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Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Still ‘popular’: ‘Wicked’ soars again in its return to Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle: After more than two decades on stage, “Wicked” remains, in Glinda’s words, undeniably “popular.” And it’s easy to see why. With an inventive story, resonant themes and an iconic score, the show continues to strike all the right notes.
7 comments:
Eliana Stevens
said...
First things first, Wicked being as popular as it is for this long is a testament to the deep storytelling and the deep character work and the lyrics, the melody, the costumes, the scenery, and the choreography. Everything is so well thought through, and truly every little detail shines on stage to create what it is today. I'm deeply saddened that I am unable to see this production as it comes to the Benedum this season. Wicked has always held a special place in my heart and will always be one of my favorite shows because of the deep storytelling, and even if audiences aren't realizing that's why they love this show, it shines inThe ticket sales and truly how long this show has been able to survive and run throughout Broadway and tours. It is also a special place for this show to come to the city becauseStephen Schwart,z who is a Carnegie Mellon University alumnus, and also Jeff Goldblum, who just played the wizard in the moviesWicked and Wicked for goodWas born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Which makes Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a special hometown to wicked
Wicked was one of the first musicals I heard about when I was little. I still remember the iconic green and pink color representations of Elphaba and Glinda. I was so excited to hear that it would be coming to Pittsburgh before the semester started, and I purchased tickets right away. This will be my first time watching Wicked live. For Good, Popular, and Defying Gravity has long enlightened my vocal practice journey. I've long heard that we have CMU alumni who participated in the creation of Wicked, and this is my first time to look into our fantastic Stephen Schwartz. The article mentions the strong Jewish history of this show, which introduced me to a whole new perspective that I've never noticed before. The theme of an outsider and the pain of prejudice is the main conflict for Elphaba and Glinda that is deeply tied to Jewish experience. I am so excited to bring this new perspective to my Wicked live experience this weekend.
I, hopefully if the weather wants to behave, get to see Wicked this weekend! I’ve seen this show with two different casts in the past, once on Broadway and once on tour back in Tampa. It actually was my first show I have seen, so it does bring back memories. Wicked is one of the longest running shows, and without a doubt it’s earned. It’s one of those timeless pieces where regardless of your age or anything else, you can still connect to it and enjoy it. While it was innovative at the time, it unfortunately isn't innovative anymore, however, it’s still going as strong as it was 20 years ago, which is quite impressive. It’s quite cool to see the background of it, specifically its Jewish history, and something I never knew. It was very interesting to learn and a cool fact. Thinking about it now, you can kinda see it, especially in the examples they gave.
I found this article extremely interesting, and as a Jewish drama student at CMU I felt a big connection to this! I of course knew that Stephen Schwartz, a CMU alum, was the composer of Wicked, but I never knew about the other influences that Pittsburgh had on the musical! I am so excited to see this production on Sunday night, as long as the weather is not too bad! I have seen a touring production of Wicked in Houston, and it was amazing! Wicked is so special because it carries an incredibly important message while being extremely entertaining at the same time! Wicked was already extremely successful before the movies released, but I am so glad about all of the attention that the movies drew that this musical would not have gotten otherwise. This musical is such a spectacle in the best way possible! I am sure that Wicked has and will continue to inspire many to go into the arts!
As a Jewish woman in the theatre arts, I have always felt that Wicked was special to my community and me. I do not know if it's the story or Idina Menzel's performance in the role, but I have always felt like the show was important to the Jewish community. He's the guy who wrote one of the greatest animated soundtracks of all time, The Prince of Egypt! Awesome. I never knew that a Jewish CMU alumnus worked on the show, let alone wrote the show. It is also awesome to see a Pittsburgh, PA native working as the Wizard on the film! I thought he honestly was not a great actor in the first one (and I haven't seen the second one), but it feels nice to see the Pennsylvania nation in one of the highest grossing films of 2025. The themes of the show are also really topical, and I'm glad the tour is going everywhere to spread the message of Wicked.
I am so sad I couldn’t see the Wicked tour when it came to Pittsburgh. Although I am not the biggest wicked fan, I do love any chance I can get to see some good live theater and I have never actually seen a stage production of the Wicked musical. I have listened to the sound track and seen both movies and my opinion just from that is that it is just a little bit too long for my attention span. The music is really well written but it's not personally my vibe of musical, and the plot is very interesting but it just takes too long to get to the really interesting stuff (at least for the movies) that I had just completely lost interest in. However! I do really want to give the stage production a chance because it is how the show was originally written to be seen and I truly believe that almost all forms of art and media should stick to how they're originally written/made to be. I hope I can see this or another production of wicked someday soon.
I need to be so real. I only saw Wicked when I was like 12 and haven’t even seen the movies that came out recently, despite it’s popularity soaring right now. There is definitely a reason for it’s popularity though. The costumes, scenery, storytelling, music, characters, everything, in these movies have been a testament to making the franchise as popular as it is today which is quite impressive. Wicked was one of the first broadway shows I had ever seen as a kid and I would love to see it again some day. Senior year of highschool I even had to play a Wicked song in my orchestra for our graduation. This was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I had never really gotten the importance of the message until years later. I think everyone should see this show at least once in their lifetime since it is a classic and very important to pop culture especially in this day and age.
