It鈥檚 easy to see how you can become obsessed with 鈥淲icked,鈥 the Tony-winning musical that is presenting at Centennial Hall.
Stephen Schwartz鈥檚 mostly wonderful tunes 鈥 鈥淧opular,鈥 鈥淒efying Gravity,鈥 鈥淚鈥檓 Not That Girl,鈥 鈥淔or Good,鈥 鈥淒ancing Through Life鈥 鈥 lure you in and the story 鈥 a prequel of 鈥淲izard of Oz鈥 that tells the backstory of how Glinda became the Good Witch and Elphaba landed the role as Wicked Witch 鈥 keeps you hooked.
We saw the performance on Thursday, Jan. 27, and we came away with three reasons we would go see it again before it ends its run Feb. 6.
The story: How did the Good Witch and Wicked Witch in 鈥淲izard of Oz鈥 come to be? Apparently at boarding school, when Glinda () and Elphaba () roomed together, became best friends, vied for the attention of the campus playboy Fiyero () and ended up on the same side of defeating the evil Wizard of Oz.
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The story has a lot of thin and arguably unnecessary subplots 鈥 Elphaba鈥檚 animal cruelty crusade became a dead-ended distraction, and veiled hints of women鈥檚 rights were never fully fleshed out 鈥 but it also has plenty of foreshadowing to 鈥淲izard of Oz,鈥 from Elphaba putting a spell on her sister鈥檚 boyfriend that turned him into the Tin Man and pleas for help from Dorothy and Toto, whom Elphaba locks in a cellar after the tornado that dumps them in Oz also lands on the Munchkin Country home of Elphaba鈥檚 wheelchair-using sister Nessarose ().
The performances: The ensemble cast was terrific, including Litz, who was playboy/quarterback handsome and had a wonderful voice, and Sharon Sachs as Madame Morrible, who was evil enough to sell heat lamps to 蜜柚直播ans in the middle of July.
Bailey was hilarious as Glinda 鈥 鈥淕a-linda, with the ga-ga-ga鈥 鈥 and struck the balance of annoying 鈥 she nailed the nasally whine in the opening song 鈥淣obody Mourns the Wicked鈥 鈥 and lovable 鈥 she showed off her vulnerability when she confesses she has matured in 鈥淚鈥檓 Not That Girl.鈥
But Suskauer鈥檚 Elphaba was worth the price of admission. Suskaeur had an amazing soprano range, hitting the high notes of 鈥淒efying Gravity鈥 that raised the hair on your arms before turning in an emotional plea of friendship in the 鈥淔or Good鈥 duet with Bailey.
The escape: Let鈥檚 face it: We鈥檝e been through hell these past two years and the chance to safely 鈥 everyone is vaccinated and wearing masks 鈥 sit in a theater for 2陆 hours and escape the outside world and the distractions of COVID and the divided politics it has wrought is heaven-sent.
鈥淲icked鈥 takes us to a world where monkeys fly and goats talk, evil is sometimes good and the handsomest man in the room falls in love with the least attractive woman. We laughed, we almost cried and we forgot the world outside those theater doors, if only for a moment.