As Wicked flies into Cardiff, this reviewer is giving the blockbuster musical a second chance. You see, when I first saw the show, at a matinee in London 10 years ago, the night before had been spent at one of Kate Bush’s Before The Dawn concerts. Which was a tad unfair on Wicked, because not even Defying Gravity was ever likely to measure up.
But, ultimately, on its own terms this production stands as tall as expected. Almost a year into a tour which started in Edinburgh in December, Wicked is spending five weeks at the Wales Millennium Centre, while the West End production is coming up to its 20-year anniversary.
The story of Wicked is both an homage to and a revisionist, parallel version of L. Frank Baum’s original Wizard Of Oz. Before Dorothy lands in Oz, we’re introduced to Elphaba – aka the Wicked Witch of the West – and Galinda, or Glinda the Good Witch. Two polar opposites, they’re thrown together at university, to their dual displeasure, but against all odds become friends. There’s something rotten in the state of Oz, though: the animal population is being silenced and there’s political corruption behind the scenes in Emerald City.
Even before the show starts the set impresses, the map of Oz on the curtain glittering as an animatronic dragon looms over the Donald Gordon Theatre. This is a big West End production on tour, with no video wall to be seen, and a steampunk vibe in the cogs, metal and lights of the general set design. The costumes are beautiful, especially during the emerald city scenes – think Cecil Beaton designing for drag queens and you’ll get somewhere close – and the flying monkeys are genuinely unsettling.
The cast, meanwhile, are perfect. We might all be (over)familiar with the versions of the songs from the Broadway recording, but here, thankfully, they speak and sing in English accents – a positively cut-glass one in the case of Sarah O’Connor’s Glinda, whose beautifully operatic singing voice is complimented by Laura Pick’s lower register as Elphaba. Pick’s first solo, The Wizard And I, shows us what’s in store for the rest of the evening, and the audience reaction leaves you wondering if the roof will stay on after she sings Defying Gravity. Jed Berry as Boq is adorably awkward, while Carl Man’s Fiyero is clearly not the entitled brat he first appears: both characters’ arcs are played with depth.
Including its interval, Wicked’s running time is nearly three hours – but it doesn’t feel like it. Everything about this production dazzles.
Wicked, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Tue 29 Oct
On until Sat 23 Nov. Tickets: £19-£72. Info: here
words CHRIS WILLIAMS