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Wicked the Musical: A review

On Friday the 24th of August 2007, I went to see Wicked the Musical at the Apollo theatre in Victoria London with my family. Wicked is the story behind the witches of Oz whom Dorothy encounters in the book (or film) the Wizard of Oz. It's based on the friendship between Glinda (the good witch) and Elphaba (who becomes the wicked witch of the west). The musical is based on the book of the same name by Gregory Maguire and lasts for three hours.

This musical has had very good reviews but I went into it being unsure of what to expect, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The story drew me in from the very beginning and was compelling to watch. You were really made to care about the characters and what happened to them. The songs were instantly catchy and the actors and actresses involved were all amazing. In the performance that I saw the part of Elphaba was played by an actress called Kerry Ellis, who without a doubt has one of the most powerful voices that I have heard - which is saying something, as I have been to see a number of the big musicals.

While the story and the singing was amazing, another thing which was truly awe inspiring was the staging. The stage has a huge moving mechanical dragon above it, which occasionally lets out a roar, but other than that the stage was fairly minimal, which just made what they managed to do with it more impressive. Good use was made of the height of the stage, with several characters flying at different points throughout the production (as is to be expected in a play about witches). Even though we were sitting quite close to the back, we were still able to see everything that was going on.

I would rank this musical as being among the best that I have seen, and would definitely recommend it. There wasn’t a dull moment in the whole three hours, and the production definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. The only word of warning that I would give is that some of the scenes, especially those involving the wizard, could be slightly scary for young children, so this is something to consider. However other than this, I have no other negative comments about this musical, and would give it 9/10, I can see this soon becoming a classic.

Reviewed by randdom.