Beth Tzedec enjoys a “Wicked” fun Purim Spiel

By Holly Shifrah

(Calgary) – Like many synagogues across North America this year, Beth Tzedec chose to celebrate Purim 5785 with a Wicked theme. The spiel, which took place on Thursday March 13th, followed by a delicious pizza dinner and a Megillah reading, was a musical parody of Act 1 of the hit Broadway musical Wicked. The spiel script, including parody lyrics for simplified versions of beloved Wicked songs (sung a cappella), was written by the Beth Tzedec shammash, Ms. Shumate. Shumate also directed the spiel and played “Glindachai.” In other starring roles were: Lorie Abernethy (as guard Madame Morrible), Rabbi Cantor Russel Jayne (as court wizard Haman), Danielle Primeau (as the King), Tracy Smith (as “Estherba”), and Ron Switzer (as Chistery, the flying monkey narrator). Adults and children from the Beth Tzedec community rounded out the show in ensemble roles and doing prop production. The Beth Tzedec operations, kitchen, and office staff ensured behind-the-scenes success of the spiel and dinner which was attended by an estimated 130 people.

Wicked, based on the much darker and more adult 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, opened in October 2003. With the release last November of the Oscar-winning part 1 movie adaptation (part 2 to be released November 21, 2025), Wicked has been experiencing a renewed popularity amongst long-time fans as well as captivating a whole new generation. The novel, by author Gregory Maguire, is the first in a series of books that reimagines the classic American fairy tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, as a cautionary tale against fascist politics and propaganda. It examines the natures of good and evil and how perspective shapes perception of them. The novel was adapted to a stage musical by two eminently talented Jewish creatives: playwright Winnie Holzman (script) and beloved composer Stephen Schwartz (lyrics and music). Both Holzman and Schwartz have cameos in the recent movie along with many alumni of previous Wicked productions; including Idina Menzel (also Jewish) and Kristen Chenoweth who originated the roles of Elphaba and Glinda respectively.

In addition to the general Wicked-mania of the last four months, Wicked especially struck a chord with the Jewish community. Articles from The Forward, The Jewish Chronicle, Haaretz, Aish, and others examine the Jewish themes of the story. Last December two different Wicked-themed Hanukkah videos (one from The Maccabeats, the other from Six13) went viral, as did a video of Cantors Azi Schwartz and Mira Davis at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City singing a combination of a parody of the ever-popular Wicked song “Popular” and the lyrics of Adon Olam set to the same tune. Rabbi Seth Goldstein of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Washington – perhaps better known as Rabbi 360, a beloved Jewish online content creator with 63k+ followers on TikTok and 11k+ followers on Instagram – posted a short video on March 2nd humorously asking followers to “tell me the theme of your Purim spiel, and why is it Wicked?” A Google search for “Wicked theme Purim” will return a “thrillifying” number of results for carnivals, spiels, mishloach manot, and costumes from a dizzying number of Jewish communities.

The Beth Tzedec community in Calgary was certainly no exception to the Wicked fervor. Spiel writer/director Shumate says that she was thrilled when the theme was announced. She explains “I’ve been a Wicked fan for a long long time. I read the novel in high school, though I was definitely too young for it. A friend introduced me to the original Broadway cast recording my freshmen year of uni, back in 2004. I can’t even begin to guess how many times I listened to it on repeat. I’ve waited twenty years for a movie adaption and I’ve loved everything about it. The cast, the costumes, the production design, even all the little nods to other Oz adaptions and the original Oz books – books both my late mother and I loved – it exceeded my expectations.” It takes very little prompting to get Shumate kvelling about all things Oz. She’s such a fan that she even named her pair of pet conures Ozma and Dorothy. “But,” she says, “I think the highlight of getting to do the spiel actually came a few days later at the shul Purim carnival. I met a little girl who insisted on changing her Purim costume to ‘Glindachai’ after seeing the spiel. I couldn’t have asked for higher praise than that! It totally made my day.”

The original Baum novel is a truly charming story (with many sequels). Perhaps the recently revived interest in Wicked, and the 125th anniversary of the original Baum novel this May, will encourage more people, particularly those with young children in their lives, to read it or to watch the Judy Garland movie musical together. Parents should be aware, however, that the Wicked novel, as fantastic as it may be, is best left for an 18+ audience. But the musical adaption is much more family friendly. Underneath the catchy tunes, incredible choreography, and colorful costumes and epic sets are important themes that will feel eerily similar to a lot of Jewish history. As Shumate puts it, “It’s stuff we really all need to think about and wrestle with, and I think those themes were a big factor in why Wicked was so popular this year as a Purim theme.”

Holly Shifrah is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.