Years Later, Wicked on Tour Still Sparks the Magic of Its Broadway Premiere
The movie comes out this week, but the live-on-stage Wicked just can’t be beat. Broadway’s blockbuster reimagination of Oz runs through 12/1 at the Paramount Theatre.
This performance was Seattle Theatre Group’s designated sensory friendly performance. See more information on STG’s sensory friendly shows here. See additional accessibility info for STG performances here.
Given that the film version of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s blockbuster musical Wicked is hitting movie theaters next week, it’s a comfort to bear witness to the fact that the OG stage version still hits every bit as hard as it did when it premiered on Broadway over 20 years ago. But make no mistake: this show doesn’t just run on rails. It’s the charismatic pair at the show’s heart, buoyed by an excellent supporting cast, that keeps this touring production flying high.
As the show opens, it’s morning in Oz, and the Wicked Witch of the West is dead. As the citizens rejoice, good witch Glinda bubbles on down to offer her take on her frenemy’s rise to Public Enemy No. 1, via flashback. Green girl (Lauren Samuels) meets pink girl (Austen Danielle Bohmer), and sparks instantly fly — if by sparks, you mean deep, deep loathing.
Elphaba, soon to be wicked witch, accompanies her sister Nessarose (Erica Ito) to dear old Shiz, the university just north of Oz’s glittering Emerald City. Once her innate magical talents burst out, cunning professor Madame Morrible (Aymee Garcia) takes the budding witch under her wing, much to the chagrin of the ambitious, popular Galinda, who aspires toward witchhood herself. The two girls are forced to be roommates, despite their differences, and forge a friendship that will define them both.
It would be very easy to rest on the laurels of a show that, by now, essentially sells itself. But both Samuels and Bohmer leave it all on the field, bringing not only the necessary vocal pyrotechnics, but a warm, lived-in chemistry to the show’s core relationship. Bohmer in particular arcs her character perfectly, taking G(a)linda from a shallow social climber to a smooth political animal without a hitch, couched in a beautifully operatic soprano. Samuels, too, smoothly conveys her character’s growth as her initial naivete gives way to radicalization in the face of Oz’s dark, seedy underbelly. There’s a palpable sense of teamwork between the two actresses, with each stepping back to give the other her moment to shine. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Act 1’s absolutely, undeniably showstopping end number, “Defying Gravity.” I went in with every expectation of being too cool-for-school to be affected by this number, covered in pop culture ad nauseam; I’m happy to report that my cold, jaded heart grew three sizes that matinee, and that it brought tears to my eyes, albeit against my will.
I’d be remiss not to laud the rest of the ensemble. Ito skillfully finds the rottenness at the core of the lovely Nessarose, disabled from birth due to her father’s obsession with avoiding another green daughter. Garcia brings a brassy, Ethel Merman-esque energy to Madame Morrible, which pings nicely off the seedy charm of Blake Hammond’s not-so-Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Xavier McKinnon manages to ground the somewhat airheaded prince Fiyero, the love interest for both our female leads, and imbue him with the soulfulness of the high school quarterback who falls for the glasses-wearing art weirdo.
The spectacle and scope of the production — from the scenic design (by the late Tony Award-winning Eugene Lee), loomed over by a glowering, proscenium-spanning clockwork dragon; to the costume design (by Tony Award-winner Susan Hilferty), which runs the gamut from the black-and-white chic of the Shiz students to the whimsical Seussian designs of the denizens of Emerald city to the deliberately plain black garb of Elphaba in full witch mode — transports the audience to the magical land of Oz as only live theatre can.
I have no doubt that the forthcoming movie adaptation of Wicked will be a magical experience — the talent amassed to that end makes it essentially a mortal lock. But the alchemy of the theatrical experience, the suspension of disbelief so willingly offered by the audience based on nothing more than the power of actors, in a single moment, on a single stage? That’s where the true magic lies.
Wicked runs through 12/1 at the Paramount Theatre, in Downtown Seattle. Tickets here. Accessibility notes: main restrooms downstairs and upstairs are gendered and multi-stall, with gender-neutral, single-stall restroom on the main floor. Theatre and some common areas are wheelchair accessible. ASL-interpreted performance on 11/23 (evening); open-captioned performance on 11/23 (matinee).
Run time: 2 hours 45 minutes, with intermission.
Jill Farrington Sweeney is a Texas ex-pat getting to know the Seattle-area arts scene, and is perpetually on the hunt for good Mexican food. Her writing has appeared on TheaterJones, Onstage NTX, and NWTheatre.