Here is a story from Syracuse.com's entertainment blog on the opening of Wicked in Syracuse this week.  Don't forget that you can experience all things Oz in Chittenango year round and in June at the annual Oz-Stravaganza.

What Chittenango native L. Frank Baum wrote as a children’s book has been a rich vein for creativity throughout the ages. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” on page begat a musical on Broadway, then a story on the silver screen. Recently, there came a prequel novel that inspired the Broadway musical “Wicked.”

The latest takes start with an unlikely character, the Wicked Witch of the West. Her story comes to life with the touring company of “Wicked,” which arrives in Syracuse Wednesday for 24 performances.

The story on stage plucks its outline loosely from the dark book by Gregory Maguire, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which was published in 1995. Writer Winnie Holzman and composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz took it from there and delivered the musical on Broadway in 2003. It went on to win three Tony Awards.

“It was Gregory’s premise that really was our jumping-off point. ... It was that premise of seeing the Wicked Witch as a full-blown person with her own psychology, of looking at things from her point of view, that I found so powerful and that Stephen found so powerful,” says Holzman during a recent phone interview from her Los Angeles-area home.

Terrible, behind-the-scenes things happen in the book, and the Wicked Witch, who is first known as Elphaba, is vilified for fighting these forces, explains Holzman.

“It means you have to rethink everything you thought you knew about her,” says Holzman, who has had an illustrious career as a writer of such critically acclaimed TV shows as “thirtysomething” and “My So-Called Life.”

courtesy of Joan MarcusWinnie Holzman wrote the book for the musical "Wicked." She also has written plays and for film.
Long before “wicked” is attached to her name, Elphaba is a complicated girl, tinged in green. Her world is further upended when she arrives at Shiz University, rooms with her polar opposite, perky and popular Glinda, meets a boy and is introduced to the Wizard of Oz.

As they mined Maguire’s book and considered the Oz lineage, Holzman says she and Schwartz were uncertain at times.

“When you’re writing something you’re in a dark wood. I mean you truly are trying to find your way. And in trying to find our way of what is this story and exactly what is this, it became clear at some point it was really about both of them (Elphaba and Glinda). ... It became more interesting when it was about both of them.”

Holzman reveals this difficulty in distilling the musical’s story as clanking competes with the conversation. “I’m doing something very selfish,” she says. “I’m trying to do dishes while we’re talking.”

Elphaba and Glinda, despite their differences, do forge a friendship. But, it fractures in time. The competitive young witches also share a common ambition — to become famous.

“In many ways, a lot of what the musical is about is power and what it really means to have power. And what true power is. What is fake power and what is real power. The whole idea of power is how do you hold it. What does it mean to really be powerful,” says Holzman.

The writer respected Elphaba’s place in storybook lore. “She’s a very important American character. She’s very famous. So is Glinda, of course. And, so is the Wizard of Oz. And they’re all beloved. And when you’re entrusted with characters that are beloved on that level, you feel very humbled by that. You don’t want to interfere with people’s enjoyment. We wanted to add to enjoyment, not diminish it, to say the least,” says Holzman as laughter ripples forth.

On one level, “Wicked” can be enjoyed as a zippy, high-flying musical. But it also is grounded in issues of morality, principled behavior, persecution, loyalty, repressive political regimes, revisionist history, physical and philosophical differences and ambiguities.

Courtesy photoThe 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz."
The original book and movie cast a huge shadow for the writing duo. “We wanted to take our rightful place and kind of be in that long line of things that had come out of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ of L. Frank Baum and not seem as though we were making fun of the movie or somehow cheapening the movie.”

Honoring the legacy of the 1939 film, starring Judy Garland, was “psychologically intense,” she says. “But, at the same time, it was thrilling because you’re working with characters that are so beloved that people already care about (them) deeply. And that’s part of what Gregory’s genius was. To take those characters and to play further with them (with people who are) so emotionally involved with them. It’s a great opportunity.”

Holzman did take liberties with language. She created an Oz vocabulary, which is oddly familiar. Some of these words are tongue twisters: confusifying, scandalacious, festivating, manifestorium.

“It is a little confusifying,” she says. “I just felt like if they talked exactly like we talk in our world, we won’t be in Oz.”

If ever there was a place on earth where Holzman’s land of Oz and its citizenry will not be confusifying, it is here in Baum’s homeland.

THE DETAILS
What: “Wicked,” Famous Artists Broadway Theater Series presentation.
When: Wednesday to Jan. 31. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday Jan. 17, 19, 20, 24 and 26 to 28; 2 p.m. Thursday, Saturday, Jan. 17, 23, 24, 28, 30 and 31; 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Jan. 22, 23, 29 and 30. American Sign Language interpreted performance at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28.
Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes, including intermission.
Where: Crouse-Hinds Theater, John H. Mulroy Civic Center, 411 Montgomery St., Syracuse.
Tickets: $40 to $135. To purchase, Famous Artists, 424-8210; Oncenter, 435-2121; Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or the Ticketmaster Web site.
Parent guide: “Wicked” is appropriate for children 8 years and older. Children 4 years and younger will not be admitted.
Orchestra seats:

TICKET LOTTERY
A day-of-performance lottery will be held for a limited number of orchestra seats. To participate, arrive 2½ hours before show time at the Civic Center box office entrance on Montgomery Street. Your name will be placed in a lottery drum. Thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for seats at $25 each, cash only. You must be present for the lottery drawing at the box office. There is a limit of two tickets per person.
 


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