Another newsletter about Wicked
Hi!
Jobs in my field continue to evade me, so I put my life and dignity on the line last month to work 15 consecutive days at a video game convention in Anaheim. “Drama queen, much?” You ask bitchily, but I’m being sincere: I was almost trampled to death when a couple thousand gamers converged in my zone for a Mountain Dew raffle drawing. As for my dignity, I just barely avoided eye contact with a convention-goer who ghosted me in 2014 (we flirted for weeks, I sent a text asking him out, my friend happened to be in the same room as him and watched him read my message multiple times before choosing not to dignify it with a response, life is amazing ❤️ ). All worth it for a much-needed check, but I’ll admit it was a bummer sitting out my favorite end-of-October holiday this year. That’s right: I didn’t get to celebrate the anniversary of Wicked on Broadway. And I had my costume all picked out, too!
Wicked is no longer a teenager just like us, and the press tour she1 went on leading up to the 20th anniversary was the gift that kept on giving. Idina and Kristin took food dye baths together; the current Elphaba and Glinda went bus-club-another-club mode and sang on GMA, NPR Tiny Desk, Broadway.com… everywhere short of performing in a random sewer drain, and I bet they would’ve gone there if the rats in it asked politely. There was fresh content seemingly every day of October, and as I gobbled it up, it made me wonder: should I give up on my Hollywood dreams for good and go work on the Wicked marketing team? It would be an honor, truly, to share a Slack channel with the great mind that thought to tornado-ify “OZ” so it transforms into “20.”
Seriously, I want that job. Consider the following list my self-tape.
5 BELATED PITCHES FOR THE WICKED 20 MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Collab with the green M&M character – have her sing “The Wizard and I” at the Times Square store.
Norbert Leo Butz competes on The Masked Singer as a goat.
Controversial brand partnership with Tom Sandoval and/or Raquel Leviss, lots of public blowback but it gets the people talking.
Rename the Brooklyn Bridge “The Brooklyn Bridge You Cross You Didn’t Know You Crossed Until You Crossed.”
Stunt cast me, David Carliner, as the 20th anniversary Boq.
Please keep in mind that I consumed the press tour treasure trove while on break from steaming T-shirts and unboxing pallets of giveaway backpacks; the promise of fresh content got me through my mind-numbing tasks, but other than one ally (shoutout to my girl Amanda!), I had no one to share my excitement with. My PA cohort was majorly deprived of gays and girlies – there was one guy I thought might be a friend of Dorothy, but when I brought up Wicked, he claimed he couldn’t name one thing about it and that he’d never heard of Kristin Chenoweth OR Idina Menzel. Straight! 🤮
In desperate need of community, I turn to you, fair newsletter reader. Hopefully, you can appreciate a roundup of my favorite moments from the Wicked 20 celebration.
PAST AND PRESENT ELPHABA “DEFYING GRAVITY” MEDLEY
This medley has it all: Elphabas singing in unison! Elphabas singing in singles and pairs! Elphabas singing in the round! During a period when I had to wake up at 5:30 every morning to drive to Anaheim, I watched this before bed multiple nights and then lay awake, too energized to sleep.
My soul was particularly stirred by the round sections – cascades of joyful noise, dolphins leaping and splashing in pools of syncopated ecstasy.
KRISTIN CHENOWETH’S COMMENT ON HER OWN INSTAGRAM POST
ELPHABA AND GLINDA ROUNDTABLES
The Elphabas from the “Defying Gravity” medley sat down for a roundtable discussion of the role and the show, as did four Glindas from a matching “Popular” medley. I loved these chats in full, but the standout moments for me were
Every Elphaba describing how they blacked out the first time they sang “Defying Gravity” on Broadway.
The elder Glindas learning on camera that McKenzie Kurtz, the current Glinda, graduated from college in 2019.
Graceless transitions to each new talking point (“Speaking of Elphaba…”).
I pray that for the next milestone anniversary we can get a similar roundtable, but for the ensemble members who sing, “I hear her soul is so unclean, pure water can melt her.”
IDINA AND KRISTIN’S GREEN CARPET FASHION
The hullaballoo around Wicked’s 20th culminated in a star-studded audience for the October 30 anniversary performance, which of course included the two OGs.
It deeply disturbed me to see people online shitting on these looks. Yeah, bold choices were made, but what kind of choice did you think these women would make? What, you wanted them to wear something boring? Show some goddamn respect on their big night!!!
That said, this was a missed opportunity for Idina to nod at her tracksuit moment with a custom Adidas red gown. Add that to my list of marketing ideas!
LEARNING FROM MY FRIEND KAYLA () THAT THE CURRENT GLINDA STANDBY IS ALLIE TRIMM, WHO ORIGINATED PATRICE IN 13.
Gagged!
I’m wrapped on that random video game job, which provided enough income for me to justify impulse-buying this pillow.
Anaheim gig is done, Wicked 20 content stream has dried up, and I now have a moment to catch my breath. That moment will be brief: during the lull before next year’s Wicked: Part One media blitz kicks off, I’ll still be busy investigating what tea is being spilled between Alyssa Fox and Mary Kate Morrissey in the background of this photo.
There really is no rest for the wicked!
Wicked as a concept is she/her.
My favorite Wicked beat reporter 💚 thank you for showcasing the Oz to 20 spinning graphic I’ve been talking about to myself for weeks