Ginna Claire Mason is Glinda in the national touring company of "Wicked" now at the Broward Center for the Arts through March 4. (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Truth be told, I've seen "Wicked" a dozen times. This week at the Broward Center marked my 12th time. A couple of times after it opened on Broadway in 2003, and then a few more tours here and there since its first U.S. outing in 2005.
It was fodder for intermission chatter at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday night with those in line for the ladies room. A few first timers, and then some, were wowed by the inventive musical based on the 1995 book by Gregory Maguire.
I was as much a spectacle in that line as the green skin of Elphaba, the witch, who in this production is a teenager just starting out on her wicked road.
"What could it be," asked one of the ladies in line, "that would draw you to see a musical a dozen times?"
On the surface, there is so much happening in this ingenious theatrical production, which focuses on the unlikely friendship of Elphaba, who eventually, we know from L. Frank Baum's book, becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the “good," so every time, whether it is the second or the 72nd you see the show, there's always something to see anew.
And, the critic in me likes to see how the Elphabas and Glindas stack up. The roles are so equally matched, in many respects, that there are tours where one actress is a few notches above her co-star. You may seek a Glinda who nails the part, and an Elphaba who struggles with the difficult role, or vice versa.
Tom McGowan as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Photo by Matt Crockett), Mary Kate Morrissey as Elphaba (Photo by Joan Marcus)
Which leads me to the production currently on a tour stop at the Broward Center for the Arts. You couldn't find a more consistent cast, perhaps because many of the principals onstage have "Wicked" on Broadway or "Wicked" on tour credentials. So, kiddies, as they say: This isn't their first rodeo.
Ginna Claire Mason, who's been the Glinda standby in Broadway's "Wicked" for the last year, plays an absolutely bubbly Good Witch. Just as equally fetching is Mary Kate Morrissey as Elphaba, who returns to the tour, where she was the Elphaba standby in 2016. She's no standby now, commanding the stage and eliciting cheers and hoots for her dynamic rendition of that "hold onto your hats" Act 1 closer "Defying Gravity."