In Boston English, wicked is sometimes used as a replacement for very. examples:
"It's wicked hot out!"
"Yeah, i'm wicked thirsty, let's go get some beers!"

and of course.. wicked pissah, wicked good, wicked awesome, etc.

For many Massholes, hearing someone use wicked as an adjective (e.g. "wicked speed" in the example above) is strange, and almost painful when it's done in a failed attempt at at Boston accent.

Wicked: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire

The most excellent revisionist Oz book so far. Maguire revisits the Oz mythos of both the books and the '39 film and reinvents the evil character into a fascinating creature. Part study of the nature of evil, part study of religious fervor, part study of gender roles, and all fascinating.

If the Baum books annoy you, but you have a little hankering for the movie, read this. If the movie bugged the hell out you, but you like the whole idea of Oz, read this. And if you like fantasy with a good helping of cynicism, read this.

This was the first novel by Maguire (Geoff Ryman's first novel, Was, was also themed on Oz). Macguire's second book is another fairy tale revision: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.

Tony Awards 2004: BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Idina Menzel as Elphaba, BEST SCENIC DESIGN: Eugene Lee, BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Susan Hilferty

Wicked: The Musical! This is a newer Broadway show based on the Gregory Maguire book of the same name. While it has received mixed reviews, it is indisputably intriguing to many people. This is because it is the story of a character the audience thinks it knows: The Wicked Witch of the West--yes, of Oz fame. "So much happened before Dorothy dropped in. . . ."

Ultimately, this is the story of two remarkable women. The protagonist is the supposed "wicked witch"--however, she is presented to us as a misunderstood and studious but passionate girl with an unfortunate skin condition (um, she happens to be green). And for once, she has a name: Elphaba. The other main character could be said to be an antagonist, though just as often she appears to be a protagonist--confusing, no?--and that is her college roommate, Galinda (later known as Glinda the Good). This is the story of two women's friendship--I'd call it that--and how their trials and tribulations through politics, activism, and love affected the land of Oz forever.

Opening day on Broadway was October 30, 2003, playing at the Gershwin Theatre. Technical stuff: The music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz, and its plot is based on Gregory Maguire's novel (though its story and motives and whatnot stray FAR and WIDE)--adapted to this version by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello. Many others contributed all along the way; for a full list of managers, designers, and producers, you can view the list at the musical's Web site, wickedthemusical.com . The musical's poster is very intriguing, picturing an alluring green-skinned woman with a half-smile, her eyes covered by a big black hat . . . with a white-clothed woman in profile whispering in her ear.

The characters:

  • ELPHABA--The future Wicked Witch of the West. Born with green skin, she's never made it a point to be very social, so she tends to have some fire in her personality. She's also very talented in magic, for which she is going to school when the play opens.

  • GALINDA--The future Glinda the Good. She's beautiful and popular and rather shallow . . . at least at first. She too can use magic, but becomes jealous at being overshadowed. . . . .

  • THE WIZARD--He's wonderful . . . or is he? This self-described "corn-fed hick" was blown to Oz in a balloon, where he just gave the people of Oz something to believe in. Well, that or became a horrible dictator. You decide.

  • NESSAROSE--Remember, the Witch of the West had a sister! Elphie's younger sister Nessa is wheelchair-bound (in the book she was armless, in this version she is just crippled), and goes to the same school as her sister. Daddy likes Nessa better.

  • FIYERO--A pompous prince who takes an immediate liking to Galinda. But there's more to him than his brainlessness.

  • BOQ--A munchkin boy who's been harboring a crush on Galinda ever since he first saw her. So how did he end up with Nessa anyway?

  • MADAME MORRIBLE--Headmistress of Shiz (where Elphaba and Galinda go to school). She teaches magic and is very selective about her apprentices.

  • DR. DILLAMOND--An important professor at Shiz, he also happens to be a Goat. He plays a vital role in making his students aware of Animal rights.

    (There are several other characters like Elphaba's parents and the ensemble, not to mention her monkey, but these are the main ones.)

