Wicked Music

Wicked the Musical - Cast Album, Karaoke, Sheet Music, Composer interviews and articles

New Wicked CD

To celebrate the fifth Broadway anniversary of the hit Broadway musical Wicked, Decca Broadway released a two-CD recording Oct. 28. BUY Wicked: 5th Anniversary Special Edition (Amazon.com)

A COLLECTOR'S MUST HAVE!
The 5th Anniversary Special Edition (complete with rare photographs and a special WICKED history timeline) contains two CDs and two companion booklets. CD1 is the Grammy award winning original cast recording. CD2 features 8 bonus tracks, including

• pop duet of "For Good" by superstars LeAnn Rimes and Delta Goodrem;
• pop recording by WICKED star Kerry Ellis arranged and produced by Queen's Brian May of "I'm Not That Girl";
• "Making Good," a rare song cut from the initial backers "workshop" of WICKED, performed by original workshop actress Stephanie Block and composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz on the piano; tracks from the German and Japanese language productions of the show.
• Idina Menzel's dance mix versions of "Defying Gravity"
• German versions of "As Long as You're Mine" and "No Good Deed" and Japanese versions of "Dancing Through Life" and "Popular"

Companion booklet includes wonderful photos and new essay by Stephen Schwartz.

Wicked Original Cast Album and Karaoke

Wicked Original Broadway Cast album: Wicked musical - Amazon.com $9.99. Hear Wicked song clips samples. OR Wicked download songs at itunes:

Sing along with Wicked. Accompaniment tracks for Wicked and other Broadway shows. Please visit Wicked karaoke visit: www.musicalsingers.com Karaoke page.

Wicked Sheet music - 3 levels: easy piano, Piano/vocal, Vocal Selections. German Cast album: See Wicked Germany

See also "For Good" page for "For Good" recordings

Music Articles and Wicked Music Info

• Song list - Wicked Cast Album compare with Stage song list
• Wicked Lyrics & stories behind the songs. - Lyrics and music for "Popular," "For Good," "What is This Feeling," (Loathing), "Defying Gravity," and more, based on interviews with composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz
• Synopsis of musical and songs in context
• Wicked's Musical Themes feature article based on an interview with Stephen Schwartz
• "The Wizard and I" article - see free newsletter The Schwartz Scene
• Wicked's Groundbreaking Score - detailed feature article by composer Bob Vieira - especially for people who have a music background
  
• Vocal arrangements and Stephen Oremus- feature article
• Wicked Orchestrations and Orchestra
• Schwartz's Musical Influences - feature article
• about the composer-lyricist: Stephen Schwartz
• Awards- following the info on Schwartz's awards is an article about the 2005 Grammy Award contest

Don't miss our index to over 50 Wicked-related pages

Songs - Wicked ACT I

• "No One Mourns the Wicked" - Glinda and Citizens of Oz (Chenoweth and Ensemble)
• "Dear Old Shiz" - Students (a brief number by the students of Shiz - Ensemble)
• "The Wizard and I" - Morrible, Elphaba (Idina Menzel's first big number, known in musical theatre lingo as her "I want" song.)
• "What Is This Feeling?" Glinda, Elphaba, and Students
• "Something Bad" - Dr. Dillamond and Elphaba (A song about something seemingly sinister happening in Oz, sung by goat professor Dr. Dillamond and Elphaba)
• "Dancing Through Life" - Fiyero, Glinda, Boq, Nessarose, Elphaba and Students (This character song for Fiyero includes not only danceable music but important story elements known in the San Francisco pre-Broadway production as "We Deserve Each Other." It was added after San Francisco, replacing "Which Way's the Party?")
• "Popular" - Glinda
• "I'm Not That Girl" - Elphaba
• "The Wizard and I" (reprise) - Elphaba
• "One Short Day" - Elphaba, Glinda, and Denizens of the Emerald City (This is sung during Elphaba's and Glinda's play day in Emerald City and includes a little musical within the musical - Wiz-o-mania.)
• "A Sentimental Man" - The Wizard
• "Defying Gravity" - Elphaba

Songs - Wicked ACT II

• "No One Mourns the Wicked (reprise) - Citizens of Oz
• "Thank Goodness" - Glinda, Morrible, and Citizens of Oz (This song includes the "I Couldn't be Happier" material listed separately in San Francisco. Kristin Chenoweth provides the main storyline in the song, with the support of the Ensemble and Carole Shelley)
• "The Wicked Witch of the East" - Elphaba, Nessarose, Boq (In San Francisco, a segment of this was listed as "We Deserve Each Other" (reprise)) - [Special note - the only place to find a piece of this song outside the stage production is on a page of handwritten sheet music in the book Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked on page 353. Schwartz labeled it the Elphaba "Heart" chant.]
• "Wonderful" - The Wizard and Elphaba
• "I'm Not That Girl" (reprise) - Glinda
• "As Long As You're Mine" - Fiyero and Elphaba
• "No Good Deed" - Elphaba
• "March of the Witch Hunters" - Boq and the Citizens of Oz
• "For Good" - Glinda and Elphaba
• Finale - all

More Wicked CD and song notes

Wicked Broadway Cast Album -- A Platinum Record!

