#elphaba/g(a)linda

[liongrl321]

must protecc

[munkustance]

Not cats related but literally just got home from watching Wicked and I'm absolutely blown away! And excuse the pun but it was really (wait for it) Wicked!!!

[musicalgifs]

CYNTHIA ERIVO as ELPHABA THROPP and ARIANA GRANDE as G(A)LINDA UPLAND in WICKED (2024)

[katherinemckay]

i think something in wicked that gets overlooked a lot is that g(a)linda is just as academically ambitious as elphaba in the musical. i feel like those 'are you an elphaba or glinda' personality quiz things always frame elphaba as being studious and glinda just wanting to have fun but like. the very first thing glinda does at shiz is introduce herself to madame morrible and remind her about the entrance essay she wrote for the sorcery seminar. she just gets overlooked because she doesn't have the natural talent and book smarts that elphaba does, which is why she has to resort to using her charm and likability to get what she wants. idk i just think glinda and elphaba being established as academic rivals in that first shiz scene is such an interesting part of their early dynamic that isn't explored by the general public as much as it deserves to be

[gliyerabaa]

Logistics: Elphaba vs. Elphie

So we know in the musical that G(a)linda bestows the nickname 'elphie' relatively early in the show, but how many times does it actually get used in comparison to her given name?

Well, I may or may not have a copy of the libretto, and I may or may not have gone through the entire book and kept a tally of times G(a)linda says Elphaba's name.

Elphaba or Miss Elphaba: 6

Elphie: NO LESS THAN TWENTY-THREE TIMES

ladies is it gay to give your best friend the cutest nickname in the world, and then use it at every given opportunity, even when furious with her?

[littlefabala]

What I think each Wicked character would do in college if it were in our current world:

Elphaba: Natural Sciences

G(a)linda: Architecture

Fyiero: International relations

Boq: Agricultural engineering

Nessie: Art hystory/History (because i read a fic where she was a art student and it made so much sense to me)

Avaric: Sommelier (i know that is not a course, but come on, make sense right?)

Pfanne and Shenshen: pedagogy (If you read Out of Oz, you know why)

[the-patchwork-girl-of-oz]

Pajamas I think Wicked the Musical characters would wear (I’m bored)

I can see Elphaba wearing these black ones with maybe some more sensible black slippers. I can also imagine her braiding her hair for bed (pink bow for G(a)Linda of course).

G(a)Linda would wear a frilly pink nightgown, I can imagine short sleeves and a lot of lace, I can also imagine her in one of those sleep masks with the fake eyelashes on them. These slippers kinda remind me of her too. I think she also might sleep with hair curlers and one of those mud masks(which matches her wife hehe. Plus the black lace on the sleep mask.)

Fiyero would wear overly expensive little rich boy pajamas. In the OG Oz books the favorite color of his country is yellow, so what better than gold? I can also imagine him having a canopy bed lol (he’s very “rich kid who’s parents don’t pay enough attention to him” core. Him and Glinda both, in fact, to be honest).

Boq would wear either this stripy blue button down two piece one or these goofy Victorian long underwear. He’d probably also have some fuzzy patterned socks. He 100% sleeps with a stuffed animal and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Nessa would wear something more modest (and probably more period accurate😅) and for some reason I can imagine her liking florals.

Dr Dillamond has Scrooge pajamas and bunny slippers.

Madam Morrible would wear an over the top extravagant nightgown with rich widow robe.

The wizard would also wear extravagant pajamas and a rich widow robe. Not to match Morrible. They just have the same taste.

[balimode]

Cynthia and Ariana both managed to make Elphaba and G(a)linda follow at least a whisper of the theme. Unironically impressive.

[tunemyart]

one of my favorite things about wicked the musical (and to be clear, there are many. so many) is the repetition and variation on the “you/we deserve each other” theme. Just about every group of folks in the main cast of characters either say this about each other or have it said to them: G(a)linda and Fiyero, Elphaba and Fiyero, Nessarose and Boq, Nessarose and the wicked witch of the east, Elphaba and her hat (e.g. her own witchiness, destiny, etc., and which is also one of my favorite things about the musical in that it’s the first, but not the last, part of the Witch’s costume that Glinda bestows on her).

Just about the only couple who doesn’t get it said about them - and notable precisely bc of its omission because the story is about the two of them! - is Glinda and Elphaba.

There are a lot of ways to take this but here’s what I believe about it: that the “you deserve each other” theme is something that always, at its heart, becomes a bitter thing... and the heart of Glinda and Elphaba’s relationship is anything but bitterness. In fact it’s entirely the opposite. It’s understood that they deserve each other, in the same way it’s understood that - because the play is a tragedy - they also can never have each other in permanent way.

[vinkunwildflowerqueenupdates]

Wicked Fics- Canon Compliant Act II

Fics that take place during Act II and don't diverge from canon- including As Long As You're Mine scene.

