Mariand Torres & Erin Mackey in Wicked. JOAN MARCUS
We have romantic comedies and we have buddy comedies. But has anyone, as of yet, coined the term “frenemy comedy?” We have the well-worn cliché of the odd couple—two people who have nothing in common, yet become friends—but the particular thrill that comes from despising someone so much that they become the most important person in your life and push you to achieve feats never before thought possible still lacks a dedicated sub-genre category.
It’s that dynamic, between frenemies Elphaba (Sarah Anne Fernandez) and Galinda (Erin Mackey), that propels the best numbers in the now-classic musical Wicked, which is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire—itself a subversive retelling of The Wizard of Oz.
