‘Wicked’ Witches vs. John Hughes

I’ve written about “Wicked” before — it’s easily one of my favorite musicals, and Elphaba is one of my favorite geek girl characters. On Wednesday of last week, Chanel and I got to see “Wicked” (her first time, my third) at the Fox Theatre here in Atlanta, where it’s running until Oct. 9, 2011. I’d been to the Fox before, and I’d even seen “Wicked” at the Fox before, but this was the first time I’d also been able to see one of the theater’s most unique features: The ceiling looks like a sky at dusk, complete with stars.

The beauty of the theater itself combined with the overall pleasantness and good behavior of the audience around me to make it the best experience I’ve had seeing “Wicked” so far. The only hiccup I noticed was that the sound of the ensemble occasionally dropped out almost entirely out in favor of the sound of the leads, which I attribute to it being opening night.

Otherwise, this third viewing of the show helped me quantify what I like so much about “Wicked” — and what always put me off about John Hughes-style teen movies, which have some similar themes. It always irked me that in ’80s teen cinema, nerdy outcasts often got their comeuppance in the end, with the nerdy girl winning the heart of a popular boy or outcast boy going to the prom with a pretty girl. That’s not really how reality works: In a real high school, the bookish, awkward girl doesn’t suddenly wind up dating the captain of the football team just because she takes her glasses off. (And, looking back on it, would she really want to?)

In “Wicked,” Elphaba is a nerdy girl, and she does (spoiler) get the boy, but it’s not because everyone suddenly sees her as pretty or recognizes her inner worth. While she does make an attempt with learning to toss-toss her hair, she drops it pretty quickly and continues to be the same difficult, complicated, opinionated person at the end of the play as she is in the beginning. In some ways her appearance is even less mainstream when the curtain closes. Instead, it’s Fiero, the male lead, who grows up to deserve her. And even then, it’s happy, but not quite happily ever after.

Which story would you rather see?

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