This dissertation examines the rhetoric of social movement leadership and hegemony in the musical Wicked, suggesting that the musical offers "equipment for living" to its audience members. Constructing a rhetorical text using the New York performance script, sheet music, cast recording, and three performances of Wicked, I analyzed the musical through an extended version of cluster criticism, clustering themes rather than terms to form meanings.
Chapter 1 of this dissertation provides an introduction to the study, a rationale, and a preview to the rest of the dissertation. Chapter 2 presents a literature review that informs the rest of the study. This chapter includes literature on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its many offspring, as well as a brief history of American musical theatre and its use as a method of societal critique. Chapter 2 also presents a discussion of the concepts of leadership, hegemony, and social movement characteristics and rhetoric. Chapter 3 discusses my extension of cluster criticism in detail, as well as explains how I am using cluster criticism, a method of rhetorical criticism, in conjunction with performance studies.
Chapter 4 discusses strategies and tools used by the hegemonic regime in Wicked and the role that apathy plays in the effectiveness of these strategies and tools. It also offers two types of hegemonic leaders through the characters of Madame Morrible and the Wizard of Oz. Chapter 5 defines the fictional Animal Rights Movement in Wicked as a social movement, with Elphaba as the movement's militant leader. This chapter explores Elphaba's journey as a social movement leader, ending with her downfall and the legacy she left behind. In Chapter 6, using the character of Glinda as an example, I argue that the line between social movement leadership and institutional leadership is not as strict as scholars have previously argued. This chapter explores Glinda's transition from apolitical referent leader to the confident, social-conscious leader of Oz at the end of the musical. The final chapter of this dissertation offers various "equipments for living" for audience members and readers to consider, as well as suggestions for future research.