Tag: Wicked

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Wicked

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Galinda

Antiheroes are everywhere these days. The concept of the hero who exemplifies the virtues of the society that produced them dates to the dawn of storytelling. Achilles was a strong and brave Greek hoplite whose toxic vanity was part of the package. Red Horn was a model Mississippian sportsman who challenged giants of the underworld to a game of tchung-kee. Luke Skywalker was a farm boy turned fighter pilot who learned to master his emotions and fight for the greater good. 

The antihero, on the other hand, never embodies their society’s virtues, but instead exposes its vices. In Homer’s Iliad, Thersites, the “ugliest man who came to Troy,” calls out Agamemnon’s vainglory and gets beaten to death for his troubles. Don Quixote turns the virtues of the Medieval knight on their heads, changing steadfastness into stubbornness, faith into delusion. If America had universal healthcare, high school chemistry teacher Walter White would never have started cooking meth to pay for cancer treatment. 

One way writers pull off this trick is to retell a story from the villain’s point of view. John Gardner made Beowulf’s enemy into a hero of society’s outcasts in Grendel. In 1995, Gregory Maguire’s Wicked did it with The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire gave L. Frank Baum’s antagonist a name, Elphaba, and framed her alleged wickedness as political propaganda. After all, isn’t the fake wizard lording over the land of Oz the real villain of the story? 

Wicked became a Tony-winning Broadway musical in 2003 and has been running constantly ever since. In retrospect, it’s baffling that a film adaptation took so long. After years in development hell, director Jon M. Chu has finally created a worthy big-screen version. 

One element common to antiheroes is that their ambitions are always doomed to failure. We hear of Elphaba before we meet her. She’s already been killed by Dorothy Gale, and the Munchkins are celebrating with a song, “No One Mourns the Wicked.” But for Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Ariana Grande), the celebration is muted. She knew Elphaba from back in the day, when they were roommates at Shiz University. Glinda, who was then Galinda, was the child of privilege studying sorcery for prestige. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) was a wild magic talent who almost didn’t get admitted to the prestigious university at all. She was only there to help her wheelchair-bound younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) when an accidental display of her magic powers brought her to the attention of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Elphaba and Galinda become the best of frenemies. Elphaba’s green skin marks her as a permanent outsider, and she carries a big chip on her shoulder. Galinda is the apex mean girl, complete with an entourage of sniveling sycophants (Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James, perfectly despicable). Yet both sympathize with, and kind of envy, the other. They compete for the attention of Madame Morrible, but when she’s summoned to see The Wizard, a sublime Jeff Goldblum, Elphaba insists on taking Galinda with her. In this telling, the Wizard is a tyrant, bent on removing Oz’s talking animals from society. Elphaba’s selfish wish was for the Wizard to change her green skin to a more socially acceptable color, but instead she decides to petition Oz the great and powerful on behalf of the oppressed animals. 

Wicked cannot be faulted for its craftsmanship. Chu’s crew has created an Oz that feels vibrant and alive, from Elphaba’s swirly glasses to the Wizard’s massive clockwork train. Erivo is flawless as the long-suffering outsider whose glimpse into the inner workings of the elite radicalizes her to drastic action. Likewise, Grande lends depth to the Good Witch while belting out the Broadway bangers. 

Wicked’s biggest problem is that it’s Hobbit-tized. At 180 minutes, it’s longer than the stage show, but it only tells half the story. Showstopper “Defying Gravity” still leads into the intermission, but in this case, the intermission is going to be a year long. None of the new material feels necessary, but with Erivo and Grande leaving it all on the screen, you probably won’t mind. 

Wicked
Now playing 
Multiple locations

Categories
Music Music Features

James D. Gish Is Wickedly Talented

James D. Gish (Photo: Courtesy of James D. Gish)

There’s something about James D. Gish that evokes Elvis.

He gets that from people. But especially since he began playing the dashing love interest, Fiyero, in Wicked on Broadway. “I’ll slick my hair for this show,” says Gish, 28, who is appearing in the musical through April 21st at the Orpheum Theatre.

Offstage, Gish’s hair has resembled the pompadour Elvis sported in his early movies. “Not on purpose. It’s sort of the way my hair sits.”

He isn’t trying to emulate The King on or offstage. But, ironically, ever since Gish was a child, Elvis was part of his life. “My family are such obsessive Elvis fans. When I was growing up, I had a dog named Elvis. And after he passed away I had a dog named Presley.”

And, Gish says, “Let’s just say, the garage was full — every wall — [of] Elvis memorabilia that my parents, especially my father, collected over the years.”

His family still watches Elvis movies and “Elvis CDs are playing throughout the house.”

Images of Gish also are included at their home. If his face appears on a poster at a venue or if his name is printed anywhere, his dad wants it. It then gets added to the “Elvis and James D. Gish Shrine.”

His dad still calls him “Presley” or “Elvis.” As in “I’ll see you later, Elvis,” Gish says. Or “Oh, have a great night, Elvis.”

That actually translates to “rock star,” Gish says. “He’s very proud. And I’m very fortunate that he’s proud.”

Born in Las Vegas, Gish was raised in Bullhead City, Arizona. His family is related to the famous silent screen actresses Dorothy and Lillian Gish, he says. “I know that my grandmother knew Lillian quite well. She said she would always attend the family reunion. She passed away before I was born.”

But, for Gish, it was singing “as a very young kid” before acting, Gish says.

He reluctantly joined the choir in high school. Then the guy who was playing the Beast in the school production of Beauty and the Beast had to drop out. “He had issues with family, school, or something. And they asked me to do it. And I ended up falling in love with it.”

Gish’s first Memphis visit was with his parents when he was 20 to participate in the United Professional Theatre Auditions. “Of course, we toured Graceland and went to Sun Studio.”

