“Wicked,” the world-famous Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, will become a major Hollywood movie production slated for release on Dec. 20, 2019, according to national media reports and Universal Pictures.
Schwartz and Holzman collaborated on the stage musical, which is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.” The musical opened in 2003 and is said to have been seen by some 50 million people. The hugely popular show effectively introduced the broader public to stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel.
But on the road to Broadway, “Wicked” had a brief stop in Hollister.
Community members may recall that Stephen Schwartz & Friends, featuring Debbie Gravitz and Scott Coulter on vocals and piano, performed a benefit fundraiser for the nascent San Benito Stage Company at the San Benito High School auditorium back in 2001.
San Benito Stage Company members, featuring local children and adults, performed Stephen Schwartz’ songs from a wide repertoire of his Broadway musicals as an opening act to the show. One memorable performance included the late, great Shirley Sergent playing accompaniment piano and also singing the lead of the song “No Time At All” from Schwartz’ musical “Pippin.”
Schwartz was in the process of writing the music and lyrics for Wicked when he visited Hollister in 2001. Debbie Gravitte performed songs from the forthcoming musical making the Hollister audience one of the first to hear some of the original music from the Broadway musical that would be released in 2003. Wicked is one of the most popular and financially successful productions ever to ‘hit the boards’.
Stephen Schwartz & Friends still perform a similar cabaret-style show on occasion. Maybe San Benito Stage Company could manage to pull off a “Wicked” reprise performance someday.
The musical is told from the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz; its plot begins before and continues after Dorothy’s arrival in Oz from Kansas, and it includes several references to the 1939 film and Baum’s novel. Wicked tells the story of two unlikely friends, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda, who struggle through opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, reactions to the Wizard’s corrupt government and, ultimately, Elphaba’s public fall from grace.
Click on the YouTube link to hear the song “For Good” from Wicked performed by Kristin Chenowith as Glinda and Idina Menzel as Elphaba from the original Broadway musical album.
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