Wicked at the Saroyan Theatre

Tonight I saw Wicked for the first time. I’ve listened to the soundtrack for years, but I’ve never had the opportunity to see it until now. And I feel like I should preface this by saying that it’s not my favorite musical of all time. It’s certainly nowhere near my LEAST favorite. That honorable title belong to “Paint Your Wagon.” Judging from tonight’s performance though, my favorite parts of the performance were the elaborate sets and fantastical costumes. You might think a traveling show would minimize the effort put into the display to make setup and takedown easier, but no. This was incredible. And the costumes were so fun! I would actually think about wearing some of these out and about. Truth.

Elphaba was amazing. Her vocals were spot on all the time and it’s nice to see how one actress can differ from what you’re used to hearing on the cast album. It wasn’t surprising that the audience cheered like mad when she “flew” in the song “Defying Gravity” and it was well deserved. It was quite stunning. And right when I thought, “Oh she’s just standing on a pedestal and it’s a trick of lighting and black sets” a crowd of ensemble ran underneath her to prove me wrong. Excellent.

Fiyero was handsome. And his vocals were also absolutely perfect. His high notes were amazing. I think I’m in love. But how does one love a scarecrow. Oops. Spoiler!

Glinda’s vocals were a little sketchy. She could have been an understudy for Doctor Dillamond. Hah!

All in all, I loved the show. It still doesn’t catapult to number one on my list of faves. But I still enjoyed it immensely.

I’m writing this in Visalia. Part one of my spring break journey has commenced, and I’ve decided to pit stop here to cut my travel time down tomorrow. And In an effort to ensure that this post gets posted today, I’m gonna keep it short and sweet. So here’s to a bunch of long and involved posts about partying and the beach and Disneyland to come! And I’m gonna leave you with a fun video that I first saw at The Motherlode (of all places) in West Hollywood.