Friday, September 26, 2014

Wicked - reading

Finished "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire. It wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was still excellent. As I was reading it, I heard the same thing repeated by others who have also read it. It's the story of Elphaba (which in my head was el-PHA-ba, but in the play was EL-pha-ba) long before and immediately after the events of the Wizard of Oz. I liked the way the author incorporated iconic elements of the Wizard of Oz, yet still told an original story.

Not-so-coincidentally, I saw Wicked (the play) on Broadway right after I finished the book. (Literally hours after.) The two are really different animals. The book was full of subtleties, intrigue, mischaracterizations explained, etc. The play took out anything that might be confusing and simplified it to tell a different story based on the same things, but had an excellent set and costuming. It's rather what I expect folks from Amber might experience going from one shadow to the next.

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