Last night, one of my close friends and I went to one of the many local elementary schools in my town where its theater department, called the Student Actors Program, put on this "show" called Broadway Dreamin'; the group performs a handful of musicals (some years it went as high as eight) but would do a couple of scenes/songs from each one. This year, the department put on The Lion King, Willy Wonka, Annie Get Your Gun, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown (the school staff like to put on a scene as well), Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Wicked.
Now because it was an elementary school production, I didn't hold high expectations for it; overall it was a cute little showcase. But my personal favorite was The Lion King and it wasn't because I've always had respect for it even before it went on Broadway. The scenes the "cast" for that section put on was really good and I liked it a lot!
This show started the whole event with the "Circle of Life" (who didn't see that coming?) and ended the event with "Hakuna Matata", "They Live In You" (performed by an older alumni that I know well) and the reprise of "Circle of Life." The guy I know that played Mufasa and sang "They Live In You" sounded great (like eargasm great) and it shocked me because he's not one of my favorite people to talk to and I had to remind myself not to fall in love with his voice.
I wish I recorded the performance but instead I'll put on the Broadway version of it! (As I type, I'm waiting for the Broadway version of The Lion King to finish downloading on iTunes.)
So Disney Pixar recently released a box-office and family-friendly success Frozen. Released on Nov. 27, the story is about two sisters left a kingdom after their parents were lost at sea—the elder, Elsa, has this power where everything she touches turns into ice and runs away from civilization after her powers were discovered; the younger, Anna, craves for a relationship with her sister (who shuts herself away from Anna) and longs to be in love and free from that household. (I know the story is more complex, but this is the abbreviated version.)
Meanwhile, thespians around the world are well aware of Wicked, the prequel to The Wizard of Oz. It describes the backstory of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and how she became the witch we all know and love, but by rebellion against the wizard Oz.
I personally believe Frozen and Wicked have extremely similar qualities. Here are 10 I noticed (feel free to comment).
1. Idina Menzel plays (sings, rather) both main female leads (Elphaba and Elsa), who were both misunderstood and ran from the societies they knew and grew up in. (Not to mention their key songs, Defying Gravity and Let It Go, are about going against the crowd and becoming the person they were meant to be.)
2. Both female leads (Elsa and Elphaba) have magical powers the townsfolk fear.
3. Both supporting girls (Glinda and Anna) are constantly loyal to their companion and seem opposite of them.
4. Both supporting girls are played by well known blondes of the same name (Kristen Bell and Kristin Chenowith).
5. Both supporting girls have character songs that show them as caring and wanting to reach out and connect to their buddy (Popular and Do You Want to Build a Snowman?).
6. Both supporting males (Fiyero and Olaf) sing songs about having a carefree life and not realizing what they're singing can really mean. (Dancing Through Life hints that Fiyero will become the Scarecrow and In Summer hints that Olaf doesn't understand he would melt in the sun.)
7. Both supporting girls (Glinda and Anna) fall in love with men that don't return their affections. (Boq fell in love with Elphaba's sister Nessarose and Hans was only using Anna to gain the throne.)
8. There are animals that are important in the story. (Sven the reindeer accompanies Kristoff and Anna as she goes to find Elsa and Doctor Dillamond was a talking Goat professor at Shiz and partly inspired Elphaba to go against the Wizard.)
9. Both main females had some harm come to their sisters (Anna became frozen in ice and Nessarose was crushed by a house).
10. Marriage was mentioned in both stories. (Kristoff's family insisted that he and Anna should wed and almost set up a marriage, while Glinda was engaged to Fiyero, Elphaba's love.)
Every person involved in theatre has their own opinion about what musicals and plays are their favorites and which ones should never have been thought of. Now I know people have their own opinions different from mine but I don't agree with this YouTube video of ranking the top 10 broadway musicals:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nrQuZ0a65EU
10. Wicked
Yes I agree it's a good show and it should be on this list but it's still a recent show and a cult phenomenon among teen thespians. Eventually this show will climb higher but as of now, it's fine where it is in placing.
9. The Producers
The show isn't terrible. (I looked it up a while ago when it was rumored that was what my school was putting on; the director later chose Jekyll and Hyde). It has a sense of adult humor and plays on mature jokes while having little plot twists. However, the fate of at least one of the producers could obviously be seen the moment the two think of producing the worst Broadway show ever.
