Why is Wicked that popular? — Page 3

[A random question: were villain backstory properties really popular before WICKED, and might it have contributed to their current popularity? ]

Frank Wildhorn's Dracula (2001 opened regionally, opened on Broadway in 2004) gave a romantic angle to Dracula with a view to making him more sympathetic, but Wicked seems to be the first one to do a backstory and make the villain a heroic protagonist and opposed to a villain-protagonist. I'm not sure about Jekyll and Hyde who's both a villain-protagonist and a heroic protagonist, but that was kind of built into the story, not really a revamp of the original story. If there are earlier examples I'd love to know about them.

There was a French Canadian Dracula musical where Dracula was given a backstory and was a villain-protagonist but even more sympathetic, which was in 2006. It doesn't seem to have much influence from Wicked though.
Team Starkid in Chicago made a parody of Aladdin which was an homage to Wicked.
And we have the new Maleficent movie coming out which may have her be a protagonist, whether heroic or not or to what extent remains to be seen.

So Wicked seems to be the pioneer, and probably has contributed to popularizing villains being transformed into heroes or anti-heroes.

"It's been a long time since I saw the show, but doesn't the set come to life during to the overture, and the eyes light up and look around... and then it never does anything again during the show?"

So are you suggesting that the requirement of a good set design be that every piece of the set is used multiple times? There are a lot of shows that have had major set pieces we only saw once, Wicked is no exception.

Shows like Wicked, having ridiculous long-term success at the box office, happen pretty infrequently. While I like a lot of other “touristy” shows, I didn’t particularly like Wicked. For me, Phantom of the Opera is what I got dragged to that kick-started my interest in theatre. I was awe-struck by what could be performed live on a stage, night after night, and how much the music impacted me. From there, my interest grew relatively slowly but ultimately grew to such interest I joined a Broadway user forum. I have since taken interest in a great many shows, albeit mostly “non-sophisticated” shows. But I have also sought out others and have gained appreciation for many I thought stood no chance of being remotely appealing – at least so I thought in my younger days. So I say good for Wicked. That show found a huge audience, and I’m sure like me other newbies became fans of all sorts of theatre – both regionally and on Broadway.

The dragon is pretty much irrelevant. It's a reference to a slightly more significant clock from the book, which I think they name drop once in the show, but they cut the part with the clock of the time dragon out of the musical. I honestly cannot even remember much about what it did in the book, except for a bizarre puppet show. I don't think that portion would have fit in with the revamp of the story, but I guess they liked the idea of a clock and a dragon, so it became imbedded in the designs rather than the story.

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Updated On: 5/1/14 at 11:46 PM

"Most of the time, I feel like I get a better theater experience at a new show surrounded by real theater lovers than what you get when something has mass popularity like "Wicked"."

Same here!

Mr Nowack, that thing with the dragon was exactly what bothered me: why put it there if it doesn't do anything for the story? Even the clock itself didn't do anything after the ouverture, as far as I recall, but I might be wrong on that. overall the set just seemed a bit like a circus extravaganza to me for the solid parts that did not connect with the show, while the different scene settings were, well, rather blunt (think the school blackboard scene vs the same in Matilda). But tastes are different and the set was just one point in my list...

But to all the Wicked lovers: I think it's great for any show to have a great fan base that will keep the theatre scene going with fresh audience. So that's 10 points for Wicked. I see the show's merits, but think some strong points applied to it are not solely made by the show as it is itself - e.g. the plot, which central elements you've described as understandably likable, to me isn't as strongly conveyed through the show as it is even in your posts. It's propably like that in the original novel (which I don't know), but the show's story seems very straightforward.

But: nothing bad in having commercial successes and enthusiastic fans, though. Everybody has a guilty pleasure show. I have, too, and I'd fight it tooth and nails, though over time I saw its (obvious) flaws and got to enjoy and appreciate "better" shows with gusto. i would still see "my" show at every new chance and would always enjoy it one way or the other. but discovering there was more to theatre was great, too!

Regarding the comments about the set/dragon clock: I always assumed the concept was that the entire show was one of the clock's puppet shows, with us its audience looking in to see Elphaba's story. Hence the presence of the dragon on the proscenium (the books frequently point out the dragon figure perched atop the clock's stage) and the cogs/gears which make up various set pieces. Obviously nobody watching the musical who hasn't read the book would get this (unless the one mention of the clock in the script happened to sink in), but as a fan of the novel I appreciated (what I assume) the designers were going for.

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Wicked is probably the single greatest thing that has happened to Broadway and for the advancement of musical theater across the world. Because of Wicked, Millions and Millions of people that otherwise would've never gone to see a musical have done so.

I myself would've never taken a trip to NYC to see Wicked, if not for my daughter who fell in love with Elphaba from watching Wicked videos on Youtube. She begged me and my wife for over a year to take her to see Wicked in NY, so I finally did. While in NYC, I decided to go see some other shows since we were already there. We ended up watching 5 shows...4 of which we really liked. We enjoyed the whole Broadway experience that we return to NYC every summer to see new shows...and of course Wicked. We've now seen Wicked 5 times in NY and twice in tour cities. My daughter and wife still love the show and the music. I never thought that I would watch a musical in my life but now I've seen at least over 30 shows and I'm now a Broadway and musical enthusiast...completely opposite of the way I used to be.

So why is it popular? For the very same reason Frozen is so popular. A great story about the empowerment of girls/women with catchy songs is sure to be popular with the younger generations. My daughter is crossing her fingers that it becomes a musical on Broadway. However, as much as my daughter loves Elsa, she tells me that Elphaba will always be her favorite.

Could the popularity be due to the subliminal messages in Wicked (as exposed on South Park)

Well all of the shows - except apparently Jason Robert Brown shows which don't last on Broadway. And Wicked was the show that was initially emphasized:

Nelson: I'm telling you Randy, put your time in with the musical, and the rewards afterwards are awesome.
Randy: Must be... a pretty hot and steamy show. What's it called?
Nelson: Wicked.
Randy: [interested] Oh. Wicked.
***
Sharon: Oho that was so much fun! All the costumes and the sets were amazing! I really love the songs. That Stephen Schwartz is a genius! I've got them all stuck in my head. **** Hey, that was such a treat. How would you like a little treat? ****
Randy: [softly] Whoa, no way!
Bro Down Script

"I'm about to get drunk and loud, gonna have me a rowdy good time.
All I need is my girl and my truck and some Rodgers and Hammerstein!"

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My mother has seen Wicked 9 times. She's in her early 50s. She's seen it on Broadway and on tour in Philadelphia where she lives. She finds it completely inspiring. I don't really understand it but she keeps going back and bringing friends. It's people like her that have made it a hit.

Updated On: 5/1/14 at 10:46 AM