Exhale When Elphaba disappears, Fiyero forgets to breathe. It's two years before he gets to exhale. 3k words

Feels Like Home It's been a long time since Elphaba felt like herself, rather than The Wicked Witch of the West. 2.5k words

Get it Right Elphaba reaches her breaking point. 3.1k words

Hiraeth Elphaba makes a stop by the cemetary on her way to the Emerald City after leaving Nessarose. 2.6k words

If I Let You Go Fiyero twice has to choose between Elphaba and G(a)linda, and the choice he makes each time. 2 chapters. 4.3k words.

peace Elphaba worries Fiyero is going to regret his choice. Fiyeraba. ALAYM. 3000 words. 

Possessionless Elphaba finally lets her guard down and makes herself completely vulnerable to Fiyero. 3.3k words

[nono-bunny]

Thoughts on the Wicked movie trailer

My god, Ariana Grande looks awful as G(a)linda. That's like??? The one thing the production could control! If her performance sucks (which I don't know that it will! Just... Suspect), that's on her and shitty casting, but how did they make her look so ugly and un-G(a)linda like??? It literally took me out of it so much, I just couldn't get over how terrible she looks, it's truly baffling.

The endings notes of Defying Gravity physically hurt my ears. I'm actually a big fan of the way each Elphaba personalizes that part, but I just REALLY did not like Cynthia's version.

Other than that? Yeah, making it into two movies is dumb. Nothing about what I saw in the trailer made me wanna bother going to watch it in cinemas, and I already wasn't inclined to do that before even though Wicked is very near and dear to my heart. Just... So many strange decisions here? I fucking hate original songs in adaptations and I hate adapation original characters (for the most part? Sometimes they can really work, and tbf I'm not even sure the new people here aren't just from the book)- proshots 100% should just be the norm because adaptations just seemingly don't know how to not fuck things up!!

Also I'm seeing people be excited about the cast and? Literally I only know Ariana Grande, have a vague awareness of Jeff Goldblum existing, and maybe heard of some of the others but not enough for me to recognize them or their names. When the only person I actually know in the cast is someone I don't really like (I don't actively dislike Ariana? I just... don't like her? Hard to put into words) that's just obviously not even gonna be a selling point for me!!

Idk I was really hoping for the trailer to make me excited for the movies but now I'm dreading them more than ever because this was just... A really bad first look as far as I'm concerned, and alongside the other production stuff I've read about it just doesn't sound like it's gonna be a fun time, which is a shame, because Wicked does deserve a good movie! I just... highly doubt that it'll ever get one, especially when after years of waiting for one it's happening rn amidst this wave of weirdly bad/unremarkable adapations, y'know?

[cristinablackthornkingson]

The ghosts putting on plays and musicals all the time after the panto.

One time they do Wicked and here is who I think would play who.

Kitty- G(a)linda

Robin- Elphaba

Thomas- Fiyero.

The Captain- The Wizard

Fanny- Madam Morrible.

Humphrey- Nessa

Pat- Boq and Chistery.

Julian- Elphaba and Nessa's father.

And in this version, Nessa's in a wheelchair becuase she's just a head, no body. Then in Act 2 we find out she's found a body and had her head put on said body, and Humphrey's head and body are one for like 20 whole minutes.

[not-quitenormal]

The problem with writing Boq is that he's a character with so many layers.

From what I see, Boq is a hopeless romantic whose heart has a stronger beat than he is capable of containing. He falls in love with Galinda, who does not care to acknowledge him for longer than a fleeting moment - but he is so blinded by his own passionate feelings for her that she is able to persuade him into dating a girl he isn't even sure he likes.

And because Nessarose needs someone - needs someone - especially after her sister flees the Emerald City - Boq becomes shackled to her. He does not love her. He does not want anything to do with her. But he cannot leave her, whether out of pity or obligation, he isn't sure.

Then Nessarose cuts Munchkinland off from the rest of Oz.

For at least two years, he is trapped with a woman who makes demands of him that he cannot fulfill, requires promises he cannot keep. Every trace of hope becomes replaced with longing for a time when everything still made sense. He still dreams of Galinda's smile, her laugh, her eyes... But those dreams eventually become nightmares, reminders of how when he wakes the visage before him will fade to that of his captor.

And that's during the intermission!

To recap Act II: Boq is revealed to the audience as a servant for Nessarose, who believes the false pretense that they are both in a committed relationship. When Elphaba appears in Nessa's chambers, Boq attempts to flee - only for Nessarose's fear of abandonment to ensnare him once again, this time in the form of a spell. Which backfires. Badly.

Elphaba's attempt to save him does not spare his heart. But what is really left of a heart to save if it's already been bled dry?

