Monday, November 23, 2009

The Author of Wicked

This morning I was driving back to San Antonio from a fun-filled weekend in Austin.  It's a drive I've been making a lot lately, and my Sirius Satellite radio makes things go much quicker.  This time, I was listening to Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane on NPR (which is a fantastic show out of the Philadelphia area).  Today she was speaking with Gregory Maguire.  Don't know who he is?  I didn't by name alone, but surely everyone has heard of his book, Wicked, and its musical adaptation!  I haven't read the book or seen the show, but I've been wanting to.  And listening to this man for an hour has only increased that desire.  

He was compassionate, funny, deeply thoughtful and supremely intelligent.  He has written dozens of books for adults and children that I was unaware of.  Many of his books and stories are reworkings of classic fairy tales and myths.  Click on the link by his name and read his answer to the question about his inspiration for Wicked.  It is deeply moving and profound.  He made me want to read old fairy tales again--the Grimm's/Andersen version though, but the Disney-fied stuff.  (not that I don't love Disney).  Oh, he's also written a book about Maurice Sendak!  

Have you read Wicked?  What did you think?  Seen the show?  What versions of fairy tales should I read??

3 comments:

michele said...

I read the book about a year & half ago... it was excellent! And I've been dying to see the show for forever - and finally, last Monday was my birthday and my fiance bought me tickets to the musical on December 9th!! I'm SO excited! I'll have to stop back and comment again with my take on the show! : )

Katie said...

The book is good. A bit different from the musical. The musical cheers the story up some and cuts out a lot because the book is massive and complex. Lee and I actually read the book on our honeymoon and couldn't put it down. Yes, we would eat dinner and then be like, "Want to go read Wicked?" We're so cool. But yeah, good book and possibly greatest musical ever. Definitely my favorite musical.

Elisse said...

You MUST go and see the musical! I saw it on Broadway in 2008, and it was amazing to see this story come to life in song.

After watching the musical, it instantly became one of my favorites!

Haven't read the book though, but it sounds like a good read!