Interesting facts about the show:

  • This is the only musical I can think of with TWO female leads who are BOTH cast as sopranos. Unusual!

  • The name Elphaba was inspired by the Oz books' original author's initials: L.F.B. It is pronounced "EL-fah-buh," emphasis on the first syllable.

  • It was nominated for ten Tony Awards for this year. It won three. (And no, the attention did not inspire me to make this node.)

  • For some reason this play is chock full of made-up words, mostly uttered by Galinda/Glinda or Madame Morrible. Here are the ones I caught (I think): Rejoicify, outuendo (as opposed to innuendo), confusifying, linguification, definish, de-greenify (Elphaba said that one), disgusticified, disturberance, scandalacious, hideodious, graditution, devastrated, moodified, braverism, surreptitially, discoverates, disrespectation, and festivating. Also, Fiyero once said Elphaba had been "Galindafied." Haha.

The plot:

    (I have included many spoilers. Skip this if you don't want to know what happens. And this is ONLY the musical version of the plot, Maguire's novel is entirely different.)

    Like many interesting stories, this one begins at its ending. A familiar scene of everyone rejoicing over the evil witch's death opens this play. Glinda arrives and helps the crowd sing their song, which leads into a discussion of the past. "Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?" We see a nice little flashback involving the "secrets" of the witch's family . . . her mom cheated on her dad. "Have another drink of green elixir," says the ratty man, and they proceed to have their little affair when Daddy is out of town. Then their baby is born with green skin and immediately spurned--it freaks the family right the heck out. Spurred by someone in the crowd accusing Glinda of having been the witch's friend, she begins to tell a story of how she met her . . . at school.

    Now, both of them go to Shiz University, where it is possible to learn magic if the headmistress, Madame Morrible, decides to take you. Galinda arrives already being admired by other students, while Elphaba arrives being chided by her father to take care of her sister, whom she is pushing ahead in the wheelchair. Other students are kind of gaping at her, unsure of what to think of the weird green girl, so she just launches into "Okay, let's get this over with--NO I'm not seasick, YES I've always been green . . ." and points out that her sister is a perfectly normal color. Her ranting is cut short by her father telling her to stop making a spectacle of herself.

    Galinda informs Madame Morrible that she came to Shiz just to study sorcery with her, but Morrible is on a high horse and says she doesn't take a student every semester. While Galinda is regrouping trying to figure out how to change this, Morrible announces that she has decided to take Nessarose into her own quarters to provide the best care. After all, her father is the ruler of Munchkinland. So Elphaba needs a roommate now that she isn't going to be with her sister--and Morrible asks someone to volunteer to take her in just as Galinda is trying to get her attention to protest the earlier outrage. Of course, her hand signal is taken to mean she will take Elphaba in.

    Things start moving too fast for poor Elphaba to comprehend when Morrible insists everyone go to their rooms, and she panics at the sight of her sister getting wheeled away. She yells "LET HER GO!" and funny lights start blinking, and suddenly the wheelchair rolls away and back toward Elphaba. She apologizes for acting out, but Madame Morrible is so impressed with this strange green girl's magic abilities that she decides, hey, I'm going to concentrate all my teaching on YOU so that maybe one day you can be the Wizard's right hand woman!

    Understandably, this pisses Galinda off--she wanted to get into the sorcery program and now this freaky green chick is preventing her from achieving her dreams. Immediate loathing develops, of course, and on top of this now they have to room with each other.

    After being told that her "weird quirk" is a fantastic talent, Elphaba is understandably awed and excited, and sings us a little song about her ambition. In a revealing peek at her aspirations, she wonders aloud if the Wizard might help her get rid of her green-ness--you know, not because SHE wants it or anything, just because he might think "shouldn't the girl who's so good inside have a matching exterior?" At the end of her song she's envisioning herself as "half of Oz's greatest team"--the Wizard and herself. (It's kind of the "I wish I had a daddy who loves me" song, she's projecting parental identity onto the Wizard, which isn't entirely inappropriate.)

