Literary Critique: Wicked Essay

My friend and I went to go see the second to last targeting of the popular, surrealistic musical theater Wicked on September 4th, 2010 in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theater. The exertion is by and large a success on its own terms however, I tire out(p)t think it is as flawless as e preciseone seems to think it is.The productions starts at the end of the plot which is a bit dramatic, goes back in time and continues to move forward until it, once once much, reaches that dramatic ending. In essence, the production fatten outs a circle which works because leavening the listening the ending basic grabs their attention immediately afterward the show begins and makes them wonder what events must have occurred in order for the characters to end up in their current situation. It also works because its clear that only part of the ending is revealed in the beginning of the show which still leaves some surprises in store for the audience and gives them some subject to look forward tofinding out the endure of the ending.Choreography was definitely a significant element in Wicked. I found that it contri provideded to the story a lot by allowing the audience to actually see the emotions that the characters be feeling in the form of movement, or more specifically, terpsichore. Choreography was especially helpful when trying to figure out what the characters in the ensembles were feeling because, first of all, they were the people doing most of the dancing so one could get a lot of information out of their movements and, secondly, there arent that many other opportunities or ways for them to tell the audience how they are feeling.Without the stage dancing in Wicked, the audience would only have a good understanding of how the main characters feel which would prevent them from getting different view points on what was happening. There are a few times when the choreography doesnt real work and those are when the cast uses props in their dance numbers. I notic e that the props used in the dance numbers dont really contribute to the story, they are just there for aesthetic or entertainment value, which is fine, except for when they get distracting and take away from the dance number. An example of this would be in Dancing Through Life when I kept getting mesmerise by the books the ensemble were moving around instead of appreciating the whole scene.Something that contributes to the production even more than the choreography are the songs that are sung throughout the musical. Through the songs, the audience is given a more enlarge description of the characters and the characters situations and emotions in a different way other than lines, captivating the audience one again and giving them the opportunity to relate to the characters. This is one aspect of the musical that works really well because it is a way for the show to hold the audiences attention and relay information to them.Having music especially works when the show was trying tel l the audience something and get them to feel a certain way at the said(prenominal) time. However, much like the choreography aspect of the show, there were times when having music didnt work. Some of the messages that the songs gave were powerful, but they mightve been stronger if the music director had chosen to have the message of the song spoken instead of sung. I really noticed this in the song No One Mourns the Wicked.The costume choice were another thing that grabbed the audiences attention because the costumes, even when they werent always the most glamorous looking, were out there. They work because they are very imaginative, contributing to the surrealism of Wicked. They also work because they are a reflection of the characters personalities and therefore, provide the audience with character information. For example, Glinda is generally dressed really brightly and extravagantly representing her bubbly and extravagant personality meanwhile, Elphaba is normally seen in dar k, guileless clothing portraying the fact that she is a misunderstood, unhappy, simply being.The theme of good versus evil was prominent in the popular musical. Juxtaposition is used a lot to portray this especially when the theme is applied to the dickens main charactersa good and bad witch. This worked for a couple of reasons. One of which is that the audience was observing more than one personality type, which were both taken to extremes, at the same time. This allowed them to really get both sides of the story, to be cliche, instead of just seeing the characters world from one persons point of view.The way the director chose to introduce the theme of good triumphing over evil also works. At the beginning of the production its clear that being good does have some advantages over being evil however, as the musical progresses it becomes even more clear that good triumphing over evil may not always be what it seems to be. Portraying such a strong message in this manner works becau se, at first, it shows the audience what they already know and what they feel comfortable and then slowly it introduces them to a new idea qualification it less likely that they will reject the idea being proposed to them.Wicked has certain aspects that work together to make it a success, such as its choreography, props, soundtrack, themes, and costumes. Although, not every one of those aspects has a on the whole positive impact on the musical which makes it hard for me to refer to Wicked as a complete and total success.