Celebrating Musicals Blog Party: Wicked

Miss Dashwood (Or Gertie, as I'm privileged to call her), is a lovely young lady who runs Yet Another Period Drama which has a whole fandom of its own. Seriously. Like fan-girls and fans of fan-girls, etc. She's witty and funny and knows far too many lines of musicals for her own good. You can't read a post without either a song lyric or a movie-quote coming out a couple times. And you know how Sarah and I (and all the rest) love Broadway musicals!
So when dear Gertie went ahead and announced the Celebrate Musicals Week, in fine detail, I knew we had to participate! This blog has been absolutely dull as powder when it comes to "Audience Participation", you know, so we are hoping that if we come to the party, y'all will join us. ;)
The directions for Celebrate Musicals Week are that we, as the bloggers, were to choose one musical (go ahead and cut off my other arm and legs, m'kay?) and write several posts about it throughout the party. (There are to be tags and such as well.) Sarah and I really wanted to do Newsies, but after some thought we changed our minds and we will be focusing on the Wizard of Oz-inspired Broadway musical: Wicked.

Wicked is one of those musicals that you would find yourself humming before you even knew the story behind the show because the music is just that catchy and just that good. I have heard that the books Wicked is based off are no good at all--rather skanky in parts--so please don't trot off and get them from the library. But: "the music! ahhhh, such music..." as Mr. Tumnus would say. It's brilliant. From "Dancing Through Life" to "For Good", from ""Defying Gravity" to "Popular", Wicked is stuffed with the best of Broadway. As far as plot goes, the show follows the lives of Glinda, and the Wicked Witches of the East and West as well as the Tin-Man, the Scarecrow, and The Cowardly Lion of Wizard of Oz fame...but with a definite twist that will leave you on the edge of your seat with a lump in your throat. A must watch for fans of Oz!

 

So to kick off the party, let's start with some facts about this brilliant, passionate show!

• During the first big "quick change" of the show, 17 actors change from the mob to students in 1.5 minutes (including costumes, wigs, and shoes).
• In one year, the costuming department on Broadway used 1,000 feet of steel cable to restring the flying monkeys' wings.

 

• There are 179 different types and finishes of leather used in shoes, gloves, hats, and costume trims in the show.
• The show (on Broadway) uses 250 pounds of dry ice per show, while the traveling casts use 200. 
• The dragon's wingspan is the same as a Cessna 172
• All 90 wigs are made of human hair and specially crafted to fit the hairline of the actor wearing it for the most realistic look!
• Wicked was Broadway's #1 show for nine consecutive years.
• Wicked recovered it's $14,000,000 investment in 14 months. (Most shows take 2-3 years)

  

Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth started the roles and, in my humblest of Broadway-fan's opinions, think that there will never be a pairing quite this amazing. Kristen really is Galinda ("It's Guh-Linda..."), I'm quite certain, and for passion and heart and the ensuing bitterness when that heart is shattered, no one can match Idina Menzel. All you have to do is listen to "Defying Gravity" and hear the pathos in her voice.

In the week to come, stay tuned for our review of seeing the show live, The Modern Girls' Guide to Glitz by Galinda, The Introvert's Guide to Falling in Love and Flying With It by Elphaba, and more! So get your sparkle on, tame a flying monkey, and get ready for a week of  Oz-someness! ;)