Recently, Stephen Sondheim helped to tweak a gender-swapped revival of his hit “Company.” If one of the titans of the genre can revisit his seminal works, why can’t others?
SPOILER ALERT! On the other hand, when Nessarose is magically granted the ability to walk, the audience was stunned in silence, perhaps recognizing how completely outdated and offensive such a storyline is. On the one hand, it’s refreshing to see a character with a disability as an integral part of a musical. (The production of an upcoming feature film adaptation recently announced that it was seeking to cast an actor with a disability in the part, which is not the case here.) Nessarose (a good performance by Kimberly Immanuel) is in a wheelchair, and her entire storyline is completely written around tragedy and her disability. The most notable is the extremely ableist subplot involving Nessarose, Elphaba’s sister and the eventual Wicked Witch of the East. “Wicked” is a musical that I want to love much more than I do, but don’t, in part because of cringeworthy plot points which have not aged well. This, my friends, is no “Wiz.” Oz enthusiasts like myself will take note of small inconsistencies between the source material - in particular the Tin Man’s heartbreaking lack of irony. Unfortunately, Holzman is quickly out of her depth and loses her grip on the satirical bent, resulting in a story that’s less “Animal Farm” and more FarmVille - a mildly entertaining mess of randomly meandering liberal thoughts with little depth. A short scene with a puppet in a cage strikes more fear in the soul than one would expect. The threat of fascism sweeping Oz spurs Elphaba to action, and she begins to earn her “wicked” moniker, not through evil deeds, but through activism. The engine of the story is a promising, aggressively political (and somewhat problematic) metaphor about talking animals being forced out of human society and losing their ability to speak.
Although there were several children in attendance in the audience, I caution parents that this play is not a morality tale for kids, as the duo’s friendship is ultimately more “frenemy” than friend. Eventually Galinda’s minuscule conscience catches up with her, and she befriends Elphaba, going against her superficial instincts. The camaraderie between deGuzman and Newberry is palpable, and they’re a fun pair to watch, sparring and sniping across the stage as Elphaba is brutally bullied by, well, everyone. Info: Run Time: 2 hours 45 minutes, including intermission Tickets: $59+ (limited number of $25 tickets available through an in-person lottery)
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