Why all the WICKED hate?- Page 6

[swmwithsharks]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 10:27am

To me, Wicked is one of those "Anything you can sing, I can sing louder" shows. I've only seen it once (on tour)and at intermission my friend and I both had the same reaction: I was exhausted because I felt like I'd been yelled at for two hours. I find it too long and badly plotted, with a bunch of loose ends tied up with a line or two of dialogue in the last 5 minutes...as if someone realized they were closing in on 4 hours and needed to wrap it up quick.
Having said that, I do get why most gay men and 12 year old girls think it is the best thing they have ever seen, and I begrudge no one their enjoyment of the show. I love plenty of crap that a lot of people think is stupid.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 10:41am

Like tazber said, the Wicked backlash has passed. I think the "hate" stemmed more from the psycho-fans of the show rather than the show itself.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 7:32pm

I'm not sure that Gav's post implied we were all evil. (But I could be wrong.)

Thank you, dramamama. You are right. I didn't mean to go so far as to say all humans (or even most humans) are evil. I'm really not that cynical.

Actually, Kad said what I meant on the previous page and said it better. So I'll just add that there is a whole category of speech (the metalingual) intended to make sure that other people are still listening; it seems very important to us to be heard.


Updated On: 4/1/13 at 07:32 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 7:42pm

I don't think you implied that all -- it was another poster that "went there".

[all that jazz]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 9:27pm

Hi, I'm the poster who went there...

Just to clear things out:

I understood your message, and agreed with it, I just added my opinion on the matter, and I clearly stated that it was my personal interpretation, and that I knew what you meant was something different.

Updated On: 4/1/13 at 09:27 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 9:38pm

No problem, guys, and no offense taken. I knew what you meant, all that jazz. I only disagree in that whenever possible, I think most people would rather "win-win" than just "win". But there are far too many exceptions, I admit.

In any event no harm done and I have enjoyed the discussion here. A lot of my favorite posters have contributed to this thread.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 9:40pm

^Spoken with class.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 10:34pm

So hey, anyway, meanwhile, back to Wicked. I think I may have inadvertently kicked off this thread because I wrote a detailed reason why I was disappointed when I saw Wicked right after it opened in the thread about shows that disappointed us. I went point by point as to why it was the perfect storm of disappointment for me.

A few other people added their voices to those ideas and I think it was lumped into the concept of "all the Wicked hate" in this thread. Nobody thinks anybody shouldn't like something. Nobody says every person doesn't have that magical experience in an audience that makes them love theater. Sometimes it's the very first show we see, or the first full blown professional production we see. For a lot of us, we will always have a soft spot for that first love, even if our tastes change and grow as we do.

In reality, there may be people in the audience at your favorite who have seen a lot of theater and just aren't convinced that what you're loving is any good. It doesn't mean they don't still have fond memories of a bus and truck Godspell at the Bushnell in Hartford that made them LOVE theatre. Or maybe I just got super-specific there.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 10:48pm

Well said, Namo. I know CALL ME MADAM isn't a great show in the class of CAROUSEL or MY FAIR LADY.

But I saw Merman on tour in it when I was 12 and the show will always have a special place in my heart.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 4/1/13 at 10:58pm

That's what's interesting about Wicked--I was a teenager in high school when it came out and I didn't really fall for it like I did for RENT or Phantom or those other shows.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 9:03am

I honestly don't understand the hate for this show. It is certainly not my favorite show, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. It has it's problems, and the score isn't the best, but it's a good heartwarming musical.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 2:33pm

@OP: just because someone doesn't care for a show you like doesn't make them a hater.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 2:37pm

^^^Especially with WICKED, it seems. I thought it was aimed at teen girls and they, at least, would come away raving about it. But the few I know were rather lukewarm: they didn't hate it, but they didn't gush over it either.

[Fade2black]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 3:04pm

I think it is more resentment than hate. They resent the shows tremendous success!

[Wynbish]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 3:07pm

I like how, even after pages of people critiquing the actual show and the actual material, people still approach this thread and generalize with a "They resent the popular. Snobby hipsters."

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 3:11pm

I know some people mean that, Wynbish, but I think others are suggesting viewers are let down because the show doesn't live up to its own hype. That's my experience with "civilians". They don't hate the show, they just ask what's the big deal?

Personally, I think Schwartz has always had a tendency (will, okay, since GODSPELL) to resort to lyrics too clever by half to be understood in production. (Compare THE MAGIC SHOW's reference to Karen Horney with an entire bridge devoted to the "Great Communicator" in "Popular".) His scores are better on record and I probably wouldn't rush to see one of his shows without knowing the album well. Updated On: 4/2/13 at 03:11 PM

[Ukdude]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 3:13pm

Wicked is a fun show! Nothing more, nothing less!

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 3:48pm

Personally, I think Schwartz has always had a tendency (will, okay, since GODSPELL) to resort to lyrics too clever by half to be understood in production.

He also has really clunky rhymes... and the fact that he made up words in Wicked just drove me nuts. Everyone always says, oh that makes sense because it's set in Oz. To me it just seemed lazy.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 6:21pm

i don't hate "Wicked."

I hate the cartoon that it's become.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 7:47pm

He also has really clunky rhymes... and the fact that he made up words in Wicked just drove me nuts. Everyone always says, oh that makes sense because it's set in Oz. To me it just seemed lazy.

Have I forgotten? Doesn't Maguire's novel do the same in terms of altering adjectives?

In WICKED, at least, I think it's supposed to represent the speech of Oz rather than being laziness on Schwartz' part. But I haven't seen the show; I just know the album.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 7:48pm

Anyone else remember the days when you couldnt come to this page without seeing at least fifty additional new threads about WICKED? LOL

[Kad]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 7:52pm

There isn't too much in the way of "Oz lingo," from what I can recall.

...and if there was, it wasn't conveniently constructed into a lyric.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 8:02pm

This might get lost in everything else but this earlier comment

- it is strongly implied that she is a hermaphrodite transwoman, and the lesbian subtext of Elphaba and Glinda is much closer to text.

is way off base. With the exception of the prologue, where the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion are repeating rumors about the witch, there is no strong implication that she's a hermaphrodite or a transwoman. At all. The comment about lesbian subtext/text is way off, too.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 8:04pm

I haven't seen it since opening night, and I was dragged to it at that. I didn't hate it, but it definitely isn't my kind of show.

There are even a handful of people I would recommend it to. It is/was, as some one here said, a kind of gateway play into theater. It's a huge beautiful spectacle in the perfect house for it. Long may it run - just don't ask me to see it again.

As to BWW when there were tons of WICKED threads? I just didn't open them.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/2/13 at 10:53pm

Wait did I mishear?

ELPHABA
Two good friends

GLINDA
Lesbians!

ALL
Sharing one wonderful
One short:

GUARD
(spoken) The Wizard will see you now!

ALL
Day!

Updated On: 4/2/13 at 10:53 PM