Theater Review (Baltimore): Wicked on Tour Mostly Soars!

Alyssa Fox and Carrie St. Louis (Photo by Joan Marcus 2015)

It’s hard to believe that Wicked, one of the most popular and highest grossing shows (over $3 billion) in the history of Broadway, has been around for only 12 years. It’s become one of those seminal productions that feel like they’ve always been there. While I’ve never been a fan of the cast recording and am frankly sick of “Defying Gravity” (how many times can Glee cover that song?), it’s always been one of my bucket-list musicals. I’ve never seen a touring production and have never been able to see it when I’m in New York City. So I was ecstatic when I saw it on the schedule for an extended stop at Baltimore’s France-Merrick Hippodrome Theater. Last week I was able to check it off my list.

I almost never like to listen to musical cast recordings without seeing the show first, since everything always feel completely out of context. So now that I’ve finally seen it, I can say: I liked the music more in the context of the show, but it is still a pretty mixed bag. I get the “Defying Gravity” thing now. It is the show’s biggest standout and most memorable moment. The song is still stuck in my head four days later.

Alyssa Fox

Allysa Fox, who plays Elphaba, the girl who grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West, shut it down. She SHUT. IT. DOWN. “Defying Gravity” in context is an almost perfect Broadway song, sad and tear-inducing while also soaring and hopeful, without being sentimental pabulum. The show felt like it was finished after that stirring moment. There was no way for it to top it after intermission.

Director Joe Mantello and Wayne Cilento do a great job on all of the show’s signature moments including “Defying Gravity,” “Popular,” “For Good,” and “No One Mourns the Wicked.” However I still found the score itself to be a mixed bag; as good as the aforementioned numbers are, there were a couple of clunkers, like “Dear Old Shiz” (just awful), “Something Bad,” and “Dancing Through Life,” which weren’t helped by seeing them performed live.

Carrie St. Louis (Photo by Joan Marcus 2015)

With a book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, the show surprised at every turn. It works surprisingly well and is well balanced, even though it’s told mostly through Glenda’s (Carrie St. Louis) rose-tinted point of view. We find out that of course she and Elphaba were roommates who had to learn how to get along. While Fox has the showier part, St. Louis does a nice job of holding the entire production together with her enthusiasm, soprano voice and energy.

The first half is sort of lighthearted fun, but the second goes kind of dark pretty fast with betrayals and disappointments around every turn. Even though I thought I knew where the story was heading it continued to surprise. The final scene was quite brilliant and handled everything perfectly. By the end of the show you can’t help but root for Elphaba to get her happy ending. This is truly a case of a show being about the journey more than the destination because we all know how it ends. Or do we?

Wicked is in an extended run at Baltimore’s France Merrick Hippodrome Theater. It runs through April 26. For more information visit the official Wicked website. An extended run of Dirty Dancing The Musical comes to France Merrick in May.