Glinda’s bubble.
Glinda’s bubble.
Gamiller46204
Swing Joined: 8/24/20
#1Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/24/20 at 10:59pm
In the musical Wicked, is Glinda’s bubble magic or one of the Wizards inventions? I use to think it was one of the Wizards inventions, because in the cornfield scene that is exactly what Elphaba states. However, what kind of contraption would it be attached to?
Gamiller46204
Swing Joined: 8/24/20
#2Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/24/20 at 11:02pm
Would Glinda’s bubble be attached to a track or wires throughout OZ or would it function more like a drone? I don’t recall the musical or the book discussing the mechanics behind it.
Gamiller46204
Swing Joined: 8/24/20
#3Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/24/20 at 11:02pm
Would Glinda’s bubble be attached to a track or wires throughout OZ or would it function more like a drone? I don’t recall the musical or the book discussing the mechanics behind it.
Gamiller46204
Swing Joined: 8/24/20
#4Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/24/20 at 11:02pm
Would Glinda’s bubble be attached to a track or wires throughout OZ or would it function more like a drone? I don’t recall the musical or the book discussing the mechanics behind it.
#5Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/24/20 at 11:05pm
It's just the pendulum on the Time Dragon Clock the whole scenic design is inspired by.
musicals1989
Understudy Joined: 9/16/11
#6Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/24/20 at 11:06pm
Gamiller46204 said: "Would Glinda’s bubble be attached to a track or wires throughout OZ or would it function more like a drone? I don’t recall the musical or the book discussing the mechanics behind it."
It's. A. Bubble.
Tag
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
#7Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/25/20 at 12:05am
CATSNYrevival said: "It's just the pendulum on the Time Dragon Clock the whole scenic design is inspired by."
Always thought is was inspired by a bubble dipper/wand.
#8Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/25/20 at 12:25am
Tag said: "CATSNYrevival said: "It's just the pendulum on the Time Dragon Clock the whole scenic design is inspired by."
Always thought is was inspired by a bubble dipper/wand."
Given the way the clock features so heavily in the design I think the pendulum is equally plausible. It may very well be a combination of the two.
tourboi
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/15/05
#9Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/25/20 at 3:06am
I think it’s meant to represent the pendulum of the clock in the show design, yes, but I think the OP was wondering whether it literally is magic or an invention in the story....
I don’t remember from the original book. Anyone else?
#10Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/25/20 at 9:33amI think it’s open to interpretation. Neither the stage show nor the novel really go into detail about it. But based on the mechanical look to it and the implication in the musical that Elphaba’s the only one with any significant magical powers, I’d say it’s more of an invention. And if the Wizard did invent it, he should patten that technology if his balloon ever lands back in the US. He could make a fortune!
JennH
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/14/13
#11Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/25/20 at 9:34am
Yeah I think this has already missed the point...which btw I'm glad I'm not the only one who's wondered this. I've been of the belief for a while that Elphaba's line suggesting who's brainchild the bubble is can be interpreted either way. At least that's how I understand it, especially with the use of the word invention. Winnie isn't the greatest writer to me, I always felt like her use of the word invention was more nonchalant than anything, so I figured it just meant 'brainchild' rather than discerning whether it's a smoke-and-mirrors invention of the wizards' or actual magic that Glinda somehow learned over time...hence my belief that the whole of her line can interpreted both ways.
singer234
Leading Actor Joined: 8/31/08
#12Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/25/20 at 12:40pmI always assumed it was mechanical, as one of the first comedic bits in the show is Glinda motioning above for someone to lower r her bubble, implying it is being operated by someone(thing) else.
Globefan
Broadway Star Joined: 10/31/12
#13Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/25/20 at 11:23pm
If there's ever a film, it would look more like a real bubble.
#14Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/26/20 at 6:12am
It serves as both a pendulum to the clock design and as Glinda's bubble.
On a side note, while Wicked sure does have a beautiful design, the clock based design does not work for the show as the Clock of the Time Dragon (a pivotal point of the novel) is referenced maybe twice throughout the musical. They took the idea from Maguire's novel and left it at that. The entire design concept makes no sense unless you have read the book.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
candydog2
Swing Joined: 3/7/07
#15Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/26/20 at 8:22am
I think it's like a combination of magic and mechanics. Sort of a mechanical invention that could only work with magical help.
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#16Glinda’s bubble.
Posted: 9/26/20 at 5:17pmcandydog2 said: "I think it's like a combination of magic and mechanics. Sort of a mechanical invention that could only work with magical help."
Which also ties in to the source material and Maguire blending magic, religion, and engineering (Tik-Tokism) throughout Oz.
For those who asked whether it's addressed in the novel, it's not, as Maguire doesn't mention Glinda traveling by any magical means. Though she does have a lot more magical power in the novel (she's the one who's studying sorcery in Shiz, Elphaba specializes in life sciences; Glinda is the one to place the enchantment on the silver shoes), she's still not considered a particularly powerful sorceress, just more of a relatively well placed member of the upper class. He has her tell Elphaba that she was already in Munckinland, about a dozen miles away, when Dorothy's house dropped on Nessa, and that she traveled to the scene quickly via Pfenix.
