Review: WICKED at Göteborgsoperan

Wicked had its premiere in 2003 in San Francisco and now 20 years later it has it´s Swedish premiere the the Gothenburg Opera. It is the the grandest and biggest production ever made of Wicked. 

I have seen it in Los Angeles and London a number of years ago and I'm really impressed with this Swedish production. It is very powerful with the entire orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera and the large stage makes the sceneries something extra. Stylish, effective but at the same time simple scenes. The ensemble is large and keeps a very high standard. The good witch Glinda is played by Lina Svahn Larsson and the evil witch Elphaba by Feline Andersson. Both are brilliant in their interpretations and put a youthful freshness and stamp on the musical. Max Jansson plays Fiyero and matches them well. Calle Norlén's translation is very good and the special Wicked expressions/words are included. 

Wicked is a rather dark story which starts before Dorothy comes to Oz. It is about evil and good, about the fear of those who are not like everyone else, power and how to subdue the intelligent who speak their mind. At first humans and animals teach side by side at school. But then the animals gradually lose their right to teach, are put in cages and cowed until they are silenced so that in the end they cannot speak but only make animal noises. In a way a reflection of the current situation in the world today. It´s not the most uplifting musical and musically not one where the music settles easily, excetp from the most famous songs like Defying Gravity and Popular.

Gothenburg Opera's production of Wicked is impressive musically and vocally. If you have seen Wicked abroad, you should definitely see this as well if you still have it on the list of musicals to see, because Wicked doesn't get more grand than this. It is in swedish, but it is texted in english so it is absolutly worth travelling to Sweden to see it if you are a Wicked fan.

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