Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Despite a lackluster economy and soaring unemployment the musical "Wicked" is still defying gravity. On its third pass through Pittsburgh as a presentation of PNC Broadway Across America — Pittsburgh the show has already sold all but a few tickets for its four-week run at the Benedum Center, Downtown. The Broadway production continues to sell out most performances, eight years after its debut. The two national tours and four international companies have similar success. It doesn't take an economic genius to see why.
Friday, September 09, 2011
'Wicked' still delivers value for the money
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Despite a lackluster economy and soaring unemployment the musical "Wicked" is still defying gravity. On its third pass through Pittsburgh as a presentation of PNC Broadway Across America — Pittsburgh the show has already sold all but a few tickets for its four-week run at the Benedum Center, Downtown. The Broadway production continues to sell out most performances, eight years after its debut. The two national tours and four international companies have similar success. It doesn't take an economic genius to see why.
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7 comments:
With the amount of money the popular show has been able to bring in since it's Broadway debut, it makes me wonder if the writers are considering a sequel to the show. The storyline is already there in Gregory MacGuire's books waiting to be adapted for the stage. Most stage sequels don't seem to be as successful, though. Creating a sequel would very likely just try to overshadow the original popularity of Wicked and then fall short, something no one wants to see. I hope Wicked continues to see such success.
I am always amazed at how wonderfully received Wicked has been throughout its years on tour. It seems to me that several adaptations of books have been turned into musicals in the years since Wicked appeared, but none have had the same level of success, and the writer of this article seems to have a very clear understanding as to why that is.
I also have wondered whether an attempt at a sequel will be made. After all, they did it with Phantom! I think if that is ever the case, it will be much later, so as not to overshadow, or ruin, the success that Wicked is still hanging onto.
As one of apparently very few students in the school of drama who has never seen Wicked all I can really say is that I'd like to finally see what all the hype is about. Having had an opportunity to see the set backstage it felt very small, at least compared to a Chosky show. There's a lot more squeezed into that space, but it had a feel of a very small stage at least until you walked behind the set and saw the cavern that is the Benedum. I realize that the Benedum is one of the larger stages around, but I still couldn't help thinking that the set somehow felt lost in there.
Wicked's run has been pretty spectacular. The story seems to have just the right mixture of drama, depth and reference to satisfy, while giving a new light to familiar characters. I'm interested to see how the tour differs from the permanent productions - like Tom said, I had the same experience of the set getting lost in the space with both Phantom and Young Frankenstein.
The issue with Gregory Maguire's sequels is they focus on characters that do not appear, or peripherally, in the musical - Liir (Elphaba and Fiyero's son in Son of a Witch) and the Cowardly Lion (seen only as a cub in school at Shiz). Part of the power of Wicked is in revealing more about Elphaba and Glinda, making them real people. I just don't think enough people have exposure to the books nor will make the connections necessary to invest in these other characters.
I remember seeing Wicked for the first time when I was really young in middle school. I was so impressed and astounded. It was my first ever Broadway show. I was caught up in the magic. It's no wonder it had lasted so long not only on Broadway but on tour and in Chicago and LA too. I'm not sure if a sequel would be the best idea though. I've read the book sequel "Son of Witch" and like Brian I don't think it would make a great sequel to the musical Wicked. There are characters that simply weren't introduced and some characters end of dying that make it to the end of the musical but not in the book. I wouldn't mind though going back to OZ and seeing another great musical.
"Wicked" was the first musical I ever saw on Broadway, and it still is my favorite as of yet. The music is catchy, fun and well written and the story is familiar but with a twist. I agree with Brian and Abby, turning the book into a musical sequel wouldn't have the same star power and wouldn't translate as well to the same audience. With a new tour, it seems that Wicked will only continue to bring in money. Wicked was at the tail end of an era of truly well done musicals, and I hope that we can get back to a few decent shows. The specitical of Wicked and Lion King may have spurred many of the musicals as of late, but they had a bit more quality. Less jukebox, more fantastic and smart.
I think a very real part of Wicked's success has to do with the fact that the same people who will see it over and over again and not wanting anything new out of the show. It is also one of the few shows that seems to have reached beyond the normal fans of musicals and entered into the world of normal music. While I am not a huge Wicked fan, it is hard to make a case against against what ever it is there doing to keep the interest in the show as alive as it has been.
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