Date of Review: 11/24/2009
Type of Restaurant: Roadside stand with picnic tables and carryout; local catch.
Cuisine: Seafood & Beef
Terri
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I thought this would be just a bunch of singing and dancing within a substantially pared down version of the Wizard of Oz. Wow! Was I ever surprised and pleasantly so.
After redefining the Wicked Witch as a person with many admirable characteristics, such as humility, earnestness of purpose, loyalty and such, and Glenda, the Good Witch, as shallow and vain, the story took off for me and never landed until the end.
There were tens, if not hundreds, of subliminal moral messages being thrown throughout the play, each one like a javelin, e.g., it's not fair to judge someone adversely for being green. This was in the context of wit and humor with all the more force for the faintness with which it was inflicted.
Terri thought much of the humor was aimed at President George W. Bush, e.g., the inability to speak coherent thoughts and sentences, and I disagreed until I heard the words, "regime change," near the end. It was so subtle that I'm confident he wouldn't have "gotten it," unless he had someone sitting next to him to explain it.
This made the jabs all the more juicy and poignant.
But the greatest joy in this plot and presentation for me were not whatever digs were made at contemporary life, even though it was Shakespearean in that respect. The truthfulness of the tips of those javelins caused pang after pang in my heart strings, as so many of them resonated with everyday life experiences in the world today.
On top of that there was imaginative set design, colossally elaborate and appropos costumes, milled to the finest detail. The singing (operatic) and acting was superb and I wasn't expecting it. I give an A+ in acting for both witches! Patty Duke (Madam Morrible) did a commendable job in a supporting role, as did David Garrison (The Wizard).
Wicked was thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end, as evidence by the fact that both Terri and I cried, just before the final curtain. I think my sadness came mostly from the fact that the characters who had brought me so much joy for two hours were about to disappear forever.
So, it's two thumbs way up on this one! This is true, even though the tickets are outrageously expensive and heavily laden with ridiculous add on fees, such as for "processing" and "delivery," in an age when all of that could be done (and may well be) electronically for pennies.
In my grade book I give it an A+. The only other play I have ever seen that I may have enjoyed even more was Camelot, starring Richard Burton.
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Terri also gives Wicked a thumbs way up! She cried, too, but for a different reason.
She was touched by the relationship between the two witches, including how it grew and culminated. She was also taken by the observation that sometimes just knowing someone can change another person's life experience.
I thought the storyline was substantially random and amorphous. But, Terri saw it otherwise.
She saw a well structured storyline that consisted of rejection, hope and disillusionment, followed by redemption. I think she nailed it!
Terri loved the set design and commented many times about how much she'd love to have that job. She was also dazzled, as we all were, by the way that lighting was used to create illusions and effects that added much to the majesty and sense of realism in the play.
In the end, we were both delighted to have spent our 28th wedding anniversary in this way! We both highly recommend that you see it on the national tour now in progress. Here's a link to their informational website.
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