Wicked Wednesday

On Wednesday, I took my mother to see Wicked at The Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. We went to the 2pm matinee. If you aren't familiar with the story, it is the (unauthorized and unrelated) prequel to the Wizard of Oz story. Now, when I first heard about this story, I thought it was a stupid plotline. I didn't get the hype. I've now seen it, I get the hype. It is a fascinating story well told with great music, awesome actors, and amazing special effects.

The show is a bit long, close to 3 hours but there is one very necessary intermission 2/3 of the way through. The cast is full of talent. Amazing voices. The actors are not well known in the non-Broadway world (meaning, I don't recognize them from TV or Film) but a couple of familiar faces do pop up such as Carol Kane known for many television shows and films, one of them being "Taxi". Also in the cast is David Garrison, not a household name but you might remember him as Steve Darcy, the first husband of chicken-legged neighbor turned lesbian Marcy Darcy on "Married with Children". Wicked in San Francisco is funny, clever, makes you think, and brings back memories of that old movie from 70 years ago. I'd be interested to see how sales of The Wizard of Oz spiked in San Francisco. I'm sure plenty of people walked out of the Orpheum wanting to watch the 1930's fantasy with that sweet faced pre-pill popping Judy Garland. Me, eh...I'd rather just go see Wicked again.