7 comments:
First things first, Wicked being as popular as it is for this long is a testament to the deep storytelling and the deep character work and the lyrics, the melody, the costumes, the scenery, and the choreography. Everything is so well thought through, and truly every little detail shines on stage to create what it is today. I'm deeply saddened that I am unable to see this production as it comes to the Benedum this season. Wicked has always held a special place in my heart and will always be one of my favorite shows because of the deep storytelling, and even if audiences aren't realizing that's why they love this show, it shines inThe ticket sales and truly how long this show has been able to survive and run throughout Broadway and tours. It is also a special place for this show to come to the city becauseStephen Schwart,z who is a Carnegie Mellon University alumnus, and also Jeff Goldblum, who just played the wizard in the moviesWicked and Wicked for goodWas born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Which makes Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a special hometown to wicked
Wicked was one of the first musicals I heard about when I was little. I still remember the iconic green and pink color representations of Elphaba and Glinda. I was so excited to hear that it would be coming to Pittsburgh before the semester started, and I purchased tickets right away. This will be my first time watching Wicked live. For Good, Popular, and Defying Gravity has long enlightened my vocal practice journey. I've long heard that we have CMU alumni who participated in the creation of Wicked, and this is my first time to look into our fantastic Stephen Schwartz. The article mentions the strong Jewish history of this show, which introduced me to a whole new perspective that I've never noticed before. The theme of an outsider and the pain of prejudice is the main conflict for Elphaba and Glinda that is deeply tied to Jewish experience. I am so excited to bring this new perspective to my Wicked live experience this weekend.
I, hopefully if the weather wants to behave, get to see Wicked this weekend! I’ve seen this show with two different casts in the past, once on Broadway and once on tour back in Tampa. It actually was my first show I have seen, so it does bring back memories. Wicked is one of the longest running shows, and without a doubt it’s earned. It’s one of those timeless pieces where regardless of your age or anything else, you can still connect to it and enjoy it. While it was innovative at the time, it unfortunately isn't innovative anymore, however, it’s still going as strong as it was 20 years ago, which is quite impressive. It’s quite cool to see the background of it, specifically its Jewish history, and something I never knew. It was very interesting to learn and a cool fact. Thinking about it now, you can kinda see it, especially in the examples they gave.
I found this article extremely interesting, and as a Jewish drama student at CMU I felt a big connection to this! I of course knew that Stephen Schwartz, a CMU alum, was the composer of Wicked, but I never knew about the other influences that Pittsburgh had on the musical! I am so excited to see this production on Sunday night, as long as the weather is not too bad! I have seen a touring production of Wicked in Houston, and it was amazing! Wicked is so special because it carries an incredibly important message while being extremely entertaining at the same time! Wicked was already extremely successful before the movies released, but I am so glad about all of the attention that the movies drew that this musical would not have gotten otherwise. This musical is such a spectacle in the best way possible! I am sure that Wicked has and will continue to inspire many to go into the arts!
As a Jewish woman in the theatre arts, I have always felt that Wicked was special to my community and me. I do not know if it's the story or Idina Menzel's performance in the role, but I have always felt like the show was important to the Jewish community. He's the guy who wrote one of the greatest animated soundtracks of all time, The Prince of Egypt! Awesome. I never knew that a Jewish CMU alumnus worked on the show, let alone wrote the show. It is also awesome to see a Pittsburgh, PA native working as the Wizard on the film! I thought he honestly was not a great actor in the first one (and I haven't seen the second one), but it feels nice to see the Pennsylvania nation in one of the highest grossing films of 2025. The themes of the show are also really topical, and I'm glad the tour is going everywhere to spread the message of Wicked.
I am so sad I couldn’t see the Wicked tour when it came to Pittsburgh. Although I am not the biggest wicked fan, I do love any chance I can get to see some good live theater and I have never actually seen a stage production of the Wicked musical. I have listened to the sound track and seen both movies and my opinion just from that is that it is just a little bit too long for my attention span. The music is really well written but it's not personally my vibe of musical, and the plot is very interesting but it just takes too long to get to the really interesting stuff (at least for the movies) that I had just completely lost interest in. However! I do really want to give the stage production a chance because it is how the show was originally written to be seen and I truly believe that almost all forms of art and media should stick to how they're originally written/made to be. I hope I can see this or another production of wicked someday soon.
I need to be so real. I only saw Wicked when I was like 12 and haven’t even seen the movies that came out recently, despite it’s popularity soaring right now. There is definitely a reason for it’s popularity though. The costumes, scenery, storytelling, music, characters, everything, in these movies have been a testament to making the franchise as popular as it is today which is quite impressive. Wicked was one of the first broadway shows I had ever seen as a kid and I would love to see it again some day. Senior year of highschool I even had to play a Wicked song in my orchestra for our graduation. This was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I had never really gotten the importance of the message until years later. I think everyone should see this show at least once in their lifetime since it is a classic and very important to pop culture especially in this day and age.
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