Lauren Rabaino“Please! It’s all about popular,/ it’s not about aptitude,/ it’s the way you’re viewed/ so it’s very shrewd to be,/ very very popular like me!”
So ends the song entitled “Popular” (what else?), sung by Glinda (a.k.a. The Good Witch in the beloved 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz”) in “Wicked,” a hit Broadway musical that has gained immense popularity nationwide since its debut in 2003. A couple weeks ago – as a way to enjoy the dregs of summer and because, well, I myself wanted to be popular and experience the popularity of this show for myself – I traveled to Los Angeles for the day to see the musical and go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the show with my dad.
(Disclaimer: I have never been one to do things merely for the sake of being popular. However, in certain circumstances, such as “Wicked,” obviously, doing the popular thing can be quite enjoyable, and I’m fine with that.)
I first heard about the “Wicked” sensation in high school from one of my closest friends (herself a starlet in school and local musical productions, a girl who was and still is an avid musical aficionado and an aspiring Broadway actress). She had heard about, seen and fallen in love with this newest Broadway hit. And, like many others obsessed with the show, she was hooked after one viewing.
(Thankfully, though, she is not like many who follow the show with a near-cult-like attachment, wearing hand-crafted “Wicked”-adorned paraphernalia to the show and carrying huge, almost life-size posters with them into the auditorium.)
Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name, “Wicked” acts as a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” telling the back story about what supposedly happened in Oz before Dorothy even left her home over the rainbow.
The story centers around the unlikely friendship of two very, very different people: the freakishly green-skinned social outcast Elphaba (played by Eden Espinosa), who later becomes known as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the ber-popular, beautiful blonde who later becomes the Good Witch.
The two are unwillingly paired as roommates while studying at the university in Shiz. And, as the story line evolves, they go from utter loathing of the other to the best of friends.
The actors, the music (especially the music), the dancing, the set, the costumes – everything, really – is amazing. It’s that simple. But what made the experience, what gave me an even greater appreciation for what I later saw, was the “Behind the Emerald Curtain” tour my mom inadvertently signed my dad and I up for.
When my father and I initially entered the lobby, we expected what we thought was an early-evening show to begin soon and thought that the show-and-tell area was just a standard for this particular show. Although I was at first disappointed, in retrospect learning more about the show helped in understanding why the show is as popular as it is.
The tour is led by two of the supporting actors – Laura Dysarczyk, a swing (someone who is required to know all the parts) in the production, and Matthew Stocke, who plays the witch’s father – and includes an up-close look at the elaborate costumes, intricate wigs and preliminary models of the set used by the cast and crew. The pair provided detailed explanations of each of the items on display while intertwining stories of their own experiences in showbusiness.
My favorite was a demonstration of how the 50-plus wigs for the cast are made. The process, apparently, includes several painstaking steps, from Saran-wrapping an actor’s head and securing this with tape to make a perfect mold to individually attaching strands of human hair to netting added to the molding with a needle and thread.
Seeing all the items up-close and personal, it was obvious that each of them had been carefully and cleverly crafted. Attention to detail is key, and this is evident in the outcome of the performance itself.
We also went on a brief tour of the Pantages Theatre and saw three short films on the production process. Tour-goers were only allowed in the seating section of the theater – whoopty-do – but the internal architecture of the building is beautiful, making just this short glimpse of the near-empty theater well worth it.
Overall, “Wicked” is just that: wicked. And the “Behind the Emerald Curtain” tour – like the show itself – is a magical journey enshrined in creativity and imagination.