Like most other Broadway shows, “Wicked,” the hit musical based on characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” was sidelined for more than a year.
Like most other Broadway shows, “Wicked,” the hit musical based on characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” was sidelined for more than a year. But last month, “Wicked”‘s national tour company re-opened in Dallas. The costumes came out of storage; The Good Witch, Allison Bailey, got her crown back; The Wicked Witch, Talia Suskauer, got a wicked shade of green; and the fans showed up in force… even those who’d seen it many times before. By the start of the first act, the sell-out crowd was jubilant. “It’s good to see me, isn’t it?” said Glinda, the Good Witch, to massive cheers. And by the time the curtain fell, it was hard to tell who was happier, the audience or the cast. Since “Wicked” first opened in 2003, it’s been seen by more than 60 million people worldwide, and has grossed more than $5 billion. The show is 18 years old, but somehow it still feels new. L. Frank Baum first published “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in 1900, hailed at the time as a joyous children’s novel. But in MGM’s 1939 movie adaptation, joy often went out the door. Sure, there was Glinda the Good Witch, but the other witch – the one with the bigger part – was lean, mean and Technicolor green. “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog, too! Ha ha ha!!!” Correspondent Tracy Smith asked, “In the movie, all you ever hear about the Wicked Witch of the West is, she’s wicked, but that’s it.” “You’re absolutely right,” said author Gregory Maguire. “In fact, Wicked is part of her name, the Wicked Witch of the West. It has a capital W. She doesn’t have a first name. She doesn’t have a backstory, which meant that nobody could say that I got it wrong!” Maguire is the author of the novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” on which the musical is based. He gave her that backstory: who knew she was a do-gooder with glasses? And that she and Glinda were once roommates? Maguire also gave her a name: Elphaba.