Photo of Platinum Plaque for the Wicked Cast Album presented to Stephen Schwartz

The Grammy Award winning (Best Musical Show Album) original cast recording of the smash-hit Broadway musical WICKED has been certified "Platinum" by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of more than 1 million copies. Produced by composer Stephen Schwartz for Decca Broadway, the album has been the fastest selling original cast recording in years, has regularly appeared on the list of Amazon's top-selling albums and is currently #1 on Billboard's Top Cast Album Chart, the position it occupied when the chart debuted in January 2006. Wicked Original Broadway Cast album: Wicked musical - Amazon.com $13.49 (List price $18.98).

Order the Wicked CD in Europe: See our UK site www.wickedwestend.co.uk

I'm sure you will find much to sing and dance about in the WICKED album. The 19 tracks feature the raved about talents of the WICKED Broadway cast. Kristin Chenoweth, who makes use of her four octave vocal range with this score, offers her sprightly rendition of "Popular" and is included in ten musical numbers on the album. The powerful "pipes" and tender tones of Broadway star Idina Menzel can be heard in eleven songs. Plus there's all the other stars and the outstanding ensemble. WICKED's 23-member orchestra (plus a few the others who joined them for the recording) provide the sumptuous instrumental music.Wicked lyrics are included in the packaging. - Carol de Giere, webmaster

Want more info? Reviews of the Wicked CD and Score

Wicked Score: Composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz has covered varied themes in the 20 songs. In Wicked's score he displays his melodic gifts and eclectic style that melds pop, traditional show music, classical, folk-rock, and country. Read about the composer's musical influences.

WICKED SONGS: If you haven't seen the Broadway show, you may want to read this synopsis of song contexts.

To read about the writing of the Wicked song "The Wizard and I" and other comments by Stephen Schwartz about the progress of his work, check out The Schwartz Scene newsletter.

Link to: Wicked Orchestrations and Orchestra

EXCERPT FROM GREGORY MAGUIRE'S NOTES FOR THE CD: "When Stephen Schwartz approached me with the notion of turning Wicked into a musical play, I needed much less persuading than I let on. As a college student I had taught myself to play the piano from the scores for Pippin and Godspell. Stephen saw the comic and the melodramatic possibilities in my sprawling slice-of-Oz-history novel, and he promised that however the plot evolved to suit the stage, the grim themes of the novel would inform the show.

I haven't seen the annotated score; I can't cite key signatures or tempi. I do know that from the opening anthem's foreboding figure of notes - an attempt to step up out of a minor key toward a mode of relief, if not joy, it seems to me - the score for Wicked respects the book's tensions and ambiguities. Comic numbers harbor sinister or poignant implications. Darker modalities cloak hints of rescue and repair. The music underscores one of the themes of the story: appearances are deceiving."

Sheet Music, etc.

Wicked SHEET MUSIC

For sheet music for Schwartz's earlier musicals check out the Stephen Schwartz Songbook.It includes 292 pages of songs.

Find over sixty Schwartz songs or songbooks at Sheet Music Plus [new browser window] (opens new browser window)

In a question/answer session at the ASCAP Musical Theatre workshop he directed, spring 2003, Stephen Schwartz answered a question raised by a songwriter about his Wicked score.

When people ask me what it sound like, I say Children of Eden because that's the most recent stage musical I did before this. I have tried to write in a way that you never feel you're in America or a land that you know--that you're in some world that's not definable. So I've tried to stay completely away from any kind of pastiche that puts you in a world. That has to do with chords that you pick, rhythms that you use, and things like that. The exception is the Wizard's songs which I have tried to make sound very much like someone singing in America around the turn of the century.

SOUND CLIPS

Visit the sights and sounds section of WickedtheMusical.com [new browser window].

There's a piece of "One Short Day" included in the videoclip about Wicked created by KQED. Visit the Wicked in San Francisco page for the link.

To hear Stephen's musical most similar to Wicked, check out Children of Eden. (Wicked is distinct, of course, but it is rich and well orchestrated like Children of Eden.)

Cute photos - Cast album recording session - Broadway.com

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Note for those arriving at this site by search engine. Sometimes the Wicked cast recording is called the Wicked soundtrack (although technically soundtracks are for movies). Stephen Schwartz's name is misspelled Steven; before about the mid 70's he was known as Steve Schwartz. Sometimes Kristin Chenoweth's name is misspelled Cristin or Kristen. Cast recordings are sometimes called soundtracks.