Wicked - A story about influencing the public's perception

In October 2012 I saw the musical show "Wicked" in London. I really enjoyed it, even though most of the songs weren't very catchy. However, I liked the stage setting, the actors, the dance performances and not to forget the generous student discount. But the best element of the show is (fortunately) its story. It is not only about the friendship of two girls, but also about how the public's perception can be influenced. The whole show plays with this phenomenon and therefore at the beginning of the show things reveal in a different light than they do in the end.

Watching the first scene, it appears that Glinda is the "good" witch, who informs the worried public about the death of the "wicked" witch Elphaba. However, during the story the audience discovers, that Elphaba has never been wicked and that Glinda actually was her best friend.

I think letting the show start this way was a very clever idea, as it shows the audience, how easy it is to influence one's perception and distort the truth. This situation can easily be translated into today's world, where it often happens that the media or PR professionals spin stories around. That is one of the main reasons, why PR professionals nowadays have to fight more than ever against being called "spin doctors".

Moreover, PR professionals are also portrayed in Wicked through the character of Madame Morrible. She is not only the headmistress of Shiz University, but also the official press secretary of the wizard of Oz. While she is shown as headmistress, she seems to be strict but also nice at the same time. In the second act, where she acts as the press secretary, she appears to be on the evil side and therefore is very unappealing. This portrayal of PR professionals is very interesting and probably expresses the public's mistrust of PR professionals. It is no secret, that a lot of people don't know what exactly PR means and therefore are sceptical of it. This reflects one of the major problems of the PR industry: Even though it is all about reputation management, the reputation of the industry remains bad.

Although the musical show "Wicked" casts a damning light on PR professionals, I really enjoyed it. It is definitely not only a story for children, but also worth being seen by adults.