Broadway musical "Wicked" barely defies gravity
James Tschirhart
Issue date: 10/28/05 Section: News
The hottest new thing to hit Broadway since The Producers has come to Chicago over the summer at the Oriental Theater in the Chicago Theater District. The show, after first appearing in Broadway, New York for two years, has come to the open arms of attentive audiences that flock from all over to see the story of the witches of "Wizard of Oz" in a re-envisioned world.
The story picks up where "Wizard of Oz" left off as Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Katie Reinders) informs the Munchkins that the Wicked Witch of the West (Played by Saturday Night Live's Ana Gasteyer) is dead. After much rejoicing, we soon learn that Glinda was quite close to the Wicked Witch when they attended school together, and that her name was Elphaba. From there on out, the show flashbacks to when Elphaba was born and how she had to face many prejudices because of her green skin. Through much hardship, she finally gains entrance into the illustrious school of Shiz where she must take care of her handicapped sister Nessarose. However, through a rash room assignment, she must room with the ditzy, annoying blonde, Glinda.
The story shifts to Elphaba and Glinda as they share an utter loathing for each other at first, but begin to form a budding friendship later on. Together, after being granted an audience to the Wizard, Elphaba and Glinda venture to the Emerald City for an apprenticeship to the Wizard, only to find that not everything in Oz meets the eye.
This show had me extremely torn between really liking it or being just plain disappointed in it. The show had a phenomenal first act. I couldn't be happier. Having listened to the original Broadway cast recording, I found Ana Gasteyer's performance to be superior to the original actresses'. She had a stronger presence and more conviction to her acting than what I at least heard from the original actress. At first, her jerky and sharp motions bothered me, but then I remembered that that was how the Wicked Witch of the West moved in the original movie "Wizard of Oz". Gasteyer's case was not the same for Kate Reinders.
The story picks up where "Wizard of Oz" left off as Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Katie Reinders) informs the Munchkins that the Wicked Witch of the West (Played by Saturday Night Live's Ana Gasteyer) is dead. After much rejoicing, we soon learn that Glinda was quite close to the Wicked Witch when they attended school together, and that her name was Elphaba. From there on out, the show flashbacks to when Elphaba was born and how she had to face many prejudices because of her green skin. Through much hardship, she finally gains entrance into the illustrious school of Shiz where she must take care of her handicapped sister Nessarose. However, through a rash room assignment, she must room with the ditzy, annoying blonde, Glinda.
The story shifts to Elphaba and Glinda as they share an utter loathing for each other at first, but begin to form a budding friendship later on. Together, after being granted an audience to the Wizard, Elphaba and Glinda venture to the Emerald City for an apprenticeship to the Wizard, only to find that not everything in Oz meets the eye.
This show had me extremely torn between really liking it or being just plain disappointed in it. The show had a phenomenal first act. I couldn't be happier. Having listened to the original Broadway cast recording, I found Ana Gasteyer's performance to be superior to the original actresses'. She had a stronger presence and more conviction to her acting than what I at least heard from the original actress. At first, her jerky and sharp motions bothered me, but then I remembered that that was how the Wicked Witch of the West moved in the original movie "Wizard of Oz". Gasteyer's case was not the same for Kate Reinders.