Mixed Review

Well, I just got home from seeing Wicked. I have wanted to go for two years after hearing everyone talk at church about how great it was. I am a fan of the Wizard of Oz. You have to know the story in order to understand the play. Though, I have to admit I have avoided watching it the last few times on TV because I am terrified of the flying monkeys. Plus the music at the beginning where the witch is riding her bike scares me too. I think watching this movie is just as much a part of being American as apple pie or baseball. I am not sure what to think about the play. I feel like I should be loving it because everyone else did, but I just don't know. The verdict is out. A couple of things I can say is that the costumes are great. The music is good, and the storyline has had me thinking since I left. I am going to maybe regret it in a few hours when I have to get up to put the boys on the bus. So for you who are not familiar, Wicked is the story behind the Oz story told from the wicked witches perspective written in 1995 by Gregory Maguire. The storyline while entertaining enough explores several topics. The first being: are we born evil, or do we become evil in response to our circumstances and environment. This is not a new subject. Scientist, theologians, and writers have been asking this very question from the beginning of time. Mary Shelley asked the same question in her book Frankenstein. If we are to go along with Gregory Maguire's view, then we are supposed to feel sorry for the wicked witch because she wasn't truly evil and merely misunderstood. I am not so sold on this because this leaves out the choice to rise above one's circumstances. Are we purely victims? He said when he came up with the idea for this book that he had just read an article on Saddam Hussein which compared him to Hitler. He wondered on what effect the very word Hitler or evil plays on how we judge someone or label them. He also explores the idea of how much value we as a society place on beauty (the good witch) and our need to fit in. I guess the one thing I came walking away with was the question: What price do I or we pay in our need to fit in? In the case of the wicked witch, she paid a very heavy price. So, if you haven't zoomed out yet I want to know am I missing something? Should I read the book? Would it make me love this play more? I guess I just wasn't expecting to walk away with thinking about it so much and was expecting to enjoy it merely for entertainment value. I am not so sold on the friendship between the good witch and the wicked witch. I did like the song towards the end where it talks about how much we can learn from one another.