Why is Wicked that popular?- Page 2

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 2:57pm

I always suspected you were Gerard Alessandrini.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 2:57pm

When I saw it the word "mediocre" keep running through my mind in regards to the score. Never had the urge to get the CD to listen to it again. Mediocre. But it does have a positive message for the teen girls so I guess that's a good thing.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 3:21pm

Beats me

This keeps running and running & quality shows like Bridges and others do not make it. Barnum was right.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 3:26pm

"This keeps running and running & quality shows like Bridges and others do not make it."

Shows like that are depressing creatures with unprepossessing features.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:02pm

...it appeals to a very young crowd, if this acts as a gateway show to then go on to appreciate other kinds of theater...

That was pretty much my experience with the the show. When I first discovered it, as I was discovering my love for the theater as a whole, I had a pretty strong case of WICKED fever. I missed the tour when it came through my town at that time and didn't actually get to see it until much later. In the time between I went on to discover and love many other types of shows, and I was able to judge it a bit more objectively, free of the initial hype.

I think it's a pretty decent show, but not much else. It has some great songs and some charismatic original stars, which is why I love the CD so much, but the show as a whole isn't quite as good as some make it out to be (or as good as it could have been with the source material involved).

I had pretty much the same experience (including missing the tour) with LES MIZ, and I feel almost identically about that show.

As for the original question, I think it's had such a great success because of its broad appeal among people who aren't theater fanatics who follow every show that opens, but who don't hate it either. As others have said, it's also fairly free of objectionable material which makes it easy for entire families to see and enjoy.

It also has its roots in the story that was the basis for one of the most beloved film classics of all time: The Wizard Of Oz. That fact certainly can't be counted out.

[NeverSoShy]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:03pm

"The one good thing about Wicked and as the OP stated it appeals to a very young crowd, if this acts as a gateway show to then go on to appreciate other kinds of theater, then actually I am fine with it."

It was exactly that for me; it was the first musical that I really got into when I was about thirteen, and as a direct result of this my family and I have spent hundreds/thousands of pounds on theatre (plus the money that it costs to get to and stay in London and New York).

[EMeraldNYC2]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:04pm

Wicked is my favorite show, and obviously that may make me a little biased, but as an above poster mentioned, this show can act as a gateway for young people to get interested in theatre. Shouldn't any piece of theatre that brings a wider fan base to Broadway be celebrated by even those self-proclaimed "musical theatre enthusiasts" that may find their interests in different genres? It's perhaps the biggest spectacle on Broadway, but it's also a show with a lot of heart and great music that viewers of all ages can connect to. If you don't like it, that's fine. But putting a label on fans of the show doesn't seem right either.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:10pm

Wicked, like most of the long running musicals, are pretty mediocre and safe IMO. But, families always spend more money, and I guess that's why it continues doing so well. When I've passed the theater here, or have seen it in different cities, it's a lot of soccer moms with about 20 kids. Even 10 year olds WITH friends!

Joan Rivers is a horrendous person for what she said about the 3 women in Cleveland who were abducted, tortured, and raped for nearly a decade, but... she is correct on this show. Sadly.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:21pm

Wicked could show Bridges of Madison County what shoes to wear, how to fix its hair--everything that really counts!

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:34pm

EMeraldNYC2, why is Wicked your favorite show? I'm curious if it's just about having heart and good music, as you mentioned.

[hundredsofhats]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:39pm

I can't really explain why Wicked is popular, but I can tell you why I enjoyed watching it.

I like seeing retellings of the same story. There are so many different visual versions of The Wizard of Oz, told by different characters' perspective (Oz the Great and Powerful), or has a different feel altogether (The Wiz), and Wicked is one that retells the story from the Wicked Witch's perspective. The same story told from her point of view is vastly different, in which she becomes the heroine to the audience while becoming the villain to the other characters in the story, the villain that is already familiar to the audience from The Wizard of Oz. Wicked also resonates with audience members who may feel, for one reason or other, marginalized.

The most interesting thing about it was that the things the people of Oz interpreted as evil were a result of her good intentions that went awry. In a way Elphaba was vilified unfairly, on the other hand, if she hadn't meddled or tried to fix things, they wouldn't have ended up broken.

