In my young twenty years of life, I have been dragged to see A Musical Christmas Carol on more public school field trips than any person should have to endure. But, despite these unhappy visits to the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, I have managed to preserve my love of musicals by way of Wicked: The Musical. Four t-shirts, one sweatshirt, two Collector’s Edition Grimmeries, one bootlegged soundtrack (oops), four shows in Pittsburgh, and one show in San Francisco later, my mother has forbidden me from purchasing more tickets to see Wicked, and has certainly stopped buying me overpriced clothing with the word “popular” on it.

I’m not sure what sparked my obsession with Wicked: The Musical, especially considering I had never been obsessed with The Wizard of Oz – the film or the book. Certainly, the cast of the Broadway production is absolutely fabulous, and the songs are ridiculously catchy, but no other musical has ever cost me (read: my mom) so much money. In addition to the powerful message of believing in yourself and the importance of knowing the whole story before making judgments, the sheer creativity and modern political allegory that warns against the power of those in charge are what makes Wicked resonate so well with audiences.

Wicked: The Musical is based off of a book (by Gregory Maguire also titled Wicked), that follows a girl named Elphaba and describes how she eventually became known as The Wicked Witch of the West. The name Elphaba is a play on the sounds of L. Frank Baum’s (author of original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) initials – LFB. This is only one of literally hundreds of references to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the children’s book that Wicked is based upon. Wicked opens as the townspeople of Oz are rejoicing in the death of The Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda The Good Witch arrives (traveling via bubble) and tells the townspeople that they should not be so quick to hate the Wicked Witch, and reveals that a long time ago she was friends with The Wicked Witch, whose name was Elphaba. The rest of the musical is a flashback to Glinda and Elphaba’s time at Shiz University.

Wicked: The Musical is full of creative reimagination, and this helps transform the message of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a message that resonates with today’s audiences, although the underlying theme of being hesitant to trust those in power remains. For example, Elphaba’s sister Nessarose receives a pair of silver slippers as a gift. Later in the musical, Elphaba enchants the slippers, turning them red. In this way, the slippers pay homage to both the original book and the film (the book had silver slippers, and the film had ruby red ones). Another interesting example of this re-imagination is the flying monkeys. In Wicked, Elphaba is told to cast a spell to prove her magical abilities, not knowing what the spell will do to the monkey she is casting upon. After successfully completing the spell, she realizes in horror that she has caused all the monkeys in the room to painfully and permanently sprout wings.

Many other characters and plot elements play on the original universe created in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and this makes watching Wicked a much richer experience for audiences who are familiar with the story of The Wizard of Oz. Although the political messages are much more apparent in the book Wicked, they are also present in the musical. Animals (with a capital A) can talk, until they are stripped of their speaking abilities, and put in cages “where they belong.” Plot elements like this are a way to translate the old allegory of populism into a modern-day political message. Audiences today wouldn’t pick up on allegory about the silver standard, so the transformation of the story to, instead, send messages warning against the subjugation of groups or the trickery of those in power makes Wicked just as powerful as the original, while still maintaining the underlying theme of distrust in government. By using both the themes found in the original L. Frank Baum book and 1939 film, as well as themes for today’s audience, Wicked is definitely a mix of the best from the old and the new.

Wicked Poster: The Image Kid. http://imgkid.com/wicked-the-musical-logo.shtml

Flying Monkey: “Trouble in Oz?” The Upstager: all the world’s an upstage. 1 April 2014. https://theupstager.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/trouble-in-oz/

Elphaba and Galinda: Mitchell, Keri. “Want to see ‘Wicked’? Buy tickets now!” Advocate. 15 January 2013. http://lakewood.advocatemag.com/2013/01/15/want-to-see-wicked-buy-tickets-now/