Singing good and evil in Wicked’s “Defying Gravity”
Elphaba and Glinda's unlikely friendship takes flight
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Even if you've never seen Wicked, you probably know "the riff" - that soaring vocal run from the finale of "Defying Gravity" that became Broadway shorthand for belting your face off. The song's signature moment has been imitated, parodied and attempted in countless shower performances over the last 20 years. But what makes Wicked's music so compelling isn't just its iconic moments - it's how composer Stephen Schwartz carefully crafted a score that tells us who these characters are before they tell us themselves.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how Wicked's music works its magic, a quick spoiler alert. We will be analyzing key songs, plot points, and character arcs throughout this article. If you're not familiar with Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West or the musical adaptation and want to go in fresh, bookmark this for later. For the rest of you, here's the gist: Wicked tells the origin story of Elphaba, the green-skinned girl who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, chronicling her friendship with Glinda the Good Witch, their time at the magical institution Shiz University, and Elphaba's fall from grace as she defies the corrupt Wizard of Oz. With that out of the way, let's explore how Stephen Schwartz's score weaves this reimagined tale through music.
The musical DNA of the show is built on contrasts. From the first notes of "The Wizard and I," we hear Elphaba's complexity through Cynthia Erivo's vocal choices – alternating between breathy uncertainty and powerful belting. What might initially seem like an uneven performance works brilliantly as a strong dramatic choice, with the vocals evolving from tense and hesitant to fully committed as Elphaba finds her place in the world. It's a masterclass in character development through sound. When she sings the phrase "unlimited," Schwartz gives us one of the score's most clever tricks – a leitmotif borrowed from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that will return throughout the show. The melody works both as a nod to The Wizard of Oz (the 1939 film musical that inspired Gregory Maguire's revisionist novel and this subsequent stage adaptation) and a theme that traces Elphaba's journey.
It's not just obvious musical moments like “unlimited” that do the heavy lifting. Listen closely to "The Wizard and I" and you'll hear subtle harmonic warnings that things won't end well for our green-skinned heroine. Elphaba's lyrics drop ominous hints throughout – she's "so happy I could melt" and wants "nothing else 'til I die." Then, just before the final "The Wizard and I," the music underneath shifts away from its home key of C major to unsettling chord combinations – D♭ with a ♯4 followed by B major with a ♭6. These adjacent chords, just one note away from C on either side, create a deeply dissonant and unstable harmonic effect. It's often the sounds closest to home that feel the most out of control, like shadows lurking just at the edge of light. The song is simultaneously an "I Want" number and a warning label.
The musical contrasts really come into focus when we meet Glinda in "Popular." Where Elphaba's songs live in rich, complex harmonies, Glinda's big number is almost aggressively simple. Even the accompaniment can't wait for the downbeat, with bass notes that jump the gun in their eagerness to arrive - much like how Glinda herself constantly pushes into scenes, asserting herself into the center of attention. Her entire personality is built around being seen and admired, offering to make others popular by teaching them her ways. Ariana Grande leans into every aspect of the character through her vocal performance – precise enunciation, nasal tone, and an operatic cadenza that shows off because, well, that's what Glinda would do.
"Defying Gravity" is the show-stopper where all these musical threads come together in a seven-and-a-half minute tour de force. Schwartz sets the song in D-flat - the same key that appeared as an unsettling harmonic shift in "The Wizard and I," now transformed into Elphaba's powerful home territory. This key choice, situated in a lower vocal register, gives maximum room for ascension (both literal and metaphorical). The composition plays the long game, starting in the depths before building to that legendary finale. Even the internal rhymes carry us upward – "I think I'll try defying gravity" uses a string of "I" sounds to propel the line forward and up.
When the two witches finally sing together, their brief moment of harmony is made more powerful by its rarity. Outside of their comedic duet "What Is This Feeling?" (where they sing about loathing each other), this is their only true musical connection. The harmony dissolves as their paths diverge – Glinda chooses to stay while Elphaba, now branded an enemy of Oz for standing against the Wizard's oppressive regime, grabs her broom and literally defies gravity, soaring into the air as she embraces her destiny as the "Wicked" Witch of the West.
Speaking of soaring into the air – let's talk about that riff. The new film version features Erivo's fresh take on the iconic vocal run, complete with an audible breath and extended note that shows both technical mastery and character development. It's a fitting evolution of Idina Menzel's original, supported by an orchestra that's grown from two dozen players to over a hundred.
What makes Wicked endure isn't just its memorable melodies or showcase moments. It's how thoroughly the music is woven into the storytelling. Every key change, every harmony, every vocal choice reveals something about these characters and their journey. In other words, the music isn't just supporting the story – it is the story.
For musical theater skeptics, Wicked demonstrates how a score can do more than just provide memorable tunes. It can develop character, foreshadow plot, and create emotional resonance through purely musical means. The show's continued success, now reaching new audiences through its film adaptation, proves that sometimes the most powerful storytelling happens between the lines – or in this case, between the notes.
And for those still wondering about "that riff" – let's just say the great Defying Gravity debate of 2024 is only beginning, listen to the full episode to find out which version has us under its spell.
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