The result is a rather cynical view that the good witch near the seat of power is an at-first reluctant careerist and the chronic outsider, despised by the community, was her friend. A friendship ruined by ambition and the true hero is outside the community, reviled by it.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:47pm

I feel as if it's almost like Frozen (I know, I know… I'm sick of the comparisons too). It's a show about two best friends and the "girl chasing the boy" is almost a filler rather than the main plot.

I love Wicked because it has gotten SO SO SO many young people into musicals. The first time I saw it I was on a trip in London and my friend and I sat next to an American family (how ironic, Americans next to Americans in the West End) and they had a little girl who was about seven. They videotaped her before the show asking her if she was excited to see her very first musical and it was maybe the most heart warming thing I have ever seen in my life. It really is, I believe, a show for ANY age because anyone can relate to pretty much all of the characters or at least know someone who relates to those characters in their life.

Les Mis got my musical obsession started and I actually remember putting on Pandora and typing in Les Mis and having Popular (go figure) pop up and then immediately freaking out and wanting to hear more musicals. For me it's kind of like a comfy feel-good musical for me. If I'm feeling down or just blah, I'll put on the cast recording and I will immediately be in a good mood.

Granted, I do like the book a ton better than the actual musical, but it's fun to know that since the musical is so different from the book it's almost as if we have two Wickeds. And I seriously can never get enough of anything to do with The Wizard of Oz.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 4:50pm

I think it may be the whole premise of the show itself. The idea of the Wicked Witch of the West having her side of the story told markets well to families who are familiar with the Wizard of Oz story (which, let's be honest here, pretty much everyone in America is at this point). That seems to be the "in" thing right now, having a villain in a famous story telling his/her side of things. Wicked is the main musical doing that at the moment.

Updated On: 4/30/14 at 04:50 PM

[EMeraldNYC2]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 5:06pm

I really like what promisespromises2 said! That's pretty much exactly what's happened with me over the past few years and I think that if one show has the power to influence such a passion for musical theatre as a whole, that's pretty special.

Technically speaking, the biggest factor for me with any musical really is the music. For me, Wicked's style is a good crossover of upbeat, modern music and classic showtune-style music without being too far on either traditional side. And I know the story is not original, but the emphasis on friendship and individual empowerment is portrayed in a way I personally find refreshing from many other shows I've seen.

I admit I'm not as much of a seasoned pro yet as many of you are, but from the shows I've seen, Wicked sticks out to me for its sentimental value and its music. I guess it's hard to explain but something about it leaves me in tears every time, and I take that as a sign that it's a show with merit. I can connect with it, and I think that the thousands of other fans that can connect with it can't be wrong when they say it has its place.

Updated On: 4/30/14 at 05:06 PM

[South Florida]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 5:39pm

Wicked is magic, nothing brought me to the theater like Wicked did with SJB in a touring company down here, that's a beautifully written magical show. And I wasn't a kid, if my musical mind is infantile, sorry.

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 5:48pm

Wicked is a Stephen Schwartz show, and Schwartz shows follow a distinct patter- the scores are almost always pretty good, but the books are serviceable at best. Having just finished a run of Children of Eden (as Shem), I spoke with a few seasoned professionals and musicians about why Schwartz shows, in particular, Wicked, work.

Schwartz's later shows, such as Children of Eden and Wicked come across as pop shows, but they have a uniquely anti-pop sound running beneath the surface. The Schwartz choral sound is frequently dissonant, atonal and sharp-edged, completely at odds with the pop sound of much of the material. This gives his scores, at least his later ones, a sound that initially APPEARS to be like the Menken-Ashman musical language, or even the mega-musicals of Les Miserables, but which feels subtly different, different enough that it registers as new and exciting.

I didn't like Wicked much as a teenager- I was angry about the changes from the novel, and how frothy the end project became. Once I learned to stop judging Wicked by what I thought it should have been, I realized it was pretty solid for what it is. And once I got into composition and orchestration, I really started to like the score. It's about as daring, rhythmically and compositionally, as a "pop score" can get and still be remotely pop.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 5:54pm

I don't love the show. And if anyone would have told me when I first saw it the degree of success it would attain, I'd have been shocked.

However, it has a fully developed story, a relatable protagonist who truly wants something, as well as genuine and substantial conflict, romance, comedy, sentiment and a couple of very good songs. (almost textbook in its commitment to the essential elements of libretto with one exception: subplot) So, in retrospect, it's really not all that surprising that it's appealing to a great many people.

