I had the most delightful day yesterday! What better way to spend a dreary, rainy Sunday than at the Wicked matinee in the 5th row with my very good friend Margaret. There is nothing like a musical to bring a story to life. Who doesn’t love watching actors suddenly breaking into song and dancing around in crazy costumes?? We both love a good story – especially one like Wicked about love, empowerment, and friendship. Throw in themes about the power of public relations, the yearning for popularity, a love triangle, betrayal, and animal rights and you have quite a story!
In case you aren’t familiar with the plot, Wicked is the story of Elphaba, who we have always known as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, and Glinda, (formerly known as Galinda) who we have known as the Good Witch of the North. Traditionally, we have all thought of Elphaba as an evil, ugly, angry witch who hates Dorothy and her friends Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion and only wants to hurt them in her quest for power. And we have thought of Glinda as the Dorothy’s savior in her quest to return home. Here’s a secret for you and for anyone who has seen Wicked – we had it all wrong!!
I have seen the Wizard of Oz more times than I can count. It happens to be in my top movies of all time – actually second only to The Sound of Music, coincidentally another movie musical.
Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be moved to tears cheering for the Wicked Witch – but that is exactly how I found myself, trying to inconspicuously wipe my eyes at the end of her rendition of Defying Gravity when the lights came up at intermission. Who knew that the Wicked Witch – which I will now always refer to as Elphie, would become an example of perseverance, friendship, love and empowerment as she is portrayed in Wicked??
Wicked shows us how there could be a whole lot more to the story. If we were to dig deeper, if we were to learn the history of Elphie and Glinda, if we look at the “other” side of the story – wow, we sure learn a LOT more.
My friend Margaret said it best – it’s like everything she knew to be true before could be completely wrong!
It occurs to me – what other stories – the ones I make up about myself or the ones I make up about others – do I carry around with me that could be completely wrong?? Oh I know there are a lot. I like to summarize my stories in my own way – serving whatever purpose my head has in mind at the moment. If I decided to look more deeply, or to look at my stories from a different perspective, what alternative happy endings may be possible?
Take Heart 