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Sunday on the Pod with... Wicked - Part 1!
24 Plays3 months ago
We hope you’re holding space (and pinkies!) because it’s time to take a trip to dear old shiz and dance through life as we bring you one short day in the Emerald City! Have you done something bad that’s left you wondering what is this feeling? Whether no good deeds go unpunished, what it means to be popular or whether you’re that girl? Well thank goodness because we’ve got all the answers in Wicked Part 1!
On our seventeenth episode of Sunday on the Pod, the gals talk Wicked, Wicked, Wicked (and Robbie Williams…) Then you won’t want to miss Wicked Part 1. So what are you waiting for? Sit back and enjoy the pod!
Credits
Artwork by @drawnatthehalf
Hosted by Casey Gwilliam, Florence Lace-Evans and Rosa Maria Alexander
Produced by Rosa Maria Alexander
SUGAR COOKIE (Piano Ver.) Music by 샛별Daystar https://youtu.be/7lqpOlVYtD0 Promoted by BGMD No Copyright Music http://tiny.cc/yf4qpz
Email: sundayonthepod@gmail.com
Instagram: @sundayonthepod
Twitter: @sundayonthepod
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090008413791
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Sunday on the Pod'
00:00:22
Speaker
welcome to you Sunday on the Pod with... Casey. Flo. And Rosa. Welcome to Sunday on the
Exploring Musical Theatre
00:00:30
Speaker
Pod. Sunday on the Pod is a podcast all about musical theatre. However, this podcast isn't just for performers, but it's for anyone who loves musical theatre.
00:00:40
Speaker
Each episode we cover musicals that some of you may love, some of you might hate, or maybe you've never heard of them
Social Media and Wicked Focus
00:00:47
Speaker
before. Either way, we'll be singing and dancing about them. So, what are you waiting for? Sit back and enjoy the pod!
00:00:55
Speaker
And just a reminder, you can keep up with us on social media. We are at Sunday on the Pod on Instagram and Twitter. I tried saying X, guys. I just, I can't do it. um And you can also find us on our Facebook page, which is at Sunday on the
Wicked: History and New Film
00:01:09
Speaker
Pod. So something a little bit different for this month's episode. Since the holiday season is fast approaching, we decided here at Sunday on the Pod to give you a little treat. That's right. We are covering the phenomenal Wicked.
00:01:25
Speaker
Part one is going to be our usual musical deep dive. We'll be taking you through the history of the show, casting creatives a little bit about the plot, and then me and Flo will be taking you through kind of lyrically and musically two of our favourite songs from the show. And part two will be a good old chinwag about the new film, what we liked, what we didn't like, and also some juicy behind the scenes gossip. So what are you waiting for? Sit back and enjoy the pod.
00:01:52
Speaker
Well.
Origins of Wicked
00:02:02
Speaker
So, a little bit of history of the show Wicked. The spectacle of belting divas, defying gravity and sparkly bubble dresses, but I bet you didn't know it's actually based on a book, based off of another book. The 1995 novel by Gregory McGuire called Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, is what the basis of the musical Wicked is actually about.
00:02:26
Speaker
It's not your average fairy tale. Maguire took Elfrank bounds the wonderful Wizard of Oz and turned it inside out, giving us a story where good and evil are anything but black and white or should I say green and pink.
00:02:39
Speaker
who Thank you. Love that one. The novel reimagines the backstory and characters of L. Frank Baum's classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was published in 1900, and its iconic 1939 film adaptation. McGuire's book explores the untold story of Elphaba, the greenskin girl who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and her complicated relationship with Glinda.
00:03:03
Speaker
The musical's creators adapted the darker and more political themes of Maguire's book into a family-friendly production. It features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holtzman did the book.
Character Focus: Elphaba and Glinda
00:03:15
Speaker
The original novel is complex, filled with political intrigue, philosophical debates and mature themes like oppression and morality. Schwartz and Holtzman streamlined the plot to focus on the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda. This friendship became the emotional core of the musical, creating a more relatable and heartwarming narrative. so Apparently, I've actually never read the book, but apparently it's quite dark. I've heard it's really twisted and it's... I don't know if I'm just making this up. I think it's apparently quite sexual as well, but I don't know if that's... I've heard it's like incredibly sexual, but like not in a like a fun, flirty way, like in a quiet way. Yeah.
00:03:54
Speaker
yeah and ah it's like really quite like it's very very political. I mean I know Wicked is political anyway but it's got like massive political themes like that's kind of like the main themes of the book. So it's kind of the main crux of The Wizard of Oz though. Yeah true to be fair. So it's more centered around the wizard's authoritarian regime and like the oppression of the animals. and It's kind of downplayed in the musical although that is kind of a major plot point but the the novel kind of goes into like depth and chapters and chapters and chapters about the backstory of all of the animals and um the conflicts that go on between the animals and the humans. So the novel's tone is mature and often bleak so it has big themes of existentialism
00:04:40
Speaker
loss, political allegory, lots of deep stuff there. and So Schwartz and Holtzman reimagined the story and they were like, right, let's make this uplifting and turn it into like more of a friendship, individuality, questioning social and labels and things and turn it into good and wicked. A musical, that's what they thought. Let's get some glitter.
00:05:12
Speaker
and So the musical kind of reframes Elphaba as a misunderstood heroine whereas the book leaves her morality more ambiguous so towards the end of the book you're kind of still thinking that Elphaba is wicked. ah The ending of the musical is far more optimistic than the novel providing redemption and closure for both Elphaba and Glinda.
Adaptation vs. Source Material
00:05:30
Speaker
In the novel, Glinda didn't actually have that big of a role, she's relatively small in the novel, so for the musical they obviously made her the co-protagonist, offering a contrast to Elphaba's serious idealistic nature. Her comedic personality and character art transforming from shallow and self-absorbed to a mature compassionate leader added levity and balance to the show. It is interesting that, that because like it I suppose like I could understand why that would be a criticism of the show that they kind of dull down like the central conceit of maybe the novel and actually its original source material and obviously all like the stuff with the animals is kind of like civil rights based. ah no I mean we've we've all read the stuff on the Wizard of Oz and all the different allegories for like the
00:06:21
Speaker
yellow brick road and money and blah blah blah. But it is interesting like I wonder how that author fell and i I love Wicked and I love the narrative of the two women and the kind of ambiguity around who's good and who is evil and actually that blurred line that they both kind of tread um and that is such an interesting and powerful story in itself but it's a completely different story to the one that's outlined in the novel and I'm not saying that that's right or wrong but I do wonder how that author felt to be like oh you've distilled my my great work I guess like that's his life's work into something that's not to say it's less valid or less interesting it's not at all
Adaptation Perspectives and Examples
00:07:02
Speaker
but something like so completely different do you know what I mean? Yeah have you have you read the full book Rosa?
00:07:09
Speaker
No, I haven't actually. I probably should, but I've heard lots, I mean I've mainly heard from people that they're like, oh fuck, it's bleak city. Obviously this may be not the best source material for a show, but I just wonder, I always wonder that when, it's kind of quite rare that it happens, but like when when something has been adapted for something and it it changes so majorly, I always wonder, how is that original? There must feel, or do they do they just get like, oh well, but they're doing a different thing with it and this is,
00:07:39
Speaker
a different motive than I had when I was doing this. I don't know, I always wonder how that, or does it just make the multi-money and they don't care? I think it's interesting because I think as as a Broadway show goes, and I hate to say this, but I don't know if a really dark musical would work. Like I just like, not not from my, not from like, I i love i love kind of dark stories where you're like, oh God, like, you know, Sweeney Todd, that kind of stuff, you're like, oh God. um But I just think from a commercial point of view, that's probably why they were like,
00:08:07
Speaker
We need to make it glitz and glam, need to get it to be. I think that's probably why they probably steered towards that. because they probably thought It's probably an easier way to be like, we can we can make it about two leading women. It's kind of interesting, I guess, that they then adapted from the book to make Linda a bigger part.
