A ‘Wicked’ Return to Tulsa

Marcie Dodd goes green eight times a week - and she’s doing it not for the environment, but for the fans of Wicked, the musical that has her character, Elphaba, traveling the nation performing the show that caught them by storm. The show is the second national tour of the musical and will open in Tuesday for an encore engagement Wednesday until August 9th. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire as a prequel to the first color film with Judy Garland (”The Wizard of Oz”), the story follows two young girls in boarding school as they discover themselves and the world they live in - Elphaba, who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch. The two are extremely different (one is green and moody, the other blonde and perky) but form an uncomprimisable friendship that sees them through many challenges.

For Dodd’s role she must cover her face with a theatrical makeup that has a hue deemed “landscape green,” along with a purple and brown for contouring and finally a “golden olive” pigment to finish. ”We’ve gotten the makeup process down to a science,” Dodd said recently. “I have a ‘green team’ who collaborate to make this green girl happen. I wear a green bodysuit, and the makeup covers my face and hands. Once they’re finished, I look in the mirror and see the complete transformation.” Since premiering in October 2003, Maguire has said: “The most important thing about the book was not the plot…but the theme. The theme is how we demonize our enemies and how we are scared of people because they are unfamiliar. We then whittle away their capactiy for full humanity in order to justify our being suspicious of them.”

Get your Wicked tickets today!

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