Wicked

I really enjoyed Wicked, by Winnie Holzman and Stephan Schwartz, especially since I had the privilege of seeing it on Broadway, which by the way, was an amazing production. I loved reading the play, but this is one of the types of pieces of writing where you have to see on stage to really understand how amazing it is. Perhaps my favorite part of Wicked is the twist that Holzman places on the characters. She takes characters like Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, as well as other classic personalities from the original Wizard of Oz, and morphs them into something totally unique. She sort of created a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, making paths for all the characters which leads them in the direction of their future roles. I really have not read many books, or plays for that matter, that do that sort of thing with their writing, so I especially enjoyed this twisting and contorting in Wicked. My favorite character in Wicked, was probably unsurprisingly Elphaba. I really got a kick of of Galinda though, who later decides to become just Glinda. But in the Wizard of Oz, Elphaba is really nothing but a menace and basically sets out to harm Dorothy, and she lacks any hint of remorse or humanity. But in Wicked, you get to see Elphaba develop and grow as a character. She goes through a lot of hardships, like being cast away by her "father" and considered a freak when she goes to school because she is, of course, unusually green. This play gives an explanation for why Elphaba turned out the way she did. She overcomes a lot in Wicked, and you get to see that a lot in her song "Defying Gravity", which is absolutely spectacular to hear in person. Elphaba really emphasizes what it is like to face adversity and to be different, while still managing to hold your own as you try to overcome your obstacles. I do think though, as much as I enjoyed this play, that it was rather disappointing how Elphaba ends up becoming the Wicked Witch of the West anyway. But that was sort of out of Holzman's hands, and regardless if she was an enemy in the Wizard of Oz, she was still a pretty "wicked" character. Wicked was, by far, the best thing we have read in Women's Studies, and I really think that regarding this play, Holzman truly outdoes herself.