"Wicked" on Broadway

Being married to me means watching each and every "Wicked" promotional concert, as these concerts occur on PBS.

"Wicked" is the "Les Miz" of 2021: You just can't kill it.

The newest PBS "Wicked" concert was especially boring; Idina and Kristin couldn't be bothered to appear in one room together, and neither performed a song. Instead, you saw the two reading bits of a synopsis from cue-cards: The plot of this show is always baffling, and it's particularly baffling when Kristin Chenoweth tries to re-package it for you in long, unpoetic mini-book-reports.

My husband tried hard to keep himself interested. "Did Stephen Schwartz *really* write 'Pocahontas'--?" he asked. And: "What does *Sutton Foster* say about 'Wicked'--?"

I appreciated this.

On the screen, Chenoweth was murmuring about betrayal and character growth, and about friends saying goodbye. I think she also talked about the wonders of PBS, how PBS saves gay lives by inspiring small midwestern children with Sondheim, etc. She may have had a few thoughts about "generous pledges of support from viewers like you."

The evening ground to a halt with a strange exhumation of a 2016 clip from YouTube: Younger versions of Chenoweth and Menzel were singing "Wicked"'s big eleven-o-clock duet. Like a seed dropped by a sky-bird....Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

I can't wait to do this again in two years.

https://www.pbs.org/show/wicked-concert/

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