BROOM AT THE TOP

Sunday The Kid got to go visit a pal while The Wife & I & two friends had the chance to see the national tour of Wicked at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe. I had never seen the show, the story of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West & her long, complicated, love-hate-betrayal-&-bonding relationship with Glenda the Good, adapted, loosely, from Gregory Maguire’s densely imagined novel.

Simply as slick theatrical spectacle, it’s among the best I’ve ever seen—from the opening seconds, where we see the Winged Monkeys capering acrobatically around the clockwork set, presided over by a huge stylized dragon, it’s like watching a Melies movie come to life. I was surprised, however, by how much I liked the show not just as theatre, but as music & drama. The score is of the contemporary rousing-belt sort, & the lyrics are often very clever, while the story cheekily debunks simplistic, fairy-tale ideas of good & evil.

Subtextually, it’s really about the price that modern women pay, & the empowerment they can receive, by embracing the choice not to be conventionally “nice”—a more accurate title for the show might be Bitchy. But in light of the current debates on the Right even in this country, it should be said that such choices for women clearly are still regarded as wicked.

Anyway, great show; go see it if you get the chance. The Gammage run continues through March 11; click here for more info.