Wicked vs. Wicked
Monday, February 11, 2008
This post contains spoilers of both the book and the musical, so stop reading if you don’t want to know.
Last summer I read the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, and last weekend I saw the musical Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz produced by Disney. They are unbelievably different.
The book is a dark, piercing and at times dreamlike narrative that explores many characters’ thoughts and motivations and luxuriates in the descriptions of buildings, clothing and the various races that inhabit Oz (Winkies, Munchkinlanders, Animals, etc.). It is definitely an “adult” fiction with its themes of conspiracy, adultery, betrayal and power. It is a pessimistic commentary about the evil of established institutions and the price of rising to power. I suppose any novel that conjures up images of Nazi Germany might be taking itself too seriously, but one can’t help but notice that the Witch is portrayed as a subversive yet righteous advocate for the poor oppressed Animals (which are animals with the power of speech and thus human-like consciousnesses). There’s blood; there’s sex; there’s devastating choice.
The musical is a comedic and sugar-coated version of the book, substantially changing the characters and plot. The musical focuses on the relationship between Glinda the Good and Elphaba, who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, from their initial mutual loathing to loyal yet heartbreaking friendship. No doubt this relationship is important in the book, but in the musical, which needs to be simplified like all musicals do, it forms the driving force for the story and musical numbers. Musical Glinda is a caricature of Book Glinda – where do they find actresses who can giggle and kick up their heels and bend backwards to touch the ground and sing in perfect pitch? The music and acting were awesome. I was moved to tears more than once.
But I couldn’t help noticing the jarring differences. In the book, Fiyero is a sincere, studious Winkie prince who has brown skin with blue diamond patterns. In the musical, Fiyero is a playboy who’s been kicked out of every school and revels in the “unexamined life.” In the book, Elphaba’s father is a “unionist” minister who travels about Munchkinland trying to win converts. In the musical, he is the governor. In the book, Elphaba’s sister Nessarose is born without arms and becomes the Wicked Witch of the East. In the musical, she is in a wheelchair (but otherwise normal) and has a love interest whom she has a hand in turning into the Tin Man (one of a few allusions to the original Wizard of Oz story that the book does not contain). In the book, Elphaba’s real father is a random green elf with whom her mother had an affair while her father was away preaching. In the musical, the Wizard is her father who seduced her mother with the same elixir in a green bottle that he takes swigs from. In the book, Fiyero and Glinda never had a romantic relationship. In the musical, Glinda falls in love with Fiyero and thinks she will marry him, and when he chooses Elphaba that causes of rift in Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship. In the book, Madame Morrible goes senile and gets her head bashed in by Elphaba. In the musical, she is imprisoned. In the book, Fiyero is executed by the Wizard’s secret service for associating with Elphaba. In the musical, he becomes the Scarecrow. In the book, Elphaba is killed when Dorothy splashes a pail of water on her. In the musical, Elphaba appears to melt after the same, but emerges from a trap door that Fiyero opens, after which they disappear and live happily ever after. This is wrong. The lovers don’t get to be together. I could go on and on.
The worst change was the fact that Elphaba lives. The whole time you’re reading the book, you know she will die at the end and that makes her choices and struggles more compelling. I was complaining about the Disney-like ending of the musical until Dave reminded me, it’s a comedy; of course she lives. But I think that really cheapens the story, if you’re trying to stay true to the book, which the musical isn’t, apparently.
The musical is good as its own work, but if you really want a story that is “different” (and if you want to look up words in the dictionary – amazing how many words in the English language I didn’t recognize), I recommend the book.