Wicked #32: A School Production

Last night, an exciting milestone happened- I saw my first school production of Wicked.

Australia has had the right for school productions of the show since... I think only last year. Maybe 2017... don't quote me on this. I can't find the exact date to check, but it's definitely only been the last year or two.

When I found out a school near me was putting on a production, I knew I had to go. First, because it's Wicked. Secondly, because I hadn't seen the show since November 2017.

I am so happy I found out about the show. I found out completely randomly (I was at the shops and saw someone wearing a Wicked t-shirt, and on the back was the school name. Cue me immediately Googling it and buying a ticket- still in the store).

When I've seen community theatre productions in the past, I've given spiels about what they changed and staged things, the cast, etc.

I'm not doing that this time.

Mostly because, well... it's a high school production. Kids are putting this on. And the teacher side of me is so much stronger than my amateur theatre critic side. I'm not going to complain about teenagers having the guts to get up on stage and belt out 'Defying Gravity'.


Honestly, I just kept smiling for so much of the show. Apparently the fact that this school is not one that I teach at- or have ever taught at; and I have never taught or met any of these kids before, does not stop Teacher Me from being so goddamned proud of these kids and what they've achieved!

Wicked can not be an easy show to stage. It's certainly not an easy show to sing, especially for Elphaba and Glinda.  But they did a great job. It was so freaking precious.

I've always joked with my best friend that I could see Wicked staged with finger puppets and still think it was the best thing ever. This is the closest I've come to proving that theory, but it totally holds up.

I got teary as soon as I got to the school and saw the auditorium had been lit up with green and pink lights.

The costumes were very low-key (again, kids), the sets were simple but it made me so happy. And that's what matters.

There was no bubble for Glinda (she just stood on the platform on the right in the above photo). But Elphaba did fly in 'Defying Gravity'! (The 'how' can be seen beneath the Dragon on stage).

There was a moment where the girl playing Chistery got kicked in the face during Act 2 when Elphaba freed the Monkeys. There was an audible scream of pain beneath the mask. It didn't sound pretty.

But the kids were all very professional- another Monkey helped her off stage and the show kept going. So. Damn. Proud.

The other great thing about seeing school productions/local theatre? When they have sausage sizzles at intermission. For those non-Aussies, yes it is just a sausage and onion cooked on a BBQ on a single slice of bread. But it's delicious and an Australian cultural staple.

It had been 18 months since I last saw the show. I get to see it twice more this year, both in July. One is another community theatre production to which I'm dragging a bunch of friends. Only one of which has seen the show before and only because I dragged her to a production in her hometown in 2017. FRIENDSHIP!

I'll share thoughts on those come July.


Note: I wrote this in May and thought I'd posted it. Evidently I had only saved it as a draft. So now I'm posting it.