00:08:29
Speaker
And I think it's it's quite rare, I think, to see a musical who with this, like as successful as it is, that is so centred around two female characters rather than like, you know, male characters. Yeah, and the romantic relationship takes a bit of a secondary.
00:08:45
Speaker
Exactly, which is kind of interesting. I mean, I'm sure the writer probably like, that wasn't what I wrote, but maybe it's just that they were like, we love the book, we're inspired by it, but we're not, I don't know. yeah I feel like there's, if you know that your work's being adapted into something, I feel like you can't be so precious about it, like,
00:09:05
Speaker
yeah it's going to get changed I mean because somebody's looking at it with a different perspective than you are even though you've written it but I think that with have you ever watched Saving Mr Banks? Like the the the story of how opposed she was to having Mary Poppins turned into a film and like when you actually read the Mary Poppins books she's actually quite like strict and quite like ah cold in the books yeah it's funny to see like Because when we think of Mary Poppins now, we think of Julie Andrews, but... I mean, I think I disagree with... We don't need to get high on it, but I think I disagree with that if something's being adapted, you should shouldn't care about... I mean, that that's your work, that's your characters, that's your brain. Yeah, yeah. But so but then also, I think a lot of them, like so Stephen King very famously hasn't really liked any of his film adaptions.
00:09:54
Speaker
of any of his books but apart from Misery but he is quite happy to just keep take like he's like that's fine like i'll take the money and run kind of thing like and he's quite open about that he's like i don't like any of the film adaptions but it brings me a lot of money and it means i can keep writing um so i suppose it's whatever deal has been entered you know um that's what i mean i don't mean it's in like they shouldn't like not that you you you're kind of handing it over but I think if you're going to be in that situation where you're like okay I'm gonna let you do this yeah you you're gonna you can't be so precious about well you can't change this and can't change that because you've already said yeah I think yeah but then some would get it marked into the contrast like I don't know why I know this but the Bridgerton woman which is why they're locked sometimes with Bridgerton is that she's like yeah adapt it make it modern and do all this stuff with it because the books are really different um
00:10:44
Speaker
and ah she so but her stipulation within the adoption contract was they have to end up with who they end up with in the books. So that's how that's where they're kind of struck but they've got kind of free reign because I've read one of the books. I was writing an essay on Bridgerton and it's like it's not the books are very like 90s like you are a bit like well that doesn't feel great to be let young girls now about that. um So that's all but I always thought that was really interesting that that was her stipulation. She was like nope they've got to end up with who are they end up with and then she didn't really care about anything else.
00:11:21
Speaker
It's like, have you seen My Sister's Keeper? We get it completely changed the ending of that. Yeah, the ending of My Sister's Keeper, the daughter that's like healthy is the one that dies. Oh yeah, yeah. And then the daughter that was dying the whole way through the film is the one that lives at the end of the book. They changed that around. I wonder why they changed that. I think that was, that's a big plot twist. That would have, I don't know why they didn't keep that in. It seems odd.
00:11:49
Speaker
And I think, I could be wrong. I could be spreading fake news. I think the writer was not that happy about that. I think she was like, well, you know, it's fine. I like the adaption, but she was like, I've never quite agreed with them shifting. Yeah. Cause it just seems odd. Cause that seems like you've watched the whole film. Yeah. You've got, you've watched the whole film to get to that point and then you're like, Oh my God, the wrong one dies.
00:12:09
Speaker
Yeah, the wrong one. Oh my god, the wrong one dies. But it seems odd, you're like, oh, like, I expected, I expected the girl to die at the end of My Sister's Keeper and then she did. I wouldn't have expected it if the other one died.
00:12:25
Speaker
a So that way that would have been good to watch all the, I don't know. i want to change My last thing on this is I would be interested as well to know, and listeners, if you'd only answered Wicked Heads, please let me know. I would be interested to know if, steve if the um because I think it's the right move for it. I agree with what they were trying to do.
00:12:45
Speaker
um That is the kind of more, compar it's not the more interesting story, but it's a story that hasn't been told as much before, is of those two women. and We've kind of had the history and the the politics of Oz laid out for years and dissected for years. So it's the more interesting story to introduce to a modern day is the friendship of the two women and this kind of moral ambiguity. But ah you were saying, Flo, that it was maybe perhaps driven by commerciality. Oh, we'll have two female.
00:13:13
Speaker
Um, actresses, that's quite different. It's groundbreaking. It's a bit lighter. And I would, I'm interested to know if that was Steven Schwartz's idea. Um, and that's because when he read the book, he was like, this is what I want to make a musical about, or whether that was more producer driven, because I think those are two very different things. Or whether it was Winnie, because obviously she's a female, female playwright. So it could have been her.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, sorry, Winnie. Yeah, that was me being rude about Winnie. Everyone always forgets about Winnie, it's fascinating. I know, sorry, Winnie. You know, it's all right, but it is interesting, because like, even on all the press, you're like, where is Winnie's name? Because obviously she, well, I shouldn't really say this, it's a bit of a spoiler alert, but she wrote the movie as well. She wrote the movie Screenplay, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, where is Winnie? I want more of Winnie.
00:13:59
Speaker
also that pressed her not to give any spoilers away, it has been fucking nuts, somebody's like get me. Keep me away from it.
Broadway Debut and Acclaim
00:14:07
Speaker
but She's like I'm not holding space for it. So Wicked premiered on Broadway on the 10th of June 2003 with Adina Menzel subsequently winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Elphaba. Love her so much.
00:14:25
Speaker
it can mean ade does even but it I was literally about to say that. I was just thinking that. Adele Dazeem. I love that so much. The way that I wouldn't have come out after that, the way went like when he said that, I would be too embarrassed to walk out. that and I'd be like, no.
00:14:41
Speaker
but say How did someone laugh? like How did she not laugh at that and be like, that's not my name? And I did i did feel really bad for John Travolta because you just know that he looked at the... like Because he's dyslexic, so you know that he looked at those letters and he put them in the complete wrong order. it's that He says it with such non-confidence, he goes, the wickedly talented Adeldazim.
00:15:03
Speaker
I think I've said this before but that Adele Dazeem clip, when I showed my dad that he's maybe not there the biggest laugher in the world, he laughed so much that he cried. it's move That's funny. ah but And if you mentioned that John Trubull that he's like Adele Dazeem.
00:15:21
Speaker
The show received mixed reviews at its premiere but quickly became a commercial success due to the strong word of mouth, a devoted fanbase and iconic songs. Since its debut, Wicked has become one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history and has spawned numerous international productions and tours.
00:15:39
Speaker
And speaking along the lines of people and Winnie, I'm going to get into cast and creatives. And specifically, I'm going to talk about the original Broadway show in 2003. Doesn't that sound like a long time ago? I guess it was 21 years ago, which is crazy. um So the music and lyrics, if you didn't already know, is by the wickedly talented Stephen Schwartz.
00:16:09
Speaker
I had to, um who is a fabulous American composer and lyricist who's also written incredible shows like Godspell, Pippin, and I didn't know this. He'd also written the lyrics for films like Poker Hunters, The not ah their Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt, Enchanted and Disenchanted.
00:16:32
Speaker
wow i don't know what that makes a lot of sense i think enchanted feels like a broadway musical i mean ah but i i had no clue but you know what though hook on this is very funny it's a very funny disney movie and wicked is also very fun it's wickedly funny um and it's it's kind of interesting when when you kind of connect those disney movies together i mean the prince of egypt is a phenomenal disney movie yeah It's such and the music and you're like, oh, this song. um So, yeah, it's fascinating. um So, yeah, he is a genius um and he he studied at Carnegie. Well, that's my opinion. um He studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania and he graduated with a BFA in drama.
