What Makes Wicked’s Love Triangle my Favorite

I have talked about this topic more times than I should on my blog: love triangle. There is one in particular I love more than the others. It has evolved a lot over the years. My favorite love triangle of musical theatre is found in Wicked. It is found between Elphaba-Fiyero-Glinda. Why is that.

1) It is the first one I emotionally bonded with. This sounds like a crazy reason. It is so true. I first discovered the concept of love triangles in Wicked. I don’t remember if I first was aware of the love triangle during the 1st time I saw Wicked or the 2nd time I saw Wicked. I do know it was connected to one of the two. I don’t know if “I’m Not That Girl” started as emotionless or if it began as just a sad song- did I realize it was a sad song my 1st time or the 2nd- once again know it was connected to those two times.

Spoilers ahead:

2) Complexity- It is more complex than the Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera love triangle. In Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera- Marius and Cosette and Raoul and Christine are a couple while Phantom and Eponine are struggling with the heartbreak and pain of unrequited love- it stays that way.

What makes Wicked’s love triangle more complex? It begins like this: Fiyero and Glinda are a couple while Elphaba is dealing with the pain and heartbreak of unrequited love- you think that setup is endgame- you think that Elphaba will have unrequited love for the entire musical. Fast forward to the top of act II- Fiyero realizes something- he is in love with Elphaba- he decides to break up with Glinda leaving her dealing with the pain and heartbreak of unrequited love. So now, Elphaba and Fiyero are a couple and Glinda is dealing with the pain of unrequited love. So you have two girls getting hurt in one love triangle- it is not straight forward due to that. How do the two girls respond to the unrequited love? They decide not to steal Fiyero away- that to me shows their loyalty towards each other- they want to keep friendship alive. Why does this plot twist happen? Based upon the last time I saw Fiyero, I believe Fiyero had a crush on Elphaba without knowing, and did not realize it until act II- my actor, Ashley Parker Angel went ahead and in act I decided to have stronger chemistry with Elphaba and weaker chemistry with Glinda in act I foreshadowing the plot twist. Wicked’s love triangle is much more complex than the Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis group- all because of Fiyero’s role- he was the one who was responsible for the plot twist. Before my 4th time- I always left the theatre with “why”- I never grasped why the plot twist happened.

3) Elphaba- The fact that Elphaba is part of this love triangle is a HUGE reason why Wicked is home to my favorite love triangle. Elphaba is my all-time favorite musical theatre character. I see a lot of myself in her, and there are parts of her I don’t see myself in. So there is a bonus. That might be takes almost a bit far, but that is true.

4) Elphaba X Fiyero x Glinda- This is connected to #3. I made it known that in Wicked I am emotionally connected to only three characters. They happen to be Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero: I only am fully focused on the friendship and the love triangle each time I see Wicked. Characters play a huge part in my love of a romantic sub-plot. The entire storyline is on Elphaba and Glinda- their friendship. All three characters are complex- yes, you might think only Elphaba and Glinda are complex. But there is more to Fiyero than you think.  The complexity of this love triangle is not just because the unrequited love shifts- it is also because all three characters are complex. In high school, I remember knowing that the love triangle was fascinating and adding an incredible texture to Wicked, but I did not understand why.

The 4th time I saw Wicked- the love triangle went through some drastic changes- after my 3rd time- before my 4th time- I came to a realization- “I’m Not That Girl” is a heartbreaking song- figured that out due to “On My Own” and memorizing the lyrics. Due to paying even closer attention to Fiyero, I was able to have a clearer idea why the plot twist happened. Due to knowing “I’m Not That Girl” was heartbreaking coming in, I had to look at that song fresh as if I never heard that song before- I knew I wanted to think more about what I was thinking- I had to pay even closer attention to the Lion Cub Scene- 1) to look for clues pointing to the plot twist and 2) to understand how heartbreaking “I’m Not That Girl” is.

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Non-Ironic Heartbreaking Love Musical Theatre Songs

A couple days ago, I wrote a list of those heartbreaking love musical theatre songs that are ironic. But what about those heartbreaking songs that are not ironic at all. Those are the types of songs that are sung by characters whose stories revolve around unrequited love, the plot is a tragic love story, or something like that. Here is my list of those sort of songs.

1. On My Own- Eponine’s story revolves around unrequited love. I owe this song a lot. After all, it helped me realize that “I’m Not That Girl” is heartbreaking. It took me an entire year to know this song was heartbreaking. Eponine’s unrequited love story is one of the most intriguing ones in musical theatre.