8. Rent
LOVE RENT. It's personally one of my favorites but then again, the older and more traditional generations might not appreciate it as much (it has strippers and the majority of the characters have AIDS) so its placement on the list is fine with me!
7. Oklahoma!
I personally hate Oklahoma! and I think it's just awful. It has absolutely no meaningful moral to teach anybody, nor does it really have a plot—it's honestly about two guys vying to take a girl to the dance later that night and the less-creepy one wins her heart and marries her. That's literally it. I find it pointless and it should never have been on this list.
6. A Chorus Line
I hear it's a very good show if you want to become a dancer or are good at dancing. I scarcely know a lot about it and the music, besides the mirror scene and the song "Nothing" (possible future post?). But it faces what people will say and do for auditions to "make it in", which I can relate to, so I'm neutral about it.
5. Chicago
I can tolerate Chicago "and all that jazz." I love "Cell Block Tango", but just like for A Chorus Line, I do not know this show as well as I should and I do apologize. It's on my bucket list for "Musicals I Should Know More About."
4. The Lion King
This show definitely deserves to be on this list. Besides being a hit Disney movie, it's well-written, has a meaningful plot, and the costuming is just absolutely cool and amazing. I mean, it's not every show where you see people galloping around in animal costumes. Well, it's more than the average costume, I'm just so fascinated by the design of them!
3. Cats
If there's one musical I despise more than Oklahoma!, it's Cats. "Why," do you ask? I just don't get it. I like the costumes and the songs have a nice rhythm, but I don't understand it. It's literally about cats in an alleyway, they sing about themselves and about some cat being chosen to be reborn. It's so foreign to me. I do not see what is the hype for this show. For being a classic and for being on Broadway for this long, yes it should be on the list. But that's it.
First off, listen to how the narrator pronounces it, it's hilarious! Anyway, I really and truly enjoy this musical. It has a strong plot and developing characters that move the audience with them on their journeys and the songs are just so gosh darn powerful, I almost cry. It's wonderful.
1. The Phantom of the Opera
It was only a matter of time before this show would come up. I admit, it deserves to me the first on this list. Partly because Christine, the damsel in distress, actually develops in her character and realizes what is happening to her and the opera house instead of being ditzy and foolish. Four for you, Christine! Plus, I always feel so bad for the Phantom because he goes through all of this trouble to get a girl. Poor guy.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Day Seven: Wicked
Today's post is a musical featuring your favorite female singer, and the singer has to be none other than Idina Menzel!
So, let me explain Wicked first. It's similar to The Wizard of Oz, but it's told in the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba (Idina Menzel in the first Broadway debut). The show shows a side of the witch that is good, not evil, as The Wizard of Oz once demonstrated.
The show starts off at the end of The Wizard of Oz, with the Wicked Witch being melted and everyone rejoicing about it. Glinda recalls that Elphaba was conceived between the Munchkin Governor's Wife, wh and a mysterious stranger with a bottle of green elixir (who is discovered to be the great wizard Oz, whom everyone knows is human).
The next scene shows that Glinda (whose actual name is Galinda) and Elphaba met at Shiz University and were roommates. Elphaba goes to college only to take care of her disabled younger sister (confined to a wheelchair after being born without arms.) Nessarose. Elphaba was excluded from Madame Morrible's Sorcery Seminar, but after discovering Elphaba has magical powers, she lets her in and thinks she can be useful for the wizard.
Part of the show discusses how Animals (notice how I capitalized the word) can be considered people too and shouldn't be considered as just animals. (Animals are animals that can talk and feel and think and act as human beings.)
Fiyero, a Winkie Prince, is introduced to the story, as well as a Munchkin named Boq, an old childhood friend of Elphaba. Boq tries to ask Glinda to this fancy party, but turns him down and tells him to ask Nessarose instead, her feeling as though her and Fiyero would be a better match. Glinda gives Elphaba a black-pointed hat, and when she wears it, she's at first ridiculed. Glinda ends up feeling remorse for what she did and the two start a strange friendship.
Back at the dorm room, Elphaba explains that her sister was born disabled because her mother, wanting her second child to not be born with green skin, was fed milk-flowers, which resulted in Nessarose to be born prematurely. Glinda decides to give Elphaba a makeover to make her more admirable and appealing to the other students.