Like other tourists, Gish’s dad paid to have his son make a little recording at Sun Studio. “Most people sing ‘Hound Dog’ or ‘Viva Las Vegas.’ And I, of course, sang ‘Music of the Night.’”

Gish remembers looking at his proud father. “You just see him crying. With his son singing show tunes at Sun Studio.”

In 2017, Gish recorded an EP, So in Love, which rose to number six on the iTunes Classical Chart. It was “sort of a mishmash of a few different genres.”

The EP included an Italian aria as well as “soaring symphonic arrangements” of show tunes. And, he says, “We took Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ and adapted it into an up-tempo swing jazz number like a big band.”

Gish toured with the EP off and on for about a year before focusing on acting. “I missed having a full cast around me.”

He majored in business at Arizona State University, but at night he would audition for the Phoenix Theatre Company. “I just kind of took to it like a fish to water. It just felt right.”

Gish eventually moved to New York. “There’s no book on how to become an actor in New York City.” It’s just “falling on your face until you start to crawl and then walk and then run.”

From a small role in Les Misérables, Gish went on to appear in leading roles in plays, including one of his best known — Fabrizio in The Light in the Piazza.

Gish landed the role of Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway. “I love Fiyero because you get to play two very different people in one night, which is really cool. It’s fun to come on stage and get to be a ‘big shot’ — this cocky little punk who thinks he’s God’s gift.”

Then, in the second act, Fiyero’s character changes and he becomes more human. “He comes to know empathy, sympathy, and caring for other people.”

As for roles he’d like to play some day, Gish says, “I would really like to play a very quirky awkward character who lacks all self-confidence. I think I would do a character like that justice. I never get the opportunity. I sort of just get typecast as a Fiyero. A lot of cocky jerks or leading man types.”

When he’s not on stage, Gish likes to write young adult fiction books. He hasn’t tried to publish any yet, but, he says he’s currently working on a “young adult fantasy novel” that is “almost a historical allegory with fantastical elements.”

For now, Gish is taking care of business pursuing his work in the theater. He’s happy “the cards have fallen the way they have.”

Categories
Theater Theater Feature

Wicked at the Orpheum

National Touring Company of Wicked (Photo: Joan Marcus)

In my junior year of high school, our revamped theater program found its feet with the production of a traditional spring musical, The Wizard of Oz. It was 2008, and three years previously, the smash hit Broadway musical Wicked had begun its national tour, one that would break every house record in every city it played in. As a 17-year-old voracious reader, I knew of Wicked the novel, not the show, but that changed when, for the first time I could ever remember, a Broadway musical became a common topic of conversation in the hallways of a small-town high school. At the time, I was confused about what the big deal was. Wicked the book was a strange and almost unpalatable read, and I could barely understand how it had been translated to the stage in the first place. It took over 15 years, but I finally have seen what all the hubbub was about.

Wicked has become a global phenomenon and a household name, just as much as its origin story, The Wizard of Oz. I can’t bring to mind another example of a spin-off gaining as much traction and coexisting so long alongside the original. The Orpheum Theatre was a packed house last Thursday, with the audience hanging on every word and madly cheering after every number. The merch table in the lobby was nearly overrun, and all this after 20 years of the show being on stage.

Olivia Valli as Elphaba (Photo: Joan Marcus)

On the drive home, my friend Meagan Kitterlin asked me how I already knew some of the songs when I hadn’t actually seen the play before. “Doesn’t everyone know ‘Defying Gravity’?” I answered. I couldn’t tell you the first time I heard that song, or “Popular,” but they are both nearly as familiar to me now as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The wild success of this musical is staggering, and seeing it in person, I understand why musical-lovers go crazy for this show.

The grandeur of Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre lends itself to the opulence of Wicked’s presentation. A giant clockwork dragon adorns the proscenium arch, looking like some sort of steampunk nightmare come to life. Wicked reimagines the early life of the Wicked Witch of the West, painting her as a complicated, misunderstood figure. The musical centers not only on the Wicked Witch — whose name is Elphaba, after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author, L. Frank Baum — but also largely on Glinda, nee Galinda, the Good Witch. Celia Hottenstein, who plays Glinda, says, “For both characters, you’re observing how society and the public views these women. Glinda the Good and Elphaba, this person who is other, different, but you, through the show, see who they really are as people.” Glinda and Elphaba are college roommates, and from their first meeting, immediately at odds. Elphaba has obviously lived a life of hardship, constantly judged for her green skin, while Glinda has obviously lived a life of privilege, being granted her every desire almost before she can even wish for it. The two inexplicably become friends, and their friendship becomes the backbone of the entire musical.

Olivia Valli’s portrayal of Elphaba is surprising. I expected a bitter, passionate introvert, but Valli plays Elphaba as almost spunky. She’s hopeful, she seems like kind of a nerd, and she’s got moxie. It’s not at all what I was expecting, but it works. Valli and Hottenstein have undeniable chemistry onstage, and watching Elphaba and Glinda interact is where the true magic of Wicked lies. The musical is all about people’s perspectives, especially around what is considered “good” and what is considered “wicked.” As Hottenstein points out, “I think this show really delves into what it means to ‘do good’ and to ‘be good.’ It’s not as easy as you think.” This show’s message resonates with so many people, and Hottenstein is no exception. “To have compassion for people is the message that really has stuck with me. To always have compassion and always have empathy for others because everybody has their own struggles. And everybody is trying to be a good person, I think, for the most part.”

With show-stopping vocal performances, a set that might as well be another character it has so much personality, and a message all audiences can relate to, it’s no wonder Wicked is so justifiably good.

Wicked runs at The Orpheum Theatre through April 21st.