‘Wicked’ worth the trip from Vegas

By Joe Brown

Published Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 | 11:03 a.m.

The day may come when it seems you’ve seen every show in this entertainment Oz. When you can’t face the infernal interior of your car.

When that day arrives, it’s time to flee this wicked little town — what I’m recommending is sort of a reverse vacation, a quick jaunt to San Francisco, current home of the musical “Wicked.”

This is a show that should by all rights be ensconced in Las Vegas — during the short-lived boomlet of Broadway shows on the Strip, there was talk that “Wicked” was the closest thing to a sure bet for success on the Strip. It’s still going strong on Broadway, where it took three Tony Awards when it opened in 2003, but the closest it’s coming to Vegas is San Francisco.

So, go.

The exceptional quality of the staging at the Orpheum Theatre aside, “Wicked” is well worth the trip: The top ticket price is $99 — that’s where seats for the bigger Strip draws start — and the flight takes less time than the show.

Based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, a parallel and a prequel of sorts to the familiar “Wizard of Oz” tale, “Wicked” begins just after Dorothy has inadvertently dropped her house on the Wicked Witch of the West.

As she greets the celebrating Munchkins in the opening number “No One Mourns the Wicked,” Glinda the Good Witch flashes back on how she and Elphaba, the surviving Wicked Witch of the West, got their reputations.Turns out they were reluctant roommates at sorcery school, where Glinda was a bubbleheaded blonde social climber and Elphaba, a sensitive student and budding animal rights activist, was ostracized just for being green.

Winnie Holzman’s witty script (she created the beloved but short-lived TV series “My So-Called Life”) is an ingenious origin story, gradually revealing how the famed friends of Dorothy became the tin, straw and cowardly creations we know and love. Stephen Schwartz’s score has one powerhouse number in “Defying Gravity,” and glimmers with allusions to “Over The Rainbow” and other leitmotifs from the movie soundtrack.

As with the original “Wizard of Oz,” “Wicked” is available to all sorts of interpretations. Kids may find wisdom about popularity and prejudice; some adults may see it as a product of and reaction to Bush-era politics.

But you don’t have to go there — “Wicked” is also just a consistently funny, entertaining show on its own terms.

The roles of Glinda and Elphaba were created by contemporary Broadway icons Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, respectively. Big shoes to fill, and Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda and Teal Wicks inhabit the characters like a pair of ruby slippers.

Did I mention that one of the stars in the San Francisco staging is Patty Duke? (Kids, ask your parents.) Duke is enjoyable as the scenery-chewing Madame Morrible, headmistress of the school for sorcerers.

Vegas showgoers will get a kick out of the stage magic: Acrobatic monkeys rappel around the proscenium a la Cirque; it appears that Cher caught “Wicked” before her Caesars Palace residency — her big entrance is an adaptation of Glinda’s fantastic descending bubble.

So “Wicked” was a treat — as was the refreshingly chilly blast of San Francisco summer. And when I returned, I was reminded of how spoiled we are in many ways in Vegas, where nearly every show is adjacent to free parking and abundant restaurant choices.

No place like home, as they say.

(Editor's Note: This story was corrected to say that Elphaba was the surviving Wicked Witch of the West.)