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Wicked (musical album)

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This article is about the Broadway cast recording. For the soundtrack to the 2024 film, see Wicked: The Soundtrack.
Wicked
Cast recording by
Wicked Cast
ReleasedDecember 16, 2003
RecordedNovember 10, 2003
GenreShowtunes
Length70:37
LabelDecca Broadway
ProducerStephen Schwartz
Wicked chronology
Wicked
(2003) 		Wicked: The Soundtrack
(2024)

Wicked is a cast recording containing the majority of the songs from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Wicked, with music and lyrics by composer Stephen Schwartz and a book by writer Winnie Holzman. Released on December 16, 2003 by Decca Broadway both in physical and digital releases. The former contains a foreword and a short synopsis, provided by Gregory Maguire, who wrote the 1995 novel on which the musical is based, in addition to lyrics to those songs included.

Composer and lyricist of Wicked, Stephen Schwartz, produced the album aided by Frank Filipetti, Jill Dell'Abate, Jason Spears, Justin Shturtz, Jason Stasium and Ted Jensen. The original cast album of Wicked was recorded on November 10, 2003, with the full cast and orchestra, at then-Right Track Studios and mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City.

Though initial reviews were mixed, the album received positive reappraisal and substantive commercial success over the years. In 2005, it received the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. The album peaked at number 66 on the US Billboard 200 in 2014 and has since been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2024, the album was recorded by the cast of the musical's film adaptation and released as Wicked: The Soundtrack.

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Stephen Schwartz

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Overture / No One Mourns the Wicked"
6:40
2."Dear Old Shiz"
  • Chenoweth
  • Cast
1:26
3."The Wizard and I"
5:09
4."What Is This Feeling?"
  • Chenoweth
  • Menzel
  • Cast
3:32
5."Something Bad"
1:39
6."Dancing Through Life"
7:37
7."Popular"Chenoweth3:44
8."I'm Not That Girl"Menzel2:58
9."One Short Day"
  • Chenoweth
  • Menzel
  • Cast
3:03
10."A Sentimental Man"Joel Grey1:15
11."Defying Gravity"
  • Menzel
  • Chenoweth
  • Cast
5:53
12."No One Mourns the Wicked (Reprise) / Thank Goodness"
  • Chenoweth
  • Shelley
  • Cast
6:22
13."Wonderful"
  • Grey
  • Menzel
4:57
14."I'm Not That Girl (Reprise)"Chenoweth0:49
15."As Long As You're Mine"
  • Menzel
  • Butz
3:45
16."No Good Deed"Menzel3:31
17."March of the Witch Hunters"
  • Fitzgerald
  • Cast
1:30
18."For Good"
  • Chenoweth
  • Menzel
5:06
19."Finale: For Good (Reprise)"
  • Chenoweth
  • Menzel
  • Cast
1:41
Total length:71:15

Notes

[edit]
  • The reprise of "No One Mourns the Wicked" is attached to the beginning of "Thank Goodness".
  • "The Wicked Witch of the East", sung by Nessarose, Elphaba, and Boq, is missing from the album. Producers deemed it too difficult to arrange for the album and thought the song would give too much of the plot away to an audience who had never seen Wicked before.
  • Short reprises of "The Wizard and I" and "A Sentimental Man", that appear in Act I and II respectively, are not included.

German language recording

[edit]

In 2007, the original Stuttgart cast rerecorded the Wicked album in German, ahead of the opening of the German production in Stuttgart that year. The title of this album was Wicked Das Musical - Die Hexen von Oz. The German lyrics are by Michael Kunze and German dialogue by Ruth Deny, conducted by Sebastian de Domenico. The orchestral music conducted by Stephen Oremus and has identical musician credits—presumably the cast simply sung to the original orchestral recording.

