Wicked Good

[fuzzygruf]

Had a bi-weekly team meeting yesterday. Four people missed it. Lucky them. My boss made some really stupid comments. Ray questioned her on the number of required sign offs. She said the benefits outweigh everything else. Liar. Bitch. Eric said that the "new" group doesn't seem to want to include us. They took over our team, but haven't given us access to work on their stuff. He complained about the "team" meeting. I mentioned that at least he was invited. Then everyone got naked and sang "Feelings." Lies abound.

Got home and Steve was napping. He briefly woke up when I got home, but stayed in bed for another 90 minutes. I napped for about 30 minutes. I need sleep.

We took the Muni downtown around 6pm or so. We walked up Powell, then turned on Geary. Steve was in the mood for Chinese. We headed up Jones and turned on Post. Ah, the Burma House. We had eaten there previously before another show at the Curran. Rangoon Stuffed Shrimp, Burma Beef, and Pan Fried Green Beans. We didn't bother to take the leftovers to give to the homeless. Not in an enabling mood these days.

Got to the Curran about 7:45pm. Lots of bears. I saw Victor & Steve. I noticed more than a dozen. Must have been bears night out. Jimmy from Daddy's was there, which made Steve all happy. :-) Now he'll have to go Daddy's and compare notes about the show.

The show was "Wicked." Music by Stephen Schwartz, based on Gregory Maguire's novel about the "wicked witch of the west." Pre-Broadway. I moaned when I saw the slip of paper fall out of my Playbill. Kristin Chenoweth was replaced at this performance by the understudy. Grrrrr. (I heard later that she was having back problems.) The sets were oversized and decent, based on the inside workings of the clock mentioned so much during the first part of the novel. No mention made about the clock. Were the sets just for those "in the know"? The show picked up several chapters into the book when Elphaba enters the University of Shiz. (Trivia: Maguire named the wicked witch "Elphaba" after Oz's creator, L. F[rank] Ba[um].) The show used just a few ideas from the book, but this certainly is NOT Gregory Maguire's novel. Weird how they changed the story so much. The whole book was really steeped in Elphaba's religious upbringing and views. No religion here. No mention of Lurlin. Dorothy's not in the book much, but here even less so. The show worked, though, even though parts of it don't resemble the book at all. Totally different ending. That's fine. I think those only knowing Oz from the movies can appreciate it. Those knowing the book can appreciate the surprises that this is a different story. It did seem to capture the essential spirit of Glinda and Elphaba, though, and makes you think about what really is "wicked."

The show did make great use of showing Glinda as quite the blonde. I'd love to see Kristin Chenoweth doing it. HOWEVER, the understudy, Melissa Bell Chait, was fantastic. Idina Menzel as Elphaba was GREAT. She played Maureen in Rent. Her voice was BIG. Her song, "The Wizard and I" showcases her talent. Several good songs in the show, but only a few that I'm envisioning at a sing-a-long. I can see singing "What is this Feeling" (Loathing) with Dennis. Right after we sing "Nice" from Lucky Stiff. ;-) Steve naturally liked "Popular." Big surprise. I can see Leslie singing "I'm Not That Girl." "Defying Gravity" was probably the biggest song in the show, making a great closing to the first act. With a couple word changes "Wonderful" would be a great addition to Leslie's repertoire. Great for cabaret. (Robert Morse, who sings "Wonderful," does fine as a bumbling old wizard, but at 72, his performance certainly doesn't compare to the women in the show.) I'm looking forward to the CD, which I believe is due out this fall. As usual, it'll probably take a couple years before the songbook comes out.

The show has several inside jokes, although they did lose the "Oranges and lemons and tangerines, oh my!" portion that Doug told us about. (The sound was much better in this show than in Kiss Me Kate. Great job, Doug!) Lots of parallel references to things in Iraq. Some were funny, other's fell pretty flat. (I rarely laugh at the phrase "Regime Change." Maybe cause I'm so looking forward to that happening in my own country.) One of the funniest lines was "Quick! The goat is on the lam!" Lots of laughs there. I think I'm the only one who laughed when they mentioned that the absolute worst place in all of Oz was The Badlands. Guess they haven't been to Hole in the Wall. All in all, there were some very funny moments. My "good witch/bad witch" t-shirt was naturally the correct one to wear.

Go see the show!