Note 4: Wicked

‘If every musical has a brain, a heart and the courage of Wicked, Broadway really would be a magical place’

-       Richard Zoglin, Time

Walt Disney’s 3-D movie ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ led all films for the second week in a row, taking in 42.2 million dollars, according to studio estimates on Sunday, March 17, 2013.Sam Raimi’s prequel to the L. Frank Baum classic ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ also earned 46.6 million dollars overseas, Fox News reported.

With the data shown above, it seems that every adaption about ‘Oz’ could own good reputation. And the musical I’m going to introduce today is another brilliant adaption of ‘OZ’; it is called ‘Wicked’. Winner of 35 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

The reasons why I highly recommend Wicked is because it contains almost every element that makes a good musical, including choreography with dapper precision, set of elaborate- looking Kingdom of Oz, and of course the enchanting music that you can actually leave the theatre humming. Moreover, the story itself is as well attractive. The contrast between young woman, who wind up as reluctant roomates at sorcery school, is used to examine a society that values surface over substance, the illusion of doing good over the genuinely noble act. And this time the songs I encourage you to listen to is ‘For good’ and ‘ defying gravity’. They are all songs with touching lyrics and beautiful rhythm. Every time when I am down, listen to the songs always help me find my courage back again. Hope everyone could enjoy the songs like I do.