Theatre / Ashleigh Gray
Review: Wicked, Bristol Hippodrome
Inspired by the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the musical Wicked is in fact based on a novel by Gregory Maguire – itself inspired by L. Frank Baum’s 1900 Oz tales. Is Wicked, then, the ultimate expression of fan fiction? Or an ode to female emancipation?
Perhaps as a nod to the fact that Baum’s wife was an early pioneer for women’s rights, the land of Oz repeatedly paints women as the wise and righteous ones, and men as the idiotic frauds. And in Wicked the picture is no different.
The first half is a veritable medley of Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Step Up and Harry Potter. At boarding school we meet witches-in-waiting Glinda (Emily Tierney) and Elphaba (Ashleigh Gray), with Glinda just a heel-tap away from teaching Elphaba to bend-and-snap.
Needless to say, blonde and beautiful Glinda and green and gruesome Elphaba are not the best of friends. But after going to the prom and bonding via a makeover, the two are BFFs before the interval drinks are lined up.
However, the second half is where the trouble lies. Sadly – and I’m not sure this is what Baum had in mind – the witches fall out over the love of a handsome man, Fiyero (Samuel Edwards). Pitching one against the other, their devious headmistress (Marilyn Cutts) dispatches them to the mysterious Wizard of Oz (Steven Pinder). And although we know from the film that the latter is not all that he seems, Wicked tells us that we had no idea just how truly, well, wicked he is.
If Wicked tells us anything, it is that looks can be deceiving. Elphaba may be grisly green, but she’s also an ardent animal-rights activist who’s been misnamed as the Wickedest Witch of the West by a world that is truly evil itself. And Glinda may portray herself as goodness personified – but she’s nothing more than a sham. And as for that wizard…
With steampunk-infused, Hunger Games-esque costumes, a sterling performance from the live orchestra and vocal acrobatics to tie you in knots, Wicked is a rousing, heart-lifting show for even the most cowardly of big cats.
There are nods aplenty to the movie (“What’s in the punch?” “Lemons and limes and pears, oh my”), and we learn the origins of the tin man, the cowardly lion and the scarecrow (oh, the poor scarecrow). Even Tick Tock from the 1985 sequel gets a mention. But as the wizard himself says, “Truth is not a thing.”
So if we leave Wicked with no other message, it is that nothing is what it seems.
Wicked continues at Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday, March 21. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.atgtickets.com/shows/wicked/bristol-hippodrome
Pics: Matt Crockett
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