Already one of the most popular on-stage musicals of all-time, Wicked is set to become a movie musical, with two parts due for release in 2024 and 2025. The story, adapted by Winnie Holzman for the stage from Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West novel, is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz and tells the story of Elphaba, the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’, from her perspective.
But the character I am most interested in is Elphaba’s sister Nessarose. She is something of a rarity in musical theatre: a character with a disability. Jon M.Chu is set to direct the Wicked movies, and he and his creative team have a huge opportunity to do what one of Broadway’s most successful shows has never done: to represent disability through the character of Nessarose in a way that is respectful.
From RTÉ Entertainment, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star in the first trailer for Wicked, in cinemas from November 28
Nessarose is given some limited agency as a character. She lives alone at college in order to prove she can get on with her daily life without dependency on her sister Elphaba. This is a plot point which had the potential to highlight the importance of independent living for people with disabilities - i.e. the necessity for people with disabilities to be given the opportunities to live with the same freedoms and control as non-disabled people.
However, upon finding out about Nessarose’s desire to live on her own, Elphaba is angry rather than supportive of her sister’s choice. Her rage causes the entire room to shake, and Nessa’s wheelchair to spin and roll backwards towards her. Suddenly the focus is back on Elphaba, with her sister and her mobility aid serving as not much more than a plot device to emphasise a feature of somebody else’s character.
A similar event occurs later with a party at the university. A munchkin named Boq has fallen in love with a popular girl, Glinda, who herself is in love with a new student, Fiyero. Uninterested in him and focused on Fiyero, Glinda convinces Boq to ask the poor, wheelchair-bound Nessarose to the party. Boq does so out of pity for Nessarose. Again, the only character in the musical with a disability is treated without any respect or agency. Instead she serves as a pawn in a larger love triangle.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Arena in 2013, Abie Philbin Bowman reports on Wicked at Dublin's Bord Gais Energy Theatre
Knowing now that Boq was never interested in her, Nessarose uses her power to vindictively enact a law that keeps him by her side as less of a boyfriend now and more of a servant. She even spitefully and carelessly recites a spell incorrectly causing Boq’s heart to shrink. He becomes the ‘Tin-Man’ as a result, despite Elphaba’s best efforts to save him from Nessarose’s vindictive act.
The most damning representation of Nessarose’s character is where she manipulates Elphaba's magic powers and has her cast a spell on the infamous ruby slippers she was given instead of helping her sister in a time of grave need. Once Nessarose places her feet in the magic shoes, she is able to walk without help. This scene always draws hearty applause (oftentimes even a standing ovation) from audiences in attendance who are delighted at Nessarose’s improved condition. It is still ingrained within our mindset as a society that to be ‘cured’ of a disability is the best outcome.
Two of the main themes in Wicked are social construction and the negative effects of labelling in society. However, the way these themes are explored in the musical is inconsistent. In the two decades of Wicked on Broadway, not one actor with a disability has played the role of Nessarose due to how the role is written.
From TED, Wicked director Jon M Chu on the pride and power of representation in film
Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to Wicked. There has only ever been one actor with a disability even nominated for a prestigious Tony Award, and it came in 2019 when Ali Stroker was nominated (and won) the best featured actress award for her role as Ado Annie in Oklahoma!
There have not been anywhere near enough roles created in musicals for people with disabilities, such as wheelchair users, to play a character who represents their real-life situation and is written with their particular impairment in mind. Holzman and the other members of the Wicked creative team had a real opportunity to do this in 2003, and they got it wrong.
Chu’s Wicked casting has already included the very positive news that Marissa Bode, an actor and wheelchair user, has been cast as Nessarose. This is the first time the role has ever been appropriately cast. If - and if so, how - Chu and his creative team will make any further changes to Nessarose’s character and how she is portrayed within Wicked’s live action films remains to be seen, but the casting choice is a good start.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
