The Best "Wicked" Review Headline

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/4/03 at 11:37pm

And the winner is atop Michael Feingold, supergenius's review in The Village Voice:

"Green Witch, Mean Time"

Runner Up:

Ken Mandlebaum's "The Girls From Oz"
Feingold

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 6:47am

Feingold's the best. "Unwinged monkeys" - HA!!

Thanks for posting that, Namo!

[Al Dente]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 9:58am

That was a very interesting and smart review. It nailed what I've thought about Chenoweth all along. I have never understood the fascination with Butz, never will.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 10:16am

ALthough Feingold's analysis of fairy tales is completely wrong (fairy tales were, in fact, morality stories meant to educate) he IS right that the reason Baum wrote 'The Wizard of Oz' was to try and write children's fantasy that didn't have a moral or serve as a coy attempt to educate. He wanted something for kids that was simply magical. In that regard, the writers of 'Wicked' have utterly missed the point of Baum's writing and, in doing so, have failed to create an 'Oz' that reflects the Oz people so fondly relate to and care about. Updated On: 11/5/03 at 10:16 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 11:20am

I just saw WICKED last night and I will state flat out that I had a good time.

But part of that good time came from some of the RIDICULOUS choreography, music and plot holes. Spoilers abound, so beware.

I usually write a long review (you know me by now), but I just can't get over some of these things:

1. DANCING THROUGH LIFE may well be the dumbest Broadway number I have ever seen...and I saw that number from that Vegas Musical (can't remember the name...anybody???) shown on the Tony Awards. Norbert Leo Butz looks like he was in college back when Regan still knew his own name. But the choreography???? Does Wayne Cilento have to give his TOMMY Tony back now? OY!!!

2. The song I'M NOT THAT GIRL. OK, the lyrics are crunchy and the melody is generic...until the last note. Then Idina (and Kristen in the reprise) have to hike it on down to the basement to get any sort of sound out. Stephen Schwartz needs to change his toupee glue.

3. At the end, after Elphaba 'dies', Carole Shelley (looking like Gary Oldman in DRACULA) says, 'No wonder she was so powerful. She was from both worlds.' WHAT???? HOW THE F*CK DOES THAT EXPLAIN ANYTHING??????????

4. The fact that they spent $14 Million on this show but couldn't do any better with the Winged Monkeys than staple kites onto their backs drove me NUTS!

OK...OK...I'm done with my bitchy bashing. I apologize if any of you thought I was out of line in my comments, but they truly were my honest response to this show. And they were just typical examples of the monumental problemns with this show.

THAT SAID, I had a great time. Chenowith is terrific, but it really is Idina Menzel who gives the spectacular performance. Vocally and physically powerful but nuanced, she hops on her broom and delivers a journey that astounds. This from the actress who I saw laugh her way through a performance of RENT. I was MUY impressed.

Carole Shelley was perfect, but Joel Grey was miscast (and given HIDEOUS material). Norbert Leo Butz is a talented, but inherently unlikable performer (I felt this way in Last 5 Years too). It's not necessarily a bad thing. It can be used to great effect. Just not in this role. Christopher Fitzgerald (who is a favorite of mine and whose career I'd kill for) is completely wasted. He deserves MUCH better.

After all is said and done, though, you have to love any musical that has the audacity to scream its name three times at the finale on high E's. My friend Brian thinks every show should end this way. Try it:

HOW NOW DOW JONES!
HOW NOW DOW JONES!
HOW NOW DOW JONES!!!!!!!

[magruder]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 11:28am

That would be "24 Hours a Day" from Golden Rainbow. It was the opening number of the 1968 Tony Awards.

Updated On: 11/5/03 at 11:28 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 12:01pm

Magruder,

I adore you...THANK YOU!!!!

[magruder]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 12:59pm

Just think about that 1968 season, when people say it was better in the old days. The best musical nominees were Hallelujah, Baby!, Illya, Darling, The Happy Time and How Now, Dow Jones. And Hallelujah, Baby! still holds the distinction of being the only musical to have been closed when it won Best Musical. (Then again, motley as those four shows are though, even How Now, Dow Jones contained a genuine showstopper, "Step to the Rear," and several other appealing numbers, which is sometimes more than what we get nowadays!)

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 6:08pm

isn't conventional wisdom that Baum made up the Oz stories as he went along as bedtime tales for his kidlets? improvising so much that the title character's name comes from the bottom file cabinet drawer of his office, as he looked around hurriedly to concoct one, and the letters "O-Z" caught his eye? let's not attribute too much forethought to the stories---yes, they have been interpreted many ways by many readers, some simple and charming and others far more significant and portentous. But it's a little precocious to say the current writers don't understand Baum---they understand him in a different way than you do, or most do, or some do. Doesn't make their way any "righter" or "wronger" than any other. Don't be ruled by our society's hierarchal nature! Plenty of room for relative values...

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 6:18pm

'No wonder she was so powerful. She was from both worlds.'WHAT???? HOW THE F*CK DOES THAT EXPLAIN ANYTHING??????????

Since she was a child of both worlds (I will not explain details, as it is a spoiler), she was born green and with an aptitude for sorcery, which is why she was so powerful. We can assume that this would be the case for anyone born under these circumstances, but since she was the only one, she was irregular.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 6:23pm

Many analysts, as many analysts will do, suggested that Baum wrote the stories as a political parable as well... with the famous road representing a move away from the gold standard.
You can learn more about it here!

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 6:51pm

and didn't Pink Floyd write DARK SIDE OF THE MOON to fit the movie version of OZ? start the their recording when Leo the Lion (see the connection?!?!?) roars, then turn the sound down. See how their lyrics fit the visuals. Now THAT is what Baum had in mind...it's obvious.

P.S. Paul is dead.