Wicked?

[relativelylucid]

So I am cutting this post because I know there are some among my general acquaintance who love Wicked - and I speak in absolute ignorance about the play having never seen it but - I am going to speak rather candidly about the book and others might disagree. And given how vehemently I refuse to even discuss the existence of that abomination 'Pride

Comments

[akitrom]

Hello, Sarra.

I'm in the same boat as you: I'm a big fan of the musical, but really couldn't plough through the book.

I think that each uses the strengths of its medium. A book can spend as much time, space, and ink as it likes on technical considerations, and Maguire builds a lot of arguments about political and social systems as his novel progresses.

A musical has a much greater sense of immediacy, a much easier time conveying humanity in its characters, and a much lower tolerance for anything that slows down the plot; so Schwartz and Holtzman concentrate on the growing relationship between Elpheba and Galinda. There's one clear villain, and everybody else is simply taking action to achieve his or her personal goals.

So, if you had to condense the plots of the novel and of the play into a couple of sentences each, you'd likely get similar synopses. But they're about different things.

[alienorh]

I read the book Wicked and kind of liked it but the number one thing I noticed is strangely, for me, I like the musical more. The movie relies on the Oz books as the heaviest source and those books get progressively more bizarre after the first one, which is saying something. The musical really relies on the imagery and ideas from the movie. I think that's really where they went their separate ways and probably why the musical is something I enjoyed more. I saw the musical with a friend and I really think that's where the musical went right--it's about friendship. Thanks for your insights.

[relativelylucid]

There is a movie as well?

[relativelylucid]

You make a good point and I wonder if Wicked the musical would have been as successful if they choose to make it as dark as the novel.

[lostvirtue]

Heh, I just had a conversation about this on Sunday. I haven't seen the musical, but I am not a fan of the book. I may give another one of his a try due to recommendations, but I didn't really enjoy Wicked. Hated the big time jumps. I read it awhile ago so my memory is waning... hey I like odd things... but his book was strange in a book that didn't hook me.

[alienorh]

I really liked the Snow White retelling a lot. Mirror, Mirror. Of course, anything with the Renaissance is bound to please me. Lucrezia Borgia becomes the "Queen"

[relativelylucid]

His other work is similar which is so disappointing. And I am still plodding through the thing. It goes from awesome to horrible with in a page.

[relativelylucid]

I appreciate your observations. The musical looks smarter than what I have seen in the book thus far (given my limited experience with the musical) and I think that is probably what makes it more entertaining. Maguire talks down to his readers and doesn't seem to have any interest in engaging them.

And strangely - I wanted the book to have more pictures. It was difficult to visualize some of what was going on. I am not sure what that says about me.

[akitrom]

Regarding how "smart" the Musical is:

I recently realized that the first seven notes in the musical's number "Unlimited" are also the first seven notes -- with a different rhythm and chord progression -- as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

[relativelylucid]

I like that kind of thing

[follynonsense]

I just talked to Shipscribe about this, actually:) I'm yet another person who vastly prefers the musical. I guess part of it is that the characters in the musical are actually likeable, and it's not preachy. I related to it much more since there were aspects of most of the characters which I liked. I actually finished Wicked the book because I felt I "should", which is really not why one wants to be reading a book, or at least not why I want to.

[relativelylucid]

A lot of books I have been told I "should" read rarely seem to be as good as I am told (at least from high school lit classes).