All tracks are written by Stephen Schwartz

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Keiner weint um Hexen"
  • Lucy Scherer
  • Stefan Poslovoski
  • Emma Hunter
  • Francesca Taverni
  • Original Stuttgart Cast of Wicked
6:42
2."Gutes altes Glizz"Cast1:26
3."Der Zauberer und ich"
5:12
4."Was fühl ich in mir?"
  • Scherer
  • Verkaik
  • Cast
3:36
5."Nicht ist mehr geheuer"
  • Michael Günther
  • Verkaik
1:41
6."Tanz durch die Welt"
  • Mark Seibert
  • Scherer
  • Stefan Stara
  • Nicole Radeschnig
  • Verkaik
  • Cast
7:38
7."Heißgeliebt"Lucy Scherer3:48
8."Ich bin es nicht"Verkaik3:02
9."Nur ein Tag"
  • Scherer
  • Verkaik
  • Cast
3:05
10."Ein seelenvoller Mann"Carlo Lauber1:18
11."Frei und Schwerelos"
  • Scherer
  • Verkaik
  • Cast
6:00
12."Wie herrlich"
  • Scherer
  • Wedekind
  • Cast
6:25
13."Wundervoll"
  • Lauber
  • Verkaik
5:00
14."Ich bin es nicht (Reprise)"Scherer0:52
15."Solang ich dich hab"
  • Verkaik
  • Seibert
3:48
16."Gutes tun"Verkaik3:33
17."Marsch der Hexenjäger"
  • Stara
  • Cast
1:33
18."Wie ich bin"
  • Scherer
  • Verkaik
5:10
19."Finale"
  • Scherer
  • Verkaik
  • Cast
1:42

Personnel

[edit]

Fifth anniversary special edition

[edit]

A fifth anniversary special edition of the original Broadway cast recording was released on October 28, 2008,[1] with a bonus CD including tracks "Dancing Through Life", "Popular", "As Long As You're Mine" and "No Good Deed" from the Japanese and German cast recordings of Wicked, "I'm Not That Girl" by Kerry Ellis, "Making Good" – a song that never made the final show – by Stephanie J. Block, Menzel's dance mix of "Defying Gravity" and "For Good" sung by LeAnn Rimes and Delta Goodrem.[2]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."For Good"
4:15
2."I'm Not That Girl"Kerry Ellis3:49
3."Making Good"
4:00
4."Solang ich dich hab" (German: "As Long As You're Mine")
3:47
5."Gutes tun" (German: "No Good Deed")Willemijn Verkaik3:33
6."Jinnsei wo Odori-Akase" (Japanese: "Dancing Through Life")
  • Li Tao
  • Company
7:37
7."Popyuraa" (Japanese: "Popular")Miyuki Numao3:45
8."Defying Gravity" (Dance Mix - Tracy Young Flying Monkey Radio Mix)Idina Menzel3:44

Deluxe edition

[edit]

The set of two CDs included new deluxe packaging featuring the show's tenth anniversary artwork, and a booklet with new essays by composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, and Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the novel on which the musical is based. The set was released digitally on October 29, 2013 and arrived in stores soon after on November 19th.

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."For Good"
4:15
2."I'm Not That Girl"Kerry Ellis3:49
3."Making Good"
4:00
4."Solang Ich Dich Hab" (German: "As Long As You're Mine")
3:47
5."Gutes Tun" (German: "No Good Deed")Willemijn Verkaik3:33
6."Jinnsei Wo Odori-Akase" (Japanese: "Dancing Through Life")
  • Li Tao
  • Company
7:37
7."Popyuraa" (Japanese: "Popular")Miyuki Numao3:45
8."Defying Gravity" (Dance Mix - Tracy Young Flying Monkey Radio Mix)Idina Menzel3:44
9."Popular Song"Mika featuring Ariana Grande3:19

15th anniversary special edition

[edit]

The album was re-released on February 8, 2019, with four bonus tracks. These tracks were taken from live performances on the show A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years On Broadway, which was broadcast by NBC on October 29, 2018.[3][4][5]

This edition was released on CD, digitally, and on a Limited Exclusive Split Color Vinyl in green and black.

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Stephen Schwartz

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."For Good - Live"
4:22
2."What Is This Feeling? - Live"Pentatonix3:37
3."The Wizard and I - Live"Ariana Grande3:55
4."As Long As You're Mine - Live"
3:47

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[7]

The cast recording received mixed reviews from critics at the time, though later reviews reappraised the music positively. AllMusic rated the score three out of five stars, deeming it "tuneful and the lyrics often witty." They also noted that Chenoweth received the "Broadway belting material" and Menzel the "more adult contemporary-type ballads" and felt that this suited their respective characters. They concluded that the music was "craftsmanlike and certainly efficient for this somewhat questionable project."[6] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Lawrence Frascella gave the album a negative rating of C+, expressing that it was "fresh evidence that Broadway needs a new, galvanizing musical direction." Frascella lambasted the songs as "a dreary melange of Disney and Sondheim", though he praised the "lushly produced CD" and the performances of Chenoweth and Menzel. He commended the former's "effortless" glides "from ditzy-blonde comedy to thrilling operatic trill" and the latter's "clamorous and ear-piercing" voice that "cuts through the fog of show-tune cliche."[7]

