It Ain't Easy Being Green

Despite the fact that my body has finally rebelled against the s*** that I've been putting it through and officially declared itself 'sick' this week, Steve and I dressed up and went downtown to the Canon Theatre to see Wicked yesterday evening, a night I had been looking forward to since October, when I heard it was coming to Toronto. And in all respects, Elphaba and company didn't fail to impress.

The musical is based on the book by Gregory Maguire, which I devoured last month in anticipation of seeing the show. I think part of the reason why I liked it so much is because Wicked works on a few levels - one one hand, its a magical, fantastical world, populated with animals that talk, munchkins named Boq, witches, queens and a Harry Potter-esque school for sorcery named Shiz; on the other hand, there's a lot going on under the surface: Wicked is about the ambiguity of good and evil, the limits of a friendship, the danger of political consipracy and the nature of fear. It had me at once rooting for the 'bad' guy and the 'good' guy. In short, it was a smart, smart book: clever, hilarious at times, but also poignantly self-aware. And even from the back row of the enormous Canon Theatre, I was entirely involved in the world onstage in front of me.

The music was done by Stephen Schwartz and although fairly 'pop-y' (unbearably so at times), several of the songs -"Defying Gravity", "Dancing Through Life", "Popular", "For Good"- were powerful, fresh and strong. Backed up with voices like Stephanie J. Block's, whose soaring vocals and green skin won my heart in the role of Elphaba, any of the songs sounded beautiful. The set in itself, an evolving, growing, breathing world that was in constant motion to keep up with the fast paced story, was worth the price of the ticket. In short, I'm impressed. The world of Wicked is as familiar as it is imaginary, and is populated with people that we have all met, people that we may even see in ourselves. In the words of Glinda the Good (the 'guh' is silent), I don't know if I've changed for the better, but I've been changed for good.