FISCHER: A truly wicked theatrical experience

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charelscitypress.com

“Wicked” is the movie of the moment, and the 2024 theatrical adaptation of the 2003 Broadway musical adaptation of the 1995 revisionist prequel novel of the 1900 literary classic, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” has stoked the fires of one of the great debates in our modern times.

Is it appropriate to make noise in a theater?

In this case, due to being a beloved musical, a dividing line has been drawn between moviegoers who want to observe the film in silence and those who want to sing along with their favorite songs.

The controversy has even drawn the movie’s stars into the debate, with Cynthia Erivo, who plays the wickedest of witches, appearing during this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to give her approval to the sing-a-long faction, stating “I’m OK with it. We spent this long singing it ourselves, it’s time for everyone to sing.”

Now personally, I’ve never actually seen the Broadway show, but I’ve read the book and still listened to the soundtrack enough to know most of the songs by heart. So when it comes time to watch the movie on the big screen and the music starts up for popular hits like… “Popular”… I will do what I expect every civilized moviegoer to do when sitting in a theater.

I will keep my mouth shut.

For those reading this column, that probably seems natural, but there is a cultural divide between areas of the country that treat movie theaters as some kind of communal experience where audience participation is not only tolerated, but encouraged. It’s an ongoing debate I’ve been having with my online group of movie-loving friends for years now.

Every so often somebody will post a video of a theater audience going wild with cheers and applause during hype movie moments like Captain America picking up Thor’s hammer and the argument will begin anew. Supporters claim that the shared enthusiasm enhances the movie experience. I say sit down and be quiet.

And now, with “Wicked” that argument has spilled over musicals.

It’s madness.

When I’m sitting in a movie theater, I don’t want to be more than vaguely aware that there are other human beings in the room, and likewise I will do my best to avoid doing anything that would draw other people’s attention to me.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the most awesome spectacle I’ve ever seen on a screen or a heartbreaking emotional moment. I keep my reactions internalized and my exterior stoic save for maybe a quiet inhale or a single, manly, tear.

The only socially acceptable exception is comedies, which, by their nature, are designed to elicit an involuntary audible response.

Talking, yelling, cheering… these are all behaviors that our parents would have, rightfully, pulled us out of a theater for doing when we were children. That was the whole deal. You weren’t old enough to go to a theater until you were old enough to sit quietly through the whole movie.

Singing? During a movie?

That’s right out.

Unless we’re explicitly talking a full-fledged sing-a-long show with a bouncing ball rolling across captions, the only voices I want to hear during a song, or any other time, are coming from people whose names are in the credits.

– Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and only sings around his cats, like a normal person.