Wicked Broadway

Doomacheal
Sep 7, 2018
2 min read

Seeing Wicked on Broadway has long been a dream of mine since I saw the show in Australia many years ago. It’s something that always seemed so far away and an experience that I would have to wait a long time to have. So for it to be the first show I saw when I visited New York in August 2018 seemed like the perfect thing to do.

Wicked tells the story of two unlikely friends, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (whose name later changes to Glinda the Good Witch), who struggle through opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love interest, reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government and ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace.

Being handed my very first Playbill was such a surreal thing. I’d heard so many stories of people collecting them and it being an essential part of the Broadway experience. So to now have my own little and very treasured collection of Playbills is something that I will cherish forever.

Wicked opened on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre in 2003. It has performed over 6000 shows and is currently the 6th longest running Broadway musical in history.

This production of Wicked stars Jessica Vosk as Elphaba, Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda, Curt Hansen as Fiyero, Kevin Chamberlin as The Wizard, Isabel Keating as Madame Morrible, Jye Frasca as Boc and Kristen Martin as Nessarose.

Jessica Vosk is a wonderful Elphaba. Her vocal range blew my mind and in my opinion does one of the best renditions of No Good Deed I’ve ever heard. And Amanda Jane Cooper’s portrayal of Glinda reminded me very much of Kristin Chenoweth.

I’ve seen Wicked many times when it toured Australia and it was really interesting to see the differences from that set to the one found on Broadway. Because the Broadway production is permanent, where as the Australian production moved around the country quite often, the set is fuller and has more detail to it. The sides of the stage are much more intricate and then there are many different lighting changes for parts like Dancing Through Life and One Short Day. There were also little prop changes such as the cart Fiyero arrives on having a full on mechanical beast carrying the cart. All of these differences made the show feel just that little bit fresher for me and it was really fun to actively search for changes.

After seeing the show 3 times during my trip. I’ve now seen the show a total of 14 times!! It is something that I hold very close to my heart and has helped get me through some very trying times in life. Nothing about it gets old for me. The characters, the dialogue, the jokes, the music, all of it means the world to me and I know that someday I’ll be back siting in the beautiful Gershwin Theater watching the show again 💚💖