So. He goes through all of that; teams up with the girl who murdered his ex-girlfriend/former-abuser; receives validation from the Wizard of fucking Oz that Elphaba must die; and in the end stands before Glinda the Good with nothing gained from any of it.

Boq blames Nessa for enslaving him and for his heart disappearing; and he hates Elphaba for turning him into the Tin Man.

But really, his heart was ground to dust from the words "Oh, that's so kind."

By the same token - and the most crucial part about all of this - is that G(a)linda isn't aware of any of this at all. She isn't even someone we can blame. While it was awful of her to play Boq like a fiddle and point him in Nessarose's direction instead of being honest with him, Galinda has no other part to play in any of his story. She's got her own shit to deal with.

So writing Boq into THPOLY and doing all of this justice is gonna be a feat.

[katherinemckay]

welcome back to niche moments in the wicked score that i enjoy today’s topic is the parallels between popular and wonderful’s scores :)

i was looking closely at the piano/vocal score for wonderful today and was surprised how much it reminded me of popular’s. these songs felt pretty unrelated to me at first because i never listen to wonderful, until i thought about how the themes discussed in both numbers are actually very closely linked: both songs discuss how power and opportunity are given primarily through cultivating a good public image and perception. here's some of the similarities that stood out to me musically:

besides the fact that they’re both in the same key, both songs consistently switch from swung to straight eighth notes, which is notated in both scores. they also start with slower, almost dramatic/theatrical notes that follow the singer colla voce (also notated in both scores), until they each pick up to the regular, faster tempo.

then, when it gets to that tempo, both songs utilize a heavily syncopated rhythm. here's some examples:

looking even closer at that last image of the popular score, the pattern of triplets leading into the next beat also shows up in wonderful:

the one that stood out to me the most is at these moments, where the eighth note patterns are extremely similar for a couple measures before they both have a descending melody:

looking at the lyrics at these parts, while g(a)linda is singing about heads of states being popular instead of having "brains or knowledge," the head of oz is singing about how being called wonderful makes him actually appear that way. he's actively proving glinda right: this whole song is the wizard admitting that he's only powerful because the people of oz see him as wonderful, so it's what he's become. the wizard is exactly the kind of person glinda is referencing in popular, so the music for these songs being similar in key, rhythm, and general patterns helps emphasize that idea.

i think these connections highlight how smart glinda really is, even at the start of this show: her outlook on the world as a teenager is shown to be the harsh reality of how people in oz get to power. while popular often comes across as just a fun, flashy song for glinda to give elphaba a makeover, it's so interesting and complex when you really examine it as a glimpse into how glinda views the world around her. her understanding of the importance of popularity within her school and social circle translates politically into how the wizard understands that the ozians' perception of him as wonderful is all he needs to continue being powerful. the subtle parallels to popular in the wizard's big act 2 number show how glinda realizes and acknowledges the corruption in her society earlier than it's actually revealed in the show to the audience, or even understood by any of the other characters.

[gliyerabaa]

You know, it's a little strange, but I've always found it kind of weird that despite being entirely centered around witches, both the book and the musical... don't have a lot of magic in them? We don't really see any of Elphaba's magic classes in the musical (the movie seems like it's going to change this), and in the book Glinda's magic teacher is not very competent. We don't really get to see musical!Elphaba purposefully use non-Grimmerie magic... ever? maybe like once.

this is so interesting to think about....

like, in the musical, we only ever see Elphaba use magic 1. via the Grimmerie or 2. as an uncontrolled outburst of emotion... if she's supposed to be such a powerful witch, why don't we see more of that?

ALTHOUGH I suppose the fact that she can read out of the Grimmerie at all is a testament to her power, since Morrible says that even she can only decipher a few spells. (However... Morrible *says* a lot of things... could uplifting Elphaba for her abilitiy to read the Grimmerie be laced with external motivations? might explore this in an analysis someday)

and GLINDA omg glinda.... her magical ability is literally only played for jokes in the musical and that makes me so SAD... like I get they were going for the "dumb blonde" trope, but book!Glinda is actually really smart and I wish the musical didn't erase that. Hell, even musical!g(a)linda is smart if you look behind the "dumb blonde" facade. and besides general intelligence, I wish they'd leaned into her magic more besides just making a joke of it. like sure, let her be bad at it as a student, but let her GROW from it?! iirc they don't talk about Glinda's magic AT ALL anytime after popular w/ the 'ballgown' gag

anyway, this turned into a ramble more than anything but I'm REALLY hoping the movie digs into the magic of it all a bit more. these witches are POWERFUL and they deserve that representation!

[littlefabala]

wicked will return to Brazil and this is the first look <<33 i'm só in love with the news costumes and the fyero's tattoos

@MyraRuiz as Elphaba

@FabiBang as G(a)linda

@TiagoBarbosa as Fiyero