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#WickedWeek - Defying Critics After All These Years

Wicked celebrates 15 years on Broadway

Wicked is celebrating 15 years on Broadway on October 30! In honour of this magical musical, we would like to welcome you to our #WickedWeek. In our first instalment, we take a look back at what Critics thought when Wicked debuted...

You may already know this, or you may not, but when Wicked first opened on October 30, 2003, it didn't sit well with the critics (and that's putting it nicely!), let's dive into what the big wigs thought, knowing all too well that it works out all right in the end!

First up the prestigious New York Times were not at all impressed with the theatrical wizardry that we all now love. Although they were full of praise for Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda they said that ''Wicked'' does not, alas, speak hopefully for the future of the Broadway musical. Ms. Chenoweth, on the other hand, definitely does' - Owch!



Newsaday mirrored the sentiment saying 'overproduced, overblown, confusingly dark and laboriously ambitious jumble', with The New Yorker saying 'The show's twenty-two songs were written by Stephen Schwartz, and not one them is memorable' (we beg to differ)!

Variety was also not very impressed with the brand new musical saying, 'It is hardly surprising, in the end, that 'Wicked's' jarring jumble of tones and styles defeats talented director Joe Mantello, who seems overwhelmed by the demands of the medium'.



Well that was a bit vicious, wasn't it! But as we know, Wicked didn't have anything to be worried about as they went onto break box office record, achieve 15 years on a rather competitive street, have a long-running production in London's West End and countless international productions. With over 50 million people having now seen the show worldwide it just goes to show that the critics, in this instance, didn't know what they were talking about!

Fortunately our reviewer loved Wicked! Check out her review here -

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Defying Critics After All These Years