Beyond the Warts of Wicked

My daughter loves musicals, of all kinds. She heard about the musical Wicked and had listened to the soundtrack many times, but we never could really figure out the story and knew only that it was a takeoff on the Wizard of Oz. We attended a performance of it in Fort Lauderdale and greatly enjoyed the twist -- the idea that when the whole story is revealed it turns out that the "Wicked Witch" was arguably neither wicked nor a witch, but more likely misunderstood and framed. The serious theme hidden in this silly play is that: those characterized by hypocrisy and shallowness and/or downright stupidity all appear righteous to the public, while the one who stands alone and won't compromise the truth is made to look ... wicked.

It is a reminder to be discerning in all things. Christians especially are prone to take people at face value. If someone seems "nice" then that is the measure of their Christianity. This play reminds us that "niceness" and "people-pleasing" often mask selfish ambition, self-exaltation and sheer evil. The Bible says that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. The fruit of a life, the obedience to the Word of God, even at great cost to self and the risk of being misunderstood, is the measure of a person. Faith in Christ is the measure, shown by obedience to His Word. And often the obedient person is forced to not be so very "nice, " which confuses the simple Christian.

Don't get me wrong: there are many problems with this play. It certainly does not have a Christian worldview and children would not benefit from it. But those who have already acquired some foundation of biblical thinking, can view this production through their Christian lens and engage it in such a way as to gain from it, see Truths that glorify God and grieve over sins that are presented as sin.


The story follows two girls who meet at an Oz university: Galinda (known as Glinda in the original Oz movie) and Elphaba, (that scary green hag, who we find out was not moldy but was actually born with that emerald skin.) Galinda arrives at school, already having won the devotion of her classmates because of the quantity of her suitcases -- and the way she tosses her hair as she sits atop them. Elphaba is only at the school to help take care of her younger sister, who is confined to a wheelchair (born unable to walk because of milkflowers that her mother consumed during pregnancy in an attempt to prevent another green baby.)


Since Elphaba is not really considered a student, she has no room assignment -- and Galinda inadvertently offers to share her room. Rather than lose face and points with her friends by rescinding her accidental offer, Galinda vows to "rise above it" and go through with it. Intense feelings ensue, as revealed in the perky, upbeat "What Is This Feeling?" ( "What is this feeling/ so sudden and new,/I felt the moment I laid eyes on you? / Loathing. Unadulterated loathing...")

I loved this song. Intentionally or not, the piece shows the absurdity of the idea of love at first sight, that idea of Cupid drawing his bow and leaving the lovers uncontrollably attracted to each other. This tune perfectly mimics the format of a passionate love song -- except that it's all about clinging to and fanning intense feelings of hatred felt at first glimpse. Not even an unbeliever would think this song is actually prescribing "hate at first sight." Rather, it is poking fun at how immature that is -- and how misguided. And it naturally follows, if it is immature and misguided to let your emotions drive the train in hatred, it is immature and misguided to let your emotions drive the train in affection.

Anyway, in this case, these two who loathe each other do end up best friends. Of course, Galinda totally offends/amuses/disgusts Elphaba with her desire to remake her: "It's all about popular! /It's not about aptitude/ It's the way you're viewed/ So it's very shrewd to be/ Very very popular like me!"

Again, the play pokes fun at what Galinda sees as her strong point. She knows how to make people like her -- which can't be the what it's all about for those who love the Truth.

The plot advances as the schoolmistress discovers that Elphaba's unusual color is not her only oddity -- she seems to have some magical powers. (The magic in this play is easily recognizable as that of the fantasy/fairy tale genre, distinct from the occult-type rituals of Harry Potter.) In the schoolmistress' excitement, she gets the girl in to see the Wizard. Elphaba has a passion to do good with this magic and does begin to dream of winning approval (buying a bit into Galinda's advice.)

But it takes Elphaba no time at all to see that this wizard is nothing but a scheming phony, and she is enraged by this. She won't play their game, and disappears but Galinda cannot resist the draw of all this ... popularity.

Elphaba goes into hiding, and in one poignant song even questions whether her desire to do good was merely an attempt to get attention for herself. Here, she truly does appear wicked, as she allows her unrestrained frustration to boil over and wonders if any of her motives ever were pure, as she had thought they were. This is really an accurate picture of the sinful state of all men -- even our good deeds are tinged with sin. We just don't usually recognize that.

The powers-that-be scour Oz looking for her, terrified that she will spill the secret that the Wizard is powerless. All the while, they are spinning the story to discredit her, making her into the "Wicked Witch" with their wild lies. Incidentally, until this point in the story, Elphaba has never been referred to as a witch. Instead, this exotic green girl seems to be lumped with the magical fantasy creatures of Oz, like the talking goat-professor whose cause she takes up. The witch label comes only as a means to turn the people of Oz against her.

Those in power who are not just silly, self-exalters, but who are truly evil, decide to kill Elphaba's sister to draw Elphaba back to Munchkinland and trap her. (Thus, the accident involving a certain house from Kansas.) When Galinda finally sees the "nice" people as the murderers they are, she no longer wants to be part of their ploys and does all she can to do what is right. Granted, she is ignorant and guilty of glossing over falsehoods rather than seeking the Truth, but she is not truly evil.

I will not ruin the ending, except to say that Elphaba, seeing the corrupting influence of ambition and power (and experiencing it to some degree within her own self), makes a decision to escape from it, rather than to grasp it. The ending is unexpected and touching, and along the way, it is great fun to see the histories of the Oz characters tweaked and woven into this tale in unexpected ways.

When we got home from the show, Leah and I tried to tell all of the details to the boys, but they became lost or bored --I'm not sure which. So I won't belabor my point, which is this: We can take godly lessons from works that are quite secular by analyzing them with minds renewed by God and informed by the Bible. As Christians, we need to be able to recognize and relish themes of Truth, even when served to us by secular folks and with some very obvious "fishbones" to avoid swallowing.