A Shiz professor, Doctor Dillamond (who is an Animal) is taken away by Ozian officials. The new history teacher brings in an Animal cub in a cage and suggests that if Animals were born into cages, they would lose their speech. Elphaba and Fiyero are outraged by this, so they let the cub go free after class. Elphaba thinks she might have feelings for Fiyero but is unsure.
The Wizard requested a presence with Elphaba. Boq doesn't show much interest in Nessarose, so when Glinda questions that, Nessarose answered that maybe it is herself that's not right. Glinda tries to impress Fiyero, which fails miserably, so Elphaba invited Glinda along with her to see the Wizard.
Elphaba is taken personally to the side to have her powers tested, which she did by having monkeys grow wings, but then discovers that both Madame Morrible and Oz has been behind the troubles in Oz with the Animals and creating cages for them. The Wizard tries to convince her to join his side, as her powers would be very useful for him and his army.
Elphaba runs out with the spell book (written in this strange language that only certain people can read) and her and Glinda run to the attic of the palace. Morrible turns the townsfolk against Elphaba and she decides to do what is right and not join the Wizard. Glinda, however, decides to follow behind him and become a public figure. She leaves the attic on a broomstick she encharmed, earning her nickname created by Morrible, "The Wicked Witch of the West."
Time has passed (20 years, maybe?). Elphaba has hidden from Oz and is no where to be found. Yet Glinda, now the Wizard's assisstant, has announced she's engaged to Fiyero. Elphaba returns to Munchkinland, where Nessarose became the new Governor after their father died due to shame from Elphaba defying the Wizard. Elphaba turns the silver slippers Nessarose had gotten when they were younger into ruby red slippers, giving her complete mobility of her legs and being able to walk. Nessarose has restricted the Munchkinlanders from leaving the area, including her crush Boq. Nessarose tries to read from the spell book that Elphaba stole, which results in Boq literally losing his heart and Elphaba turns him into the Tin Man, so he can live.
She returns to the Palace and tries to free the winged monkeys. The Wizard tries to convince her to join him, but after seeing the speechless Doctor Dillamond among the monkeys, she refuses. She runs into Fiyero and the two proclaim their love to each other. Glinda discovers this and tells Madame Morrible that Elphaba will come to Nessarose's aid, should she need it. Morrible conjures up a tornado with Dorothy's house landing in it and landing right on top of Nessarose, killing her instantly.
Elphaba arrives just as Glinda send Dorothy and Toto down the Yellow Brick Road. The guards capture her, but Fiyero gives himself in to give time for Elphaba to escape. He gets dragged into the woods and was threatened to be killed if he didn't give up her whereabouts. Elphaba tries casting spells to save Fiyero, but fears it was no use.
Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man (Boq) and the Cowardly Lion are sent by the Wizard to kill Elphaba. The Cowardly Lion is the cub that Fiyero and Elphaba had released at Shiz. She captures Dorothy, refusing to let her go until she takes off the ruby slippers that belonged to Nessarose. Glinda tries to convince Elphaba to let Dorothy go, but she won't do it. The two forgave what the other had done and realized that their lives would be different if they hadn't met. Elphaba gives her the spell book, providing she takes control of Oz. Dorothy throws a bucket of water at Elphaba, who then starts to be mysteriously melting away. Glinda sees that all that is left of Elphaba is her hat and a vial of green elixir, which the Wizard has an identical. (Here it's officially revealed that Oz is Elphaba's father and she is part Oz and part human).
Fiyero, it's discovered, was turned into the Scarecrow when Elphaba was casting spells to save him. It is revealed that Elphaba didn't die but descended down a trap door, convincing everyone that she was dead. The two leave Oz as the city is celebrating Elphaba's death. Glinda and Elphaba look up at the night sky, appreciating their friendship and that both "have changed for the better."
(I swear, these describings are getting longer and longer.)
I love Idina Menzel. She is my absolute idol. She debuted in Broadway as none other than Maureen Johnson in Rent, Sheila in Hair, Amneris in Aida, Elphaba in Wicked (duh), and recently, Florence in Chess (in Concert.) I love listening to her voice. I think it's great no matter what singing technique she uses! (If those shows aren't familiar to you, she was Nancy in the Disney movie Enchanted.)
I'm choosing the song she sings when she first realizes that she has feelings for Fiyero after they free the cub, I'm Not That Girl.
