Wicked (Review)

Wicked is the last musical I have to write a review on and then all the musicals I have seen in my short life have been written up!

Click here to watch the trailer and here to book tickets.

Wicked tells the story of two unlikely friends, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (whose name later changes to Glinda the Good Witch). They struggle through opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government and ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace. 

It's a very much a twist on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Instead of Dorothy's perspective, the musical is told from that of the witches in the Land of Oz and we learn more about how they came to be.

I loved the map screen. Instead of just the traditional covering, this is a map of Oz and it's actually really neat to see. Especially right at the beginning to really get a vision of the reality of the area.

When I saw the show, over 4 year ago now, it was very much at it's peak in the public's eye. Every single one of my friends had seen it and they were all raving about it. In that respect, it reminded me of Frozen because as it had been so hyped up, it was definitely overrated in my eyes.

I think the story as a whole is really eye opening. It defintely gives the audience a lot to think about and for me personally, I saw the story of Oz as I know it, in a whole new light. I defintely felt a lot of sorrow and sadness for Elphaba who in actual fact, wasn't as evil as she is made out to be. Watching her be shunned for having green skin was truly heartbreaking. The replayed famous scene where the witch gets doused with a bucket of water is hurtful.

Admittedly, the plot is somewhat confusing. Alongside the complexity of Elphaba's story is the secret, alternative history of Oz and the story we thought we knew. I struggled to follow every twist and turn and some of the backstory was defintely lost on me but it is very clever.

I really enjoyed some of the added special effects. With broomstick flights and the monkeys flying over the crowd, it's quite spell bounding! While I don't particularly think it's a theatre performance that particularly showcases the talents of the actors, the costumes and sets did blow me away. It was a speculator visual of colour and motion.

I have to say, it's the first and only musical I've been to and bought the CD of the tracks to. I think the songs are very catchy and fun. I think that the memorable songs, especially "Popular" and "Defying Gravity", were where the cast members outdid themselves. One of the disappointing things was that the cast was too quite at times so I couldn't quite hear them during the speaking scenes and the background music was far too loud.

One of the most noticeable things is that it is defintely a show set up as a prequel. It could very easily be made into a series of shows or (soon to be) films. I think this would better suit the story as it could have smaller chunks of information throughout, so it was more easily understandable to a wider audience. If you don't look at it this way, it could be said that the end is disappointing. There isn't a big finale and in honesty, the story line is a bit muddled.

Overall, while I did enjoy the show, it's defintely over hyped up but I did like hearing all about the twist on the story I know and love! What I can say is that I absolutely can't wait for the film to come out in 2019! Who's with me?