00:17:15
Speaker
um I know, which is very interesting. and Just to name a few, he has huge accolades, including three Grammy Awards, three caught a three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, six Tony Awards and a Lawrence Levy Award.
00:17:35
Speaker
So he's got a very hefty collection of awards at home. Yeah, fair play, fair play.
Behind the Scenes of Wicked
00:17:40
Speaker
um So he, yeah, he wrote the music and the lyrics for the show and the book we kind of briefly chatted on, here she is, Winnie Holzman, who is an American, with I'm team Winnie. She is an American playwright, screenwriter,
00:17:56
Speaker
actor and producer. um And she has been writing for Broadway for quite a while. She wrote the musical Wicked, obviously. um And actually she's a co-writer, I got that wrong. She's a co-writer for the screenplays of Wicked movie part one and part two, which is obviously coming out next year. um She has also written for TV, including the American drama 30 something.
00:18:22
Speaker
and American family drama Once and Again, which I actually haven't heard of those two. I don't know if you guys have. No, me neither. I mean, she's written Wicked, so she's kind of set for life. She can do whatever she likes. What's also very interesting is that she graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English and a concentration in creative writing. So that's what she originally started in. It gets even more fascinating. I actually went down a big rabbit hole with her. She then went into performing in sketch comedy for years. she should So she did that for a really, yeah, and it's fascinating. I know she did that, amazing. She did that for years. And then she said something, she did she said like a quote, like, I didn't make a dime. So then after she did this like sketch comedy, I know I love her. She then was like, ah she then later went onto a musical theater program in New York city and she got a full scholarship.
00:19:16
Speaker
and she graduated with an MA in musical theater, and sorry, musical theater writing. And her mentor was Arthur Lawrence. Oh, come on. And, you know, hold on, you're gonna be even more gagged. Her teachers include Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, Betty Comden, Adolf Green, and Leonard Bernstein. Oh, shut up, Winnie. Why didn't you just let my dream winnie? I don't like her, actually. I thought we've gone from a- Fuck you, Winnie.
00:19:50
Speaker
So, yeah, she did very, very well for herself. Also, I love i love the background of sketch comedy. I feel like it's such like an underrated art form. I love sketch comedy. I love sketch comedy.
00:20:02
Speaker
Someone said to me, they're like, sketch comedy is a dying art form. I was like, you're a dying art form. Sketch comedy is great. I love sketch comedy. But maybe they mean in the sense of like, in the sense that like- It's not popular. I don't know, I love it. Oh, and that's not. Oh, that's not. That's not. um And as we briefly talked about earlier, it's based on the book, Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, an American novel published in 1995 by Gregory Maguire. Now moving on to the cast of the original 2003 Broadway production, we have the wickedly talented, I was about to say it, um Dina Menzel, who plays Elphaba. I can't unhear it. um Then we have the incredible Christian Chenoweth as Glinda.
00:20:51
Speaker
um We have a guy called Norbert Leo Butz, who played Fierro or Ferrero to me. I don't know if you had that in the last bit. I like to call it Ferrero Rocher. It is the time it's going up to Christmas. um And then we have Carol Shelley, who played Madame Morrible. Michelle Federer, who played nassarosa nesscero um my yeah less Nessa Rosa. Rosa.
00:21:15
Speaker
Guy's also got dyslexia doesn't he? There we had mischief, sorry.
00:21:27
Speaker
Then we have Michelle Federer, who played Nesaro. Kirk McDonald, who played Nesaro's. Nesaro's? Oh my god. It's because I spelled it wrong. That's why it's because I did actually write Rosa. So I was like, I just won't say Rosa. Nesaro, they can't. Nesaro. Oh god. Isn't it so hard when you get out of the flow of it? It's a stupid name though. It's a silly name. Nesaro's has always been a stupid name.
00:21:55
Speaker
You should keep that in the episode. It's a stupid thing. And we have Michelle Federer playing Nessa Rose, um Kirk McDonald playing Bock, Robert Morse playing the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and John Horton playing Dr. Dillamond.
00:22:13
Speaker
I was just going to say my favourite bit of like my tidbit that I would say when I was such a wicked like musical theatre kid, I'd be like, do you know that Elphaba's name is from L. Frank Bowen's name? They adapted it to be Elphaba. I didn't know that. I mean, I think someone like you told me that when I was like nine.
Hosts' Personal Theatre Experiences
00:22:33
Speaker
Like, I think that was like, like, I'm pretty sure my friends lie. And also, Casey, I hate to break it to you, but you're still that musical theatre person. you You're like, when I used to be that musical theatre president, you're still that musical theatre person. Being like, staged your secrets. I mean, humbled by my spot if I rapped every year. We love it. Because it's like... You were the number one for Broadway musicals. Your top five things, Broadway musicals, sad Broadway musicals, angsty Broadway musicals. That was funny. Mine said today, March was your theatrical West End Broadway season. Wow.
Wicked's Plot and Character Dynamics
00:23:10
Speaker
Never ending. Literally.
00:23:13
Speaker
My top two songs were, but I thought this was quite sweet, my top two songs were Miracle from Anyone Can Whistle, and then the second one was ah Miracle of Miracles from Peddler on the Roof, and I thought that was really nice that my top two songs both had the word miracle in it. What are miracles?
00:23:33
Speaker
Alright, so on to the plot and I know that we're covering the musical right now but in part two we will be obviously talking about our opinion on Wicked part one. um So I thought I'm just gonna, so there's no spoilers, I'm just gonna cover the plot of act one of Wicked which pretty much um apart from a few kind of choice uh changes matches up with uh Wicked part one but if you've not seen Wicked part one yet and you don't know the stage show just FYI there will be spoilers here um also go and watch it guys out in theaters now so
00:24:07
Speaker
We open in the land of Oz, where the citizens of Munchkin land are celebrating the death of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Appearing in a bubble, Glinda, Glinda, I'm going to be referring to her as Glinda, but the gal interchanges, Glinda the Good confirms that she has died and tells us of the Wicked Witch's origin story. More on that later, but essentially, born after her mum had an affair, her dad, who's called Governor Throp, hates her and she's got greenskin.
00:24:34
Speaker
Glinda confirms that the two were once friends who met at Shiz University, and our story begins proper. We're at Shiz. Elphaba is dropping off her sister, Nessa Rose, or Nessa Row, if you're fluent. Nessa Rosa!
00:24:49
Speaker
Vanessa Rose is paraplegic and a wheelchair user. Elphaba, who has magical abilities, kind of due to the green skin, again, more on that later, and but she's unable to control them. And she catches the eye of Madame Morrible, the Dean of Sorcery Studies, who offers to teach her privately, much to Glinda's chagriding because she dreams of studying sorcery.
00:25:10
Speaker
So Elphaba and Glinda are forced to share room but they do not get on. Glinda, clad kind of always in pink and she's like really blonde, she is outwardly really benevolent and kind, kind of a quintessential society girl, but hidden beneath her shiny exterior is a selfishness and an ego that Elphaba recognises and dislikes.
00:25:28
Speaker
kind of Likewise, Glinda resents Alpha buffer her powers, the attention from Madame Morrible, and her cell and attitude, and her goth exterior. Alpha dreams that her sorcery studies may offer her a chance to meet the Wizard, the Wizard of Oz, who may be able to change her skin colour and therefore change her life, because people are quite nasty to her about it.
