Leeds Grand Theatre – until 7 July 2018
5*****
The green carpet was out in Leeds to welcome a very full house to see Wicked on its current leg of the UK tour.
Telling the untold story of the Witches of Oz, Gregory Maguire’s novel lays the foundations for Frank L Baum’s Wizard of Oz. With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz’s, Winnie Holzman’s book brings Wicked to the stage.
Giving flesh to the bones are Helen Woolf as sweet and sugary, but power hungry and ambitious Glinda the Good and the current alternate, Nikki Bentley as the verdant but vulnerable Elphaba.
As we see Elphaba’s sad childhood; her guilt that she feels it’s her fault her sister Nessa Rose (Emily Shaw) is in a wheelchair, her father’s hatred of her, her struggle to fit in whilst people shun her purely because of her skin colour, it’s hard not to feel sorry for her.
Bentley is phenomenal, Wicked is not an easy score but she hits every note with perfection. Her Defying Gravity was every bit the crowd pleasing show stopper it is meant to be. However it’s the softer songs where both she and Woolf shone and their beautiful duet of For Good was a heartfelt rendition. But Woolf showed a more tender side of Glinda in the heartbreak moments of Thank Goodness and her reprise of I’m Not That Girl, where she realises she has lost her love Fiyero (Aaron Sidwell) to her best friend
Kim Ismay’s Madam Morrible is suitably evil, using Elphaba’s talent to further her own career. Whilst some play this part in an over the top, pantomimesque way, Ismay was subtle and understated giving more depth to a character who has no redeeming features. Alongside Steven Pinders Wizard, a charlatan conman who is also after using Elphaba, the pair do finally meet their comeuppance.
With appearances by the Tin Man (Iddon Jones), a brief glimpse of the Lions tail, the Scarecrow and Chistery, the flying monkey (Jack Harrison- Cooper) only Dorothy is not witnessed on stage.
The overwhelming message of Wicked is friendship and acceptance. Just because someone is a different colour doesn’t necessarily make them bad. Ideals we should all adhere to.
Wicked is on in Leeds until 7 July and on tour around the UK until January 2019 www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/uk-tour