ARTSMASH RI Review: Wicked at PPAC

By: Marianna Messina,
ARTSMASH RI

Suppose the "Wicked Witch of the West" got a bad rap in the Wizard of Oz. Suppose it was all just a smear campaign against one woman of conscience launched by an impotent potentate (the Wizard) in a regime marked by persecution. That's the major premise of Wicked the musical, storming Providence for a second sellout season at PPAC. Winnie Holzman's book for the musical (based on the eponymous novel by Gregory Maguire) offers promising sophistication for the musical genre as it flips the Oz tale and reinterprets everything from flying monkeys to tin man… Rather than good versus evil, Wicked portrays a war between two modes of living, the one a path of aspiration, strife, jealousy, and cultural incompatibility; the other, a "for the good of all" path each person follows according to her gifts.

Wicked at PPAC. Now through January 10th.
Visit Arts Mash RI for a full review.