00:25:47
Speaker
They're all very shocked, which is kind of, it's like you live in fucking Oz, guys. You have talking animals. Like, I think there are bigger things happening here. Bigger fish to frack. You're a munchkin, like calm the fuck down. That's my, that's honestly the one bit of the show that I'm like, is unbelievable. I'm like, that's fucking unbelievable. Let's just go through the skin. Like, come on.
00:26:09
Speaker
Throughout their kind of studies it shows a couple of things happen. Nessa makes friends with a guy called Bock who's a munchkin um who actually fancies Glinda. That's to no avail though as Glinda is obsessed with the rebel prince Fierro or Ferrero. um Fierro also catches the eye of Elphaba. He's basically kind of like your typical teen bad boy with a carefree attitude. And though he kind of initially is quite attracted to Glinda, his friendship with Elphaba, he becomes kind of more introspective.
00:26:38
Speaker
And there's like a very funny bit in the film where they're like, Biero's thinking now, which which is very funny. And then I think he says, I've been thinking. And then Ethel was like, I've heard. say hey hey Yeah, that's funny.
00:26:53
Speaker
But there's something else going on in Oz. Something is going awry. The animals who, like we said, are anthropomorphic, so they kind of speak and act as humans do, they're beginning to have their rights taken away. And we see this kind of civil rights storyline play out through Dr. Dilemon, who is a goat who teaches history at Shiz, and he kind of faces kind of like mounting discrimination by the faculty and the students.
00:27:12
Speaker
Back to our gang, Fierro takes them onto a party at Ozdust Ballroom. um A couple of things happen, Glinda kind of tricks Bork into taking Nessa, who's pretty happy about it, she kind of likes him, and Glinda attends with Fierro.
00:27:26
Speaker
Elphaba, who, out of kind of kindness and that Glinda's convinced Bach to take Nessa, convinces Madame Morrible to allow Glinda into the kind of private sorcery lesson she's been taking. But her kindness is repaid with cruelty, as Glinda gives her a pointy witch's hat and to wear to the party. Elphaba arrives, the students are really mean to her, and then Glinda, who kind of does feel guilty quite genuinely, then begins to dance with her.
00:27:50
Speaker
they bond and then Glinda gives her makeover back in their dorm and then they kind of are like, we're best friends now, even though it's like, well, you've spent one evening together, guys. Let's, you know, let's chill. Back to the animal civil rights issue. Dr. Dillaman is dismissed from his role at Shiz and there are kind of rumours swirling that the animals are going to be locked in cages and forced into kind of semi-slavery in service of the Oz people.
00:28:15
Speaker
Elphaba uses her growing powers to intervene when the new professor um of history is kind of experimenting on a lion cub and she and Fiaro release the cub into the forest together. Elphaba begins to realize that she has feelings for Fiaro but believes he will not choose her over Glinda.
00:28:31
Speaker
All right, we're ramping up towards the end. Madame Morrible has been keeping the Wizard of Oz up to date with Elphaba's progress. And Elphaba receives an invitation to meet him in the Emerald City. And very kindly, I would say, because this is her big moment, she takes Glinda with her. They do a lovely, exciting tour of the Emerald City. Oh, I've always wanted to be in the Emerald City. And they meet the wizard who offers to grant Elphaba whatever her heart desires. And we all think, oh my God, she's gonna request the green skin change. But very kindly,
00:29:00
Speaker
Elphaba actually requests to keep the animals safe in Oz, which is just... God, that girl's got a heart. Elphaba is woke. Elphaba was woke though. They hated her because she was woke. It was a culture war.
00:29:16
Speaker
The wizard at first appears to be a kind of kindly man, but he has a secret hidden agenda. Madame Morrible and the wizard ask Elphaba to read from the ancient and sacred grimory spell book. But the spell that she reads actually transforms the wizard's monkey guards into flying monkeys, causing agonizing pain when the wings burst from their bodies, which is actually, I don't know if you guys have seen the film yet ah listeners, but it's actually quite a horrible scene. and It's really quite sad. It's really horrible.
00:29:43
Speaker
It's really sad. Thing is though, I think also on the stage show, I remember saying it for the very first time as a kid, it really scared me because the actors who were playing the flying monkeys, I don't know if they still do it, I mean actually I saw it like two years ago but I still can't remember. ah They have a bit where like they show the wings being grown out the back and the way that the dancers do it, it is a bit like oh god because you can see their back like like breaking as it were like changing into wings and you are I remember even as a kid being like oh my god this is so this is so horrible to watch but the movie you're right they they did it in such a way that you're like oh god anything with animals you're like oh god please stop
00:30:25
Speaker
Elphaba's heartbroken, but Morrible and the wizard, Buzzin. This was their secret plan all along. They basically want to force the monkey guards under threat farm to their families to be flying spies across Oz. Elphaba, now realizing that the wizard and Morrible are behind the animal discrimination and enslavement going on in Oz, accuses the wizard of being a fraud, that he has no real powers, because kind of otherwise he could just be doing this. Why does he need her? She bows to swap his evil plans and she flees.
00:30:53
Speaker
The wizard issues a manhunt for Elphaba and Glinda, by order of the flying monkeys. And the Glinda, who's kind of followed her, tries to get her to return to the wizard and marble and apologise and kind of repent. Elphaba's like, babe, absolutely no fucking way. Why don't you come with me? Because together we'll be unlimited. But Glinda, she kind of indulges that for a second, but ultimately she's kind of just too scared and selfish.
00:31:17
Speaker
she doesn't want to blow up her life even to save the flying monkeys and alphaba. Is that what it is? Is it because she's too selfish? I thought it was big. I don't know. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think it's more to do with the fact that she knows Elphaba's now going to become an outcast, and I think Glinda ultimately wants to be seen as, like, good. I see. That's interesting. No, no, no, it's just it's interesting, because I never saw her like that. But maybe that is it. I just didn't feel like that. And I think it does come from a selfish place as well, because I think she knows that now Elphaba's going to be out of Madame Orables and the wizard's good graces.
00:31:53
Speaker
So now she's like, oh, this is my child. Cause also even, even that bit in the movie, I was like, eh? Like the bit where like Madam Horrible showed up and like gave her a hug. I was like, ew. And then like you saw her kind of make that thought process of being like, well, I guess I'm going to stay here now. And I watched it. I was like, my God, what the hell is she doing? But I guess that now makes sense. Yeah, yeah for sure. I'm like the, cause I'll go into it later, but like, we know that Elphaba is good. Like Elphaba is good. That's not the question for the audience. The audience is actually, the question for the audience is actually, is Glinda good?
00:32:23
Speaker
yeah And yeah that's not really a clear cut picture. The girl does good things and she does bad things. After an emotional goodbye, Elphaba uses her powers and the grimory, which she's stolen from the wizard, to make a broom fly, um ultimately allowing her to escape, but not before Oz is plunged into darkness. Shiz is evacuated and her father, Governor Throp, suffers a heart attack, as a lot of shit happens. The wizard, Marble, the monkeys, and Glinda watch as Elphaba defies gravity and vouserable against the tyranny of Oz.
Musical Motifs in 'No One Mourns the Wicked'
00:32:59
Speaker
So now is a good time as any to go into our first song. So I'll be kind of talking a little bit about the opening number, which is no one learns the wicked with a bit of a lyrics focus. So no one learns the wicked. Opening number of the show, this girl's personal favourite number. I honestly think it's fantastic. It's a favourite number. Yeah, I love it. I love the drama of it. There's other songs that I love. It is very dramatic.
00:33:26
Speaker
I controversially love, as long as you're mine, people don't really like it. I like that song. I like that song. Oh, I'm so basic. My favourite's popular. Of course. I mean, popular is great. Hey guys, every single song in this show... Well, the majority of the songs in this show are top notch, so it's a hard time looking at them. There are one or two that is a big skip that you're like, oh, not this crap. And you have to skip this. Of course, something bad. Oh yeah, yeah. Oh God, I feel bad. I feel bad for saying that, but you're true. It's true.
