Why wicked doesn’t win awards (from a theatre lover)
Hi everyone I’m back with another opinion piece. This one is probably gonna piss off the stans way more than my last one (although you guys weren’t happy when I said Ariana doesn’t have a Broadway career y’all took it very personally) so if you are a stan then stop reading. Or argue with me. I don’t care lol.
But if you’re someone that can think critically then keep reading.
As always, this is MY opinion. You don’t have to agree with me. You don’t have to like what I say. You can be like “wdym you hate Stan’s your username is a Lana Del Rey song” well I don’t stan her either.
Why didn’t wicked win???
Becauseeeee it’s a fucking musical and we’re not at the tony awards.
“But what about Chicago! What about Les Miserables??? Evita???? Emilia Perez?”
Yeah great points but as someone who did theatre and learned a thing or two…there’s two types of musicals:
Prestigious
“Feel good”
Wicked falls into the latter. Phantom, Les Mis, Chicago, Evita, even Sweeney Todd is ALL prestigious.
Wicked level is like the Book of Mormon, Joseph and the dream coat, and maybe the lion king I guess. Any Disney musical to stage adaptation with the exception of beauty and the beast (for some reason this one is held highly?? Idk)
This doesn’t mean that they’re bad musicals. This doesn’t mean they don’t have a cult following. But it does mean that they’re not the snobby “omg that’s so motivational” material that the Oscar’s or award shows look for. I call this the “Barbie effect” lol
So why would Les Mis, Chicago, into the woods, and evita get more awards? Why are these seen as prestigious?
- Source material.
Any musical that’s based off of an old book (I mean an OLD book) or any musical based off of a historical event and people die and they sing about it…that shit is prestigious. We’re watching a complex historical musical drama? That will get awards. The source material is deep so they care more about it. Wicked is based off of something old, but because it’s written as a feel good fun girly friendship musical…it unfortunately won’t be seen as “award worthy” and that kinda just how it goes. Is it fair?? No. But the stans gotta realize theatre is a very snobby world. The award shows are even worse. While vocally demanding, wicked is not categorized in the same musical genre as the previous award winning musical movies.
Exception: into the woods is by Stephen Sondheim and anything by him is an immediate prestige category. He’s like the Shakespeare of musicals.
- What is it about?
Musicals that are about something tragic just get more awards. Les Mis and Chicago are featuring people getting killed reflecting two important times of history. Same with evita. Wicked isn’t really “tragic” to award shows. Award shows love war movies, people dying movies, and dramas.
So why did Emilia Perez win??
Because it’s cross genre as a thriller and since that’s unique…it wins. Any musical that is cross genre has more likelihood to win cause it draws more people in.
Why didn’t Ariana win?
So remember when I talked about prestige? Well, Glinda is a very prestigious and impressive role for an operatic soprano. Notice how I said operatic?? Yeah. She’s a fucking opera singer. Ariana Grande did a great job but she was not operatic. This is very important. Glinda has been boots to fill. Opera singing takes years of training. She wasn’t terrible…but it honestly felt like Ariana playing Kristen Chenoweth playing Glinda. When you combine these two parts, yeah unfortunately she doesn’t win. I also personally think that her drama with the film and her relationship actually affected her losing.
Zoe was amazing and phenomenal. She learned to do what she needed to do for that role. She has never rapped before. She also originated this (from what I believe) so there’s no one to compare her to.
Stan’s need to step back for a moment and kinda just accept wickeds award fate.
No this isn’t a bad movie. But it’s not an “award show winning” movie. It will probably win for costumes and stuff like that.
Edit: I am not saying wicked isn’t successful or a good musical. Quite the opposite lol.