“The Wizard of Oz” has given me the creeps since I was a little kid, and not only because of those flying monkeys. You try being the shortest kid in class and having a coven of five older brothers maliciously whispering to you, “See those munchkins? Some people just never … ever … grow up.”
Talk about wicked.
I found nearly everything about “Oz” to be frightening, starting with a tornado capable of uprooting your entire house – any kid’s foundation. A yellow brick road that promises hope but leads nowhere but to the realization that no one is in charge. Talk about unsettling.
Most kids learned there’s no place like home. I learned there’s really no getting away from home.
“Wicked” is the musical juggernaut that takes a sympathetic look at just how this ostracized young girl of color (green) turned into the Wicked Witch of the West. It’s not like she was born evil. Nasty people, probably with younger brothers, made her that way.
I never cared a lick about pouty Dorothy, her trio of foolish friends or her little dog, too. From my first and probably only full viewing, I sympathized with the shrill shrew.
The movie never actually shows the witch do much more than cackle. When we meet her, her sister has been crushed by a house, and some Jayhawk interloper has stolen her shoes. Yes, stolen. Even at 8, I knew no court of law from Denver to Oz would rule the witch couldn’t legally inherit her sister’s stupid ruby shoes. Dorothy was a thief. Dad said I should have been a lawyer.
As the film progresses, the worst thing the hag does is threaten the Scarecrow with fire – but c’mon: Dorothy and friends have come into her castle to steal her broom. To attack her. This is a textbook application of the Make My Day statute. (Hey, maybe I should have been a lawyer.)
You can call me crazy, but Victoria Matlock is with me. She’s the University of Northern Colorado graduate who’s coming home to star as Elphaba when the “Wicked” tour returns for a month of capacity houses at the Buell Theatre.
“As Elphaba, I wholeheartedly agree with you on this,” Matlock said with a chuckle from a tour stop in Dallas. “I think those shoes are mine, and that girl has no right to them.
“One of my favorite lines in the show is, ‘She steals a dead woman’s shoes? She must have been raised in a barn!’ It makes perfect sense.”
“Wicked,” based on author Gregory Maguire’s allegorical prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” is the most anticipated local stage return since “The Lion King.”
The first time it played here in September 2005, “Wicked” sold 69,000 tickets, grossing $3.5 million in a three-week run that could have sold out for twice as long. Tickets for this run were immediately put on sale – 20 months in advance – and most of the 90,000 available seats went fast. (Like last time, a number of limited-view seats for each performance will be sold in a daily lottery.)
What’s the appeal? It’s easy to unify against a common enemy, but “Wicked” asks us to consider that our enemy may be of our own making. Elphaba is repeatedly labeled evil until she finally succumbs and becomes exactly what people expect her to be. Audiences see the injustices done to her and root for her to fight back.
“This show gives you perspective on what good and evil really is, and how you can’t judge anyone by their cover,” said Matlock. Or color.
“There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than you can ever know.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
“Wicked”
MUSICAL | National touring production | Starring Victoria Matlock, Christina DeCicco, Barbara Tirrell and P.J. Benjamin | Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets | THROUGH JUNE 3 | 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays (plus 2 p.m. May 10) | 2 hours, 45 minutes
TICKET LOWDOWN | Only limited-view seats remain, up to 70 per show, most in orchestra section. They may be purchased in advance at full price. | $30-$80 | A lottery for all unsold limited-view seats takes place before each performance. You must arrive at the box office 2 1/2 hours before curtain to enter; lottery 30 minutes later. | $25 | Details: 303-893-4100 (800-641-1222 outside Denver) or denvercenter.org.
