Showing posts with label Theater - Wicked. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theater - Wicked. Show all posts

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Okay, so Wicked late...

I had to throw that pun in there.

I'm finally going to share with you my amazing experience from last Saturday. There is back story to explain first...

I have more than seen Wicked. I was backstage, I was on the stage, I was in the costumes. I was all but in the show. Needless to say, I'm slightly in love with the show now. Moreso, since I was in love with it before that.
You see, my Crohn's disease, for all how much of a pain in the ass it can be, is loaded with perks. And I am never one to keep the door shut when opportunity is knocking...so when I was told I could have a wish granted by A Wish Come True Inc. of Rhode Island, I leapt at the chance and the end of July 2005 and the beginning of August 2005 saw my family in New York City, staying in the fanciest hotel, loaded with cash, and with a backstage tour of Wicked. (And Rent, but that is neither here nor there at the moment...)

Now, it just so happens that Wicked has come to Providence, RI, the hometown of Eugene Lee, the award-winning set designer for the show. In fact, he still lives there. It also so happens that my family is well connected in the theater industry (dear Lord, we are lucky devils sometimes :-P).
So we got tickets. Amazing tickets.
Now, knowing that the set is usually cut back and things often just aren't as good in the touring shows as the Broadway show, we were all a little prepared for it to be not as good as the Broadway show. We weren't going to be disappointed, because we had lower expectations for this performance.
It did not meet our expectations.
It wildly exceeded them. The show was the best touring production I have ever seen. The set was nearly exactly the same as the Broadway set (which makes sense, because you know Eugene Lee came to see it and you know he'd throw a diva-fit if his set was wrong :-P), and everything else....it was spectacular. Everything about this touring production was Broadway level.
If you have the chance to see this production while it is in Providence (which means you already bought the tickets :-P) you MUST SEE IT.