Wicked Reviewed
April 19th 2011 01:28
:
Stephen Schwartz
Wicked
The Broadway Musical
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
based on the novel by Gregory Maguire
The Broadway Musical
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
based on the novel by Gregory Maguire
Lucy Durack and Jemma Rix bring so much outstanding depth to their roles in this unexpectedly moving and ultimately fascinating show it easily wins the heart.
The show is colourful, has magnificent costume design. It is not trite but emotional and well tuned with various highs and lows even though the characters are so strained. Well, strained may not be the best way to describe Glinda (Lucy Durack), but she sure is something else - very funny for one thing.
If you know the story of The Wizard of Oz as told in the movie starring Judy Garland you will immediately recognise the landscape and some of the situations, almost as if you have somehow stumbled upon some kind of new 3D DVD special feature that takes you behind the scenes from a different storyline perspective.
You will discover a different type of Hogwarts with a strange young student who doesnÂt quite fit in. Is she an alien?
Well she is treated like one by the other kids at school even though the Widow Twanky, Angela Landsbury monster woman Madame Morrible (Maggie Kirkpatrick) selects her for special training.
Elphaba (Jemma Rix) is green and it is not easy for her to fit in.
Her beautiful sister (Elisa Colla) is not green, and as it turns out thereÂs a long lost bastard father out there waiting to be found at the end of the yellow brick road in this epic tale.
The show is colourful, has magnificent costume design. It is not trite but emotional and well tuned with various highs and lows even though the characters are so strained. Well, strained may not be the best way to describe Glinda (Lucy Durack), but she sure is something else - very funny for one thing.
If you know the story of The Wizard of Oz as told in the movie starring Judy Garland you will immediately recognise the landscape and some of the situations, almost as if you have somehow stumbled upon some kind of new 3D DVD special feature that takes you behind the scenes from a different storyline perspective.
You will discover a different type of Hogwarts with a strange young student who doesnÂt quite fit in. Is she an alien?
Well she is treated like one by the other kids at school even though the Widow Twanky, Angela Landsbury monster woman Madame Morrible (Maggie Kirkpatrick) selects her for special training.
Elphaba (Jemma Rix) is green and it is not easy for her to fit in.
Her beautiful sister (Elisa Colla) is not green, and as it turns out thereÂs a long lost bastard father out there waiting to be found at the end of the yellow brick road in this epic tale.
Away from the grander picture is a love story. Two love stories, three even. So this is a very complex and well woven story with some heartfelt moments that gently remind us we are human in the end, and sometimes we are all the better for the people we have met along the way of our life.
The complexities in the story run deeper than this as well, for people who have always had a sense of The Wizard of Oz as it stands in the film, here is a reboot that brings you back to the film with new eyes. A new secret rests in your creative heart that tells you there is more going on than you realise at face value.
It is enjoyable and splendidly costumed. A great entertainment for the whole family and more fun than bubble full of fairies.
David Jobling
The official companion to the Broadway Musical
Wicked: The Grimmerie
By David Cote
This Hyperion Book is the readers master class to Wicked the stage musical; it contains the story of the show, how it came together, the songs, the characters in breakdown and a great deal of excellent photography showing various props and set elements.
It's more than a superficial look and will delight those who have already travelled East for the Australian cast version of the show. Of course Adelaide is about to have its own season of Wicked at last, but already over twenty thousand South Australian's have attended the show interstate. That's popularity. New musicals are not exactly rare - but ones that actually entertain an audience and provide something new and engaging don't come around all that often.
As one follows the yellow brick road to Wicked early on in the book it's made clear The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is the initial inspiration to Wicked (first the novel, then the stage musical) and much is made of the timeless characteristics of that original font of all things Oz.
The question 'Are people born wicked?' drives the subtext of the musical and to some degree it begs the answer 'Are people born American?!' which is not to suggest that Americans are wicked, but that the story is very American, and a fascinating reflection on the shifting standards and morals between the satirical original Oz stories and today's inspired revisiting of that wondrous place.
