Wicked is a show which has already broken records and entered the realms of being a modern classic; it’s come direct from Broadway to the West End. The story is Set in Oz, before Dorothy arrives ; we see, in Wicked, Elpheba, a girl ostracised because she is green and the popular, blond and beautiful Glinda- the two, of course, who will go on to become the Wicked Witch of the West and The Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz respectively.
The two, remarkably, are shown to be friends at first, in their younger days as sorcery students at “dear old Shiz” and yet they are ultimately pulled in different directions by social pressures. The play is based on the best-selling novel by Gerry Maquire, and is an amazing idea for a musical but one which also manages to live up to said idea with fantastic set pieces, wonderfully realised visuals and stunning lyrics. The stand out song of the whole show is undoubtedly “Defying Gravity”, performed wonderfully by Kerry Ellis playing Elpheba in the West End version of the show. “Nobody in all of Oz”, she declares, “No Wizard that there is, or was, is ever gonna bring me down”. In the end, she was right, it wasn’t any Wizard that brought her down, it was a house that crushed her.
It is advised that you don’t take kids under 8 to the show; there isn’t anything vulgar or unsuitable in the show, but there are some adult themes considered through the piece and some of the set pieces, such as when Elpheba is harnessed up and rises skyward with a cape flying out that fills the stage, will likely scare younger children and probably a large majority of the adult audience as well.
What Wicked really does so well is make you think twice about characters everyone thinks they already know from the Wizard of Oz. We all thought that the Wicked Witch of the West has simply been in a perpetual state of evil since she was born, this show makes a different case. The idea that “nobody mourns the wicked” is also one which is particularly pertinent in today’s society and the Apollo Theatre will certainly be flying high as long as this production keeps going.
