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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Gregory Maguire's novel builds upon the world of Oz created by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Most people are more familiar with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, where they changed the color of the slippers from silver to red to showcase the wonders of Technicolor.
Maguire sets his novel earlier than Dorothy's arrival and focuses on the girls who would become the witches of Oz, notably Elphaba, the green-skinned hydrophobic Wicked Witch of the West. Her mother is a discontented housewife who is seduced by a travelling salesman who gives her a mysterious green elixir and then rapes her. Elphaba is the result of that fateful night, born with a bright green skin and razor sharp teeth. Her "father," a preacher, believes that she is his punishment and a constant reminder of his failure to protect his parishoners from the evil of sin. He favors, instead, her younger sister NessaRose who is most likely not his child either but the child of a wandering Quadling glass blower who shows up on their doorstep weak and injured. He is welcomed into the family and begins an affair with Elphaba's mother, who gives birth to NessaRose and then a son, Shell. However, Nessa is born without arms, probably because of her mother's attempts to prevent another green child, and needs constant care and attention, and becomes the center of her "father's" attention, including a pair of glass-covered slippers that sparkled in the light.
The sisters are accepted to Shiz University and Elphaba is forced to room with the air-headed socialite Galinda. Despite being an outcast, Elphaba is finally away from her father's oppressive rule and excels in her studies, especially her sorcery classes. Eventually she builds friendships with several classmates, including her roommate Galinda. She becomes involved in politics and works closely with her instructor Dr. Dillamond toward Animal rights. Dillamond, consequentially is a goat, who realizes that the rights of sentient Animals, who can walk and talk and reason like humans, are slowly being taken away. His murder sparks a reaction in Elphaba, urging her and Galinda, or rather Glinda in honor of Dr. Dillamond who had trouble pronouncing her name right, to travel to the Emerald City to beseech the Wizard to change the legislation. The Wizard refuses and Elphaba vows to stay and fight to undermine his rule, while Glinda returns to school to watch over NessaRose.
Years later, NessaRose is able to move around without help because Glinda bewitches her slippers and she has become the political leader of Munchkinland. Following in her sister's footsteps, she urges her country to secede from Oz and operate outside the rule of the Wizard. Glinda, on the other hand, is less interested in politics and tries to do "good" while still looking pretty. Elphaba, in the meantime, grows powerful through her experimentation with magic and her discovery of the Grimmerie, a magical text from another world.
The hunt for Dorothy takes up only about a fifth of the book. Elphaba is drawn from her castle by the news of her sister's death and the unusual circumstance of having a house fall from the sky. When she discovers that Glinda gave the shoes to Dorothy, she gets angry and demands the shoes back in memory of her sister and father. She covets them simply as a token of her father's affection, which she never had, as a payment for her youth spent caring and watching over her frail younger sister. Instead, she meets her untimely end through a bucket of water.
The sisters are accepted to Shiz University and Elphaba is forced to room with the air-headed socialite Galinda. Despite being an outcast, Elphaba is finally away from her father's oppressive rule and excels in her studies, especially her sorcery classes. Eventually she builds friendships with several classmates, including her roommate Galinda. She becomes involved in politics and works closely with her instructor Dr. Dillamond toward Animal rights. Dillamond, consequentially is a goat, who realizes that the rights of sentient Animals, who can walk and talk and reason like humans, are slowly being taken away. His murder sparks a reaction in Elphaba, urging her and Galinda, or rather Glinda in honor of Dr. Dillamond who had trouble pronouncing her name right, to travel to the Emerald City to beseech the Wizard to change the legislation. The Wizard refuses and Elphaba vows to stay and fight to undermine his rule, while Glinda returns to school to watch over NessaRose.
Years later, NessaRose is able to move around without help because Glinda bewitches her slippers and she has become the political leader of Munchkinland. Following in her sister's footsteps, she urges her country to secede from Oz and operate outside the rule of the Wizard. Glinda, on the other hand, is less interested in politics and tries to do "good" while still looking pretty. Elphaba, in the meantime, grows powerful through her experimentation with magic and her discovery of the Grimmerie, a magical text from another world.
The hunt for Dorothy takes up only about a fifth of the book. Elphaba is drawn from her castle by the news of her sister's death and the unusual circumstance of having a house fall from the sky. When she discovers that Glinda gave the shoes to Dorothy, she gets angry and demands the shoes back in memory of her sister and father. She covets them simply as a token of her father's affection, which she never had, as a payment for her youth spent caring and watching over her frail younger sister. Instead, she meets her untimely end through a bucket of water.
I loved the concept of the book, but I wasn't impressed with the writing style. I would get bored often and put it down to do something more interesting. This is actually pretty amazing, since I usually devour books, not read them. I've plowed through Dostoyevski and read through poor translations of Beowulf. I've even read The Canterbury Tales in Ye Olde English, so it takes a LOT to get me bored with a novel. For the most part, though, Maguire is long-winded yet he seems to lack the ability to be descriptive. He talks around and around an event without ever giving a good description of the event.
Having never been in the situation where I watch an adaptation of a book that I didn't like, I was interested to see my reaction. So, onto the stage...
Wicked: The Musical
As I said before, the show was condensed to fit into the 2 1/2 to 3 hour running time. Many of the side plots were done away with or assigned to one of the major characters. Music numbers were added. And major plot changes occured, including rewriting the ending.
- The sub-plot of NessaRose's biological father is omitted
- The Wizard gives Elphaba the Grimmerie because he can't read it, nor can anyone else from Oz. But Elphaba's unique powers are because the Wizard is actually her father, so he should be able to read it too.
- While the character of Fiyero is introduced during Elphaba's school year in the novel, he doesn't play a major role. The musical creates a love triangle between him, Glinda, and Elphaba.
- NessaRose is seen as a dictator who strips away Munchkin rights because she is in love with a Munchkin who is in love with Glinda. She uses the Grimmerie to take his heart hoping to make him fall in love with her, but instead causes his heart to shrink. Elphaba turns him into the Tin Man to save his life.
- Fiyero becomes the Scarecrow.
- Elphaba doesn't die from the water, she simply conjures smoke so she can disappear into a trap door, leaving her broomstick behind. She and Fiyero plan this so that they can escape and live in peace.
