don't believe critics, artists or theatregoers will look at Wicked in 20 years and say, "My, that musical sure changed the face of Broadway forever!"

There's a really good article about the future of the American musical comedy. I've attached the link below. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says (particularly what makes good music and what doesn't - personally, I hate the scores to all those old-time musicals because they lack variety), but he has some very intriguing and important points.

And yeah, I'm bored as hell today too.
The American musical comedy

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Updated On: 6/12/04 at 08:09 PM

CurtainUp, i don't recall anywhere in the book where Fiyero is mentioned as being African-American, only that he had dark skin tattooed with blue diamonds... I, too, have dark skin but i'm hardly African-American... Fiyero was actually a Winkie from the Vinkus...

Updated On: 6/12/04 at 09:08 PM

ok so I'm a little embarassed-must have been a misread. However, my point still follows. I wish they had made his skin a different color. I remember one of the most touching parts in the book as a student saying "His skin is the color of ****" or such. I just wish they had made him more dimensional, and it seems like his character is just 2D.

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I like Wicked. I think it's a nice story with nice shows. But come on, it's not the only good show. It's really the threads that annoy people, not as much the show. I don't think it'll be a classic and there'll probably never be a revival, but it's a fun musical for now.

Actually, I think you'll find that most of the more vocal critics here HAVE, in fact, seen the show.

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I think most critics of the show itself have seen the show - that's how they're able to go into detail as to why they don't like it.

Again, our "overt criticism" stems from the dozens of threads and messages clogging the message board, and the rest of us going, "Woah, what's the big deal? It's not like Wicked reinvented the wheel!"

Some people are negative about the show because they hated it. Simple. I do appreciate the fact that Wicked is bringing in new audiences, but what kind of new audiences? "Mamma Mia!" is bringing in new audiences too - will these audiences want to watch other Broadway fare, will they be open to more experimental shows, or will they keep demanding the same overblown, oversized fluff? Will their attendance of these shows force producers to play it safe, and restrict more daring musicals from being made? There are no simple answers to these questions, but it's something to consider.

I personally find the Wicked score a huge disappointment coming from Schwartz. It could be argued whether it's in the same vein as his earlier work, but it definitely lacks the creativity and melodies of his past repertoire. I expected more, if this was to be his big Broadway return - it seems it only confirmed that he's lost it.

But again, I wish the Wicked fans would just take the bulk of their jabber to the official Wicked site, and not here.

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Updated On: 6/13/04 at 12:24 AM

FindingNamo, you're back! I missed you! Join me in this delightful thread, won't you?

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