Wicked

Went to the Pantages Theater to see the play “Wicked” and had a good night. A few comments are appropriate about the theater before I say some good things about the play. I appreciate that some of the nicer venue have been restored to their former glory. The time that a theater was a glamorous building that was a part of the whole experience is being relived in some places today. I have been to the Beacon Theater in New York and it also fits into this category. The Pantages is a big comfortable place to see a show and deserves a mention as a part of the experience. A plain theater just does not make it when you are spending a lot of money and want a total evening of fun. The Pantages meets all of the criteria for a good show and even the people working there were of a caliber that added to the enjoyment.

But more importantly was the play itself. “Wicked” is a story that we all think we know. It is not a remake of “The Wizard of Oz., it is more than the back story of what occurred before the story that is the movie. The story involves the two witches that are a major part of the movie story and tells about their relationship with each other before the tornado and then gives us another side of that story and why that part of the story came about. You never will see Dorothy or Toto and none of the music from the movie is really used in the play. I never like to write about the contents of a production because you do spoil a story when you tell any part of it, not just the end. Let me just say that the songs are not something that I will hum for the rest of the day. They do convey the story and are good. I may use “No Good Deed” as a theme song because of its meaning, but that phrase has always been one that I feel is so appropriate.

Let me just say that if you have an opportunity to see the play, do it and you will have a fun night. Listen carefully and you will see how some things that you thought you knew are not the same in this telling of the story.