00:33:56
Speaker
what and I can't even remember the one that the wizard sings. I'm a good man in channel one. Oh, I'm a wholesome man or something like that. It's annoying. I mean, Jeff Goldblum sold it for me in the movie, but fucked up. Yeah, that's true. For me, it's like, oh, songs by a man. Skip. Skip. Yes. So true. Except for Dancing Through Life.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah, that's very good. Which in the movie I was like, oh my god, I have a newfound love for this song. Let's save it for part two. Yeah, so sorry, I'm getting excited.
00:34:30
Speaker
But yes, no one wears Wicked, my favourite number. um It's a huge expositional number and it essentially provides us with the plot of the entire show, the eventual ending, or is it, on our main character's kind of supposed attitudes towards everything that's happened. It's kind of a perfect blend of a traditional kind of book or play prologue and a musical overture.
00:34:50
Speaker
um so though the show does actually have a prologue number it's pretty short um and no one learns the wicked kind of blends blends the both blends the both blends no one runs the wicked kind of blends the two So the melodies that are introduced within the song will develop and become musical motifs repeated throughout the show. um And I will touch on kind of areas and act on re-hear the motifs again. But how does it open? Well, after ah this kind of brief overture, we are introduced to the citizens of Oz who burst onto the scene with a kind of macabre celebration. Good news, she's dead. I mean, it's a bold, bold start to a musical, I could say, to have the word dead in the opening line.
00:35:30
Speaker
Who's death are they celebrating? Elphaba, the wicked witch of the west, by a supposed water-induced melting. Citizens of Oz are buzzing, Glinda the Good Witch arrives from the sky in a bubble, ah pretty heavenly and angelic. Glinda appears to kind of join the Oz citizens in the celebration, confirming that Elphaba is now dead. But subtly, her lyrics tell a different story, one that appears to be empathetic with Elphaba's plight and eventual demise. She says, and goodness knows the wicked's lives are lonely. Goodness knows the wicked die alone. It just shows when you're wicked, you're left only, on your own.
00:36:06
Speaker
so kind of pathetic there, Glinda. What are you not telling us? Citizens of Oz take this basically as just a further example of her goodness. Oh, she's so kind. Her empathy knows no bounds. But us as the audience, we begin to think she might not be as celebratory about the death of the wicked witch she initially appeared to be. It's here that Glinda provides the audience with the main crux of the show, the main question that we're trying to explore through this kind of alternate prequel to the Wizard of Oz. Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? I also thought that was also a bit of a, there's something a bit saucy about that line. I don't know why I've always thought that. like I think, is it look is it the word thrust? It's the word thrust and like, do you want my wickedness thrust upon you? I don't know. It's something that a little bit saucy about. In a different context.
00:36:55
Speaker
We are then quickly taken through the backstory of Elphaba, who was born and out of an illegitimate affair that her mother had with a mysterious man who made her drink green elixir before they shagged. on birth and seeing her green skin Upon birth and seeing her green skin, she is rejected by her father, treated cruelly in comparison to her younger sister, Nessa Rose.
00:37:17
Speaker
Glinda takes us through another round of and goodness knows as the Aussians whip up into a frenzy frantically celebrating supposed victory over evil. So this is where the lyrics get kind of interesting. Really important to note here that although the Aussians look like they're almost being kind of like led by Glinda on the celebration and despite like the line no one learns the wicked that refrain kind of being sang a bunch of times throughout they're like no one learns the wicked Glinda doesn't ever actually join in and say the line, no one burns the wicked. Interesting. Right? Kind of implying that behind her facade, she is actually kind of ruining the wicked and doesn't really agree that she was wicked.
00:38:00
Speaker
So despite her taking us through Elphaba's story and kind of condemning the wicked throughout her intro, she never names Elphaba. She says, obviously, let us be glad, let us be grateful. Let us rejoice and find that goodness could subdue the wicked workings of you know who. Isn't it nice to know that good will conquer evil? The truth will all believe and buy and buy, live a lie for you and, but what's the lie?
00:38:21
Speaker
Is it the lie that Elphaba is wicked or is she actually good? um Who is the good and ah who's the wicked? And obviously without spoilers and act two, but if you know the end, you can kind of see that there's a bit of a double entendre there that isn't it nice to know that good will conquer evil. The truth will all believe by a Bible will outlive a lie. Who's telling the lie?
00:38:44
Speaker
I always assumed as well. ah I always assumed as well that she's talking about herself when she's singing the wicked, nice and lonely, that bit. I'm like, hmm. It's introspective. And that's kind of because basically, for me, the central and more interesting transformation and journey of the show is Glinda's. Elphaba, we know she's good from the start. Even though the people of Oz might not know her true intentions, us as the audience, we know her intentions, we know that she's good and she's doing this for the sake of the animals and she's been painted into being a bad person. So for me, her goodness is never a question. We know that she's a good person. It's everyone around her that acts so horribly.
00:39:30
Speaker
But where the kind of moral question is around is around Glinda. Glinda does go through a transformation. At the start, she is really selfish and she does become more kind, and more empathetic and she does good things. She also, throughout that journey, then goes back and does quite bad things. um And again, without any spoilers for Act 2.
00:39:49
Speaker
You are left quite ambiguous at the end.
Character Arcs and Moral Ambiguity
00:39:51
Speaker
The Aussians have made a decision that Elphaba is wicked, we know that Elphaba is good, but they've also made a decision that Glinda is good and we know that it's much more complicated than that. And for me, that's kind of the moral question, is not really around Elphaba, we know that that's the the lie that's been spun. It's more about Glinda and actually whether you can really paint people as is good or bad or or whether everyone can everyone contains multitudes um You know the bit that we were talking about earlier where I was like, oh, I didn't see her as her being selfish. I think I i just remembered why I didn't sit think of that because it has just reminded me. You know how up until this point, obviously, Elphaba has been seen as like the one that's gifted and like can do all this stuff by Madame Morrible and Madame Morrible says to Linda's face like, You're like, you're not talented. Like you shouldn't be doing this program. The only reason why you got into this program is because of Elphaba. I almost wonder if when Elphaba in defined gravity is like, come with me. My interpretation was that I felt that maybe Glinda was like, I shouldn't come with you because I'll hold you back.
00:40:56
Speaker
because i i know I know deep down inside, because usually the people that are the most bitchy, this is also for real life, usually people that are the most bitchy and like the popular girls are probably the most self-conscious people out of like everyone else. So maybe that is her just being like, I know deep down inside that I can't do what you can do and going with you will only slow you down. But if I stay here, pretend yeah and be this good witch that they want me to be,
00:41:24
Speaker
I'll actually have more power being on the inside rather than being on the outside unable to do anything. That's, but maybe that's just me dissecting it too much. I think that is the, for me, I obviously Stephen Schwartz will let us know. And Winnie. But for me, that is the point of the show. I don't think there is any answer to a arrive at.
00:41:41
Speaker
that says that she is good or this is what i think the point is to question that and the point is is that that is a blurry line so i think you'll interpret lynda's actions as good or evil or wicked in different points and people will have different interpretations of why she does what she does and that's the point of the show But also same with... Not to put a judgment on it. The audience have done that. They've said, this person's good, this person's wicked. The point of the show is to say... For us to go, are they good, are they wicked? And what does be good and wicked actually mean? But also same with Fierro and Elphaba, how um him and Galindra are supposedly an item beforehand and then just suddenly they're like, actually, no, like it's true love here. In many, like, I don't know, I do understand that because I'm like, no, team Elphaba all the way. Well, it's proactive.
