How to Host a Wicked Truth Party!
As excitement builds to the release of Wicked: For Good, we fans of the musical are having Wicked Watch Parties. Here's how to turn your own watch party into a Wicked Truth party!
As the excitement builds to the release of Wicked: For Good on November 21, we fans of the musical are having Wicked Watch Parties where we watch Wicked: Part 1 together, share some Wicked-themed food, and have fun with decorations or dressing in costume. All you have to do is search for “Wicked party ideas” to see what creative people are doing! I’m bringing mini bagels with green and pink cream cheese to our Wicked Truth party at my church. Feel free to copy that (though I hope you also have some creative ideas of your own!)!
What makes our party a Wicked Truth party, though, is that we will be making time to dive into the question of good and evil that launches the musical: Are people born wicked or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?
It's not an easy question to answer – it took a 2 ½ hour stage musical (now two films totaling 5 hours) to answer it! My guess is you won’t want your party to last that long! So here are a few questions that can introduce the topic and guide a short conversation in the midst of the festivities:
Topic 1: The theme of good and evil.
- Which characters would you call good and which evil?
- Do any of those characters think of themselves as evil? Why or why not?
Topic 2: Defining good and evil.
- What does it mean to you to be a good person?
- How do you define evil?
Topic 3: Our own experiences with good and evil.
- Have you ever doubted your own goodness? What caused you to doubt?
- Have you ever been accused of being evil or wicked? What prompted the accusation and how did you respond?
You don’t have to get through all these questions – I tend to overprepare! But please notice that these are not questions that have right or wrong answers. The idea is for people to share their views of good and evil. Hopefully, not everyone thinks the same way! It’s actually fun and eye-opening to hear how other people approach the same question. A very Wicked Truth outcome would be to understand someone better, or to find your own views on good and evil shifting.
I would love to hear about your own Wicked Truth parties, and how the conversation unfolded. And please, share your food, decorations, and costume ideas – I’m going as Dr. Dillamond! We’ll see how well I sport some goat ears and grey sideburns!
The author channeling William Youmans (bottom) as Dr. Dillamond in the original Broadway cast
Till next time, remember to always mourn the wicked – it's what good people do.