Dear Friends,
Well, I finally did it. I saw Wicked last weekend! I read the novel by Gregory Maguire when it came out 30 years ago and loved the way he retold a well-known story, providing a backstory and understanding for how someone could become known as the “Wicked Witch of the West” and a name—Elphaba—for a character most of us associate with a green face, flying monkeys, and “I’ll get you and your little dog Toto, too!” In that novel, the Wizard is not just a huckster but an authoritarian suppressing civil rights, and Elphaba has joined the resistance!
When we saw the musical a few years later, I loved some of the songs (I mean, is anything catchier than “Popular” or “Defying Gravity”?) but felt the story skimmed over the political and moral questions Maguire raises in the novel. Then we saw the movie!
I’m sure there are mixed reviews, but I loved it. First of all, it’s gorgeous—the settings at Shiz University and the Emerald City are magical, the costumes over the top—and the music and dancing are fabulous! Fiyero’s “Dancing through Life” is a show stopper. But more than its looks and great music, the movie captures the big questions and moral quandaries of the book: when do we need to stand up for justice? Are we willing to take risks, even if we’ll be ostracized to do so? What are the qualities of a truly faithful friend?
I don’t usually make movie recommendations in our weekly eNews, but this is a movie worth seeing and pondering. And while it’s a lot of fun, it is also more complicated, more unsettling, than the average musical. Plus, you learn the origin of the flying monkeys.
I can’t promise we’ll live up to the looks and music of the movie at our Wicked Annual Meeting, but I do know that All Saints lives up to asking, wrestling with, and responding to the deep questions of life.
So, plan to come to the Wicked Annual Meeting next Sunday, January 26 at 10 am! (Remember, no 11 am service that day.)
See you in church!
Faithfully, Suzanne+
P. S. We could use help with set up, clean up, and FOOD for the Annual Meeting. See below to sign up, link in the newsletter.