On Tour: Wicked in Costa Mesa

Thank goodness for the touring cast of Wicked in Costa Mesa, California!

The long-running fan favorite is currently going on to its 18th year housed at the Gershwin Theatre in NYC after resuming performances following the COVID shutdown. In addition to Broadway and the current US tour (Munchkinland tour), there is currently an open-ended production mounted in London at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and a non-replica production at the Nueue Flora Theatre in Hamburg, Germany. Wicked has become a staple of Broadway, serving as an introduction to theatre for audience members young and old, an opportunity for countless Broadway debuts, and a cultural phenomenon of the early 2000s. Like many, I first discovered Wicked in its early years when I was nine years old—and then it took 15 years for me to see it on stage.

Long story short, Wicked and I have had many near misses over the years. It’s long been a joke between family and friends that I had never seen Wicked, despite being the biggest theatre fan in the group. I never had a chance to see it when I was young, even though the LA production was nearly in my backyard. The stars just never quite aligned. I said “I’ll see it eventually,” knowing Wicked is one of the staples of Broadway.

The Broadway shut down shifted my perspective, as I’m sure it did for so many. Suddenly these big, staple shows that had seemed invincible to inclement weather and off-season sales drops, had, for the sake of analog, a grain of sand in the microchip—an unprecedented weakness. These shows were not immune to the effects of COVID, and the immediate shutdown that ripped theatre away overnight.

I couldn’t think of a better time to catch Wicked than after theatre started to open up again. Luckily for me, it was only in the next county over. The Munchkinland tour of Wicked returned to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts for the month of February. Led by Talia Suskauer, Allison Bailey, Jordan Litz, Lisa Howard, and Cleavant Derricks, the story of the witches of Oz comes to life on stage with a powerhouse of talent.

Immediately, I was impressed by the spectacle of the set design. Many of the shows I have attended recently have been artistic in their use of minimalistic set design, in which case Wicked is very different using a full spectacle set design. While I can appreciate that minimal or black box concept, I really enjoyed how the extensive set pulls audiences into the story, and makes them feel like part of the world just as much as Elphaba and Glinda.

Talia Suskauer gives an outstanding performance as Elphaba, and I’m not sure why I haven’t heard much about her before seeing her performance. Suskauer embodies that jaded and straightforward persona of Elphaba, bringing the character fully to life. Her performance was stunning right off the bat with “The Wizard and I,” and only continued to escalate through “Defying Gravity” and “No Good Deed.” I especially loved how well she played off Jordan Litz (Fiyero) and Clifton Davis (Dr. Dillamond).

Allison Bailey (Glinda) had to be one of my favorite performers to watch. She balances Glinda’s self-centered and over-the-top personality perfectly. Her Glinda glides smoothly through her transition from being primarily self-serving to the selfless Glinda the Good effortlessly. In addition to her excellent character performance, her “No One Mourns the Wicked,” “Thank Goodness,” and “For Good” were all pristine to the ear. It is apparent that Bailey easily embodies Glinda and brings a dash of mannerism reminiscent of Kristen Chenoweth’s style, blending a fresh take on traditional character style.

I also thoroughly enjoyed Jordan Litz’s performance as Fiyero. The on stage chemistry between Suskauer, Bailey and Litz works so well together, it makes the story feel immersive. Litz’s “Dancing Through Life,” was one of my favorite numbers to watch and his delivery of Fiyero’s deadpan and brainless moments were superb.

Lisa Howard (Madame Morrible) and Cleavant Derricks (The Wizard) also gave outstanding performances that tied the world together on stage. Derricks and Howard both did a fantastic job of following the character arch that is deceptive on first meeting. Derricks’ Wizard definitely balanced the wickedness the audience sees of the Wizard with the complex range of the character as presented in the characters’ world, where Elphaba sees him as highly regarded and quickly learns this is not the case.

Going into Wicked blind to the book, I didn’t really realize Nessarose’s character arc throughout the story. I was completely caught off guard by her twist in the second act, and Amanda Fallon Smith leaned perfectly into her transition to the Wicked Witch of the East. I think I was most caught off guard by her transition because it is not noted in the cast album. On the cast recording you only hear Nessa in “Dancing Through Life,” so to see her full character arch was quite a surprise.

I will say I think seeing Wicked after all that has happened in the last two years truly struck me differently than it might have 10 years ago. As an audience member you enter the story at the point of a terrible tragedy, where Glinda is tasked with telling the munchkins Oz has been rid of wickedness. The end of Glinda’s character arc is accepting the burden of loss and she vows to become “Glinda the Good” after watching the way wickedness destroys everything she loved, and I think that sentiment is very powerful in this post-pandemic world.

This cast is filled with absolutely top-notch talent. The show is spectacular, and not that Wicked needs an endorsement from me to see it, especially so many years into its run, but if you have a chance to see this show, absolutely take it. It’s rare these days for me to see a piece of media and just think that if I was 12, I would have made this my entire personality, but Wicked did just that for me. Hands down worth waiting 17 years to see, and definitely one of my favorite shows I’ve probably ever seen.