The Case for Gravitas 2

I have never read the books on which Wicked! is based.  For some reason, I thought it might have been in the same vein of the recent Oz The Great and Powerful film, but that notion was quickly proved wrong when, 10 minutes into the show, a green baby girl was born. 

Setting my scene: I had flown to Auckland on a very late Friday flight to catch the matinee (well, 2pm) performance of the hit Broadway musical Wicked!  The Civic Theatre was once again an amazing venue for the show, though even though I had bought slightly more expensive tickets, our position in the circle was still a little too high for us to view all the stage antics (the ones that were deliberately set at the back of the stage were almost invisible) and a little too far to make out the faces of most of the presumably very attractive cast – the green makeup of Elphaba somehow made all her features far more distinguishable from the rest.

The story itself starts off a little on the slow side.  The set up takes a little while featuring characters that are barely seen again, and even some of the young kiddies behind me got a little restless as a series of well performed but inconsequential songs set the scene.   

Then, a few years later, the scene shifts to school, where all true traumas are inflicted, and the main characters are introduced, if somewhat slowly, somewhat laboriously.  One song in particular, focusing on partying, felt particularly perfunctory and unengaging, probably due to the fact that it was meant to be the exact opposite – and also probably because it did not really feature the vocal talents of the two female leads.

Wicked! is designed for two women: Glinda, the Good Witch and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch, and on their shoulders and larynxes lie the heavy lifting of the singing and the performances.  Suzie Mathers as Glinda was wonderful, every hair flick and titter and popular girl stereotype perfectly rendered in an entertaining and hilarious way.  Meanwhile, Jemma Rix as Elphaba manages to make the exact opposite equally compelling, her hair flicks exaggerated and awkward, her titters more cackles, and she could almost be an emo “outsider” were she not a lovely shade of green. 

Of the other characters, the gravel-voiced school marm Madame Morrible (Maggie Kirkpatrick) made a great impression during her brief appearances, and Jay Lagai’a as the Wizard was a welcome sight, though he must have spent some time under a sun lamp from his youth as he didn’t quite look the same as he did in the flashbacks.  The costumes were pretty good too, with the flying Monkeys looking disturbingly creepy, some of the littlies behind me, voices quivering, telling their parents that they found the whole thing a little scary. 




But the film is all about the Witches, and while the songs themselves might not have all been gold, with the standout “Defying Gravity” the catchiest of all the tunes by a long shot, the singing and the spectacle was mightily impressive.  

Verdict: Wicked! started off a little slowly, but the Australian cast gave incredible performances that kept me entertained until the real story, songs and action kicked off.  The vocal talents of the leads cannot be overstated, and at the end of the show, I was shocked and impressed in the realisation that the same cast would perform another show only a few hours later.  8 Gs out of 10.