Wicked is turkey and stuffing for the eyeholes

Your humble Average Dude is not ashamed to say that I like live theater.* I’ve seen many of the greats in my lifetime. The Lion King. Les Miserables. Phantom of the Opera (twice). And of course, Wicked. Seeing these amazing productions live on-stage is vastly different than seeing it on the IMAX, for many reasons, good and not as good. There is a great and terrible tension when you are sitting in your seat with live actors a frisbee throw away that could at any moment miss a cue or forget a line or trip over their own feet. You’re applause, your gasps, your laughter, are all part of the experience.

To the good: taking an award-winning stage show and adapting it to the big screen allows the special effects wizards to make it SO much easier to suspend disbelief. Flying monkeys on stage are obviously fake. Flying monkeys on the screen look real enough to be…uh…real. And Wicked takes full advantage of that.

Simpler times, I guess

For those of you who turn your brains off whenever you hear the words ‘live theater’ or ‘musical’, the story of Wicked is a retelling of the classic story The Wizard of Oz, told from the perspective of the ‘Witch’ Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo).

Wicked is, at it’s core, a commentary on socio-political structures, biases and evils. I’ve heard whispers that the 1939 MGM film made from the classic literature by L. Frank Baum was also a veiled political commentary. I’ve never cared enough to dig into whether that is true or not. I prefer to let the film be what most of us have always percieved it to be: a fanciful, magical tale of a binary battle, good vs evil.

Oh, but the times are a’changin’

Wicked (or more precisely, Wicked Part One) doesn’t even try to hide it’s moral juxtaposition. From the very first reel, we learn that Alphaba was the product of an illicit affair between a lonely Ozian ‘work widow’ and a smooth-talking travelling salesman who plied his willing conquest with an intoxicating green elixir.** That’s a little bit of a spoiler and I apologize. It was necessary to frame pretty much the entirity of the tone of the movie.

And don’t get me started on the Wizard

From the perspective of Wicked, all the people in this movie are wicked EXCEPT the witch of the west.*** Glinda (the ‘Guh’ is silent) is, at best, a shallow, entitled brat who has never been told no by her Mumsy and Popsicle. Elphaba’s wheelchair-bound sister is a pitiable victim of an unfair life. All the students of Shiz University are either mindless followers or vicious elitests. Even the quasi-love interest for Elphaba is a self-absorbed narcisist until he meets the transcendant one (Elphaba, not the Wizard).

For all that, Wicked is just really good

In every way you can imagine, Wicked is the anti-Wizard of Oz…except…it’s darned entertaining.

Every character is played to the utmost, which is the only way a movie like this can succeed. Glinda (the insanely talented Ariana Grande) is the epitome of entitled idol wannabe… the expect-to-be. All the students excellently play the worst kind of mindless, cowering followers. Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yo play the ruling class morally bankrupt douche-hammers perfectly in their convinction that superiority gives them license to do as they wish. Literally, the dregs of humanity covered in frosting are reflected in Ozkind. And we gobbled it up. The musical numbers were as popular as we remember and the choreography is a sure-fire Oscar win. Director Jon Chu absolutely nailed it. Bravo, sir.

I now have to consider that Almira Gulch had a good reason to snatch poor Toto

And that’s the internal conflict I have over Wicked. I am being entertained watching the worst segments of first-world society wallowing in their brokenness. I am now rooting for the icon I once considered to be the embodiment of evil (poor Toto in her basket enrages me to this day). Where once I was content with a magical story about true good truimphing over true evil, I’m now forced back into the cruel realities of adulthood…that appearances are often deceiving and that presented perceptions must always be challenged. And maybe most of all, that I have been entertained by watching it all unfold.

Even so, I’ll freely admit to being visually enthralled and intellectually entertained by Wicked and am giving it a deserved 4.2 out of 5. While it’s not as fanciful and pure of heart as last year’s Christmas juggernaut Wonka, it is none-the-less easily worth your time and corn. Enjoy it. Try not to think about it too much. Or do. Your choice.

Not for nothing

Maybe worth noting, maybe not…I counted exactly ONE little person in Munchkinland. Whoever thought THAT was a good idea?

*The Average Dude is not including the whole remote viewing of a ‘live’ performance thing. In my opinion, those are a shameless money grab that absolutely robs the remote audience of the full theater experience.

**Cue the morally outraged who will either claim the mother’s victimhood by way of neglect and roofie or the ones clutching pearls over her selfish infidelity.

***a very purposeful choice of words.

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