Remember when the doomsayers used to bemoan the imminent death of Broadway — and more specifically, the death of the Broadway musical? Well, the folks who created Wicked must have missed the bulletin. Somehow or other, Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz managed to create one of the most successful musicals ever, one that recently earned the highest weekly gross of any show in Broadway history, according to the NY Times — and ticket sales for the version coming to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center are doing almost as well, ranking right up there with such past TBPAC blockbusters as Lion King and the first edition of Phantom. So what's the appeal? Well, there's the Oz factor: based on Gregory Maguire's novel, the musical provides backstories for The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch "long before Dorothy dropped in." But it's what the musical does with these two fairy-tale icons that makes the difference, remaking their relationship into an almost-sibling rivalry between popular girl and ugly duckling that resonates with audiences everywhere (particularly ugly ducklings) — and in the process provides a pair of supremely juicy roles for singer/actresses. Jan. 18-Feb. 5, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, $44.50-$80.50, 813-229-7827. At this time there are only scattered singles and restricted-view seats available.
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2006.