It's Friday and El Nino 2016 Storm #7 is on it's way today. Here's the leading edge cloudiness.
According to the weather service, thunderstorms will be rolling over around 7 - 9 PM this evening. We'll see. The sun breaks over the South Bay as you can see here.
Last Saturday, on a lark and on a last-minute thought, I decided to go down to Costa Mesa and see the national touring production of Wicked.
You may have seen my extended quote of the song "For Good" last week. Whenever I take a look at something like that, it begins to persist in my attention. They had stray seats available; single seats that are left over as a show sells out. Since most people think of going to the theatre as a social activity (even though the experience is basically individual) nobody likes to sit alone. As a tax preparer who has done returns for many people in the media and performing arts, it's common for such pros to attend what we think of as entertainments alone, because they need to stay current or they're interested in the technique of someone in particular, etc.
I've had this conversation with women in the past (and some men). Many will absolutely NOT go to a movie alone because it is a signal (to others) but mostly to themselves that they are a "loser." I suppose I "get" it if you only think of moviegoing as a date activity. If you think of it that way, yeah sure it's kind of like a public masturbatory act, and who would do that other than "performance-art" artists? (There we go with the arts pros again ...).
Before the show started, a guy who had bought two single seats earlier for his wife and himself had been tracking the ticket sales and he knew I had bought a single, so he asked if we could swap seats so that he could sit next to his wife. Wow, now that's dedication to the ethic I just described. How could I refuse him? Actually we all had a nice conversation about the show and the theatre at intermission. I also conversed with a fellow in the party sitting next to me. These were both men who were taking their wives to this show that each had seen before 4-5 times. Let me mention that I bought a ticket fairly close to the stage, so these seats are not cheap. The folks who sit up close are pretty chatty I've found.
The show was fine. After seeing it I totally understood why it is a hit. It is all about female empowerment, about being a smart girl with ethics and ideals in a corrupt world, and you wind up being the one called "wicked." The first act closing set piece "Defying Gravity" is when the young witch Elphaba figures out how to fly and she sings this anthem-like piece which is very similar (and predates) "Let It Go" from Frozen, and both are sung by characters first actuated by Idina Menzel. So I'm thinking "Let It Go," definitely owes something to "Defying Gravity."
The show is totally unlike Gregory Maguire's book. But then Gregory Maguire's book is totally unlike Frank Baum's book. And Baum's world of Oz has gotten several riffs and reboots over the years (not to mention MGM's movie least of all with someone called Judy Garland...just in case you are under the mistaken impression that the movie is "canon").
As far as the script and action of the show go, it's just too much a short-schrift that they give to Maguire's ideas, but they've only got what? 90 minutes, so you gotta compress, but the music's great and romantic and inspirational and SPOILER ALERT the girl gets the boy in the end. So all's well in the rom-com musical universe (to do otherwise is a guaranteed non-hit).
OK, I'm just talking to myself and probably my daughter and son-in-law here, so I'll just shut up and go pay the rent.
Love,
Pops
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