2. All I ask Of You (Reprise)- Just like Eponine, Phantom’s story revolves around unrequited, but he does not take it very well.

3. As Long As He Needs Me

4. Somewhere- in West Side Story, the songs get more and more heartbreaking as the musical continues. This one is right near the end.

Ironic Heartbreaking Musical Theatre Love Songs

What on earth do I mean by an ironic heartbreaking love musical theatre song? These are love songs where you don’t except to happen or where things improve in the end. There are going in be spoilers due to explaining why they are ironic in the first place.

1. This Nearly Was Mine- Emelie sings this breakup song after Nellie leaves him. The irony comes from the fact that Nellie comes back to Emelie in the end.

2. I’m Not That Girl/I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)- When Elphaba sings “I’m Not That Girl”, the unrequited love song, little does she know that Fiyero will eventually realize that he loves her, and that they will get together. That is why you don’t except Glinda to sing “I’m Not That Girl (reprise)”, and that happens after Fiyero breaks up with her.

3. If I Can’t Love Her/ If I Can’t Love Her (Reprise)- ironic in the fact that the spell will eventually be broken. Beast feels like Belle will never love him. The reprise is actually more heartbreaking than the first one because he actually has fallen in love with Belle at that point. He has just released Belle as his prisoner, and he believes that Belle doesn’t love him, but in reality she does.

There are other heartbreaking love musical theatre songs, but they are not ironic.

Analysis of the Phantom

One of the reasons why Phantom of the Opera’s love triangle is so amazing is due to the Phantom. He makes it so mysterious and dark. He deals with unrequited love, but does not it take it very well. He is in love with Christine, but Christine is in love with Raoul. He seeks revenge on both of them. So he deals with it in destructive ways. He plans to kill Raoul since Christine love. He just cannot seem to accept it either. He grew up not knowing what love or compassion is. He is taken fun of and humiliated for his deformed face. For whatever reason, he does not take unrequited love. He will do anything to make sure Christine is the lead in the shows at the Opera even if it means threatening the opera, which includes making a backdrop fall. In the final scene, he makes Christine choose between staying with him or if she doesn’t killing Raoul. What a very high stakes decision. She ends up kissing the Phantom. At the very end, he lets both of them go. But still that does not forgive his actions. He makes this love triangle very unique and full of mystery.

https://megsdailymusings.wordpress.com/2018/02/10/ranking-characters-who-deal-with-unrequited-love/

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Layers of Heartbreak in Musicals

Musicals are known for being emotional. One of my favorite emotions is heartbreak, which is an emotion I once was blind to. Les Mis was the musical that brought heartbreak to life. I love the several layers that come to it. That basically means that some heartbreaking songs hurt more than others. On this post, I will describe the layers and the best way I can do that is through two songs.

“I’m Not That Girl” and “On My Own” both share the same root, which is unrequited love. However, both have different levels of insight.

“I’m Not That Girl” is dealing with Elphaba’s unrequited love for Fiyero. This song is only moderately heartbreaking. The song has innocence, vulnerability and fragility. Literally moments before, it is the first time the audience realizes that Elphaba is falling in love with Fiyero. Elphaba’s love for him isn’t that strong at this point, which why the melody is very consistent and the melody also shows Elphaba’s innocence at this point in the story. This song once was a sad song for a couple of years, but it was “On My Own” that helped me realize this song was heartbreaking. About the insight, Elphaba admits in the song that she doesn’t think she is good enough for Fiyero because she is green and she does reflect on her best friend realizing that she is in a relationship with him and that is part of why Elphaba accepts the fact that Fiyero does not love her.

“On My Own” is the more heartbreaking of the two. For starter’s, Eponine’s story revolves around unrequited love. By the time “On My Own” happens, the audience already knows that Eponine is in love with Marius. There are these little sung bits of dialogue that show that she loves him and in “In My Life” and “A Heart Full Of Love”, there are parts of the song that show she loves Marius. By observing her actions, it is already made clear that she loves Marius. Marius cannot seem to pick up on the fact that she loves him.

