A WICKED time

Everything you need to know about the musical's 20th-anniversary production in Sydney - and more.

- JOAN KONG

Twenty years, US$5 billion, 65 million people, over 100 awards, 16 countries, 6 languages and the 4th longest-running production in Broadway history. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d have heard of Wicked The Musical — the play based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Called “Broadway’s biggest blockbuster” by The New York Times and “the defining musical of the decade” by the Times, Wicked is a must-see — especially when the movie version is scheduled to release next year.

After two failed attempts at watching the play on Broadway, fate finally came calling as I was invited to the opening night down under. Held at The Star’s Lyric Theatre in Sydney, the production features an Australian cast led by Courtney Monsma as Glinda the Good and Sheridan Adams as Elphaba, who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. A chat with associate producer Jeremy Juillerat revealed that there were a whopping 2,000 submissions for the 33 characters, and the cast is ultimately made up of theatre pros and newbies. This is Adams’ first leading role.

A prequel to The Wizard of Oz and set long before Dorothy dropped in, Wicked tells the story of two young women who meet in the land of Oz. There’s Glinda, who’s bubbly, blonde, ambitious and exceptionally popular. And there’s Elphaba, a smart, fiery, misunderstood yet talented girl who’s born with emerald-green skin. Together, they were enemies, then friends, and regardless of which team you’re on, the story delves into themes of friendship, identity and standing up for one’s beliefs. It’s proof that good and evil are, to some degree, a matter of perspective.