00:42:29
Speaker
So sorry, spoilers. um But I mean, it's kind of obvious because they're like getting high. It's pretty obvious. I'm like, what? But you could also look at that and be like, well, that was a really shady thing of Elphabets due to Glinda. I was literally about to say that's what I was going to say. I was going to say, Elphaba kind of breaks girl code there, so she's not ah outwardly. They both have moments which are good at that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's true. I mean, I've said that we know that Elphaba is good. I think we, I mean,
00:42:57
Speaker
90% of the show, she's pretty good guys. She's acting with good and oscillating back and fucking forth. back I think for me, i I support women's rights, but I also support women's wrongs. I support their wickedness and their goodness. My fate, I am team Glinda.
00:43:17
Speaker
Are you team Glinda? She's the more interesting character. Well you're team Glinda for Fierro. I'm just team Glinda in general. Oh I'm team Elphaba. All the way. All the way. I'm not too many of them because I think we like this. I'm not into pitting women. Oh they're two words of Switzerland actually. What I take from the show is that we both contain Glinda and Elphaba.
00:43:42
Speaker
That's true. We will act badly and we'll act good throughout our life. And I would hate to be also fuck off Aussians. Imagine just like turning up one day and they're like, by the way, you are the Wicked Witch of the West. Like we've just decided that. Yeah. Like actually your friend who you already think is prayer and it's going to get the boy that you're like, we've actually decided that we're just going to call her good.
00:44:03
Speaker
like
00:44:06
Speaker
That's so rad. Anyway. We do actually see kind of a glimmer of honesty from Glinda towards the end of the number where one of the Aussians goes, is it true that you were friends with her? And then she kind of, she's quite misleading about the truth of their friendship, but she does say, well, it depends what you mean by friend. I did know her. That is our paths did cross at school. And then we go into into the kind of story.
00:44:32
Speaker
So the musical motifs, i'm I'm not going to go through all the different ways that they come back because I don't want to do any spoilers for ECTU but a few kind of repeating motifs that we hear in Define Grab A. Obviously we have and the Aussians say, look at her, she's wicked, get her! No one, and then they do um No One Wears the Wicked again. So we've got to bring her down. um So that kind of ah is a refrain from No One Wears the Wicked. It's also kind of briefly ah sung in the show's finale. Won't let you know what that is. Obviously
Personal Reflections on 'Defying Gravity'
00:45:07
Speaker
chronologically
00:45:08
Speaker
um No One Wears the Wicked happens at the end of the action, so it makes sense that it comes back again. and The first few opening notes of the song of No One Wears Wicked are also repeated at the beginning of my favourite duet, coming up in Act 2, as long as you're mine, which I think is really interesting.
00:45:25
Speaker
and because that number without giving too much away it's meant to be a love duet but it has a very kind of sinister undertone I'm sure Flo would be able to tell me all different about the keys but it's not like a traditional like major key that it's played in so you're always like oh I'm not sure things are gonna end well for these two and so that's interesting that no one burns the wickets at the start because it's obviously a similarly emotive song and it's also repeated when Elphaba sings in No Good Deed, which is a later song to come, she does that bit where she's like... um And that uses the same notes from No One Wears a Wicked as well. And lastly, the kind of main melody of No One Wears a Wicked is played and sung at the beginning of Thank Goodness. So when you're watching Act 2 or Wicked Part 2 next year, why are we waiting so long? Look out for those kind of ah little melodic refrains to come back.
00:46:23
Speaker
That was literally the first thing I said after I watched the Wicked movie, I turned to my friend, and I was like, why the fuck am I waiting a year for a party? I know, it's so weird. It's ridiculous. But also, sidebar, i do if this happened with anyone else, do you know the new Robbie Williams movie that's coming out where he's his biopic is him as a monkey? They they played that directly before the movie. So then when the monkeys came out of the movie, I was like, all I'm thinking is Robbie Williams. Yes, Robbie Williams. like Great. You've now just completely destroyed the monkeys for being wicked. And now I just think it's Robbie Williams. That is ridiculous, that film. I mean, why? Why have they made a biopic about a monkey? I don't understand. so Also, does anybody care about Robbie Williams? No one cares. No one no cares. No one knows for it. it's the It's a prime example of when someone has like an all k-ish idea.
00:47:13
Speaker
And there's someone else in the room who's like, that's fucking genius, mate. And then they ground with it. Because clearly, Robbie Williams has clearly said at one point, oh, yeah, when I was in Take That, I felt like a performing monkey. And they're like, oh, that's fucking great. We'll make a movie where you're literally a performing monkey. Like, that is a great idea for a small SNL sketch featuring Robbie Williams. But also, it's weird that everyone else in the band isn't a monkey.
00:47:42
Speaker
Yeah, it kind of is kind of like, well, I feel like this. I'm not sure about these other guys. Robby Williams is so like, I've never... Do you know when you just get bad vibes? Certain people give me vi bad vibes. I feel like ah I'm like some sort of like... Lorraine Kelly gives me bad vibes. No, not Lorraine. Not Lorraine. Yeah, tax dodging Lorraine. Tax dodging Lorraine.
00:48:05
Speaker
Do you know what? I'm really to deep it. Such a sidebar. But I think when I was a child and I'd wake up in the morning to go to school and I'd be so grumpy and Lorraine would be on the telly, I think I just associated hate. I was like, you're too chirpy and I'm annoyed. Oh dear. I have a soft spot for Lorraine because in drama school I was given Lorraine to do for an accent class and I could never i could never do it. I can't do a Scottish accent but I just have a big soft spot for her.
00:48:34
Speaker
No, I, uh, I can't stop that. And I think the fact that she's, she's taxed all this, like, she's dodged all this tax. And she was like, Oh, it's, it's actually because I'm playing a kind character. shut up lain shot Also she takes, ah she takes every single Friday off. She works five days a week in a, like for like what? Two hours. And she takes every Friday off and every school holidays. Her daughter's like 33.
00:49:01
Speaker
ah know Well watch this, there'll be there'll be a biopic coming out with about Lorraine as a chimpanzee. It'll all be explained. A fucking tax bill. My original point was, Rob Williams gives me bad vibes. I think he's a selfish asshole. And the wow yeah the video that went viral of him when his wife's giving birth and he's singing to of his own song where he's like... ringa ringer exhibit That one which...
00:49:28
Speaker
to be that was
00:49:34
Speaker
recently I recently went down a rabbit hole listening to old Robbie Williams and I love that song Feel. It's such a good song. The trailer for that film though was like, I was like this monkey thing's fucking stupid but then I was like oh maybe there is actually an interesting thing with his career and how beloved he was and it must have been a bit mental to have had that all that attention from some age and then when you're watching the trailer he's performing and it's like i don't wanna rap and then you're like all this for i don't wanna rock dj yeah know i mean like it's a classic but it's not his best song but like well
00:50:08
Speaker
You know when you watch like a biopic about Freddie Mercury and you're like, fair enough, the songs were pretty good. It was pretty ingenious performing. I can see why people were better. I don't want to rock DJ. We're doing all this. What's interesting is um I've also i got a big love for The Wheel by, um you know, the program on BBC. I love it.
00:50:26
Speaker
ah It's just such a stupid game show. Anyway, he was on it and there was a question about Robbie Williams because one of the categories was was what was Robbie Williams and his wife was like doing the category. So I was like, ugh. Anyway, um the question was like, ah it wasn't actually about Robbie Williams, but it was about like top hits and it was like, who in the UK has had the most top hits?
