When it comes to plays and musicals, I had never had an interest in them. It wasn’t because I disliked the idea of singing and dancing in a story, but more that I didn’t know how I could watch the performances without going to a theater with a stage so I never bothered trying to find ways to view them. I have seen musical films or films that later on were adapted into a play or musical, but none of them have caused me to become interested in possibly being a theatre fan. That all changed on December 23, 2024, when I watched the film adaptation of the popular musical Wicked.
When I returned home for winter break, a high school friend suggested we watch Wicked the day before Christmas Eve. I was a little hesitant to see the movie because the only other movie we watched together was another musical adaptation film called Cats and in my opinion, it was not very good. However, I decided to give the film and my friend a chance, wanting to see if my opinion would change on musicals and plays. When we came out of the movie theater, I knew that this film would take over my mind for a while.
For the next several weeks, all I would mostly listen to was the soundtrack for Wicked, playing it on a loop over and over again. For a few days, I was confused about how this movie was taking over my life and causing me to develop an interest in theatre. I am a small fan of The Wizard of Oz (Wicked is a prequel/continuation of The Wizard of Oz) and learning about the history/making of the film, but that wasn’t enough for me to be interested in watching or listening to Wicked on my own. I think what truly made me love this musical was how visually stunning it looked, how well all the actors acted and sang, and how gripping the story was. Everything about this film was amazing to me and despite the story not being entirely unique, it was able to convey many themes extremely well.
The impact Wicked has left on me is so big that I am now becoming interested in watching and listening to other plays and musicals—something I never thought would happen. Apart from listening to the soundtrack of Wicke” on repeat, I have started to listen to the soundtracks of other musicals such as Hadestown, which has become my second favorite of all the musicals I have listened to. I have noticed that when it comes to musicals, I really enjoy a story being told primarily through singing.
So far, I have only listened to the soundtracks of musicals and seen clips of some of them; I have yet to see a full play or musical and know the full story of the ones I’ve listened to. I will hopefully get to a point where I will watch one play or musical either through a recording or possibly going to an actual theatre to see a performance in person.