'Wicked' cast proves there's no place like Dubai when they bring Oz to the city

Time and narration can change the tide of perception: victors become antagonists in the tales of old and the assassin becomes the savior. Good PR relies not on the truth but on the conviction of the storyteller – and history morphs into something those living in it would not recognize. This is as true now in the real world as it is in the Land of Oz, where we were first introduced to the good girl, Dorothy, the wicked witch of the East and West, and Glinda the Good in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.

The story of Wicked, being staged in Dubai Opera by a stellar cast from Broadway Entertainment Group and on until Feb 3, takes us back much further to when the witches were just young women with a penchant for magic, a predisposition for trouble, and a need to affect change.

Together, it is a stack of life lessons that pits intention against ambition, friendship against jealousy, and offers redemption for words uttered in a moment of rage.

The show begins with the death of the Wicked Witch of The West and her shiny shoes. As the people of Munchkinland celebrate the death of the dictator and Glinda hands over the sparkling sandals to Dorothy and points her to the yellow brick road, the Wicked Witch of the East turns up, wondering – quite correctly, we feel, “Who takes a dead woman’s shoes?”

If you take this line as a base and examine the flashbacks that come next and ride us into the lives of the Wicked Witch of the East, Glinda the Good, and what went wrong in Oz (Something Bad), you understand the life lesson: There’s always more than one way to look at something.

The message endures, as does the musical, now in its 21st year. It is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire and Winnie Holzman, has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. (It has also been made into movies Wicked (Part I) and Wicked (Part II).)

In flashbacks, we see the birth of a young, glowing and – ahem – green Elphaba Thropp, who is brought up as the daughter of the mayor of Munchkinland. She has a sister, Nessarose – pampered, spoiled, crippled, and destined to rule Munchkinland Elphaba’s emerald colour eliminates her from the running.

The story really takes off when the girls go to school (Shiz University) – this was before Hogwarts, but the Dubai Opera sets will have you wondering if magic schools have some sort of template they have to follow.

This is where they’ll meet animal professors who speak the common tongue, Galinda (later Glinda, the Good), Fiyero – the love interest, and find themselves in situations that will show them who they really are.

Turns out though Elphaba is just as powerful as she is green, Galinda is the popular kid who’d fit right in with the Mean Girls’ gang, and they somehow end up roommates and friends.

Through it all, the music will make you laugh, giggle, and snort – the low growls Eve Shanu-Wilson (Glinda) rumbles out, the swagger of Michael Mather (whose voice is reminiscent of a young Phil Collins in his Genesis phase), and the clear tinkling vocals of Rebekah Lowings will have you humming along if you don’t know the words and if you do, well, be prepared for an earworm situation.

When the news of animals losing their ability to speak makes rounds and Elphaba and Galinda make it to Emerald City to speak to the Wizard of Oz, things come to a head and they must decide – conform to society and be known as the good one or stand your ground come what may?

Lowings (Elphaba) in this version is wicked, especially as a righteous young woman prepared to take on the world… she sets aloft on her trusty broom and belts out Defying Gravity with a conviction that’ll have you wanting to sing along and join her (full disclosure: we quietly did).

This is also where you learn the origin stories of The Cowardly Lion, The Tin Man, and The Scarecrow, and why they are more tragic than you thought they’d be. And the age old question of why water can melt a witch – this is answered too.

The evening at Dubai Opera began with a bit of a glitch – a technical hitch that meant an hour-long delay and the play’s first scene having to be reenacted.

Did this take away from the magic of the evening? Nope! The wait had us on tenterhooks, the occasional clapping of the crowd keeping spirits up. And when the curtain went up, well, a spell was cast. And it was all about Elphaba – whose good name was shattered by far-reaching PR – and Glinda, who had to accept that even the good can be grey.

In the end though, love – between companions, between friends, and for the world at large – always wins.

Let’s keep that in our hearts as we take a bow at the end of the yellow brick road.