Nessarose
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| Nessarose | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Wicked (1995) |
| Last appearance | Wicked (1995) |
| Created by | Gregory Maguire |
| Information | |
| Species | human |
| Gender | female |
| Age | unknown |
| Date of birth | unknown |
| Date of death | beginning of "The Murder and it's Afterlife" (Wicked) |
| Occupation | ruler of Munchkinland |
| Title | Eminent Thropp Eminence of the East Wicked Witch of the East |
| Family | Melena Thropp (mother) Turtle Heart (father) Elphaba Thropp (half-sister) Shell Thropp (half-brother) |
| Address | Palace in Munchkinland |
Nessarose Thropp is the name of the woman who becomes the Wicked Witch of the East in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Broadway adaptation, Wicked. She is the spoiled younger sister of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. In both the play and the novel, Elphaba is considered a pale second to her beautiful but handicapped sister. Elphaba is often expected to put the needs of her sister before her own. In the novel, Nessarose and Elphaba have a younger brother named Shell.
Nessarose, during her rule of Munchkinland, is dubbed "The Wicked Witch of the East", for her cruel ways and use of sorcery to control her subjects. In both the musical and the novel, Nessarose meets her demise when Dorothy's house lands in Oz and crushes her.
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
In Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Nessarose is a very pious and religious character. She was born without arms, presumably from medicine her mother took to prevent another child with the same odd appearances as the green-skinned Elphaba. Despite her condition, she is a dainty and beautiful girl, and when attending Shiz University, she more easily gains friends than her sister. She is aided by Nanny at home. Nessarose, despite her pious religious convictions, is often close-minded and vain, in following with Maguire's cynicism throughout the novel towards religion in general. Unlike in the musical version, Nessarose is not infatuated with Boq, the Munchkin boy, and lives a solitary life.
Nessarose is chosen by Madame Morrible to be an Adept – a trained sorceress, with political authority over a particular area (which was supposed to be in the South, Quadling Country). But instead she becomes "The Eminent Thropp" and as the Eminence of the East she makes Munchkinland its own country. During Nessarose's reign in Munchkinland, despite her religious conviction, she allows more ancient practices to take place - including ritualistic sacrifice, rumoured to even include those of humans and Animals. Not all of her subjects are too afraid of her to ask for boons, however. In one scene, a woman asks her to prevent her daughter from marrying a local woodsman. Nessarose casts a spell on the woodsman's axe so that it will attack him and remove a limb. It is implied that this man is the Tin Woodsman.
Nessarose is the original owner of the magical silver shoes (most commonly known as the ruby slippers from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz), given to her as a loving gift by her father and later enchanted by Glinda (in the musical adaptation, the bespelled shoes are Elphaba's doing). They allow Nessarose to walk and stand without assistance, and leave her overly confident and more proud, which only fuels her tyrannical reign over the Munchkins. In the novel, Elphaba sees the shoes are a lasting symbol of neglect and rejection from her father and from the world in general and a symbol and sign of fear and later reverence by the citizens of Oz. It is Elphaba's search to retrieve Nessarose's shoes from Dorothy that causes her demise, as she becomes obsessed with obtaining the objects that have always existed as a reminder to her unusualness.
The story reveals that Nessarose may be the child of Turtle Heart, the Quadling glassblower who resided with the Thropps. Nessarose's father, Frex, confesses as much to Elphaba after Nessarose's death, adding that he and his wife Melena loved Turtle Heart equally. The implications of that statement are, however, never fully developed. It is because of the questionable parentage of Nessarose that Frex loves her more than Elphaba, as if she had been conceived more of the love between the odd trio. Nessarose dies not knowing the debate over her parentage, or that her perhaps-father Turtle Heart was viciously sacrificed in a ritual similar to the ones she allowed her people to conduct. (It should be noted that Turtle Heart is a Quadling, and in Baum's original novels, some Quadlings have no arms. This may be Maguire's way of affirming Nessarose's parentage for the readers without specifically stating it.)
[edit] Wicked
Like many other characters in the Broadway adaptation of Wicked, Nessarose is portrayed very differently from the novel. She was originally played by Michelle Federer. In the musical, Nessarose is not chosen as a sorceress by Madame Morrible. While the character of the musical does have arms, she is instead bound to a wheelchair. Nessarose is seen as a more tragic character, attending Shiz University with Elphaba, who often embarrasses her. Galinda, in an effort to shoo away a persistent love-struck munchkin named Boq, and to allow her own relationship with Fiyero to develop, arranges a date between him and Nessarose. Boq unhappily becomes a point of love obsession for Nessarose. Because of her father's rule of Munchkinland, Nessarose takes control of Munchkinland following his death, slowly becoming evil and tyrannical. She enslaves Boq, and in an attempt to use Elphaba's spells to punish him for professing his love for Glinda, accidentally causes his heart to disappear. As Elphaba begins to save Boq by turning him into the Tin Woodsman, Nessarose declares herself The Wicked Witch of the East.
As in the novel, Nessarose receives the magical slippers as a gift from her father, but they are instead enchanted by Elphaba, rather than Glinda, to give her the ability to walk. The musical makes no reference to Turtle Heart or Shell, and thus it is implied that Nessarose was the legitimate child of Frex and Melena. The musical also shows that it was Madame Morrible who created the fateful cyclone, as a trap to draw Elphaba out of hiding.
"Nessarose" principles (North American Productions): Michelle Federer (Original Broadway Cast) Jenna Leigh Green (Original Touring Cast, Broadway Cast, Original Los Angeles Cast) Cristy Candler (Current Broadway Cast) Heidi Kettenring (Original Chicago Cast, Current Chicago Cast) Summer Naomi Smart (Chicago Cast) Jennifer Waldman (Touring Cast) DeeDee Magno Hall (Current Touring Cast] Marcie Dodd (Los Angeles Cast) Briana Yacavone (Current Los Angeles Cast)
"Nessarose" covers (North American Producions): Cristy Candler (Original Broadway Cast u/s) Eden Espinosa (Original Broadway u/s) Lori Ann Fererri (Current Broadway u/s) Maria Eberline (Original Tour u/s) Lori Holmes (Original Tous u/s, Current Tour u/s) [[Kristine Reese] (Current Tour u/s) Laura Dysarcyzk (Original Tour u/s, Original Los Angeles u/s) Lauren Masiello (Current Tour u/s) Natalie Daradich (Original Los Angeles u/s) Sara Jane Everman (Original Chicago u/s) Kate Fahrner (Current Chicago u/s) Jacqui Graziano (Current Chicago u/s)
Betsy Struxness (Current Chicago u/s)
"Nessarose" principles (West End Production) Katie Rowley Jones (Original London Cast)
"Nessarose" covers (West End Production) Nicky Griffiths (Original London u/s) Caroline Keiff (Original London u/s, Current London u/s) Kady Ko-Jackson (Original London u/s, Current London u/s)
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