A few weeks back on Ugly Betty there was a rather major tie-in with the musical “Wicked”. It worked so well as a promotional tool it had David downloading the Broadway Cast Soundtrack for it off iTunes Store. When he first mentioned that he was going to download it I thought he was crazy.
We had only heard snippets from a couple of songs, and how good could a musical based on the witches of Oz be? How wrong I was!
For the past couple of weeks, the Wicked soundtrack is pretty much ALL I have listened to. The music is awesome, the storyline even more so.
Basically the story is about Glinda (the Good) and Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and opens with “No one mourns the Wicked”; a celebration at the death of Elphaba after her melting by Dorothy.
The story is based on the novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire, it paints a very different and plausible view of a witch who’s image was manipulated and controlled to appear “wicked” due to the fact that she was standing up against the administration of Oz. I can see this one becoming a movie.
The musical is currently touring North America and is playing in London’s West End. Pre-production for a show here in Melbourne is due to start early next year, with tickets for shows going on sale at the end of January.
It is a show we will definitely be attending, at least once. I’m hoping to receive the book for Christmas and then move on to the rest of Gregory Maguire’s tales which follow on from it, include “Son of Witch“, the story of Elphaba’s child.
Damn product placement advertising, I guess it works quite well.
Check out the site for the Australian Production, which includes a trailer.