While this happened well over a month ago, I never got a chance to share a few thoughts from the experience. The group I coached this summer at the leadership track chipped in and gave Christine and I tickets to see Wicked as an appreciation gift. It was very generous. Though I didn’t feel very well that night, I really enjoyed it and so did Christine and it was fun to be with some friends as well.
While the music was great, I was really struck by some of the deeper themes of the play and remarkably I’ve kept thinking about them even though it’s been a couple months later. I don’t know if it’s all the study time I’ve put into group system theory or what, but it was a classic satire of power driven leadership in a group system.
One of the fascinating things is that the play is in some ways is all revisionist history of the Wizard of Oz plot. In fact, one of the themes is that history is revised by those in power to serve those in power. The creators did an incredible job of creating an alternate story line to the classic tale that surfaces such deep themes that run throughout so many streams of society. The Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz is essentially the protagonist, the hero who is basically martyred because she was an independent thinker and championed a cause (the preservation of the talking animals in Oz) that threatened the establishment of power, represented by the Wizard of Oz.
Elpheba (the green wicked witch) plays the prophetic role, the one who is driven by compassion, justice, and passion. Due to the fear of the system of power, she becomes a pariah, the object of the leadership’s AND overall system’s anxiety and she is blamed for events and problems though she is acting justly and compassionately. She gets ostracized for doing the right things and for speaking honestly. This is captured really well in the angry, but yet honest song “No good deed goes unpunished.” This title is a classic expression of what power and status driven leaders facilitate when a prophetic voice emerges in the system that challenges the unhealthy or unjust behaviors present.
She is portrayed as strong, uncorrupted by the “system” perpetuated by the Wizard. She is offered power by the Wizard to give up her resistance, but she nobly chooses alienation as opposed to compromising her integrity and adopting the systemic values of status, power, and the fear based anxiety that comes with trying to maintain those things.
She knows there is no way out of being made the scapegoat of society for their ills so she ends up faking her death (at the hands of Dorothy) and disappears from civilization with her true love Fiero. While it’s great that there is a kind of happily ever after conclusion, it’s powerful that Elpheba realizes that the only to be free from the dynamic of persecution and scapegoating is to die. The ironic song “No one mourns wicked” reflects societies response to the witch’s death, but Elpheba frees herself (and even those persecuting her) by dying (albeit a fake death). Familiar theme? The reality is that a system bent on making a scapegoat will not easily relent because there is too much at stake for the people in power.
I won’t be able to watch the Wizard of Oz in the same way ever again, but I probably preferred the themes and storyline of Wicked to the original. It’s very well done and I highly recommend going if you get a chance!
Us with the Eastwood’s and Diva’s
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