Wicked & I

The film version of the musical Wicked has hit theaters. I was first introduced to Wicked when I was home for the holidays in college, and my sister played Defying Gravity for me on the speaker. I was so intrigued that I did what I would do for numerous musicals after Wicked: I went to YouTube and listened to the original Broadway soundtrack, along with reading the Wikipedia plot summary of said musical. The emotional depth and the powerful message of the musical resonated with me deeply. I was lucky to see it live at the Fox Theater in Atlanta a few years later. Whenever I’ve become so accustomed to the original cast performing a piece, it’s hard to be open-minded to another performance. The live performance at the Fox surpassed any expectations I had. I plan on eventually seeing the film version, but in the meantime, I’ve been reflecting on what it was about Wicked that I have connected with all these years.
As someone who has felt like an outsider most of her life and struggled to fit in at times, it would be evident for me to see myself in Elphaba. Like she has green skin, I have a brain that works differently than those around me. We are different from the majority. I found it inspirational that she uses her feeling of difference to stand up for those who also feel different and are marginalized. It’s also easier emotionally to identify with the heroine of a piece. Glinda is someone I didn’t expect to identify with as I got older. What I identify with regarding her journey throughout the musical is that she decides to take the road of least resistance. There have been moments in my life where I have swallowed either my desires or feelings of right and wrong to try and make peace with those around me. We all want to fit in and be accepted. I wonder if Elphaba and Glinda should represent different parts of ourselves and show how two people who start from a similar place can take different paths. All of us would want to believe that we would rise to the occasion like Elphaba, but how honest are we with ourselves?
How complicit or complacent are we in the suffering of those around us? Are we all doing what we can to make the world a better place? I hope that as the holiday approaches and we meditate on what we have to be grateful for, we can all push to make the world a place where people like Elphaba are more common.