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Say there’s no future: The queer potential of Wicked’s Fiyero
- Source: Studies in Musical Theatre, Volume 12, Issue 3, Dec 2018, p. 305 - 317
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- 01 Dec 2018
Abstract
This article demonstrates the queer potential and pleasure produced by the character Fiyero in Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s Wicked (2003). I mobilize two primary frameworks to examine Fiyero’s queerness; the first half of the article views Fiyero in the context of queer theories of temporality and utopia, while the second half is interested in the deep cultural history of gay men’s relationships with Broadway musicals. This analysis produces both theoretical and historical implications of Fiyero’s character as I explore how his representation disrupts heteronormative rituals and aspects of the social order, as well as how he produces a valuable figure for the communities of gay men that have historically developed around musical theatre. The queer possibility of Wicked’s women has been examined extensively in past scholarship – particularly through the insights of Stacy Wolf – and this article expands upon this previous work to account for the role of Fiyero in the musical and the queer possibilities he produces.