Wicked: The Grimmerie

After reviewing two books about death, I figured it was time to move on to something lighter.

There is something about the story of the Wizard of Oz that has captivated people for over a hundred years. From movies to books to musicals, L. Frank Baum's first Oz book is a story that almost everyone is familiar with and loves (except for those traumatized as children by the flying monkeys). When Gregory Maguire wrote Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West in 1995, it got a following and years later was made into the musical Wicked. The musical, although it lost the best musical Tony to Avenue Q, became a huge hit and has set up permanent runs in Los Angeles, Chicago and London. The companion book to the musical is Wicked: The Grimmerie, a Behind the Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical by Joan Marcus and David Cote. The book is designed to look like the spell book that the main character, Elphaba, the witch (her name is a play on L. Frank Baum's initials) uses throughout the show. In it you will find things that fans of the show want to see: information about the sets, costumes, songs, writing process, commentary from the actors, directors, writers, fans and tons of pictures. I saw the musical last summer and loved it and the Grimmerie brought back all the memories about what was cool about the show. Any fan of Wicked (the book, musical or both) will like this book and be interested in everything it takes to put on a Broadway show.