Wicked’ arrives at NMACC: A new production of the global phenomenon lands soon in Mumbai

The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre has made something of a habit of importing spectacle. After hosting crowd-pullers like The Sound of Music, Mamma Mia!,West Side Story, Life of Pi, The Phantom of the Opera and The Nutcracker, it now welcomes its ninth international showcase: Wicked, which runs from March 12-29. And not just any Wicked, but an entirely new production that carries the same beloved score and script while reimagining the direction, choreography and design for a fresh generation.

Globally, Wicked has drawn more than 65 million people across 130 cities in 16 countries. Its songs — ‘Defying Gravity’, ‘Popular’, ‘For Good ‘— have become cultural shorthand for ambition, friendship and the kind of heartbreak that still leaves you standing. The story, based on Wicked, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, takes us back to Oz long before Dorothy’s neat pigtails and ruby slippers. It asks a far more unsettling question: who decided one woman was wicked and the other good?

Elphaba and Glinda inWicked
| Photo Credit:
@joaocaldasfilho

At the helm of this new staging is director John Stefaniuk, who approaches the material with a keen awareness that the world has shifted dramatically since the show first opened over two decades ago. “When first looking at Wicked and trying to decide how to approach such a historic piece in cultural history and how best to give it a voice that would speak to today’s audience, I first looked at what had changed since it was first introduced some 25 years ago,” he says. “For me, the greatest shift in the last 20 years has been the introduction of social media and its influences on society.”

It is a deliciously modern lens through which to view Oz. “Beginning with Glinda, to me she is truly the first Ozian social influencer, spreading her thoughts through bubbles across the land,” John explains. “Elphaba, on the other hand, is a victim of cancel culture in Oz, shouldering the burden of being different physically and then cancelled from speaking the truth.”

To bring those themes of identity, prejudice and public shaming to life, John keeps the rehearsal room stripped back at first. “I always begin every rehearsal process sitting at a table where we don’t rely on the set or costumes or movement, we only rely on the text and understanding what and why we say every word on the page,” he says. The idea is simple but effective: before the broomsticks fly and the gowns shimmer, the actors must find themselves in the lines. “For me, the more of themselves the actor is willing to bring to stage, the more truth will shine in the production.”

John Stefaniuk

That truth is most tenderly felt in the evolving friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, played here by Rebekah Lowings and Eve Shanu-Wilson. Their on-stage rivalry softens into something deeper and far more enduring, and John admits that watching their off-stage camaraderie grow was half the magic. “Rehearsals with our two leading ladies were an absolute joy,” he says. “I loved seeing how their own friendship blossomed throughout the rehearsal process, each supporting the other as they discovered their performances.”

Like their characters, the actors began from different strengths — one at home in soprano sparkle and comic timing, the other wielding what John fondly calls “a voice of steel” — and gradually uncovered the emotional depths together. What audiences see each night is not simply choreography and blocking (planned movement and positioning of actors on stage), but a shared journey forged in rehearsal rooms long before the curtain rises.

The spectacle

John with Rebekah

Visually, this production leans into contrast. John imagines Oz as two worlds running in parallel: the glossy public façade and the unsettling private machinery beneath. “When looking at the Emerald City at first glance, it is a funfair much like Lunar Park or Coney Island from the turn of the century,” he says, describing rides, lights and smiling crowds. “On closer examination, though, we see behind the curtain it is nothing more than cages capturing and enslaving its inhabitants and punishing those who speak out against it.”

It is this shift in perspective that blurs the neat line between good and evil. The Wizard’s grandeur begins to look suspiciously like spin, and Elphaba’s so-called wickedness feels closer to moral courage.

For Indian audiences encountering Wicked live in Mumbai for the first time, John believes there is a natural bridge. “India has always had such global recognition for its Bollywood films,” he says, noting the shared love of music-driven storytelling. “In the same way, it blends the spectacle and heart in the same exciting and joyous way!”

And spectacle there is, from soaring witches to a tornado that seems to sweep through the auditorium itself, supported by a company of over 100 performers, crew and orchestra members, hundreds of costumes and a design team that treats Oz as both playground and warning sign. Yet for all the technical wizardry, John returns to the emotional core. “Much like a magician, it is our job to make you believe the unbelievable is happening right in front of your eyes,” he says. “You may enter the doors in Mumbai, but when the lights dim — you are in Oz.”

And perhaps that is why Wicked endures. Beneath the emerald sheen and gravity-defying theatrics lies a story about being misunderstood, about standing up when it would be easier to smile and wave, and about friendships that change the course of your life.

Tickets start from ₹2000 onwards; available on nmacc.com or bookmyshow.com

Published – February 27, 2026 02:33 pm IST