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Thursday, May 18, 2006
‘Wicked’ at the Fox
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Through May 28. Grade: B -
Being bad has never looked so good.
No wonder Elphaba, she of the green face and pointy hat, is the witch that everyone roots for in Stephen Schwartz’s musical “Wicked.� The once and future Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba may not be a conventional looker and popular girl like her best friend Glinda, who grows up to be Queen of Munchkin Land.
But Elphaba gets the special powers. She gets to fly. And to the chagrin of Glinda, she gets the boy.
“Wicked,� the astonishingly popular musical based on Gregory Maguire’s “Wizard of Oz� prequel, began its two-week-long, sold-out run at the Fox Theatre on Wednesday, and it’s clear that the supernatural love triangle has made a mostly victorious transition from Broadway.
A super-size spectacle that packs a bounty of nifty scenic doo-dads, splendiferous costumes, a clever book laden with one-liners and a few catchy song for good measure, “Wicked� is nearly fool-proof.
You get your money’s worth, but what’s lacking are fully sustained breakout numbers for its stars. Perhaps because the singing and instrumentation was a little murky on opening night, the power of Glinda’s “Popular� and Elphaba’s “I’m Not that Girl� seemed to evaporate. At three hours (including intermission), this is a mighty long show for smidgens of tunefulness. “Thank Goodness� (“we couldn’t be happier�) needs to sparkle, but it didn’t.
And yet, the performers make up for any vocal thinness by making smart comedic choices. Julia Murney (Elphaba) and Kendra Kassebaum (Glinda) step into the indelible parts created by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, respectively, and if they don’t summon the full-out diva dimensions of their Broadway predecessors, they create vivid characterizations that ultimately win you over.
Considering her character’s emerald demeanor, Murney is more a natural beauty than odd duck, and there’s calculated understatement and control in the way she builds Elphaba’s transformation from victim to smouldering hottie to moral crusader. Kassebaum’s Glinda (it’s “Galinda� at first) is more the plump smart alec than svelte fairy-tale princess, but she brings a streak of Karen Walker acid to a blonde-bubble part that was borrowed from Alicia Silverstone’s “Clueless.� Both performances work.
A mixture of “Harry Potter� and “Cinderella,� “Wicked� is a circle narrative that begins with the watery demise of the Wicked Witch — “How dead is she?� says one doubting Ozian — then spins back in time to explain how she became the person she was.
The story playfully throws in references to sequinned slippers and the Yellow Brick Road, and explains the provenance of the Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man, but it does so through the warp of time. The intelligence of that conceit is that the “Wicked� characters don’t know anything about Dorothy and Toto, but we get smiles of recognition because we understand what’s on the other side of the curtain.
Elphaba and Glinda meet at a boarding school called Shiz, where Elphaba becomes the star pupil of the deliciously arch Madame Morrible (the wonderful Alma Cuervo) and eventually gains entree to the Wizard (P.J. Benjamin, who sings like the old pro that he is).
Whipping up mischief are a few other subplots involving sinister world domination; family secrets and a romantic lark between Elphaba’s disabled sister, Nessarose (Jennifer Waldman), and a munchkin. But the most important turn of events is the arrival of Fiyero (Sebastian Arcelus), a bad-boy prince with a rock-star voice who captures Glinda’s attention.
This, of course, is where things really start to go wicked.
Directed by Broadway golden boy Joe Mantello, who seems to be staging everything these days, “Wicked� hangs together by virtue of its smart writing and dizzying visuals. (Costumes are by Susan Hilferty, sets by Eugene Lee and lighting by Kenneth Posner.)
The genius of “Wicked� may be that it makes us forgive, and forget, its musical inadequacies. When Elphaba mounts her broom and flies off to conquer Oz, the lines between good and evil melt into puddles of awe and wonder, and our hearts defy gravity.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; also 2 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. Sundays. Special matinee at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 18. Through May 28. Presented by Broadway Across America, Atlanta. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. 404-873-4300 or 404-817-8700. Broadway AcrossAmerica.com.
THE VERDICT: Hits all the soar spots.