    But there is the present to deal with. She now faces a roommate who not only hates her, but encourages the entire student body to hate her. While writing home to their families, both girls voice roommate complaints--Galinda says her roommate is "unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe." Elphaba just gives up and describes her roommate in one word: "BLONDE." We get to hear them sing an amusing song about how much they hate each other, with the crowd chiming in with sympathy for Galinda somewhere in the middle. Well.

    Being that Elphaba is again a social outcast, she develops an unusual closeness with her teachers, particularly Dr. Dillamond. The doctor is a Goat--see, in Oz, there is a big difference between animals and Animals. The Animals can talk and are treated as citizens, while plain old animals are dumb beasts like anywhere else. After becoming upset at a hateful message about Animals written on his board, Dillamond tells Elphaba that some bad things are afoot in Oz--he's heard some "dreadful things" about other Animals who hold positions of respect getting their positions taken away from them, which has an effect on their ability to speak. Elphaba assures him that someone needs to tell the Wizard about this--"That's why we HAVE a Wizard!" They just decide to keep their fingers crossed that Dr. Dillamond isn't next on someone's sinister list.

    Now comes the complex part. Prince Fiyero makes his big entrance. In a song, he declares his philosophy: "Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters." In other words, it's best to just dance through life having fun, and of course Galinda thinks this carefree life is a great idea; they're perfect for each other. Immediately they become romantically involved, and he wants to take her to the big dance that night. Oh . . . but wait, there's little Boq. Galinda has an unfortunate admirer who manages to find the courage to tell her that he hopes she'll save a dance for him. Galinda manages to get rid of him by suggesting he invite someone else, sicing the munchkin on Elphaba's sister Nessarose. (She figures Nessa won't say no--who's going to invite the girl in the wheelchair?) In making it sound like she just wishes the best for the poor crippled girl, she tricks Boq into inviting Nessa to the ball, just to get him out of her hair so she can concentrate on Fiyero. She also decides (with the help of some friends) to give a really ugly hat to Elphaba so that people will laugh at her at the dance. She assures her that it's very fashionable--"You know black is this year's pink!"--and convinces her roommate to wear the big pointed witch hat. Hahaha.

    Anyway, Nessarose and Elphaba have a little chat about Galinda's behavior--apparently Nessa feels VERY indebted to the popular princess for finding her a date, and she wishes there was something she could do to repay her. Elphaba takes this to heart and goes to Madame Morrible on Galinda's behalf, getting her to accept her into the sorcery program. Oh yeah!

    When Galinda finds out that she's been accepted through Elphaba's doing, she feels REALLY bad for making people laugh at her with that hat, and kind of takes their attention away from her by dancing with her in support. They become tentative friends, and Galinda presses that they exchange their secrets. In confidence, they tell each other some private things: Galinda says she's going to marry Fiyero (even though HE doesn't know that), and Elphaba says that everyone in her family hates her and her sister's condition is her fault. (Nessa's father made her mother consume what he thought was a remedy against making her come out green too, and it caused her to be born crippled.)

    Galinda feels REALLY bad for her roomie, and decides that she is going to devote herself to making Elphaba popular. (Of course, Elphaba doesn't really want that, but Galinda doesn't know any other way to make someone happy except by giving them what she thinks they need.) She sings a very entertaining song about the importance of popularity while giving Elphie (as she calls her) a makeover. Elphaba doesn't completely appreciate that, but Galinda is undaunted.

    Next we start to see some disturbing stuff. Elphaba's Goat professor is taken away, no longer permitted to teach. A new professor comes in with a caged Lion cub and proclaims that the cages help assure that the Animals will never learn to speak. As a prime Animal activist, Elphaba flexes her muscles (well, her magic), halfway unintentionally casting a spell to make everyone "do something." They are incapacitated, and only she and Fiyero are unaffected. Fiyero happens to have been very intrigued by Elphaba's passion and drive, and he assists her in freeing the Lion cub. Even though he's kind of empty-headed, he is attracted to the strength of her character, and begins to have a bit of a crush on her. It's also mutual . . . but Elphaba decides to try to put it out of her mind, because she knows her friend Galinda really likes Fiyero, she can't do that to her. Besides, she tells herself--"I'm not that girl," he's already chosen someone golden-haired and winsome. Sigh!

