That's like asking if the London production of Phantom is taking aways ticket sales for the Las Vegas production.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
Interesting question. I think if anything the shows will actually play off each other nicely. From a business perspective, the shows present some nice bundling and marketing possibilities. (Buy a Wicked T-shirt, and get a WOZ program signed....blah blah. The theatres could work together on that.)
In the same way that people watch parts 1 and 2 of movies again right before part 3 is released, I think interest in Wicked will be piqued again for those who haven't seen the show in a while. Also, this is the perfect time for people who have never gone to see Wicked to finally get out and see it. Just another reminder of its existence.
No, it doesn't NEED to do it. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be a great value-added benefit for customers. Businesses can do things for consumers to provide value, if they'll add to the bottom line somehow, as a show of goodwill and to endear people toward the product. Wicked doesn't need to do this, obviously, but in the same way that you can have your picture taken with the Wicked costume items in the lobby here in NY, it might just be a fun thing that would continue to bring in revenue. That's never bad, no matter how successful you already are...
I think it may be similar to when Love Never Dies opened: I remember a lot of people saying "I think I'll do a Phantom matinee and a LND evening show." Some people may see them together since they have a parallel story.
My guess would be Wizard of Oz first. You'd see the whole story, then it's kind of like -but here's what really went on. But you could justify both ways around I think.
If I hadn't ever seen Wicked, I'd see WOZ first and then Wicked, as that's how most people experienced the progression of the stories and it just feels "right."
It would be interesting, though, to see WIcked first and then go into WOZ with some fresh memories or "what really happened." I feel like I could call a few more things to light and have a new experience with WOZ.
I would say to see The Wizard of Oz first just because a lot of jokes in Wicked seem to assume that the audience is already familiar with the 1939 movie, which I guess most people are. But, that's the movie. I can't imagine what kind of bastardization Andrew Lloyd Webber has in store for ticket buyers.
They are very different stories and, I assume, will be very different shows. I'm already familiar with the Wizard of Oz story and was before I saw Wicked.
It's been a while, but aren't the characters in Wicked quite different from the ones in WoZ? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Wizard in Baum's story and the movie and shows (so far) based on it is a shady character but not evil. The Wizard in Wicked is pretty much a bastard and the villain of the story. The two Witches are not the same at all, and so on.
I don't think seeing one show to help with the other (in whichever order) makes much sense.
Sally - i don't think it's that the stories are that different, really. I think the shows should be approached such that the characters are really the same people, but each show is just exposing a different side of the characters.
To address the people that say the the WOZ is the "Real" story, I always think of Wicked as being the "real" story - in the same way that people who know someone intimately can tell you who the "real" person is, not just the show they put on for the world to see. For me, it just always felt like Wicked was saying "yes, but this is what these people were REALLY like."