Seasons of the witch
From 'Wicked' to enchanting, they've all touched our hearts in one way or another
Lisa Bornstein, Rocky Mountain News
Monday, May 7, 2007
She has the pointy hat and the green face that have made Wicked the top musical on Broadway for more than three years and a big hit on the road.
In honor of the show's return to the Buell Theatre, we look at Elphaba, her friend Galinda and other witchy-poos from the past who've cast spells over our hearts.
Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel
The original Broadway Elphaba and Galinda, they made a perfect pair. Menzel was dark, brooding fire to Chenoweth's blond embodiment of a bubble. Together they took on the world and made a soundtrack that bears repeated listening.
Margaret Hamilton
To this day, children peek through their fingers at the woman who defined the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. With her angular body and drawn-down chin, she was terror whether witch or bicyclist. The lady started out as a schoolteacher - maybe she had the last laugh.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
She started as an Archie comic- book character, but now kids know her from the sitcom that ran from 1996 to 2003 on ABC and The WB. The show was surprisingly sweet, with Melissa Joan Hart as the title character struggling to make her way as a biracial child: half mortal, half witch. Side note: Jenna Leigh Green, who played that mean Libby Chessler, was Nessa on Wicked's first tour through Denver.
The Witches of Eastwick
The 1984 John Updike novel told of three minor witches seduced by a powerful devil-like man. On film, the witches were played by Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. Don't miss the scene where Sarandon, as a cellist, feels the music move her. This story was made into a 2000 musical - that almost no one saw.
Samantha
When a woman twitches a nose that cute, everybody gets Bewitched. With her mortal husband, Darren (Dick Sargent/Dick York), Elizabeth Montgomery showed everyone that sometimes the boss is coming over for dinner and the house is a mess and your crazy Aunt Endora is causing trouble and, darn it, you just gotta use your magic.
Wicked
When and where: Opens Tuesday: Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.
; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday matinees (and this Thursday), 2:00 p.m. , through June 3, Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Center
Cost: $30 to $80
Information: 303-893-4100
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