Wicked is currently playing on tour at the Des Moines Civic Center through December 04, 2011.
The musical focuses on Elphalba (Anne Brummel) and Galinda (Tiffany Haas), the wicked witch of the west and the good witch of the north, respectively. When the audience meets them, Elphalba is a green-skinned girl used to having the world look askance at her. Galinda (who renames herself with the more familiar Glinda only after one of the characters gets her goat), is the popular one, for whom everything has always come easily.
The two form an unlikely friendship (one of the few true clichés in this story) and jointly go to Oz to meet the wizard. The crisis they face there splits them. Elphalba’s strength allows her to make what she sees as the right choice. Galinda, without Elphalba’s tough background, makes the easy one.
Brummel and Haas are certainly up to the roles. They give both the realism necessary to pull off the most poignant scenes, the ones where the audience cringes with recognition of themselves in Elphalba’s painful awkwardness and Galinda’s stunning shallowness. The growth of the characters through the story feels natural, not scripted.
They have an able cast surrounding them. David Nathan Perlow as Fiyero, a playboy prince, turns in a solid performance, as does Dan Pacheco as a lovelorn Munchkin. Neither overshadows the witches, but both hold their own while sharing the stage with them.
A note about the audience: Ovations at the end of the performance can seem more of a duty than a genuine expression. The audience I saw had no such hesitation, coming out of their seats almost as soon as the final song ended for a well-deserved standing ovation.
Read the complete review {Via Journal Express}
Wicked runs through Sunday, December 4 at the Des Moines Civic Center. It’s well worth seeing. Buy Wicked Des Moines IA Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 off on Orders over $350!