Just in time for spooky season, the North American Tour of Wicked is back in Portland for a three week run at Keller Auditorium. It’s a wonderful, family-friendly show billed as “the untold true story of the witches of Oz” and I got to see it Thursday night with my son. We’d both seen Wicked on Broadway years ago and agreed that the production values and cast of the tour are every bit as good. In fact, we liked Wicked even better the second time around.
The story is a revisionist history of what happened in L. Frank Baum’s, The Wizard of Oz. In his book, a young girl from Kansas named Dorothy arrives in a magical land when a cyclone drops her house on top of a witch. She quickly makes an enemy of the witch’s sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, and spends the rest of the story trying to get back home. Wicked focuses on the unlikely friendship between green-skinned outcast Elphaba and oh-so-popular Galinda, who become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.
The famous 1939 Judy Garland film based on the book was a childhood favorite of mine. So when Gregory Maguire‘s book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West was published, I expected to love it, too. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and as a result it took me over a decade to finally see Wicked, the musical based on Maguire’s book.
When I took my then thirteen-year-old to see Wicked on Broadway, both of us loved it. As a parent, I appreciated that the musical was lighter, omitting all the disturbing parts of the book that weren’t family-friendly. As someone who likes a good musical, I fell in love with the wonderful songs, gorgeous costumes and scenery, and well-developed characters played by talented performers.
While entertaining, this show can also spark some great conversations with your kids about bullying, government corruption and propaganda, self-love and standing up for what you believe in. Pro tip: If you or your child has never read or seen The Wizard of Oz, I highly recommend doing so before attending the musical. Wicked will make a lot more sense if you know about Dorothy’s journey, the friends she meets along the way, and her dealings with the famous witches.
Officially recommended for kids ages 8 and up, the ideas are just complicated enough that I’d wait until your kiddos are 10 before bringing them. There are a few scary elements, such as the flying monkeys and the Wizard’s giant steampunk-style head, but if your kids can handle the Judy Garland film, Wicked shouldn’t scare them at all. In fact, they’ll find themselves rooting for the Wicked Witch along with the rest of the audience.
If You Go
Wicked has a run time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, including one intermission and is playing now through November 3, with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets can be purchased through Broadway in Portland and start at $59.
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