Saw “Wicked” last night. It was great! (Warning – Spoilers Below!)

The musical “Wicked” is quite different from the book “Wicked”. The first act has some slight differences that work well for the stage medium in the sense that it moves the story along more fluidly. For example, it skips over Elphaba’s upbringing and jumps right into her entry to Shiz University. It also has her sister Nessarose beginning school at the same time as Elphaba and Glinda. This way we meet all the main characters at once. The show then focuses on the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda with many duets between the two. Whereas the book had heavy political and metaphorical content, the musical is more driven by the relationships. The many atrocities of the Wizard in the book, are boiled down in the musical to his suppression of animals. In the second act though, the musical veers wildly off the novel and becomes a story unto itself. But it’s a damn good story! We see the origins of the Cowardly Lion (alluded to in the book), the Tin Man (it’s Boq!), and the Scarecrow (it’s Fiyero!). In this regard it does a great job of connecting Gregory Maguire’s world with L. Frank Baum’s world with some surprising twists along the way. Finally, Elphaba’s fate is dramatically satisfying. Whereas her affliction to water is all too real in the book, she plays it up to her advantage in the musical, leading to quite an ending. I just don’t know if I can shake the image of the Wicked Witch and the Scarecrow together.

The performers in "Wicked" were on top of their game. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth are remarkably talented actresses with some amazing pipes! The main reason that I wanted to see "Wicked" was to see both of them perform in the lead roles. They both deserve Best Actress Tony Nominations. Chenoweth might win because she is the bigger name, but Menzel was the heart of the show. And how about Joel Gray? 72-years old and he's still doing his thing. Glad to see his in such great shape. Finally, the Playbill said that the actress who played Madame Morrible used to appear in "The Cosby Show" (one of my favorite late-night cable rerun options). After wondering who she played, I remembered - Rudy's teacher! The one who used to give Kenny a hard time. Between her and Phyilicia Rashad appearing in "A Raisin in the Sun", it's a Cosby takeover of Broadway! Or something like that...