As Glinda the good witch in "Wicked," Katie Rose Clarke descends from the sky like a fairy goddess, her wheel-like conveyance giving off bubbles. "No one mourns the wicked," she sings in the show's splashy opening, setting up a simplistic good-versus-evil narrative.

Yet the story that unfolds has never seemed more nuanced or current.

That this gal-pal musical should resonate so differently in its loud and self-assured return to Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre, where it opened Thursday, is a testament to its strength.

You might say, "Duh, of course how we see a work of art changes with the times." But this "Wicked" seems deeper and a lot more fun.

Smoothly directed by Joe Mantello, the darkly comic musical by Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) and Winnie Holzman (book) has overt references from our political discourse, including "regime change" in Oz. And good witch Glinda is Sarah Palin-like in her sense of herself and her mangling of the language.

This prequel to "The Wizard of Oz" also speaks to characters' ability to transform. And the unlikeliest change agent is an outcast: green-skinned Elphaba (Donna Vivino). Isolated and mocked because of her difference, she is a victim of bigotry. Her family has low expectations of her -- she is to be a caretaker for her disabled sister at a boarding school. Yet Elphaba stands up and fights for herself, rooming with the most popular girl in Oz, Glinda. She also dreams of love with Fiyero (Cliffton Hall), the popular bad-boy prince.

Elphaba, something of an animal-rights activist, grows in confidence as her presence helps Oz become a more humane place and even as she pays dearly for her knowledge about the wizard.

I had problems with some of the numbers. Vivino's Elphaba seems loud and literally overblown while singing "No Good Deed" (goes unpunished). The point does not merit a whole song. And often the amplification is too much, hammering us with emotions already elicited by the fine cast.

While Vivino's first act rendition of "I'm Not That Girl" is poignant, the reprise of that song in the second act by Clarke's Glinda is more affecting.

In fact, Clarke is the surprise here. She has pipes like Broadway diva Bernadette Peters and invests Glinda with the nervous energy of Amy Sedaris and the air-headedness of a pageant queen. She delivers her character with a mugging relish. It's true that the self-absorbed blonde is a shopworn convention but it's, well, wickedly funny here.

Lenny Wolpe plays the wizard with a darling heart. He makes us see why it was "Wonderful" to be a fraud. Myra Lucretia Taylor is also impressive as Madame Morrible, as is Tom Flynn as Doctor Dillamond, the teacher who is a goat.

The humor that suffuses "Wicked" helps to make it a resonant winner.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390