Wicked for Generations to Come
Wicked the Musical has been
a force on stage on Broadway since it debuted at the George Gershwin
Theatre since October
30, 2003. Wicked is
still selling out shows every week,
despite the economic downturn and the simple fact that it remains the
same, albeit, amazing musical. The casts have changed several times
over, but each new actress who takes on the role of Elphaba seems to
truly emerge as a force on stage.
The musical has done much more
than simply dominate the world of Broadway too; it has almost single-handedly
revived the once dead form of entertainment. Once it was only the high
school thespian society that really loved the combination of dance,
song, and the stage. Now the musical is something people actually take
seriously once again. New productions (Jersey Boys) are able to rival
classics (South Pacific) and Disney has its own division charged with
many musical adaptations of beloved children�s films (Walt Disney
Theatrical).
The first sign that Wicked
was going to be much more than a simple Broadway smash (which is no
simple task at all) was when the first national tour swept the country
with such fervor that it found an open-ended home in Chicago at the
Ford Center, reviving the Second City�s own interest in the once glamorous
theater district.
The musical went from a limited
engagement from April 29 to June 12 in 2005 into a run that ended on
January 25, 2009. It was not a lack of an audience that initiated the
change. The fans kept coming and Wicked the Musical conquered a city
known more for its improv scene and its adoration of sports. In the
end, Wicked seemed to be defying gravity, earning over $200 million
in the city and easily breaking theater box office records. I am sure
most of the theater fans in the city would prefer to have seen Wicked
remain rather than see Legally Blonde the Musical complete a limited
engagement.
Wicked has seen similar success
elsewhere, domestically in Los Angeles and with two concurrent North
American tours and internationally in London and even Tokyo. The point
is not to simply recount the many accolades for the musical or to count
the number of Wicked
tickets sold, but
to reflect on what will be the final verdict for the show adopted by
Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holtzman.
Will Wicked the Musical become
a production that sells Broadway
tickets for years
to come, outlasting its luster and becoming another Cats, doing as much
to hinder the rebirth of musical theater in the 21st century
as it has to aid it? Or will Wicked survive with its reputation in tact
(thanks to the musicals ability to poke a little fun at itself, unlike
a big budget musical like Andrew Lloyd Webber�s Cats and Phantom of
the Opera) and become as ingrained in our cultural history as the Wizard
of Oz?
The musical has become such
a force that it is set to cross over to the silver screen, with a rumored release
date sometime in 2010 according to IMDB.
This is pretty amazing in reality. This means that the musical has gone
beyond the simple step of selling Wicked soundtracks with the original
cast and should make another jump into an even more popular visual medium.
To me, this seems to suggest
that the nation and the world is far from bored with the production
and that this musical could become one of the most beloved American
productions of all time, rivaling such Broadway stalwarts as South Pacific
and West
Side Story.
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