The ‘Wicked’ National Tour Casts a Magical Spell on the Classic Tale
As soon as I had the lineup for the 47th season of San Diego Broadway, I circled the dates for the entire month we would have the fortune of hosting Wicked. At the time, I had never seen any iteration of it or read the book, and when the announcement for the show came, the movie hadn’t yet been released, either.
Like many, I fell under the Wicked spell when the movie came out in November 2024, but I also joined the many flocks who hadn’t seen the live show and got left hanging after Cynthia Erivo’s epic rendition of “Defying Gravity.”
This got me even more excited to see the show when it came to San Diego because I needed some major resolution, and the ultimate result of the show at least got me to stop hating Glinda.
Austen Danielle Bohmer as Glinda and Lauren Samuels as Elphaba in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
Xavier McKinnon (my newest crush) as Fiyero in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
What is Wicked about?
For those unfamiliar, Wicked centers around Elphaba Thropp, more commonly known as The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. The story humanizes her, gives her a past, highlights her struggles, showcases her as actually quite an incredible person and activist, and provides a non-cannon-but-now-cannon backstory on her journey from baby to Dorothy melting her with a bucket of water.
The recent movie is based on the stage play, which is based on the novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire. I won’t get into a comparison of each of those, but I will say that both musical iterations I’ve seen are way better than the book. I’ll also say that I don’t know how the second Wicked movie will be as strong as the first now that I’ve seen the second act, but that’s neither here nor there.
Lauren Samuels as Elphaba in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
Lauren Samuels as Elphaba in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
Throughout the tale, which starts with Elphaba dying and rewinds from there, we see her relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch. When we first meet her, she’s known as “Galinda” instead, and her name change is part of her storyline. The first half of the story follows their time together at Shiz University, where they are inadvertently put together as roommates and endure a friends-to-foe storyline.
Due to Elphaba’s magical power, she winds up getting an invitation to meet the Wizard of Oz and, spoiler-free, things don’t go well. After things don’t go well, Elphaba essentially becomes a “villain” simply because she fights against an oppressive system and chooses to stand up for people and creatures who are vulnerable.
How did the national tour do?
Everyone knows Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel originated the roles of Glinda and Elphaba, and fans and critics alike seem to agree that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were the best choices for their on-screen representation.
Austen Danielle Bohmer as Glinda in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
With so much history and a fresh wave of popularity (no pun intended) due to the film’s release, Austen Danielle Bohmer and Lauren Samuels certainly had big shoes to fill. Fortunately, they both proved they deserved the roles just as much as their predecessors and hit the stage with an incredible show.
I also have to say I’m quite a fan of Xavier McKinnon as Fiyero. Look, he fit the pants well, his voice was great, and he had nice arms. What more do you want from me? If we’re supposed to fall in love with the guy, he may as well be right up my alley.
I digress because I could go on and I’m already blushing.
Overall, everyone did a great job, and I also loved Blake Hammond as the Wizard and Aymee Garcia as Madame Morrible. It was hard not to compare and contrast everything to both the movie and the recent stage production of The Wiz, but they still knocked it out of the park.
Blake Hammond as The Wizard in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
Aymee Garcia as Madame Morrible in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
The Wicked music of Oz
It’s no secret that Stephen Schwartz totally crushed the Wicked soundtrack. Seriously, he turned Maguire’s book into an epic tale he really didn’t accomplish on his own in the novel.
That said, I still felt like the first act was a lot better than the second, which brings me back to my caution about the upcoming second film. Similarly to how I felt with Some Like it Hot, I actually wondered if the Wicked stage play could have had one or two things cut just to fit it into a one-act play instead.
Kingsley Leggs as Doctor Dillamond in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
I’m glad, however, they didn’t do that, because the stage play also feels a little rushed now as compared to the pacing of the film. All of this is a good thing, though — the three hours for the live show goes by in a blink. Due to some technical difficulties, a lot of vocals were actually hard to hear because microphones kept cutting in and out, but Samuels, Bohmer, and McKinnon held it down and did a great job leading the show.
Overall THoughts
After all of the recent hype, I’m mostly glad I’ve got the full resolution to the story. I read the book after seeing the movie and eagerly anticipated my opportunity to see the live show at the San Diego Civic Theater, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Apart from some of the wonky tech issues, I don’t think there’s anything I would have changed. I loved how they incorporated the Clock of the Time Dragon, though it comparatively made the head for the Wizard of Oz look quite lackluster next to it.
Erica Ito as Nessarose and Alex Vinh as Boq in the National Tour of WICKED, photo by Joan Marcus 2024
The show also added in a few elements from the movie, such as Bohmer integrating Grande’s “it seems the artichoke is steamed” line. For fans, like me, who now get to come to the show with some sort of preconceived notion based on the motion picture, I like how they touched on some of that to make it feel more “familiar,” though I’d still be interested to see how the entire show played out prior to the movie’s release.
If you’re in San Diego, you have plenty of opportunities to see the show as it runs through March 2, 2025. Grab your tickets here, and check out the full tour lineup to see if and when they’re coming to a city near you.
