'Most Electrifying Professional Moment Of My Life': Author Gregory Maguire On Seeing 'Wicked The Musical' For The First Time
DENVER (CBS4) – The Broadway musical "Wicked" is playing at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts through June 9, 2019. This is the 6th time the touring production has come to Denver. "Wicked" is always a fan favorite with theater audiences.
LINK: For Tickets & Information for "Wicked"
The story is set in Oz long before Dorothy makes her visit. It tells the history of two witches who start as rivals, but become friends, then are torn apart by a world that would label one "good" and the other "wicked."
"Wicked" opened on Broadway in 2003, and came to Denver the first time in 2005. At that time, CBS4's Critic-at-Large Greg Moody interviewed Gregory Maguire, the author of the original book, "Wicked" written in the 90's.
"To walk into the theater, the first night that 'Wicked' was open for public viewing by people who were actually going to pay for their seats was the most electrifying professional moment of my life," Maguire said in 2005.
He said that the idea for "Wicked" overcame him, and was born out of a myriad of questions he had about the source material, "The Wizard of Oz."
"Why in Oz, for instance, can the Cowardly Lion speak, sing, and dance, but the flying monkeys can't. Why does nobody seem to pay attention to the fact that their leader is lying to them, consistently, and is never answerable? What is going on there?" Maguire explained.
"Wicked" is a big, lush, Broadway musical, which doesn't disappoint even 16 years after its debut.