Wicked: The Grimmerie will provide solid insights for High School Drama students as well as anyone who wants to study theatre production or get swept up in the strikingly green world of Elphaba (she destined to become the Wicked Witch) and her salad days.
David Jobling
It started with the Wicked announcement for Adelaide back on Thursday 24 June at noon in the upper foyer of the Festival Theatre WICKED Australia Co-Producer John Frost together with Hon. John Hill, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts and Douglas Gautier, CEO & Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival Centre made a special announcement about WICKED.
WICKED is the most successful musical in the world today.
Currently in its 7th year on Broadway, WICKED's four North American and four international companies (including Australia) have cumulatively grossed $1.9 billion and have been seen by 24 million people worldwide. WICKED is the winner of 35 major awards including the Grammy Award, three Tony Awards and six Helpmann Awards.
More than twenty thousand South Australians have already seen WICKED during its record breaking Melbourne and Sydney seasons.
WICKED's record-breaking Australian run began in June 2008 at Melbourne's Regent Theatre, where it broke the city's box office record and ran through August 2009.
The production transferred to Sydney's Capitol Theatre on September 5, 2009 and will conclude its record-breaking run on September 12, 2010 having played more than 866 performances and having been seen by well over 1 million people.
WICKED relates the untold story of the witches of Oz.
WICKED, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award-winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (My So Called Life, Once And Again and thirtysomething), is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B Platt and David Stone, with John Frost as Australian Co-Producer.
John Frost, WICKED Australia Co-Producer, announced today that Rob Mills, who has played the role of Fiyero in the musical WICKED since it opened in Melbourne two years ago, is moving on.
After an extensive nation-wide search, Mills was cast in the role of the playboy Prince, seemingly shallow and self absorbed, the love interest for both Glinda the Good and Elphaba, the green - skinned Wicked Witch.
It was a role he had sought ever since hearing the music a couple of years before. WICKED opened in July 2008 at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne and played for a record breaking 13 month season, before it moved to Sydney's Capitol Theatre in September 2009.
Mills admitted he is going to miss his WICKED family. "Playing Fiyero in WICKED has been my dream role and Musical Theatre has become my home. I've learnt so much from my wonderful cast and crew family and will miss them all dearly. I sincerely thank John Frost and the GFO team for giving me the chance to be a part of this amazing production. I'm looking forward to the next challenge and look forward to treading the boards again very soon."
John Frost thanked Mills for his contribution to making WICKED the huge success it is. "Rob was determined to play Fiyero and fought hard throughout the audition process to obtain the role. It has been wonderful watching him grow as a performer and make the role his own. Rob rapidly grew from that carefree finalist on Australian Idol into a leading man on the musical theatre stage. I thank Rob sincerely for being a part of WICKED for the past two years, and look forward to seeing what this surprising young man does next."
The search is now underway to find WICKED's new Playboy Prince!
VALE | Rob Guest (1950 - 2008)
Much loved and greatly talented thespian Rob Guest has passed away. He had been at home with his partner Kellie Dickerson, Wicked's musical director, when he collapsed about 10pm on Tuesday. In true theatre style, the show must go on, and so the Wicked cast did it with 'Guesty' in heart and mind as understudy Rodney Dobson played the Wizard, the role Guest had been performing.
Guest, 58, suffered a massive stroke on Tuesday evening in Melbourne and died early Thursday in St Vincent's Hospital after he was taken off life support, surrounded by family and friends.
The first unexpected news reports revealed his condition to be extremely grave; family, friends and fans drew their best attentions towards the well traveled actor and singer who started his life journey in England and was awarded an OBE for his services to the New Zealand entertainment industry later in life. Guest found success in USA then New Zealand as a pop star before arriving in Australia to perform in Les Miserables some years ago.
As well as Les Miserables and roles in many other shows, Guest spent seven years in the lead role as the Phantom of the Opera, performing over 2,000 performances.
Guest, relocated to Melbourne from the Gold Coast when he took the role in Wicked.
When he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heav'n so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heav'n so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
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