Review: WICKED at Roma Musical Theater

After a year and a half, Wicked is approaching the end of its run. It lives in the only theatre in Poland that works a little like Broadway: one great title, one stage, night after night. We do things differently here, of course. No recoupment, no long road from Off-Broadway to the big lights. But a single show breathing in the same house for over a year is rare in Poland, and rare things deserve a visit.

So I went to see how the story ends. Or rather, how it feels at the end.

The show moves like a river that knows exactly where the sea is. The cast sits in their roles the way you sit in your favourite fluffy slippers on a winter evening: completely at home, completely sure. That kind of ease is not a given; it is what happens when professionals stop proving and start playing. The lights and sets change like clockwork, the jokes land softly and exactly where they should, and the whole fairy tale settles over the audience like a warm blanket woven with glitter.

What I loved most? The voices. And one in particular.

Charming Agnieszka Przekupień as Glinda gets her laughs exactly where they belong, wrapped in a delightfully naive, self-absorbed sparkle. Jan Traczyk is a convincing Fiyero, with just the right shrug of “I don’t really care.”

But the crème de la crème is Maria Tyszkiewicz as Elphaba.

I could not look away. Her voice puts you under a spell: in the quiet ballads, she is delicate, almost whispering to you, and then she opens the door, and all that power pours out, as if it cost her nothing. There is real chemistry between her and Przekupień (a little less with Traczyk, but oh well, for once romantic love does not have to be the most important relationship in the story). Those ladies together are a pink-and-green storm, and I would watch it again tomorrow.

The supporting cast shines too. Tomasz Steciuk’s Oz carries ease, charm,

and presence in one pocket. Barbara Melzer’s Madame Morrible is determined and greedy, with a ridiculously generous spoonful of elegance. A dangerous combination, if you ask me.

Visually, this is where we part ways a little. The set by Mariusz Napierała and the costumes by Martyna Kander build a world that is grand(!) and carefully made, but to me it felt too polished, too plastic, too big for its own good. I looked for a crack where something real could slip in, and didn’t find one. Not bad, just not my kind of magic. Agnieszka Brańska’s choreography fits neatly into the bigger picture, supporting the action without competing for attention. Clean, tidy, and professional, though I would have loved one wilder moment.

The cherry on top, the thing I obsessively adore: theatrical magic. Flying brooms, levitating books, all those little tricks that make you stop asking how and simply enjoy the moment. Yes, I know how theatre works, but let me have my magic!

A production of this size does not happen by accident. Wojciech Kępczyński, a true legend of Polish musical theatre,

brought one of Broadway’s biggest hits to a Polish stage, and it was no small undertaking. What he created feels confident, coherent and full of life. I suspect we will be talking about this staging for years.

A word of thanks also to Michał Wojnarowski, whose Polish translation sounds surprisingly

natural. We all know how hard it is to carry a musical like Wicked from one language to another: the lyrics must dance with the music, keep the meaning, save the humour, and still sound as if they were born in the language we hear them in. Here, everything falls into place.

And the audience? They are glowing. Big scenes, tiny moments, jokes, songs, everything lands. The theatre is full of people who came to escape reality for a while and disappear into the Emerald City. I admire that. I am genuinely happy that this show has given so much joy to so many people.

Time to say goodbye to Oz. A little tearfully, perhaps. But definitely with a smile.

Because some stories stay with us long after the curtain falls.

Photo: Krzysztof Bieliński, Karol Mańk

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