The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

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No one Mourns the Wicked...

If you ever get the chance to go on Broadway and hit the theatres, you simply must see Wicked. The power of its orchestra and amazing vocal talents absolutely blew me away.

Synapsis:

After the harrowing adventure of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, we flash back to the Good Witch Glinda's school days where she met The Wicked Witch of the West (who then wasn't so wicked,) Elphaba. The pair despised each other, but soon they became the best of friends after a few good deeds towards each other.

The two headed for the Emerald City to visit the Wizard, in hopes that he could solve Elphaba's problem. She's a little green, you see, and people judge her too much from her simple exterior. The wizard makes her recite a spell to test her Magic capabilities when suddenly, it backfires. Elphaba is branded a Wicked Witch after her good deeds go awry.

Eventually, the "victims" of Elphaba's reign as Wicked Witch get back at her by recruiting Dorothy (whose character doesn't actually appear in the play) to melt her with water. But what really happened? I'm not going to tell.

Review:

Wicked has an addictive quality to it, which I find essential in a Broadway Musical. After it was over, the remainder of my trip to New York consisted of singing the catchy up-beat songs featured on the soundtrack. The set design was amazing, using bright colours and out-of-this-world effects to emphasize almost every detail. Not to mention there was a lot of green.

The sheer power of the vocalists blew my mind. Saycon Sengbloh (Understudy for Elphaba) was the one who stood out the most. The finale of the first act left goosebums on my skin. Not only was she suspended by a harness near the top of the auditorium, she was beltnig out notes I can barely hit on the ground. There were many points during the performance where I could have sworn she didn't need a microphone.

The orchestra was well-varied and tonally phenomenal. They worked as one unit and the tuning between chords and sections was remarkable. I cannot stress enough how great this musical is, and you'd have to see it yourself to fully believe it.

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