    Still shaking off the dust from that, Elphaba receives the joyous news that she's been invited to the Emerald City to demonstrate her power for the Wizard! Everything's a bit awkward because relationships are falling apart. Fiyero's confused about his relationship with Galinda, and starts talking about his and Elphaba's heroic acts together. Galinda wants to be cool too, and says she's going to change her name to Glinda because that's what Dr. Dillamond always mistakenly called her, it'll be a display of her devotion to him. Fiyero doesn't seem to care about Galinda's heroic act of name-changing and just wishes Elphaba luck before running away. Elphaba feels bad for her friend and tells her to come along for the ride to the Emerald City. She's overjoyed.

    Everything is not so great with Nessarose either; Boq doesn't really like her, but she's clingy, having never had the attention of anyone else because of her condition. And now she's finally realizing that Boq likes someone else. She's not too happy.

    We get to see a big celebration when Glinda and Elphaba get to the Emerald City--they see how wonderful it is, and declare that they both want to live there someday even though today it's just visiting. After all, "it's all grand," says Glinda, "and it's all green!" (Guess who said that second part.) "I think we've found the place where we belong!"

    The audience with the Wizard seems to go smoothly . . . everyone is introduced, and he wins Elphaba's trust by giving her a sugar-coated explanation of his views of the Ozians and his fatherly role. He hopes, he says, to help Elphaba with her ascent, because "everyone deserves a chance to fly." But then he suggests that she prove her magic ability by transforming his assistant monkey into a winged monkey. If she can do this with a really old and powerful book called the Grimmery, he will have proof of the strength of her magic. Her spell actually ends up working too well; the spell did more than she expected, and gave a whole hidden cage of monkeys wings as well. When the Wizard explains that they will now be his army of spies, Elphaba gets PISSED. The Wizard is behind all the Animal rights suppression! It's all because he wants to lead the people of Oz against some common enemy no matter who it is. (He'll be more adored by the population that way apparently.) And beyond that, the Wizard is no wizard--he has no magic at all. That's why he wants Elphaba . . . he wants to use her. And she doesn't appreciate that. She steals his Grimmery and escapes.

    Of course, now she has made a huge enemy of the Wizard of Oz! Glinda really doesn't like this, and meets with her to plead that she reconsider before going off to serve her destiny (fighting the Wizard's evil ways). She begs her friend to apologize to the Wizard and just do what she had always dreamed of, but Elphaba's illusions are shattered, and she will not just lie down and be a tool of the man. Glinda cannot bring herself to ditch her reputation and come with Elphaba even though she makes a convincing case . . . what else do you expect from someone whose driving force all her life has been peer pressure? Anyway, they are very sad to part and now be on opposite "sides," but they both wish each other happiness. Elphaba invites Glinda, "So if you care to find me, look to the western sky." And off she flies, to end Act I.

    Some time has gone by when the second act opens, and now Fiyero, Madame Morrible, Nessarose, and Glinda have official government positions. Glinda has the official title "Glinda the Good," Morrible is the right hand woman of the Wizard (press secretary), Nessa is governer of Munchkinland, and Fiyero--the new captain of the guard--seems to have been put in charge of the Wizard-sponsored push to find Elphaba. (She's now been declared a menace and is thought dangerous, a criminal.) We see a happy song of Glinda announcing her engagement to Fiyero . . . which isn't exactly something he's agreed to! He's surprised by his engagement party, but he goes along with it, telling Glinda that if it will make her happy of course he will marry her. (She says she hopes it makes him happy too, but he says, "You know me. I'm always happy." Hmm.) Fiyero gets really pissed off when he hears that all these people are making up dumb rumors about Elphaba ("I've heard her soul is so unclean, pure water could melt her!"). He leaves in a huff, and Glinda covers it up by saying he's just going off to get her a drink. Morrible makes an announcement (as "press secretary") saying that "the witch" is jealous of Glinda for her recognition by the Wizard, making up a different "official story."