00:50:46
Speaker
in like in the 2000s, like in terms of awards and it was Robbie Williams. It had like Ed Sheeran, Adele, Robbie Williams and that was the answer, Robbie Williams. So I was like, I didn't know that. Is that, I'm presuming that that'll be a lot of his take that stuff and but Robbie Williams. i' I don't think so, they didn't say take that. Cause he wrote a lot of the take that songs. Oh, that's probably why, that's probably the loophole. Cause I was thinking, I was like, really?
Analysis of 'Defying Gravity'
00:51:15
Speaker
So I'm going to be taking us into one of probably the most famous songs in Wicked that's probably spamming your Instagram as we speak, um Defying Gravity, which is the finale song for for for the first act.
00:51:30
Speaker
And it is the moment in the musical where Elphaba realises that the Wizard of Oz is not the heroic figure that she originally believed him to be. And the song is her singing about how she wants to live without Libbets and she wants to use her powers to fight the wizard. And this was my quote, that nothing bad, nothing truly bad happens to Oz. um Any musical theatre kids will know that reference.
00:51:55
Speaker
down the um I think what's also interesting is Steven Schwartz has done loads of interviews about writing the music, including Defying Gravity. And I kind of like this quote. He had a quote which was like, one of the key things um in the song is the difference between the two leading characters as persons, as personalities.
00:52:16
Speaker
um And he said the song is about empowerment and a universality about wanting to feel strong in in the world. um And he said, you are strong in who you are. That's basically what the song is all about, which I was like, Steven, such a sweetheart. um So yeah, it's it's a brilliant song. And it ultimately, it's the moment where Elphaba gives up trying to be anybody else other than herself, which I think a lot of people have to deal with in their life. They have to get to a point where they're like, no, I'm just going to be myself. I think especially, I think and this is such like, it's getting a bit deep, but so especially as in your twenties, I feel like a lot of people I know who are kind of mid twenties growing up into like, yeah are going towards that 30 point.
00:53:03
Speaker
they're kind of like, oh, I don't really know who I am. and I feel like these are the years where you do start to kind of be like, okay, no, I do know who I am. I'm going to do this because this makes me happy. I felt particularly emotional watching this movie and them in in the music um this music there's music in the movie. Because i was I was just thinking like, I feel like that at this time in my life, where it's like, you feel like you're you're sick of trying to be someone else especially because you know we've only kind of like just come from like being teenagers going to university then like trying to be this young adult trying to be an ah adult navigating life there is a point where you're like no I know who I need to be and I kind of feel like that's what the song is um I don't know maybe that's just me. No I definitely think like it is so interesting when you reach this like I found it when I turned 26 I was like
00:53:52
Speaker
Oh my god like I had a very long I'm still going through quite a big period of breathlessness but I do feel much more directive almost in like I don't know. I just, I cannot explain it. And I have friends who are like, I would do the same thing and we can't really explain it, but it's like, you feel very restless, but you also feel very settled in who you become. It's weird, isn't it? It's quite an interesting juxtaposition where you're like, I feel like I need to be doing something to be who I am, but I also feel like I'm becoming who I am. And I'm not quite sure. I've just got to keep powering through, I think.
00:54:25
Speaker
Yeah, i think my i feel like ah went through too like I think who I was at the start of university was vastly different to who I was at the end of university. But then I also feel vastly different from the person I was when I finished university to the person I was after a turn twenty- five ah feel like yeah I And they say that's when your frontal lobe develops. isn' it and It's so true. like I feel so different being like, well, I'm now 27. But from what I felt like when I was 21, it's crazy.
00:54:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It is weird. Yeah, it is weird. But that was a complete sidebar. Let's actually get into the the song, which is, I'm sure everyone who's probably listening to this probably has already heard it before, um but it's one of my favourite songs in the musical. When I first heard it, when I was like, but I don't know how old would I have been, I would have been six when I first heard the song. I remember bawling my eyes out. I had an iPod,
00:55:22
Speaker
ah classic um and I was listening to it on a family holiday and I had never heard a musical theatre song like this before and I just remember crying listening to it being like, this is so epic. um So let's get into it. It's a duet between the two leading characters, Elphaba and Glinda. I mean, I'd say it's mainly Elphaba's song, but they call it duet.
00:55:42
Speaker
um And the main key of the music is D major, um which for all my musos out there, I've actually said this before in a previous podcast, I feel like I have, um but D major is a key signature that's actually used quite a lot in heavy metal music.
00:56:00
Speaker
um because it's tonic, which it art which is that first note that D is the highest note on a standard guitar. So it means that in a rock song, if they're like wanting to sound like really epic and they go up to the highest note, D is their limit. um And it's it's also, it's interesting when you listen to the song that a rock guitar plays under Elphaba's kind of main theme in the song, like this like electric guitar. So it's kind of interesting. It adds that kind of like,
00:56:29
Speaker
feeling of it being like a, having like a rock element to the to the song. um yeah and The other really interesting about being in D major is that, um this is so nerdy, but the composer Schubert, which is a classical composer, just in case you were like Schubert, he famously ah described D major as the key of triumph.
00:56:56
Speaker
ah the key of hallelujahs, of war cries, and of victory rejoicing. Oh, that is so fucking nice. Oh my god. Yeah. Which just, it suits this song to a tee, but I read that, I was like, oh, Stephen did well. Stephen did very, very well. Yeah, she bare.
00:57:12
Speaker
um So yeah, that's me kind of getting all nerdy and technical. I'm going to continue because it's I love this song. um So we open and it's written as free tempo, which for anyone who's like, what does that mean? It basically means that the tempo at the very beginning is free, ah but it also is suggesting that the conversation that Glinda and Elphaba are having isn't planned.
00:57:36
Speaker
And it does kind of come out of nowhere where essentially before this, Elfbringled are being chased through the through the wizard's um palace and they end up kind of locking themselves in a room and then they have a big argument. That's kind of how it opens.
00:57:50
Speaker
um And to be honest, you it doesn't you can't really tell that it's in D major at the very beginning. I don't know if anyone can really tell like, oh, this song is in D major, but you can't really tell tonally where we are. It sounds quite ambiguous. And actually in this opening bit where they're kind of, I hope you're happy, they use lots of like unrelated chord sequences away from D major and it's very chromatic in its movements. So they're using notes that aren't found in the d major in a D major scale.
00:58:20
Speaker
um And it's all in that bit with the two, which is arguing, which is kind of interesting because it kind of, the music is mirroring what's happening where it's this like discourse between the two leads. Like a disconnect between the two of them. Exactly, exactly. um And it's it's very much like the witches are heard singing against each other, the very apart. And there there's a lot of kind of almost that feeling of them trying to talk over each other.
00:58:46
Speaker
um and then we kind of move into this andante section which and andante is basically a fancy word for walking tempo um so like like a steady tempo and it's that bit where Glinda starts singing you can still be with the wizard it's kind of slightly softer um it's a steady tempo and it's kind of almost suggesting that Glinda is reminding Alber of the easy life that they could live together if she did decide to be like, you know what, okay, we will make mistakes. I'll just go along with it. I'll just be this amazing wicked witch that people want me to be living in Oz. And then very interestingly, then Elphaba
00:59:24
Speaker
doesn't decide to change the tempo, she keeps the tempo steady, she keeps it in andante, but she replies to her, but I don't want it. And she almost kind of mirrors Galinda's melody and timing, but she says to her like, I'm not going to do that in a very calm way.
00:59:40
Speaker
suggesting that she doesn't need the wizard. And actually she's now realized that she's strong enough alone to carry her own thoughts and her own rhythm. So she doesn't, she doesn't need to kind of be, I think, I feel like up until this point in the musical, she's been very much been told like, Elphaba do this, Elphaba's that, Elphaba's, but now she's like, no, I know what I am. I don't need that. um And also i've I've got to mention this, cause Steven Schwartz talked about this a lot in interviews. There are Elphaba's motifs, which I don't know if you two have heard about this before.