In this song, you realize just how strong and deep her love for Marius is. This song helps you understand her life outside of Marius. It shows that she is so alone in the world. She is unloved and lonely due to being so alone in life. Her only source of happiness is Marius and he is the only person who shows her kindness. “On My Own” helps highlight this. Throughout lyrics like “Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to” and “a world that’s full of happiness that I have never known” reflects her life. She finally is able to accept the situation she finds herself in and this song shows that she can never stop loving him because he is the light of her life. It actually took about a year to realize “On My Own” was heartbreaking but not sad.

Just by knowing that one of these songs is more heartbreaking than other shows how layered heartbreak can be.

Characteristics of a Strong Love Triangle

I have mentioned love triangles on this blog before and characteristics of why I love them. But I decided to talk about them again. Below I will talk about what makes a strong and memorable love triangle.

Major and Minor Spoilers:

Complexity- this is very important. Complexity tends to come from unrequited love. No matter what happens you cannot satisfy all the characters. Complexity also can come from someone else. In Wicked’s love triangle, the complexity actually comes from Fiyero due to the role he plays. There is always conflict in a love triangle due to unrequited love. Unrequited love is heartbreaking and can be filled with loneliness, anger, and other emotions. Like in Wicked’s situation, it is the most complex of all the love triangles I have come across. Complexity also depends on how the love triangle is set up. Every character in Wicked is complex and yes even Fiyero is complex even though it doesn’t seem that way. In Les Mis’, it seems like only Eponine is complex, but Marius is also complex and just like Fiyero, he doesn’t seem complex, but after I read the book, I realized Marius is more complex than he appears to be. So complexity helps make me love a love triangle.

Characters- the characters found in the love triangle can play a role. For example, in Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom makes the love triangle very dark and mysterious and then there is Christine and Raoul, who were childhood sweethearts and have eventually fallen in love. In the love triangle in Les Mis, Eponine’s story revolves around unrequited love and how she responds is wonderful to watch plus Marius and Cosette help bring hope to the tragic story. In Wicked’s, it is dealing with two best friends (Elphaba and Glinda), who have a beautiful relationship and are strong characters. Then there is Fiyero, who throws a gigantic curveball into the equation.

Uniqueness- it helps when there is something unique about each love triangle. That is referring to the fact that you don’t want every love triangle to be the same. For instance in Phantom’s love triangle, it is very dark and mysterious, but angelic and beautiful at the same time.

Than there is Les Mis’ love triangle, which is full of hope and light but full of heartbreak and pain. Marius and Cosette help bring light to this tragic tale and they are such a beautiful couple. Eponine is unique for two things: 1) the fact that she is a Thenardier and 2) how she responds to the unrequited love.

In Wicked, it is dealing with two best friends, but the most unique thing is the plot twist that happens in act II. In Wicked, Elphaba has unrequited love for Fiyero in act I, but Fiyero throws a big curveball in the equation when he realizes his feelings for Elphaba in act II so you have an unrequited love shift going on.

Songs- the songs help a lot. With Les Mis’ love triangle, you have the gorgeous “A Heart Full of Love”. The unique thing about that song is that during most of the song, it is a duet between Marius and Cosette and towards the end with Eponine joins in, you feel for all three of them. Eponine’s unrequited love song, “On My Own”, allows you to get a glimpse of her life outside of Marius and shows you just how strong her love for Marius is.

In Wicked, the two songs found in the love triangle are “I’m Not That Girl” and “As Long as Your’e Mine”. Elphaba sings the unrequited love song, “I’m Not That Girl” in act I and she does admit in the song that she doesn’t think she is good enough for Fiyero because she is green and she sings the song literally right after realizing that she in falling love with him and she accepts it rather quickly knowing her best friend is in a relationship with him. Than you get to act II and Fiyero breaks up with Glinda realizing he loves Elphaba instead of Glinda. Glinda ends up singing a reprise of “I’m Not That Girl” since she know has unrequited love for Fiyero. “As Long as Your’e Mine” is the love song between Elphaba and Fiyero and it does show that Elphaba and Fiyero have matured and shows that they do love each other. So Wicked is a very complicated and fascinating love triangle.

In Phantom, “All I Ask of You” is such a gorgeous song. It shows just how beautiful Christine and Raoul are as a couple. Phantom ends up singing a reprise of that song and the song becomes heartbreaking.

Ranking Characters who Deal with Unrequited Love

For this post, I am going to take a small break from favorite couples. This time I will be grading characters based upon unrequited love situations. These unrequited love situations come from Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis, and Wicked. Criteria has to do with response, acceptance and their unrequited love song if they have one.

