ADAPTATION part 1: "Wicked"

I saw the Broadway musical Wicked recently. If you're not already familiar, it's the supposed back story of The Wizard of Oz movie and it's based on a book of the same name. It explains how Glinda and the Wicked Witch became who they became, and the real stories behind the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. That whole premise lent itself to a lot of "inside" jokes. I say "inside" because you'd only get them if you saw the original "Oz" movie. That pretty much means everyone, but they were delivered with a "wink wink."

So the story basically goes like this: *******SPOILERS*****A long time ago, some guy used a green potion to get a woman to sleep with him. She does and ends up having his baby, even though she's already married. The baby comes out green and her name is Elphaba. Elphaba grows up shy and awkward, hated by her father, and unpopular. Oh, and in Oz, animals can speak and are treated like humans, although the Wizard is trying to stamp them out, Nazi-style. Elphaba meets Glinda at school, who is popular and pretty and dumb. They end up friends and meet the Wizard. The Wizard cons Elphaba into casting a spell to turn the monkeys into flying monkeys so the Wizard can use them as spies. Elphaba goes on a campaign to tell the world of the Wizard's evil plan, but is forced into hiding and she is branded "wicked." The Wizard convinces Glinda to drop a house on Elphaba's sister, to draw her out of hiding. She does and she does. ...You know what? The plot details are long and convoluted, especially as a related story to the original. It's not truly important what happens.

The story has loads of subtexts not related to The Wizard of Oz at all. It touches on high school politics, prejudice, morality and friendship. There are a lot of political references that relate to Nazism and our current United States government. I'm not saying George Bush is a Nazi. I'm just saying some things are similar, i.e. when you need support, find an enemy. So, in all honesty, it wasn't an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, but more of a sequel, really. It took a few real moments to steal, but basically it was all original show "based on characters created by Frank L Baum."

So, how was the show? It was a lot of fun. I thought it was very well written and quite clever. The set was fairly sparse, but well-designed and efficient. Not as much as Rent, but still lean and tight. That leaves the songs; I had borrowed the soundtrack prior to seeing the show and was terribly disappointed. There are 2 songs that I actually like. The rest are fluffy and unmemorable. I though the show was better than the sum of its parts, however. The songs didn't suddenly become great, but in the context of the show, they were less annoying.

As far as modern Broadway goes, this was a strong GOOD, but not a GREAT, in my opinion. I thought Rent was a GREAT. I think Wicked is safe for just about all ages and I can't say I'd tell anyone NOT to see it.