01:00:11
Speaker
No. I heard about the unlimited motifs. Yeah, so in an interview he talked about, there's three Elphaba motifs that he uses and you hear it throughout the musical. The first one... Oh, should we guess what they are? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. There's three, there's three. Unlimited is an obvious one because it comes back again and again. Which also, unlimited is the same chords of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Yeah. Oh, I think I didn't know that was so cute. I know.
01:00:39
Speaker
Oh, okay. Hang on. Oh my god. No, i give us two seconds. Oh, it's one... bu but bu No. Yeah, the one that's like... Yeah, so that's the other one. So the one that's like... That one. but So that one, so that is actually, that one's called the Wicked Witch Motif. And that is basically the one, and Steven Schwartz quoted, it's the one where she sounds strong, scary and powerful. um And it's that like low bass sound that kind of grows, the chords are very open and there's no third. So it's very kind of, actually it mirrors what a guitar does when a guitar plays it, it can't play the third, it only plays the first and the fifth. It's very strong, very, very clear.
01:01:26
Speaker
um yeah so that's kind of that's the second one it's the other one the like that but the softer version where it's like like at the beginning of the fire gravity it's like um oh god now i've forgotten how it goes i'm trying to remember i'm having i'm gonna have a look right now at Oh, it goes bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. That's the third one. That's the third one. You know which one I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What does it also appear in?
01:01:59
Speaker
i mean the but but but I think it's heard right at the very beginning, no? I think it's in the opening song. I think when they open at the very, very beginning of the musical, you hear Elphaba's scary motif in that opening song. So that's used a lot. But they usually think if they do it softer as well, don't they? Because that's because then it goes...
01:02:20
Speaker
like all the way through that song. um yeah I almost wonder if her palm- That's in For Good. That's in For Good. I also wonder if it's heard, I'm thinking of the top of my head, but I also wonder if it's heard in the words of an I, but I'm not sure. is the And then it is in slightly in Defined Gravity as well, because it's like just before it goes into the, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
01:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that that motif is called her power motif. but So she has, so anyone at home that's like, what's going on? and i know about that but but So the first motif is called the unlimited theme, which is unlimited. That's the first one.
Conclusion of Act 1 and Setup for Act 2
01:03:04
Speaker
The second one is the power motif, which is ah but but but but The third motif is the Wicked Witch one, which is... Those are the three motifs. Those are the three motifs. I always love that little drum fill that happens. Oh, I know. And it's so good. I mean, the music in it is so good. It's just such a great musical. I mean, if you didn't already know that, I love the music. um
01:03:31
Speaker
um So yeah, so those motifs are really important because you do hear it throughout Defying Gravity as well. um So we've moved from that kind of Andante section where she says, I don't want to do, I don't want to. And this is when it gets exciting because the te the tempo moves to Allegro, which basically translates to quickly lively. And this is Elphaba opening with her opening chorus.
01:03:54
Speaker
verse two and chorus two, and there's a real sense of momentum and a sense of that momentum building with her self-belief and the drive took that she has being like, I know exactly what I need to do. um And Steven Schwartz quoted at this point where this is this this is the moment where the song becomes increasingly rhythmic as her power develops as well. So it's kind of interesting, like there's the emotional side also building, but there's also like the physical power in her is also building. And um and I almost wonder if prior to this in the musical, you know, the moments where Madame Morrible is like, control your power. I almost wonder if all she needs to do is just believe in herself and her power be there. It's that kind of age old time thing where it's like the moment you believe in yourself, you'll be so much more powerful than if you actually doubt yourself. Um, got a bit deep. Um, so that's kind of that allegro section. We then return to the unlimited motif.
01:04:49
Speaker
ah which is unlimited, ah just in case you didn't know, um which is heard throughout the show. um And it moves into a section that's kind of more moderato, which is ah try again translates to moderate pace. And this is where it changed to D major. um It has a slight key change. um And this is where it's Again, Elphaba is kind of finding this new sense of key, she's finding a new sense of tonality, but it's also the moment where she starts to kind of collect herself that moment, where she's kind of had like her big outburst, but then she has a moment where she's like, okay, I need to collect myself, I need to kind of gather my thoughts.
01:05:24
Speaker
um And this is also then the moment where the witches are heard singing together for the first time. And there's almost kind of moments of like call and response between each other, which is kind of nice. It kind of mirrors their friendship that they have for each other. um And for me, it suggests that Glinda is completely on Elphaba's side, otherwise she wouldn't be calling and responseing her. She's like, I completely, I complete you. I complete your sentences and I'm on your side.
01:05:52
Speaker
um and then we hear the two witches singing in unison on there's no there's no fight we cannot win um and then it goes into third harmony where it's I hope you're happy my friend um and it's it's kind of sweet because it kind of it signifies that their friendship is solid and that it's beautiful as well because I mean third harmony always sounds really nice whenever you hear that it's a classic harmony Then we move into the ah back into this Andante section where they're asking, what are you coming? I love that bit in the in the musical. They're like, what are you coming? It's so musical theatre. And you hear this like chromatic melody in the background where it almost kind of sounds slightly minor.
01:06:33
Speaker
Um, but it, it resolves itself. And then this is where this was getting excited. This is the big final chorus that you hear everybody belting out on Instagram. Um, and this is where it goes back to the original key. It goes back to being a leg row and it really is Elphaba stepping into her hero era. That's what I like to call it.
01:06:52
Speaker
um and you hear her singing kind of FF which is Loud Loud um and there's a real sense of momentum and you have full orchestra behind her as well um and this is literally her defying gravity because also what's interesting is that the orchestra underneath is using synthesizers and glockenspils, which in musical terms, it adds a sense of magic underneath the music because it has a very kind of, it has a magical sound anyway, like those two instruments have
01:07:26
Speaker
have um pictures that you can't really hear on other musical instruments so it has like this kind of unique feeling to it and also it's the moment in the music where alphaba hits her highest register and it's the bit where she's flying so it literally is the bit where she's like i cannot get any physically emotionally vocally higher than i currently am right now because i'm flying in the air um and um it's it's that kind of amazing moment where it's like here we go this is the end of the song um and the kind of the final final final section um because she has her big belt it kind of goes back to b minor in that kind of in that last bit and then it finishes on a d major chord and that b minor i think is then
01:08:10
Speaker
it's them kind of hinting at what's to come and like the unease and the um and the rest of act two that's about to follow that there is a bit of unease and discourse that is about to follow but also the fact that the musical is just a weird musical like it's an it's a very unconventional musical there's lots of weird relationships there's lots of weird things that happen kind of slightly hinting to the book where it's like there's lots of there is a weird that there are uneasy bits in the story um But ending on the D major chord, it signifies that Elphaba is in full control and that she has made up her per mind.
Announcement for Part Two
01:08:44
Speaker
And even musically, she's like, no, we're ending on the key. We're ending how I started it. And she is the hero at the end of act one. And that's why it's an amazing song. That's why I love to find gravity.
01:09:04
Speaker
Thank you so much everyone for joining us on part one of our wicked Christmas bonanza. and It's so exciting. Thank you for kind of traversing with us through. No one mourns the wicked all the way through to defying gravity.
01:09:20
Speaker
As Casey said, ah this is part one of our Wicked special. Part two will be coming out in about a week from now and we will be basically having an informal chat, all things Wicked part one, the movie. I know, it's complicated. We'll be chatting casting choices, cut songs, we'll be talking. Should Jonathan Bailey be allowed to be that physically hot in a film? No. No.
01:09:46
Speaker
and So yes, join us for all the backstage gossip and our opinions on Wicked Part One. That's coming out next week. And just like that, we've been Popular. Bye!