Commercial performance

[edit]

The cast recording initially peaked at number 125 on the US Billboard 200 in 2003, and reached its peak at number 66 in 2014.[8] The album was certified platinum on November 30, 2006 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was certified double platinum on November 8, 2010, and triple platinum on November 30, 2022.[9] It has sold 2,670,000 copies in the United States as of January 2017.[10][11]

Singles

[edit]

In 2007, Idina Menzel re-recorded "Defying Gravity" as a solo version and released it as a single for her third studio album I Stand (2008).

Julia Murney recorded "I'm Not That Girl" for her album I'm Not Waiting (2006). She recorded this particular song because she deemed it one song of the entire musical "that had nothing to do with flying or wizards".[12]

Kerry Ellis recorded rock versions of the songs "Defying Gravity" and "I'm Not That Girl" for her album Wicked in Rock (2008), produced by Queen's guitarist, Brian May.

In 2012, Mika recorded a dance-pop version of "Popular Song", featuring Priscilla Renea, for his album The Origin of Love. He then recorded the same mix of the song with Ariana Grande, which was put out as a single and later featured on Grande's debut studio album Yours Truly (2013).

Charts

[edit]

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[39] 3× Platinum 3,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "'Wicked' Music" Archived 2008-09-19 at the Wayback Machine musicalschwartz.com, accessed August 29, 2011
  2. ^ Gans, Andrew (September 26, 2008). "Anniversary Edition of Wicked CD to Feature Bonus Tracks by Rimes, Goodrem and Menzel". Playbill. Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
  3. ^ Kinane, Ruth (January 25, 2019). "Ariana Grande, Adam Lambert, and more to appear on Wicked 15th anniversary album". Entertainment Weekly. Meredith Corporation. Archived from the original on February 10, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  4. ^ "WICKED Will Release Special Two-Disc 15th Anniversary Edition Cast Album". Broadway World. Wisdom Digital Media. January 25, 2019. Archived from the original on February 10, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  5. ^ "Wicked (15th Anniversary Special Edition)". Spotify. Archived from the original on February 10, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Wicked: A New Musical - Original Broadway Cast | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic Wicked at AllMusic
  7. ^ a b Frascella, Lawerence (January 9, 2004). Wicked Review Archived 2014-01-10 at the Wayback Machine. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  8. ^ "Wicked: A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) - Original Broadway Cast". Nielsen SoundScan. Archived from the original on May 18, 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  9. ^ "WICKED Cast Album Goes Double Platinum". BroadwayWorld.com. November 8, 2010. Archived from the original on December 4, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2010.
  10. ^ Paul Grein (19 February 2014). "Chart Watch: Taylor Swift Is 4 For 4 (Million)". Yahoo Music. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  11. ^ Keith Caulfield. "Hamilton passes 1 million sales plus chart highlights from James Arthur, Maren Morris and Taylor Swift". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  12. ^ Gans, Andrew."Diva Talk: Chatting with Wicked's Julia Murney Plus News of Peters and Skinner" Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, March 17, 2006
  13. ^ [Originalversion+des+deutschen+Musicals&cat=a "Austriancharts.at – Musical – Wicked - Die Hexen von Oz [Originalversion des deutschen Musicals]"] (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  14. ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  15. ^ "Gaon Album Chart 2013년 11월 5주차" (in Korean). November 29, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  16. ^ "Gaon Album Chart 2013년 11월 5주차" (in Korean). November 29, 2013. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  17. ^ "Official Compilations Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  18. ^ "Official Soundtrack Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
  19. ^ "Billboard 200 Albums: Week of March 1, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  20. ^ "Billboard Cast Albums: Week of January 14, 2006". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  21. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2006". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  22. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2007". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  23. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2008". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  24. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2009". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  25. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2010". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  26. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2011". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  27. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2012". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  28. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2013". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  29. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2014". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  30. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2015". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  31. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2016". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  32. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2017". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  33. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2018". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  34. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2019". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  35. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2020". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  36. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2021". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  37. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2022". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  38. ^ "Cast Albums - Year-End 2023". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  39. ^ "American album certifications – Various Artists – Wicked (Original Cast Recording)". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
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