‘Something Exquisite You’ll Want to Visit’: The Highlights of “Wicked” Trivia Night at the Huntington

On Nov. 20, The Huntington Theatre and Trident Booksellers teamed up to present a “Wicked”-themed trivia night in honor of the recent theatrical release of “Wicked: For Good.” In a series of questions, split into seven rounds, the almost 50 Wicked superfans who attended the event were asked to test their knowledge. For some, answering questions about the film, book, and musical felt like “gliding where turf is smooth,” whereas others may have found that the difficulty of the questions inspired “loathing.”

The first round of questions focused on the intellectual property’s journey from Gregory Maguire’s novel to the musical to the film. Later in the game, contestants were asked to identify actors who had played leading roles in major productions of the show and the roles they had played based on (sometimes misleading) pictures. They also had to identify songs given short audio clips, some of which were nearly impossible to discern, and to match quotes with the characters who said them.

Some of the hardest questions included naming the Broadway star whose father produced the musical (Ben Platt), recalling the actress who originated the role of Madame Morrible on the West End (Miriam Margolyes), and identifying the song that Idina Menzel messed up in her audition for the show (“Defying Gravity”).

A team called “General Contractors,” made up of four women who work at Mass General Brigham, took home first prize. These players had seen the first “Wicked” movie a combined total of eight times. One of the fans, Elise Lowry, noted that she is especially excited to see “how steamy they make ‘As Long As You’re Mine’” in the film.

Two Trident Booksellers employees, Jordan Sahley, who donned a green top, and Sai Chicka, dressed in full Glinda regalia, hosted the event. They also wrote the trivia for the event, and felt particularly proud of a question that revealed that every song in the show originally had the words “good,” “bad,” or “wicked” in the title, and then asked participants to supply the original title for “The Wizard and I.” The answer: “Making Good.”

Sahley shared that this event came about a year ago, when The Huntington Theatre initially reached out to Trident Booksellers about co-hosting a trivia night. The three ideas floated then were “Wicked” trivia, Broadway trivia, and “Glee” trivia. Ultimately, they hosted a Broadway trivia night in April, but decided to collaborate again for a “Wicked”-themed event. Chicka, who saw the first film 10 times, is a fan of “Wicked: For Good,” stating that it “nails those darker undertones.”

As for Sahley, she commented: “I’m just a Jeff Goldblum fan — not that I particularly love ‘Sentimental Man’ as a song, but I love his one line in ‘No One Mourns the Wicked.’”

One attendee had a very special connection to “Wicked.” Greg Grozdits found out about the event thanks to his friend, actress Kristy Cates, who understudied the role of Elphaba during the show’s Broadway premiere in 2003. He and Cates are trivia buffs who regularly attend competitions in their hometown of New York City, and the knowledge he gained from Cates about the making of the show, in addition to the fact that she had already attended a screening of “Wicked: For Good,” led him to do very well in the contest.

Bright pink and green lights adorned The Maso Studio for the occasion. Attendees were offered specialty cocktails including one titled “Team Glinda” that consisted of gin, strawberry-watermelon juice, lemon juice, and, naturally, edible glitter. Meanwhile, “Team Elphaba” comprised vodka, blue curacao, lemon juice, and mango nectar. Teams competed for “Wicked” notebooks, shirts, mugs, and tote bags, provided by Universal Studios.

Whether fans appreciate “Wicked” for Jeff Goldblum and Ariana Grande, for Kristin Chenoweth and Jon M. Chu, or for Gregory Maguire and Idina Menzel, everyone found something to love at the trivia night.