Some Wicked Props (an example "Blog Post")

Broadway Across America's touring production of Wicked successfully used its props to help convey a sense of time, place, and character in the show. Since this was staged as essentially a bare-stage play, the props were an important aspect of the scenery.

Almost everyone knows that Wicked is a take-off of the popular old movie, The Wizard of Oz. Audience members expect to see witches and wizards, at least. One wonders, though, when going to the show, how much of it will connect with the familiar story of Dorothy and the land of Oz. I had heard that this was the "back-story" of the witches. "How far back?" I wondered . . . "Would it connect to the time and place of Dorothy? Or, not?" As I watched the show, the carefully chosen props helped me to realize that the Wicked story was actually the same time frame as The Wizard of Oz story.

That famous 1939 movie begins in Kansas, current day (1939). It goes to the land of Oz, and then back again. Wicked, I observed, was also set in 1939.

Near the beginning of the show, students clamored in, arriving for boarding school. They all carried suitcases from days gone by. Nobody had wheels on their suitcase. The suitcases were all large and in light, neutral, leather-like colors. They carried with them a feeling of excitement and exuberance. They made a person want to shout "Bon Voyage" . . . as was popular at the departure of big ships before jet-air travel caught on (or flying houses, or brooms, or bubbles, or whatever).
In the middle of the musical number "Popular," Glinda whips out a hand-mirror for Elphaba to examine her new look. This hand-mirror was also a throw-back to the late 30's/early 40's. Glinda's use of it in this scene reflected not only the time period of the show, but also the self-centered nature of Glinda's character at that point in the story. Later in the play, Elphaba's selfish and pitiable sister admires herself in a similar hand-mirror. This character, Nessarose, has gone from young, out-going, hopeful, and naive, to old, crotchety, and self-absorbed. She's reminiscent of the evil witch in Snow White. It's almost as if Nessarose could be saying "Mirror, mirror [in my hand], who's the fairest [in the land]?" as she strokes her shiny black hair while looking in her mirror. Her obsession with her hand-mirror helps to show the negative change into wicked witch status of her character.

Near the end of the play, Glinda has been changed, for good. She's gone from the all-about-me-girl, gazing in a hand-mirror, to looking out beyond herself. This is seen in her use of the 40's era microphone. At first she is showing-off, announcing her "surprise" engagement at this stand microphone. She's taking advantage of the latest technology to keep herself center-stage (literally and figuratively). Later, though, she uses that microphone to honestly and openly communicate with the citizens of Oz.

The suitcases, the hand-mirrors, and the microphone all help to tell the wonderful story of Wicked. They convey a sense of time and place, and they help to show the development of the characters in the play. These props were well chosen by the designers of this first-class production.