Major and Minor Spoilers:

Phantom- F

Acceptance: He never accepts the unrequited love at all, which is part of why he gets that F.

Response: He deals with it in both anger and revenge. He does not show true love towards Christine. After realizing that both Christine and Raoul love each other, he seeks revenge. He plans to kill Raoul so his response is very poor. In the end, he makes Christine choose between staying with him or killing Raoul. But does let Christine and Raoul go, but letting them leave does not excuse the rest of actions when he responds to unrequited love. So due with how extreme he poorly deals with unrequited love gives him a F.

Unrequited Love Song: All I Ask of You (reprise). Yes, you can feel bad for the Phantom in this song, but not enough to get him higher than a F ranking.

Nessa- D

Acceptance: does not accept it either

Response: her response is a bit better than Phantom’s, but is still poor. She falls in love with Boq during “Dancing Through Life”, but doesn’t realize Boq’s feelings for Glinda. So it isn’t until act II when she figures that out. Responds by imprisoning all the Munchkins so Boq is not allowed to leave. But right after realizing his feelings for Glinda, she tries to use the Grimmarie to cast a spell on him to get to him to stay, but things go wrong. That scene happens when Elphaba is there. Her spell caused his heart to shrink so all Elphaba could do is turn him into tin. Her response is poor, but more on a D level.

Unrequited Love Song: doesn’t have one

Boq- B

Acceptance: yes, he accepts that Glinda doesn’t love him

Response: the problem is it is hard to know how he responds. He appears to stay faithful towards Glinda. For whatever reason it is harder to tell how he responds compared to Nessa. But he responds in a better way. He just gets a B due to it being hard to figure out how he responds in the first place.

Unrequited Love Song: doesn’t have one

Glinda- A-

Acceptance: yes she does, but unexpected

Response: she responds by not stealing him back. I don’t blame her since Elphaba is her best friend. That goes to show how far Elphaba and Glinda will go to keep friendship alive. Yes, she originally responds by telling the Wizard and others that to arrest Elphaba the best way is to use Elphaba’s sister, but to me that is not a factor into how she responds. She still doesn’t steal Fiyero away from Elphaba.

Unrequited Love Song: “I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)”, well this song is quite unexpected. It is so short so it is hard to feel for her situation. But it allows you to realize that she does accept the situation, but is hard to feel the unrequited love song since it only is four or so lines.

Elphaba- A

Acceptance: yes she does rather quickly

Response: responds very similar to Glinda. She chooses to not pursue Fiyero since Glinda is in a relationship with him. So with Elphaba, it shows just how far the two girls will go to keep friendship. Due to that level of loyalty, it makes since that Elphaba gets an A in the first place.

Unrequited Love Song: “I’m Not That Girl”. Elphaba gets the full “I’m Not That Girl” so you feel Elphaba’s unrequited love stronger than Glinda’s. She even accepts the situation right after realizing she is falling in love with Fiyero. She even admits she is not good enough for Fiyero since she is green.

Eponine- A+

Acceptance: yes she does

Response: she stays loyal towards Marius and loves him so strongly that she responds by true love. She makes sure that Marius stays safe and happy. So she helps him find Cosette. She risks her life several times to do everything she does for Marius. At one point, she screams to protect Marius when her father and his gang try to rob Valjean’s house. At the time, Marius and Cosette were with each other. Even though it is her family she goes against, she cannot bear to see Marius hurt.

She decides to go the barricade to make sure Marius stays safe. She does another favor for him when Marius sends her away with a letter to Cosette, but Marius does it to protect her. But she goes back and when Marius is about to get shot, Eponine takes the bullet herself. So up until her death, she makes sure Marius is safe and happy. She is able to die in the arms of Marius. Despite being a Thenardier and living in extreme poverty and dealing with unrequited love, she shows true love towards Marius.

Unrequited Love Song: “On My Own”. Of all the unrequited love songs on this list, “On My Own” is the strongest. That goes to show how deep and strong Eponine love for Marius is. It gives you an idea of what her life is like outside of Marius. Through lyrics like “without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to” and “a world thats full of happiness that I have never known”, you know her life is quite dark. It goes to show that she gets through the day by imagining that Marius loves her. She is constantly beaten at home and is forced to participate in her family’s schemes. It shows that she will always love Marius no matter what. Due to this song, it helped me realize “I’m Not That Girl” is a heartbreaking song.