What started life as unlikely political metaphor and beloved children’s tale, L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz became one of Hollywood’s greatest film musical landmarks in 1939, a cultural touchstone that’s spawned a virtually non-stop series of revivals and adaptations ever since. But Godspell/Pippin composer Stephen Schwartz’s 21st century Broadway musical version comes courtesy of a slightly more obtuse take on Baum’s story: novelist Gregory Maguire’s 1995 revisionist prequel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Schwartz’s shrewd formula of fusing traditional Broadway with MOR pop-rock gives Tony-winner Kristen Chenoweth (in the beefed-up role of Glinda) several star turns, while co-stars Idina Menzel (as the misunderstood title character) and Wizard Joel Grey light up “The Wizard and I” and “A Sentimental Man,” respectively.
