Utah fans of the Broadway musical “Wicked” grabbed blankets and extra cash, or payday loans, and took to the streets last night in preparation for 7 a.m. ticket sales. Enthusiasts who couldn’t wait to visit arttix.org today after 10 a.m. lined up on the sidewalk outside the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City to nab tickets to the musical, which starts a four-week run there April 8, 2009.
In fact, the play is so popular, some fans may even have taken out payday loans to fund the purchase of tickets. On arttix, a seat at a showing of the award-winning play is going for between $236 and $402 in Salt Lake.
The play tells the story of the Witches of Oz, Glinda the Good Witch and The Wicked Witch of the West, and tells of a tumultuous friendship that existed before Dorothy ever made an appearance.
‘Wicked’ seeds
More than a century before “Wicked” the musical made its debut in 2003, the adventures of Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion were chronicled in the children’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” From there the unlikely friends and their travels along the Yellow Brick Road hit the Silver Screen in the well-known child-favorite “The Wizard of Oz” in 1939. There were several previous attempts to turn the original musical, which first hit the stage in 1902, into a film, but none became as well-known as MGM’s version.
“Wicked” isn’t the first musical play to spin off the tale of a young woman swept away to the magical land of Oz by a hurricane. “The Wiz” hit the stage in 1975, featuring an all African-American cast. Other spin offs of the classic tale include an animated film (”Journey Back to Oz”), an unofficial sequel (”Return to Oz”), an Australian rock musical (”Oz”) and even an ice show.
Spotlight falls on the Wicked Witch
The antagonist of the original story is the main inspiration behind the musical that is now attracting fans in droves. The play, based on the best-selling novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” tells the story of the two witches, good and wicked. It seems these two characters started out as friends. Before she was known as The Wicked Witch of the West, the cackling character was called Elphaba.
Through a series of struggles, including competing personalities, political views and a shared love interest, the two witches grow apart. Eventually Elphaba undergoes a public from grace and meets her destiny as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Against the odds
Although “Wicked” was panned in the New York Times in 2003, the play has broken box office records around the world, has won three Tony Awards and six Drama Desk awards. That explains why so many patrons grabbed their extra cash or payday loans and headed to the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City the night before ticket sales began. Not even the bitter cold could keep die-hard fans from rushing out for tickets.
The friendship between Glenda and the wicked witch of the west sounds interesting to watch a play about. I could never imagine waiting out in the freezing temperatures to get tickets though!! I’m excited people get so excited to see a play in these hard financial times.