Wicked: She Dared To Claim The Sky

Caged Bird.

By Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps

On the back of the wind

And floats downstream

Till the current ends

And dips his wing

In the orange sun rays

And dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks

Down his narrow cage

Can seldom see through

His bars of rage

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied

So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings

With a fearful trill

Of things unknown

But longed for still

And his tune is heard

On the distant hill

For the caged bird

Sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze

And the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

And the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

And he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied

So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings

With a fearful trill

Of things unknown

But longed for still

And his tune is heard

On the distant hill

For the caged bird

Sings of freedom.

The story of Wicked, directed by John Chu, is not a new one. This tale has been around for decades. Personally, I’ve seen the Wizard of Oz and heard the stories from the world of Oz, but I haven’t fully immersed myself into this fantasy. Reading the books and seeing this on Broadway is most definetly a need. The poetry in this movie was so loud to me that I had to watch it twice.

Elphaba Thropp, daughter of Governor Frexspar and Melena Thropp, immediately stood out. Her mother creeping around made me realize that this movie is made for the adults. Everyone around Elphie treated her maliciously - even her sister, Nessarose, and her father. She internalizes this pain to where she believes it’s her fault her mother died giving birth to her sister. She is only accepted by the animals and was even raised by a nanny bear named Dulcibear.

The world, which only embraced her when she was useful, was trying to take away the one thing that she loves - animals - and silence their voices by putting them in cages and cutting off their speech.

The only thing Elphaba thought she could do was run to the one person she believed could help her. Someone the she looked up to. Idolized, even.

She dreamed about this illustrious Wizard of Oz since she was a child. She had suppressed her power for years and was made to fit inside of a cage. She crouched down and was rebuked every time she couldn’t contain her rage. She was desperate for acceptance and tried to assimilate only to be rebuked by the world, to be groomed by Madame Morrible, emotionally manipulated and used by Galenda (Glenda), and villanized by the Wizard.

Elphie was trying to save the caged animals when she was the caged animal. She stalked down in her narrow cage and prepared herself every time someone looked her way a little too long.

“Okay let's get this over with. No I'm not seasick, yes I've always been green, and no I didn't eat grass as a child.”

Elphie can’t hide the way she feels so it is seldom for her to see through her bars of rage. In a world where she had to live with wings that are clipped, feet that are tied, and powers she must hide, Elphie sang. The only thing Elphaba thought she can do was run to the one peson she believed could help her. Her idol.

The person that she idolized tricked her and then villanized her for their own wicked ambition. Elphie was the only good. The only voice of justice in a twisted world led by lies.

So, she sang of freedom and of defying gravity. She flys to things unknown but longed for still. Her tune is heard on the distant hill for this once caged bird sings of freedom.

So she leaps on the back of the wind and floats down til the ground ends and dips her broom in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. So Elphie sings her joyful trill and names the sky her own. She breaks her shackles and remove her chains.

She is free.

This story was very impactful to me to whereI had to watch it twice. The poetry that is intertwined and carved into Elphie’s journey is deafening. In the world of Oz, Elphie was a freedom fighter. She was a humanitarian (or animaltarian…?). She was a civil rights leader and a social justice warrior.

Elphaba was demonized for existing in her own skin and isolated when speaking out against an unjust rule. In the world, we live in today I don’t want to be like Galenda, who lets her privilege blind her. I want to be like Elphaba who will break barriers and windows to defend what is right. Even fictional worlds can turn good people into villains.