Wicked
I was in Year 9 when I first saw the video on Youtube of Idina Menzel performing ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked at the 2004 Tony Awards. It was the first time that I could watch an original Broadway cast perform a new musical – and as a young musical theatre enthusiast, I was captivated. What was this song? Who was this character? Why was she green? Menzel went on to win a Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical that year and then moved beyond the stage, permeating the zeitgeist on screens everywhere through Disney properties. But before there was Frozen’s Elsa, there was Elphaba. Before she told girls everywhere that “the cold never bothered me anyway,” she told us that “everyone deserves a chance to fly.” Like me, Elphaba was different – the antithesis to the perfectly blonde G(a)linda the Good. She was awkward, misunderstood, judged for her skin colour, and trying to figure out where she belonged. Twenty years after it opened on Broadway, Elphaba’s journey to find herself through justice, self-love, and friendship still resonates. The new cast surpasses expectations by infusing their own unique interpretations into these fan favourite characters Wicked is one of the longest running musicals in the world, and Sydney’s 20th anniversary production has been a much-anticipated affair. Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the musical shares the untold story of the mysterious Wicked Witch of the West, who is revered and fe