Sold Date: December 17, 2024
Start Date: October 17, 2024
Final Price: $61.99 (USD)
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Although best remembered for the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, 's series of early 20th century novels about the fairyland Oz have inspired a number of theatrical and cinematic adaptations, beginning with a Broadway musical version of  for which  himself provided the libretto and lyrics that opened in 1903, only three years after the first publication of the initial book, and including the 1975 all-black Broadway musical . In an era rife with sequels and "prequels" to successful properties that has reached back retroactively to include authorized and unauthorized re-imaginings of works such as Gone with the Wind, 's 1995 novel  purported to depict the back story of the villainess of The Wizard of Oz and her counterpart, Glinda the Good. Of course, 's retelling was a revisionist interpretation in which the Wicked Witch turned out to be a misunderstood character with lots of justifications for turning "bad" (one of them being prejudiced reactions to her green skin color), while Glinda was made into more of a goody-goody than actually good, not to mention being something of a dumb-blonde cheerleader type. Theatrical composer  (, ) saw the obvious stage possibilities, and his musical version, , opened on Broadway on October 30, 2003. In the adaptation, Glinda's role has been beefed up, the better to employ the talents of Tony-winning Broadway star , though the story still primarily concerns the young Wicked Witch (), with Broadway veteran  as the Wizard, and the story line has been softened, the better to attract a young audience conditioned by the  hits Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. On disc, the score will have a familiar sound to anyone who knows previous  efforts and their combination of traditional show music with '70s-style soft rock music and choral music. Soprano  and alto  are given very different kinds of songs to sing;  gets the Broadway belting material,  the more adult contemporary-type ballads. This is appropriate to the their characters. Glinda is superficial and showy, Elphaba (the Witch) so earnest that she is eventually embittered. The score is tuneful and the lyrics often witty. This is not great music, but it is craftsmanlike and certainly efficient for this somewhat questionable project. ~ William Ruhlmann