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Wicked is wicked, in a very weird magical kind of way
WICKED
Apollo
HMMMMMMM.. How did that happen? I went to a musical. There were hardly any good songs. The vocal performances were lightweight. Yet I still had a great time. How does that work?
Wicked is a stunning, spellbinding musical but, strangely, you don’t go home humming on the night bus home.
Instead, savour the dancing, the lavish set, loony costumes and the cheap gags. More importantly, lap up the surprisingly engaging story of how the Wicked Witch of the West (Idina Menzel) from The Wizard of Oz book (or film, if you didn’t go to school) wasn’t so bad after all.
She’s just misunderstood because of her head-to-toe lime green skin. Why she should be such an outcast in a world where goats walk around and talk like humans, monkeys fly and tin-pot men want quality conversation is anyone’s guess.
But she is. So they give her a crooked black hat and make out she is the wickedest witch ever. Meanwhile, her college roomie Glinda (Helen Dallimore) is vain and cheerleader stupid but popular because of her blonde hair. She stumbles into being a good witch.
Together they go off to see The Wizard and he isn’t all he’s cracked up to be – in fact he’s just Nigel Planer, the guy from The Young Ones.
At times it all gets too preachy, if you need a green-skinned witch to tell you that being mean to someone on the basis of their appearance, then heaven help us all.
But for all the schmaltz, this is a genuinely charming show. There were signs Wicked could become a cult show playing on somewhere in the world for years to come.
Until Feb 24
0870 040 0070
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