You Will Be Popular

You Will Be Popular

In writing about filmed live musicals, I tend to not write about movie musicals (that may soon be changing, stay tuned…), but I would be remiss not to mention the box office record breaking, utterly stunning, film adaptation of Wicked. Perhaps you've heard of it?! 

As I wrote in 2018, it’s not an industry secret that when a movie version of a stage musical is released during the run of the musical, ticket sales go up at the box office. The same is true of livestreams. Musicals on screen also boost ticket sales on the road, and increase the likelihood of a show being licensed regionally and by amateur groups and schools. Of the top 10 musicals produced by high schools in the 2022-23 season, every single title was either based on a movie or filmed live on stage.

Now while Wicked is a Broadway stalwart that needs no help selling tickets (except for a few expected dips here and there, attendance has been at 100%, or close to it, for the vast majority of its 21-year run at the Gershwin Theatre), the brand recognition for the Broadway show and national tour has undoubtedly sky-rocketed. On Broadway, December shows have just about all sold out, and the handful of tickets left in January start at $150US. You can bet that when the film is released to streaming for home viewing (expected to be February or March in 2025), interest will boom again.

For a myriad of reasons, including cost, complex contract negotiations, and a refusal to change the status quo, Broadway is infuriatingly behind the eight ball when it comes to filming shows and making them available for public consumption. This leaves theatre fans, and even industry professionals, to rely on bootlegs to access shows that they might not otherwise be able to see because of cost, geography, lack of childcare, and a myriad of other reasons.

In an interview published on Gizmodo, Wicked film director Jon M. Chu shared that he watched bootlegs of Wicked on stage as he was preparing for the film. During pre-production Zoom meetings, Chu requested videos of the stage show from writer Winnie Holzman, composer Stephen Schwartz, and producers Mark Platt, and Dana Fox. According to Chu, ​

“...they were like, “We don’t have a recording.” I’m like, ” You have one in the back closet.” They’re like, “We do not.” I’m like, “That’s crazy, guys.” So I went on YouTube and found pirated versions and would just watch sections and be like, “Oh, yeah, that’s what happened.”” (emphasis my own)​

Just a few days ago Ariana Grande shared in her Variety “Actors on Actors” interview that she had sought out bootlegs of co-star Cynthia Erivo after first seeing Erivo perform at the Oscars (skip to around 34min in). ​

While the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts does have a recording of Wicked on Broadway, taped on November 16, 2004, the recording will not be available to watch (with restrictions) until the show closes on Broadway. Good luck... 

In the meantime, as of December 16th, it’s only 344 days until the second installment of Wicked is released in theatres.

If you're looking for some Wizard of Oz-adjacent filmed live musicals content in the meantime check out these wickedly fun filmed live musicals: 

• The Wiz Live! - Cirque du Soleil and NBCs co-production which was broadcast live on television in 2015 and featured Shanice Williams, Elijah Kelley, Ne-Yo, David Alan Grier, Mary J. Bilge, Queen Latifah, Amber Riley, Uzo Aduba, Stephanie Mills, and Common. ​
• ​The Woodsman - billed as an "American Dramatico-Musical," this stunning off-Broadway show tells the story of the Tin Man using a combination of human actors and truly astonishing puppetry. Filmed live off-Broadway in 2016. 
• The Wizard of Oz in Concert - filmed live at filmed live at Lincoln Center in 1995 as a benefit for the Children's Defense Fund stars the "new and upcoming" Jewel as Dorothy, Jackson Browne as Scarecrow, Roger Daltrey as Tinman, Nathan Lane as Cowardly Lion, Natalie Cole as Glinda the Good Witch, Debra Winger as The Wicked Witch of the West, Joel Grey as Professor Marvel / Gatekeeper / Doorman / The Wizard, Lucie Arnaz as Aunt Em, James Waller as Toto and the Boys Choir of Harlem as The Munchkins.
• The Wizard of Oz: On Ice! - the ice-rink spectacular was taped by Turner Entertainment and aired on American television in 1996. The special featured Shanice as the voice of Dorothy, and Bobby McFerrin as narrator and voice of everybody else. 
• Dothy et Le Magicien d'Oz - a French musical filmed live in 2009 and subsequently released on DVD. The musical was created by the same team behind The Ten Commandments starring Val Kilmer. 
• Into the Woods - filmed live at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 2012, the gorgeous production features British diva Hannah Waddingham as the Witch. Waddingham also played the Wicked Witch of the West in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Wizard of Oz. ​