    Things are not good in Munchkinland either, because Nessarose's sanity is slipping away. She loves Boq and has done everything she can to keep him with her, including taking away the rights of munchkins so he CAN'T leave her. She's very bitter, though, and when Elphaba actually shows up to hide out under the cover of her sister (hopefully), Nessa gets all mad and basically tells her if SHE'S so powerful how come she never used magic to try and cure her inability to walk? Well, feeling taunted, Elphaba does cast a spell, and is able to put a charm on Nessa's slippers to help her walk. For a moment everyone's very happy; Nessa's like "YAY I CAN WALK!" and Elphie's like "YAY I DID SOMETHING GOOD WITH MY MAGIC FOR ONCE" and Boq's like "YAY NOW NESSA DOESN'T NEED ME TO WAIT ON HER HAND AND FOOT ANYMORE AND I CAN LEAVE!" Oh no. Well that's not what Nessa wanted. So she gets very angry, snatches the Grimmery, and casts a spell on Boq to take his heart away. (Ya know, since it didn't belong to her, it should belong to no one!) Elphaba intervenes with her own magic, and turns Boq into a metal person so that having no heart won't kill him. So he's still alive, but not human anymore. When he awakes, Nessa twists the truth and blames his condition on her sister, making Boq swear a deadly oath against her.

    Attempting to further her cause, Elphaba flies to the Emerald City and tries to break the flying monkeys out of their prison--Animal rights and all that, you know. But the Wizard interrupts her. And he uses his considerable charisma to try and tempt her into working with him after all, making the Ozians stop pursuing her by rehabilitating herself as his friend rather than his enemy. And this approach almost works too, until she finds out that the Wizard has taken away the powers of speech of her old professor, Dr. Dillamond. (I guess that's better than in the novel version where Dillamond is assassinated, but either way it sucks.) All her anger comes back and she rejects the Wizard's proposition, and almost doesn't get away except that Fiyero helps defend her, showing up at the right time. Glinda also sees her there, and is excited to meet with her friend again . . . but then she has to join the witch-haters' club because FIYERO IS RUNNING OFF WITH HER! Um, well I guess the engagement's off.

    In private, Elphaba and Fiyero spend the night together and have their intimate moments. Despite the fact that this relationship throws both of their lives into complete turmoil, Elphaba can hardly believe her good fortune--she got the guy! But her getting the guy causes Glinda to have a moment of jealousy, and she gets with Morrible and the Wizard to spring a trap for Elphaba. She suggests starting a rumor that her sister is in trouble, which will bring Elphaba running. But Morrible decides rumors aren't enough, and uses her considerable weather sorcery powers to arrange for the famous "A house dropped on my sister!"

    Of course, Elphaba takes the bait and is horrified to find that her sister has been crushed by a flying house, and she has no one to blame for it but the little girl who happened to be inside.

    Glinda and Elphaba have a shouting match (and a little more than that), and it is through that action that Fiyero reveals his true colors, saving Elphaba and making everyone aware that he is on her side. The Wizard's flunkies capture Fiyero and string him up on a stick to let him die in a field, for assisting the enemy. Elphaba retires to the castle Fiyero gave her directions to, and tries to cast a spell to save him from death. She's so disoriented and enraged and panicked that she doesn't even know what to do, and feels she's failed her love. She comes to the realization that every good thing she ever did got interpreted as wicked, and decides maybe she should just be wicked forever. The mobs mobilize to take her out.

    Meanwhile, Glinda starts to figure out that the whole murder of Elphaba's sister and all that junk was orchestrated, and Glinda gets in trouble with Morrible for trying to take a stand against it. Seeing Morrible's true colors when she's told to just shut up and do what she's told, she goes off to find her friend.

