COMMENTARY BY SHARON EBERSON
Wicked’s popularity was not a foregone conclusion when it powered onto Broadway in 2003.
The musical darling of the season was the Sesame Street parody Avenue Q, with songs co-written by a pre-Book of Mormon and Frozen Robert Lopez.
The New York Times critic Ben Brantley came right out and wrote that only Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda deserved praise. “Wicked does not, alas, speak hopefully for the future of the Broadway musical. Ms. Chenoweth, on the other hand, definitely does,” he concluded.
Critics. What do they know?
“Once word kicked in, it took on a life that none of us could have ever predicted,” director Joe Mantello told the Times in December of last year. “It was the audience, and not a critical consensus, that turned it into the hit that it became.”
That same story noted that the two-part movie version, with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in place of Chenoweth and Tony-winner Idina Menzel, had not syphoned off audiences from the Broadway show or touring production that is now at the Benedum Center, Wicked’s sixth visit to Pittsburgh.
The stage show, with a book by Winnie Holzman and songs by composer and CMU alum Stephen Schwartz, has grossed $1.8 billion in 21 years on Broadway, and $6.2 billion globally. Worldwide, it has been seen by more than 72 million people, and counting.
With more than 8,600 performances at the Gershwin Theater, where it arrived in October of 2003 and never left, Wicked is the fourth longest running Broadway show, behind only The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago and The Lion King, and it’s still going strong.
For the post-holiday season, in the week ending January 11, 2026, seating was at 100% in the 15,408-seat Gershwin, one of Broadway’s biggest houses.
That’s Wicked by the numbers. With the national touring company back in Pittsburgh for a sixth time, here are five reasons that the musical is more popular than ever.
1). The musicals of composer Stephen Schwartz, whose shows have yet to win a Tony Award, are not always a slam dunk. His latest collaboration with Chenoweth, The Queen of Versailles, came and went with a whimper. But when he finds the pulse of a piece — Godspell, Pippin, Wicked, The Prince of Egypt, the Oscar-winning “Color of the Wind”from Pocahontas — it is with a fervent, adventurous, playful imagination. There’s a reason songscapes like “Meadowlark” and “Corner of the Sky” are favorite audition songs, melding storytelling with musical imagery, and he has the ability to raise the temperature from warm (“Day by Day”) to hot (“Magic to Do”) to undeniable chills (“Defying Gravity”). Anyone who declares that they didn’t at least get goosebumps the first time they saw Elphaba take flight, must have their fingers crossed behind their back.
2). Glinda and Elphaba are polar opposites, forced to live together, who end up in a love triangle, yet they forge a friendship that changes them “for good.” Oh sure, the tale is sprinkled with the sparkle of The Wizard of Oz, as the Wicked Witch’s origin story, and just a hint of the R-rated Wicked book. Mostly, however, it is a coming-of-age story with a strong sisterhood vibe. It’s not a stretch to say that the popularity of Wicked begot Frozen, and “Defying Gravity,” “Let It Go.“
3). Elphaba, the witch of the title, is green. And we know it isn’t easy being green. Her appearance makes her an automatic outcast in her world, and her empathy for others — in this case, the scapegoated animals of Oz — makes her dangerous to those in power. The young puppets of Avenue Q overcome poverty, racial differences and sexual misadventures with a wink and a communal bond. Watching Elphaba navigate a hostile world and find love among the haters is a huge part of Wicked’s allure.
4). Wicked balances light and dark in a way that appeals to all ages. The first time I saw Wicked with my family was in 2006, with Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba, in her final tour stop before replacing Menzel on Broadway. Next to me on one side was my 13-year-old son, and on the other was a 7-year-old girl. She knew every word to every song. I was reminded that all fairy tales have a dark side, but the special ones take hold and never leave us.
5). Everything about Wicked onstage screams, “This is a big Broadway musical!,” from the giant Clock of the Time Dragon (it’s a reference to the book, but has no standing in the show), to Glinda’s floating bubble, to Flying Monkeys. Unlike relatively small-cast musical Tony-winners such as Avenue Q, The Band’s Visit and Kimberly Akimbo, Wicked goes hard to impress with largess. Some of us like that every once in a while.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Feature Stories, Our Posts
Leave a Reply Cancel reply