Defying Gravity (song)
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"Defying Gravity" is the showstopper song from the musical Wicked, composed by Stephen Schwartz. It is mostly a solo sung by the main character of the show, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West), with a small duet in the middle of the song between Elphaba and her friend Glinda, and also a chorus part in the end in which the denizens of Oz sing.
[edit] Context
The song is the finale for the show's first act, when Elphaba discovers that The Wizard of Oz is not all that he seems. Despite Glinda's attempts to dissuade her, Elphaba vows to do everything in her power to fight The Wizard. She sings of how she is "through with playing by the rules of someone else's game" and wants to live without limits, going against the rules that others have set for her in order to save the Animals (and Dr Dillamond) who have been made so that they do not learn to speak (Dr. Dillamond starts to turn into a goat in 'Something Bad' when he pronounces bad as 'baaaad'). During the song Elphaba enchants a broomstick to levitate, and in the last verse, she flies for the first time and "defies gravity", as the angered Citizens of Oz try to "bring her down".
[edit] Sheet Music
Defying Gravity is available as singular sheet music, or in books containing a selection of songs from Wicked- currently only available for piano. The music does not start where the song begins, it starts after Elphaba has sung "I can't want it anymore" with the main theme of the song. The lyrics start "Something has changed within me". Its key is Db Major, and it is in 4/4 time.
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