This May Not Be Popular, But... 'Wicked: For Good' Leaves Me Feeling Less Than Oz-struck

July 2008 - Seeing "Wicked" on Broadway with my sister

I have been a fan of the musical, "Wicked," for over a decade. I had seen the show touring when it came to Gammage in Arizona. I jammed out to the music. I wrote an article on the now-defunct Helium platform with my review. It was the first show I saw on Broadway in New York. It was also the second show I saw on Broadway. I read the book the musical was based on. I've watched documentaries about the story and the making of the musical. 

What appealed to me so much about the musical itself was mostly the soundtrack. Each song stands on its own, and has a deep, meaningful application to life. "Dancing Through Life" is about not taking yourself too seriously. "Not That Girl" could be applied to any woman seeing her crush with another. "For Good" resonates hard with people who come into our lives and don't stay, but we cherish the memories and how we grew from those times. As I listened to the soundtrack on repeat, my favorite song and least favorite song would shift from one to another. I started out hating "Popular" for its shallowness, but grew to love it for the comedy and the fact that even though it is shallow, it's also true in a way. And I still maintain that "Loathing" is one of the musical's greatest satirical achievements, functioning as an anti-love song that hilarious subverts the expectation of a sweeping, dramatic duet.

Jan 2010 - Seeing Wicked" Broadway again

The storyline is amazing, of course. Taking the all-bad villain(s) of the well-known Wizard of Oz story and showing how they were just complex, well-meaning but misunderstood people who wanted to do good, flips the whole narrative on its head. The heroic Wizard is actually just a callow, misleading showman? And Glinda was a sell out? Amazing! And the world we see in the Wizard of Oz with the multi-colored horses isn't as amazing when you realize Oz used to be a world in which animals could talk and weren't just relegated into service for transportation and the like. 

21 Nov 2025 - Seeing "Wicked: For Good"

All this to say, when the first movie came out, I was nervous it would do it wrong, but was thrilled that it really did a good job of adapting to the movie format and fully utilized the power of amazing movie sets. So I had no doubt that part two would be nothing less than "wonderful." I donned my Wicked shirt, put in contacts so I could watch the 3D version with the glasses comfortably, and put a Wicked bow in my hair. I was set for two hours of amazement. Honestly, this isn't it. I've divided my review into two sections, what I liked - "For Good", and what I didn't like, "Feels Wicked." It may be apparent from the lengths of those two sections what my overall sentiment was.