Updated On: 4/30/14 at 05:54 PM

[Idiot]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 6:11pm

I think sometimes things that 'should' be fantastic are considered so in order to avoid the disappointment.

Updated On: 4/30/14 at 06:11 PM

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 6:26pm

I admit it: I love this show. Yes, I was a teenager when it first debuted (although, I was already and avid theatre-goer and had been one all my life), but I saw it again as recently as a year ago and it resonates with me just as deeply (and not only from a nostalgia point-of-view). For me, the two strong leading women characters have always been my biggest draw to the show. I find myself immediately connected and relating to both. I find the navigation of their relationship with each other to be rooted very much in how we as humans interact and change as we are exposed to new people and ideas and both characters’ growths (and the growth of their relationship) is both moving and rewarding to me.

I also find the theme of being true to yourself/doing the right thing vs. what you are allowed to be/do within the confines of both the law and societal laws to be interesting and resonate in many different aspects of our own society.

Sure, there are plot holes. I think it’s quite clever, although, of course, not as clever or nuanced as the book (honestly, I think of them as two very different entities and enjoy each for its own merits). Yes, some of the themes might be a bit blatant or broad. But, I still think it’s a smart show, has a score I love (a score which, for me, makes me feel the emotions and understand the state of minds of the characters perfectly), and leaves me moved and elated when I leave the theatre.

Of course it’s also fun and entertaining and to boot.

For me, it’s difficult to understand when people group “Wicked” in with other tourist-friendly shows (in regard to equivalent quality). I understand the grouping in terms of how these shows transcend past just the usual theatre-going crowd, but I find so many of the big, hit shows so full of fluf (“Phantom,” “Les Mis,” “Mamma Mia!,” etc.) and I find “Wicked” so moving and worthy of its success. (I’m sure fans of the shows I mentioned would say the same thing about their shows in comparison to “Wicked.”)

I can discuss the flaws of the show with people and recognize them, but, for me, the flaws are so small and inconsequential in comparison to the strengths of the show (and, even recognizing the show’s flaws doesn’t change the feeling I get when I am sitting in the audience of the show).

As far as people regarding the role as Elphaba as so difficult, I think it is mainly because of, as you said, the vocally challenging score for her (and the fact that she is onstage a good deal of the show).

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 6:31pm

It's what it is because of tourists. Same with all huge hits.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 6:32pm

I think it's interesting that it's one of the earliest shows that you can trace peoples' initial reactions of on this forum.

A random question: were villain backstory properties really popular before WICKED, and might it have contributed to their current popularity? I really can't think of a lot of older ones at the moment (not to say they weren't there), and I was thinking that maybe it's been bolstered by a genre it helped popularize.

Sorry if I'm being totally oblivious to really obvious counter-examples to this theory.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 6:32pm

The shows that run the longest and make the most money are usually the ones the general public find the most entertaining. Apparently, that's how the general public feels about Wicked. I've seen it several times and I find it entertaining, so the idea isn't quite so mysterious to me, but shows I've hated have been popular as well and I still was not so flummoxed. It just wasn't my thing, but it was THE thing to many many other people. And that's how the world works. Wicked is popular because a vast amount of people find it entertaining or moving or connect with it in various ways. Just like the movie of Titanic with Leo and Kate did back in the 90s.

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 6:43pm

"Why won't Joan Rivers's plastic surgeon do the world a favor and sew her mouth shut?"

I'm not sure you understand the doctor-patient relationship.

Everyone always wonders why she jokes about inappropriate things, in an age where people faux-apologize reflexively, yet because she doesn't she gets major press about it. USA Today wrote a whole article about her and the Cleveland joke. You really think they'd write a huge profile on her without some hook like that that that wasn't an obituary?

[JamesBroadwayWiner]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 7:01pm

Hold on! Generic costumes?? Generic SET???? Honey there ain't anything "generic" about those costumes and certainly not that set! I, for one, love how elaborate and spectacular the set is. Very few, if any, other shows on Broadway have that kind of extensive and intricate a set. And those costumes are drop dead gorgeous. Even if you don't like the set or the costumes, I think it's absolutely absurd to suggest that either one is "generic". You'd have to be blind not to notice how truly unique they are.

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 7:07pm

It's been a long time since I saw the show, but doesn't the set come to life during to the overture, and the eyes light up and look around... and then it never does anything again during the show? That is my recollection, although it has been a while. And I wasn't the person who called it generic anyway, heh.