Monday, September 28, 2009

"Wicked" Weekend!

What a weekend!  I FINALLY got to see the musical "Wicked" in Des Moines!  I've wanted to see it for a couple of YEARS now, but either the timing wasn't right, or the finances weren't, so it never happened (even tough I think it's been in the Twin Cities THREE times since it started touring!).


What can I say...except WOW!  What an amazing show!  The cast was STELLAR (except for the guy who played Fiero, who tended to go sharp whenever he sang his high notes...NOT pleasant).  We had the understudy (or "stand by" as the program listed her) for Elphaba, but she was REALLY, REALLY good!  The actress portraying Guh-linda was HYSTERICAL, and even channeled a little bit of Mary Catherine Gallagher during "Popular"...she was AWESOME!

The set was amazing, the costumes were FABULOUS, and it was truly a WONDERFUL show.  I sat next to Tena, and we were BOTH mouthing the lyrics to SEVERAL of the songs (I hid behind my program to do so...especially sicne the only songs I knew were Guh-linda's and Elphaba's)!!!

I REALLY liked how the musical wove the "classic" movie version into this story!  Origins of the tin woodman, the scarecrow, the cowardly lion...even the flying monkeys were cleverly touched upon, as were the departure of the wizard from Oz, Dorothy's ruby slippers, the Emerald City, and the whole "I'm melting" bit...VERY clever.  Not a seamless fit, but charming and clever enough to make it work!

The weekend was a blast all the way around...from staying at the Holiday Inn...where a drag queen pageant was taking place in the ballroom on the top floor (!!), to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with good friends from Fairfield, to walking amongst hot air balloons being "fired up" for a leukemia walk, to brunch with Kim and Ashley on Sunday morning....fun, fun, fun!!!

The only NOT FUN part was the HORRIBLE night at the hotel...the elevator was located right outside our door (and people JUST DON'T GET IT that there are guests BEHIND all of the doors in that long hallway trying to sleep, and, when getting off the elevator at 1:30 in the morning should NOT TALK AT ALL UNTIL THEY GET INSIDE THEIR OWN FREAKING ROOMS!!!).  It didn't really matter, I guess, because across the room from the door, outside our window, interstate 235 was continually rumbling by... Noisy...ALL NIGHT LONG, and not a very good night's sleep.

Oh well...all things considered...it was a TRULY magical weekend!  GREAT SHOW, GREAT FRIENDS, and some GREAT ADVENTURES...in Des Moines...who knew??!!

Here are some pictures...







Kim and me

Kim, Ashley, and me

Ashley and Duane

Duane and Kim

Tena and me outside the Civic Center


Duane and me

Andrew and Tena

Heather, Andrew, Duane, and Tena

Hope YOUR weekend contained some WICKED fun as well!!!!

2 comments:

Rory said...

Oh my, it was you at Collectamania on Saturday.

Jeff S. said...

I WAS at Collectamania on Saturday!!! What an interesting place, and, apparently, a small world!