Musical Review (1): Wicked

Finally! Let's talk about something else!! Because going on and on about "I Want To Be A Turk!" is just not interesting enough :)

(Taken from google picture search!!)

Yes, I specially went to find the poster as advertised in Singapore. So yes, on Sunday, I watched the musical "Wicked" with my sister at Marina Bay Sands. It's like this newest casino-shoppingmall-hotel-fancyschmancyrestaurantgalore-touristattraction place. Now, if you google 'Singapore', you'll most likely see (apart from our dear ol' Merlion, yes it's a portmanteau of mermaid and lion) pictures like this:

(surprise surprise, i had to google 'marina bay sands' XDDD). Looks like Singapore is still best known for their cityscape (refer below):

Yes, that thing sprouting water? That is the merlion.

Enough bragging on my side. Anyway, I watched "Wicked" and here is my humble review.

Generally, I like it. As with all other musicals I've watched (which is a rather shallow collection of 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', 'CATS' and 'Chicago'). it was full of song and dance. However, I feel that this musical is really suitable for people who are musicals-beginners. If my friend has never watched the musical, I'll recommend this to him/her. Provided, of course, he/she has read/watched 'The Wizard of Oz', but I'll talk about that later.

Comparatively, Wicked has a more comprehensible storyline, like Chitty (Sorry! I'm only gonna use my other three musicals for comparison so pardon my lack of expertise!!). CATS and Chicago MIGHT need some (or a lot) of explaining and straining your ears to understand what they were singing. With Wicked (and Chitty), there is a nice balance of song and drama. However, if you're talking about dance and stunts? CATS will fulfill that need better.

I want to talk about the other stuff, like costumes, music and props etc., but I simply don't have time!! I mean, this wouldn't be a writing blog if I didn't talk about the story and writing, would it? So I better get down to the real deal.

To those who have never read/watched "The Wizard of Oz", go read/watch them, you bunch of born-after-2000 babies!! XDDD It is one of the children's classics and it's worth reading. Wicked is best watched when you have the prior knowledge of the events in The Wizard of Oz (i'm going to drop my "..." because I'm lazy!!) Those who remember fondly of Dorothy and Toto, read on :)

Simply put, Wicked is the classic (or cliche, but who am I to judge?) story of the misunderstood-villain. ... That's it. XD that's really saying everything in a nutshell. But here are some things that I noticed in the musical.

My favourite character is Glinda the Good, simply because she has the quirkiest character. the character is the epitome of being naughty while looking nice. It really got me thinking: How do I create a character who is so flawed, yet so lovable? That sounds like a real nice challenge for me. Try creating a character that makes you go 'I will NEVER be friends with her, but if I really am, she'll bring lots of fun."

The only one that I can think offhand is Yuffie Kisaragi (from Final Fantasy 7). She is annoying to the brain cells, but you gotta admit, she's cute :3 Oh gosh... I can't think of others. Any help here? No one of that sort in Harry Potter, huh? Not in Eragon, nor any of my obscure fantasy novels either. Ah, Veronica in the Archie Comics!!! She's... flawed, not that I like her, but she does have her cute moments too. Something like that! (Unfortunately, no one is flawed in Twilight so no comparison there. I'm not really saying it as a compliment :P)

Moving on. Story plot is rather... coherent and it's funny to see how they fit in new details such that it fits nicely into the canon storyline. For example, Glinda gave Elphaba (future Wicked Witch of the West) a black, pointy hat that she didn't want... it turned out to be a staple in the Wicked Witch's costume... carrying it all the way into the main story of "The Wizard of Oz". And they pulled this kind of stunt almost all the time.

I'm amused by this because... it really reminded me of how I squeezed my brain cells trying to introduce new details into my "I Want To Be A Turk!" so much so that my details is the influence of what you see in the canon story...

... Example (since that was quite a chunk to digest), okay, simple one. In order to keep my BC Turks even after the Banora incident, I had to introduce two original characters (Marshall and Patricia, remember?) so that they can die in the Banora incident and not any of my BC Turks XD (refer to Chapter 21 to ). Another example is making Rude like Tifa Lockhart (Chapter 42) many years before the events of FF7 so that it wouldn't feel too abrupt for Rude to say that he likes her (after only meeting her once or twice).

Anyway, they did a lot of those, using new characters to explain how did the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man come about and all. It was interesting to see how they cleverly fit everything but as a fanfic writer you'll think: Meh, I do that all the time.

Are you anymore convinced that fanfiction has its worth? It's a common writing tactic for fanfiction writers, and all other story developers when they are making a prequel or a side story.

The dialogue was well-written. Every character had a humour that was unique. This is something that maybe we all can learn from. Not everyone shares the same kind of humour. Dry humour, quick-witted ones, animated ones... Well, it's not something I can master anytime so soon, so it's not a priority that I'm looking into. :P

All in all, the musical was not bad. I enjoyed it thoroughly, I didn't really understand why I told my friend that it was alright. *shaking my head* Now, I'm feeling really sleepy and I've yet to start on my work so if you would excuse me... I'm going to do my work XD

Disclaimer: Despite the official term, the above review is not a wholesome and fully critical one. The blog entry merely reviews and reflects the performance on based on story writing and other literary elements.