    Convinced she needs to be "wicked," Elphaba has captured Dorothy and really wants to take out her rage at her sister's death out on the poor girl, but Glinda convinces her to let Dorothy go. She receives a note from her monkey regarding Fiyero: We find out later that he is all right, having been transformed by her magic so that being tortured and strung up did not hurt him. (Wow, now he really is brainless--he's the straw man, the scarecrow!)

    Poor Elphaba just can't take it, and says the world was too much for her. Glinda, on the other hand, seems to have mastered it, she thinks; she tells her best friend that she wants her to forgive her and do what's right. See, Glinda's got the admiration of the population, she must have done something right--and Elphaba makes her promise not to allow the masses to find out they're friends, because it will weaken her popularity, which she now needs to use to rise up against Morrible and the Wizard. They make their agreement, and Elphie gives Glinda the Grimmery to help her with her quest. They agree that they are friends, changed "for good" by friendship. And they say goodbye.

    The famous scene of the wicked witch melting actually happens, but it turns out it's a ruse. Elphaba is alive, hiding in a trapdoor . . . and her lover the scarecrow comes to get her, at which point they escape to a world outside of Oz where they can be happy.

    A really nice scene follows of Glinda coming into her own. First she gets rid of the Wizard, demoralizing him by making him realize that he was Elphaba's father (the clue was a green vial of elixir he used to drink with his lover, which Glinda also saw being carried by Elphaba as a memento). Then she has guards take Madame Morrible into custody, and becomes ruler of the North herself.

    Glinda announces to the crowd the news of the witch's death--this is where we came in!--and Elphaba again says goodbye to her friend as she leaves forever.

The music:

The soundtrack is available through the Decca Broadway label, © 2003 Universal Classics Group. This is another one of those musicals where listening to the soundtrack gives you a vague idea of what happens . . . however, there is a lot of dialogue in between so that one can still watch the show and be very surprised (unless you read my spoilers). There is one song MISSING from the soundtrack, called "The Wicked Witch of the East." (It was left out because much of it is dialogue.)

  1. No One Mourns the Wicked--Typical musical-sounding ensemble bit that introduces Glinda the Good to us; includes a flashback to show the origins of the Wicked Witch, and winds up with a flashback to the two women's college days.

  2. Dear Old Shiz--A short alma mater song sung by random students, during which everyone pays homage to the good old university, where Glinda and Elphaba study magic.

  3. The Wizard and I--Elphaba's song where she expresses her innermost desires. It's a happy and hopeful song, the first really lyrical melody in the show so far. Elphaba has just discovered that she has respectable magic and is going to be presented to the Wizard, so this is her fantasy song about becoming his working partner and leaving behind her stigma.

  4. What Is This Feeling?--The new roommates, Galinda and Elphaba, write home about how much they hate each other. The chorus of students chimes in midway through to agree with Galinda that Elphaba is revolting, it's sad. They play off each other, singing a duet even though they are in opposition. It cutely ends with Elphaba screaming "BOO!" and Galinda reacting with a cute little shriek.

  5. Something Bad--A duet between Elphaba and her Goat professor, Dr. Dillamond. They sing about the rumors flying about Animal rights, and the professor seems to be losing his voice somewhat, as often he is hoarse in this song and breaks down into saying "baaaaaad" instead of just "bad" on a couple of occasions. No, nothing bad's happening really! They're just rumors!

  6. Dancing Through Life--Convoluted and long song with many parts. Begins with the prince Fiyero arriving and singing his carefree song. Bits of it cover Nessarose and her excitement over Boq asking her out, and Elphaba agreeing to help her sister pay Galinda back for her kindness.

  7. Popular--"Elphie, now that we're friends, I'm going to make you my new project." "You really don't have to do that." "I know! That's what makes me so nice!" Galinda sings an absolutely adorable (and strangely barf-inspiring) song about popularity, complete with vocal acrobatics and strong-voiced belts as well as little ornamentals that totally wrap up her personality. (This is really friggin' cute. You have to hear it to see what I mean.)

