What Makes Wicked So Popular? We Find Out at Sunderland Empire
Living North's Arts Editor finally sees Wicked for the first time
It’s pretty shameful to call myself an Arts Editor having never seen one of the most successful musicals of all time. But with the film adaptation heading to screens very soon, I couldn’t miss this opportunity.
It’s not like I didn’t know what to expect. You must’ve been living under a rock if you’ve never heard Defying Gravity or Popular. But I was interested to see how the story comes together. It turns out the Wicked Witch of the West might not have been quite as wicked as everyone in Munchkinland made out – just don’t tell that to the audiences seeing the Wizard of Oz musical or it won’t have quite the same effect. We all know the Wizard is a sham, but I was surprised to see this far-from-wonderful take on the character, brilliantly played by Simeon Truby.
L. Frank Baum’s characters from the Wizard of Oz are iconic, and it was always going to be fun to see how their backstories have been reimagined. Glinda The Good (or Gaaahlinda with a ‘Gaaah’ at first) is ditsy, she’s ‘popular’, but she can be a good friend. In this production she’s played by the energetic Sarah O’Connor who really shines in the song Popular (her voice doesn’t falter whilst she prances around the stage). Her operatic tones sneak through in act two.
The Wicked Witch of the West, or Elphaba, played by Wakefield’s-own Laura Pick is a phenomenal singer and a strong storyteller – the elongated applause following The Wizard and I, and later Defying Gravity (at the end of act one) proves that. I particularly enjoyed the hint-dropping in act one showing who would become the lion, tin man and scarecrow.
This seamless show is a joy to watch. We didn’t even notice Glinda being strapped in and out of her ‘bubble’ to fly on and off stage and the use of the curtain in act two to disguise Elphaba’s ‘melting’ is genius, after a subtle mention of ‘smoke and mirrors’. The flying monkeys and the moving dragon attached to the top of the stage just add to the magic of this musical masterpiece. It’s a multi-record breaking and critically-acclaimed touring production, and we can see why.
It was always ‘gonna be popular’, and you’ll be green with envy if you don’t get tickets!
See Wicked at Sunderland Empire until Sunday 20th October. Tickets are available at atgtickets.com.
