Analyzing Wicked

Musicals! Starting with opera, which were almost entirely for the rich (and often very boring). Then came operettas, which were almost entirely comical. Music halls, minstrel shows, vaudeville, and burlesque came and went. Then came the dawning of the greatest form of theater put on stage: the musical. Gilbert and Sullivan brought musicals into the limelight, and there they stayed. Broadway came into the picture, making New York an even more desirable vacation spot. The country gave their love to No No Nanette, Oklahoma, The King and I, The Sound of Music, and many others in their turn. Westside Story, Rent, and others brought the cities onto the stage. After all these faded into the recent history, and left the stage open once again, another new musical came under the hot stage lights. Enter stage right: Wicked.

Wicked is the story of the two witches in the Wizard of Oz. The play opens with the death of the Wicked Witch of the west, and then moves into a flashback of college, when the Wicked Witch (then named Elphaba) and Glinda the Good Witch (then called Galinda) were roommates. The second act is set at the time when Wizard of Oz takes place, but shows what you don't see in the movie.

Through the play, the audience watches Elphaba change. From the beginning, we think we know what is going to happen. She's going to turn wicked because of a hard life. However, through the first act, we only see her grow in integrity and moral strength. Inversely, the people of Oz become more self-centered and prejudiced. This change is brought out even in the music. The harmonies of the people of Oz continue to get more dissonant and sinister, while Elphaba's, if anything, becomes more beautiful. By setting these unexpected changes side by side, the writers question the previously set rules of right and wrong. Are we really the ones being good? Or are we wrong? They stand up for the wicked witch, not only for pity, but in what we see that she stands for.

The biggest part of the witch's integrity is her ability to stand up against the facades of Oz, and against the peer pressure, and what they think is right. She knows what is right, and she does not back down. When the wizard gives her a chance to be acclaimed, and finally accepted, she turns his offer down. The wizard is corrupt, and Elphaba knows it. He turns the entire world against her, but she doesn't back down. This theme, don't back give up your standards for peer pressure, is gloriously emphasized by the finale of the first act: Defying Gravity. She defies the common rules, and by doing that, learns to fly. Everyone else is bogged down with the lies and false pretenses of the wizard. She sings,

"And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free...no one in the land of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever going to bring me down!" (and then the people sing "we have to bring her down")



Glinda is used as a foil to the witch. She only wants to be popular. In pursuit of this goal, she gives up her standards, as well as her friend, and eventually fiancee, because they won't give in to the wickedness of the wizard. Glinda, in the beginning, sings that

"goodness knows the wicked's lives are lonely, goodness knows they die alone."

In the end, Glinda is realizing that she was the wicked one, and that because of her wickedness she is more alone, even with all her popularity, than the "wicked witch" ever was.



Another motif throughout the play is that of friendship. Glinda becomes Elphaba's friend, and throughout the story, their friendship continues, despite their varied paths. Elphaba forgives Glinda for working for the wizard, and understands her obsession with popularity. Glinda even starts to understand why Elphaba did the things she did. In the end, just before the melting of the witch, they sing

"who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

Their friendship, and wish for eachother's happiness is heart-melting. Glinda tries to protect the witch as much as possible, even though she stilll keeps up appearances. In the end, however, when the witch has been melted, Glinda now realizes what's wrong with the the wonderful wizard of Oz, and what was right with the wicked witch of the west.


Wicked is my favorite Broadway musical ever, and I listen to the CD a lot. It makes you think, and breaks barriers in your childhood conception of the witch, and makes you wonder about the misconceptions you may have made about people in your own life. With its sinister foreshadowing, puns, morals, and GREAT music, Wicked is up there with the best of them.