Wicked

 My takeout from the Wicked movie...oh take-away is the right term. I saw it a total of three times, with some stops the last time to take a photo of things that were important for me. Oh the costumes and sets were what I loved the most of the production. I'd seen the play. My friend last night said she'd started to read the book, but didn't like it. I forgot, I had also read the book after the play.

This edition is waaaay different than the play, at least as I remember it. But I have to remember it was a musical...so every chance the actors got, they sang a song, and frequently danced as well!

The one-second shot to remember the Wizard of Oz...other than the hat after Dorothy threw water on the Wicked Witch which killed her. This was the only acknowledgement that there was a connection, though of course the Wizard of Oz, Emerald City and Munchkins were also there.

The things that struck me were metaphors for our coming 2025 changes in politics. (Will I see this everywhere I look, I wonder.)

Of course the Wizard being a fallible man was part of the show, but other themes were there...basic feminism, racism confronted, and even disability and animal rights. The movie starts by the celebration of the death (I kid you not) of the Wicked Witch of the West...as confirmed by Glinda, the Good Witch announcing it to the Munchkins (mostly young people and children, no 'little people' that I could see).  

Glinda is much younger in this production!

Anyway, a child asks Glinda where wickedness came from, and the nature vs nurture questions is posed (without answer).  A bit later another young woman asked if she was a friend of the Wicked Witch, and she starts by saying yes, they were friends. Then she back-pedals and tells the story of their going to school together...which is the entire plot of the movie.

Madame Morrible welcomes students to Shiz University. She teaches sorcery.

The subplots, besides how good and "wicked" change places, are the issues of racism, and animal rights, free thinking and even a bit about disability rights. Several times I saw Glinda as a born-again Christian in the way she presents things. Fortunately it seems many gays and lesbians were able to be depicted without labeling.

The Wizard is presented at first god-like in the worshipful attitude of all. Then he becomes a bad-guy (big government, authority) with his sorceress partner, Madame Morrible, which works well with the coming-of-age theme. (Somehow he will be reinstated for the episode that became the movie we all saw with Dorothy and Toto (neither of whom are evident in this part one of Wicked.)

Elphaba is the green friend of Glinda, who has no idea what skills of magic she might have. And of course she is laughed at for her color difference. (I love that she was played by a black actor, Cynthia Erivo.) 

 I noticed every time a serious issue was presented in a noticeable way, then there would be a break to humor and another musical number. It was as if you (the audience) were given a fact to consider, but quickly you must be more aware of the fun of life. That's why I went back the third time to record these "issues that were either main plot or sub-plots," if you will.

And when people are hungry and angry...the professor of history says, "they look for..." Elphaba finishes, "someone to blame." The incredible irony is that he, a talking goat professor, would say such, when just a few scenes later the "military" arrives to take him away in a cage. Thus is demonstrated what a "scapegoat" is in our modern lives.

There's a handsome young man who becomes part of a love triangle briefly between Glinda and Elphaba, who brings great dance numbers into this musical, then kind of disappears. I hope he features further in the second installment.   I am not a big fan of the music, but the lyrics do hold messages. The dance choreography was absolutely amazing.

Fiero and Glinda dancing in the library!

The hat her "granny gave her" says Glinda as she gives it to her roommate Elphaba.

Yes, just when Elphaba steps into her power, there are the words thrown across the screen:

To Be Continued

This is my favorite song, which YouTube has as just a sound track from the movie:

Dancing through Life, as sung by Jonathan Bailey (sorry the version I have had ads...maybe you have premium if you're lucky)

Today on Open Yesterday's Pages:

Joan Baez