  8. I'm Not That Girl--Elphaba's sad song about Fiyero. Here she muses that he's already found someone: Galinda. "He could be that boy . . . but I'm not that girl."

  9. One Short Day--Elphaba and Glinda rejoice at being in the beautiful City of Emeralds. A very big piece with an ensemble backing them up, the two discuss the grandness of what they see and get very excited about someday coming to live there together as two best friends.

  10. A Sentimental Man--The Wizard's song! Here he insinuates strongly a lot of parental themes, and demonstrates his care for every Ozian.

  11. Defying Gravity--Absolutely smashing finale for Act I; Elphaba's realization that she can take fate into her own hands. Glinda and Elphaba fight at the beginning, trying to convince each other of the error of their ways, and eventually Elphaba insists that she is now going to ignore everything that anyone says, following her heart instead. ("I hope you're happy," says Glinda.) The energy of this song, its building and final payoff, make it my favorite piece of the show. "Too late for second guessing. Too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes . . . and LEAP! It's time to try defying gravity. I think I'll try defying gravity, and you can't pull me down!"

  12. Thank Goodness--Smarmy little song where Glinda uses her "I'm in front of a bunch of adoring fans" voice, announcing her happiness and urging the Ozians to celebrate. Here she offers to share her happy ending vicariously. Woo-hoo.

  13. Wonderful--The Wizard's circus-sounding song where he tries to convince Elphaba that being a giant liar is not so bad.

  14. I'm Not That Girl (Reprise)--Short song where Glinda is now in Elphaba's shoes, having been ditched by Fiyero and left in sorrow.

  15. As Long As You're Mine--The creepiest love song you'll ever hear. It has dark and almost gothic music playing as Elphaba urges Fiyero to "Kiss me too fiercely, hold me too tight; I need help believing you're with me tonight." Their joyous disbelief is overshadowed by the fact that they could be caught and misunderstood.

  16. No Good Deed--After Fiyero is caught and is being tortured, Elphaba begins this song with a really cool-sounding chant, trying to use magic to preserve her love. After believing she's failed, she begins to sing this ominous song about how she's never been rewarded for her virtues, so she might as well become WICKED.

  17. March Of the Witch Hunters--An appropriate mob song where an angry group announces their murderous intents for Elphaba. The Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion are mentioned in this song, citing their problems as being the witch's fault.

  18. For Good--The two main characters reflect on each other's effect on their respective lives; it's a sweet and melancholy song about friendship. "Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

  19. Finale--And we reprise the theme song and roll the credits. But now the joyous "Yay she's dead!" song does not quite sound as ecstatic. Ding dong. . . .

More information on the show, the cast, and the soundtrack can be found at their Web site, www.wickedthemusical.com .

Wicked (?), a.

Having a wick; -- used chiefly in composition; as, a two-wicked lamp.

 

© Webster 1913.


Wick"ed (?) a. [OE. wicked, fr. wicke wicked; probably originally the same word as wicche wizard, witch. See Witch.]

1.

Evil in principle or practice; deviating from morality; contrary to the moral or divine law; addicted to vice or sin; sinful; immoral; profligate; -- said of persons and things; as, a wicked king; a wicked woman; a wicked deed; wicked designs.

Hence, then, and evil go with thee along, Thy offspring, to the place of evil, hell, Thou and thy wicked crew! Milton.

Never, never, wicked man was wise. Pope.

2.

Cursed; baneful; hurtful; bad; pernicious; dangerous.

[Obs.] "Wicked dew."

Shak.

This were a wicked way, but whoso had a guide. P. Plowman.

3.

Ludicrously or sportively mischievous; disposed to mischief; roguish.

[Colloq.]

Pen looked uncommonly wicked. Thackeray.

Syn. -- Iniquitous; sinful; criminal; guilty; immoral; unjust; unrighteous; unholy; irreligious; ungodly; profane; vicious; pernicious; atrocious; nefarious; heinous; flagrant; flagitious; abandoned. See Iniquitous.

 

© Webster 1913.

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