SPECTACULAR, sensational, spellbinding...
It is easy to run away with the hyperbole and hocuspocus in theatre reviews, but with Wicked you can believe every fantastical thing!
If there were a recipe for conjuring up the ultimate stage musical, this is it.
The reaction of an enraptured Mayflower crowd last night, who gave it a thunderous standing ovation, said it all.
Of course, we read the statistics: 100 international awards including three Tony Awards on Broadway, the Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album and the UK’s prestigious Olivier Award for Most Popular Show.
The UK touring production recently celebrated its 400th performance, while in London – now in its ninth year – it has been seen by over six million people and is the tenth longestrunning show in the West End.
I was utterly enchanted from the start. Like so many people who have grown up repeatedly watching the Wizard of Oz I was instantly hooked on the untold back-story of Glinda, the Good Witch, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
What makes this plot so exciting is that it covers what takes place before, simultaneously with and after the well known Wizard of Oz tale.
It is all rather revelatory as we realise we have only had a very blinkered knowledge of the two witches until now.
“Are people born wicked or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” is a question put to us at the outset.
And as the show explores the themes of good versus evil, prejudice and diversity, and the adage “don’t judge the book by the cover”, we appreciate this moral tale that is delivered with such riotous fun.
Chichester’s Emily Tierney is utterly brilliant as Glinda as we follow her journey from spoilt, beautiful, empty-headed young sorcery student to the kind and powerful Good Witch she becomes.
Ashleigh Gray is a fine match as the green-faced, outcast Wicked Witch who we come to sympathise with.
It is a story about the extraordinary friendship between two very different individuals and when they come together in the final duet For Good a few tears are shed.
Wicked is at the Mayflower Theatre for four weeks only, until November 15. Over 50,000 tickets have already been sold.
It’s too good to miss!
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