"Oh My Lord This Is Painful" — a TikTok of a Children's Musical of 'Wicked' Goes Viral
This good deed undoubtedly didn't go unpunished.
Published Oct. 23 2024, 5:52 p.m. ET
With Wicked's movie adaptation hitting theaters in November 2024, it seems everyone is having a time being seen in green (or pink).
As fans await the film's release, many are listening to Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth's rendition of the songs they originated on the Broadway stage in 2003 as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively. But if hearing the dynamic duo belt out "For Good" becomes too much, a TikTok user has a children's show rendition that is... well... different.
In a series of videos, Ben Finer (@neverbeenfiner) shows theatre kids performing their version of Wicked. Unfortunately, Ben pretty much caught the whole thing and made the cringeworthy performance go viral.
A group of kids performed various 'Wicked' songs for a school play.
In October 2024, Ben began his series of with a video of the students performing the musical's opening number, "No One Mourns the Wicked." He also wrote on the video "We have Wicked at home" followed by "Wicked at home" and used the video as an example of what the musical "at home" looks like. The home video included the children — many of whom weren't in costume but wore sequined tops to fit the Emerald City theme — singing as the child playing Glinda entered the stage wearing a paper crown.
Ben continues posting more videos from the performance as more and more people confirmed the first video certainly wasn't enough. He went on to share the children singing some of the show's classic songs like "What Is This Feeling?" "As Long as You're Mine," and "Popular." Of course, Wicked isn't Wicked without "Defying Gravity," which the performers sang with their own spin on it. In the clip, the girl playing Elphaba sang, "It's a meee!" instead of "It's meeee!" sparking many Mario references.
Ben's followers mostly hated the 'Wicked' rendition, but agreed on one thing.
Unsurprisingly, Ben's videos of the children's Wicked musical received tons of chatter amongst social media users. In one video, he reposted a user wondering which copyright law he broke by reposting several kids' videos, likely without their permission (who would agree to that?). However, even more users were annoyed by the children's performances.
Several users scolded the cast's outfits, with one commenter noting that the girl playing Glinda opted for "business casual" for the emotional scene. Others slammed how the singers' voices and presumed lack of enthusiasm.
"Oh my Lord this is painful, and yet, I can’t lose away," one user wrote.
"Can they hear the music?" another jokingly asked.
"Someone give the cast some caffeine or something," said a third user.
Despite most users thinking there wasn't nothing salvageable about the children's Wicked performance, many agreed that Elphaba has potential! Amid the negative comments, many felt with a bit more practice, the girl playing the Wicked Witch of the West could see the Big White Way in no time!
"Elphaba’s kinda good tho!!! I stan," one user wrote.
"Elphaba at least has some potential with age and lesson," another noted.
So, were the kids wickedly good or just plain Wicked? Do you have secondhand embarrassment for these kids like we do?
