The Dark Avalon Scrolls

So last month, amyrayh bought tickets for me and shatterpath to see Wicked for our combined early birthday presents.

And yesterday was the day. We had tickets in the second mezzanine at the Paramount Theatre, house left basically on the aisle midway up the section. There really isn't a BAD seat in this theatre, trust me. This is where I saw RENT back in 2007. I was stoked to go there again.

The day started out overcast and raining. amyrayh drove us over as she was going to go do some shopping while we were at the show. She's totally not into Wicked, like at all. Which is okay. shatterpath and I would more than enjoy ourselves for three...or more. So driving over, we got hit with a WALL of water between Tacoma and Seattle. It was absolutely insane! But it was pretty much done by the time we got dropped off at the theatre.

We got into our seats and the show started a few minutes late. Which was okay. The seats. Yeah, if you've never been to the Paramount, it's an old theatre that was built in 1928. The seats are kind of small. They were tight for my hips, even tighter for shatterpath's. But the kicker was the depth between seat and next seat in front. I was okay, but it was quite tight for shatterpath, and she kind of lost feeling in her legs during both acts, tho' it wasn't as bad during the second act. Did I mention that it was a packed house. If there were unsold seats [there were a few empties], I'd be surprised.

Anyway, the set was incredible. The Time Dragon and the clockwork mechanics framing the proscenium were incredible. And the scrim showing the map of Oz had me staring for several minutes. And then the lights went down, the Time Dragon's eyes began to glow and smoke came out of his nostrils...and I knew our ride was starting.

I know the book and the musical QUITE well, but I still wasn't prepared for this. Not even after seeing Rent was I prepared for this. To follow the cliche, I laughed, I cried, I got completely sucked into the storyline and lost all track of time. And I winced at a few clunkers. We had the standby for Elphaba [Meredith Kaye Clark] and one of the two understudies for Glinda [Melissa Lupp]. I think our Glinda understudy was really new and being broken in. She had a nervous quality about her that just screamed that she probably hasn't been with the production for very long. Don't get me wrong, she was pretty good, but just didn't quite have the energy that our Elphaba had. Let me just say this right now :: Melinda Kaye Clark has a VOICE. She doesn't quite have the full belting power of Idina Menzel, but she's close enough for me. Plus? When speaking, she kinda sounded like Menzel, which threw me and shatterpath for a loop a couple of times. It was incredible.

We spent the intermission walking around so shatterpath could get feeling back in her legs. I kinda needed to pee and had to since before the show started, but the line was snaked around double and there was no way I was going to miss a fucking second of this show! So we made our way back in for the rest of the show. Once again, we were completely and utterly sucked into the storyline. By the time "For Good" hit, we were both pretty much in tears until the end of the show. And yes, there was a standing ovation.

Now, details... Lenny Wolpe, the man playing the Wizard in our production, created the role in the LA readings that started Wicked. How fucking is it that we got THE Wizard that started it all? Our Madame Morrible was fantastic. She really did have a powerhouse voice that could steal a scene. Our Nessarose was beautiful...and I'll admit that I was coveting the silver shoes. I was giggling a bit that Glinda and Elphaba were the same height, but our Fiyero was TALL! Good lord, he was a tall man! That or our Elphaba was very short, as she pretty much came up to his chest area.

The costumes. *swoons* Absolutely, utterly, breathtakingly gorgeous! I particularly fell in love with one of the costumes in "One Short Day". And speaking of the Emerald City numbers, I have never seen so many shades of green together unless looking at paint chips! Mind boggling, to say the least. Sometimes the songs even took a sort of back seat to the songs and the harmonies... Granted, there were some clunker notes, but despite initialy winces/groans upon finding them, I agree with shatterpath that there weren't any that were SO bad as to bring us out of the show. They made it more obvious that it WAS live.

There were only 3 2 real moments that threw me out of the story. And I can completely and utterly blame both on my theatre techie background. The first [and most obvious, as shatterpath caught it, too] was the spotlight guy up in the gearworks on stage left. He had his light on at one point to change gels and it was really obvious for me. Now considering I was basically just above and across the theatre from him, I couldn't help but notice it. If I'd been in a different seat, I might not have noticed it. After that, I kept looking at him when that spot came on. The second time was when there was a spot on the Wizard in the "Wonderful" number. I could see the shaft of light in my peripheral vision to my right. It annoyed me enough that I had to follow it back to the booth at the back of the theatre above the third mezzanine area. Once I saw where it was coming from, I completely ignored it.

The third time I got thrown out of the show? Completely and utterly shatterpath's fault. And she'll wholeheartedly agree with me on that, too. It was during the "As Long As You're Mine" scene. She leans over and whispers, "I have Cubby's question running through my head." That was all it took. And I know there are only a handful of you who would even GET that reference, but I had to share it...

shatterpath and I were giggling to ourselves about the people in the row in front of us as they whipped out their phones during intermission to text frantically [one was a teen, the other a woman roughly our age or a little older]. These people, along with the people immediately to my right, kept turning to stare at me and shatterpath when we'd "whoop" in appreciation of the actors at several points in the show [during the applause after numbers, of course, I'm not a total clod!]. They even gave me a VERY strange look when I whooped for the woman playing Morrible during the curtain call, in that "WTF are you doing? She's the bad guy!" kind of way. I resisted the urge to say, "I'm complimenting the actor, you plebian idiots!"

After the show, in which we let the masses out and let shatterpath get feeling in her legs again, we discussed the squee factor of the show some more. And I kept saying how badly I wanted to touch the Time Dragon, because A] theatre nerd wanted to know what it's made from, B] I just wanted to say I'd touched it, and C] the fan who believes wanted to know if it would actually DO anything. shatterpath laughed and said I'd only be able to touch it if I learned to defy gravity.

Oh the puns! Jeezus H M C Christ! How did I NOT know about all the puns in that damned show?

Anyway, we'd tried to get a program, but they were out at the merchandise booths, and I didn't want to get the "One Short Day Around the World" program, as I know I can get that one online. So after the show, we ended up getting the Oz ornament and a poster. Then we saw someone at that booth selling the demo of the umbrella, which we'd really wanted. So we went back to the first booth by the front door and asked if we could do the same. The guy said he couldn't make that decision & to go back to the far end booth and ask a manager. So while I went to use the potty finally, shatterpath went and found a manager who said it was okay and that shatterpath could "smack" the guy if he caused any problems. So she went back and we have the umbrella, which we got to use while waiting for amyrayh to come pick us up.

It really was an incredible show and I'm glad I finally got to see it. I would love to see more performances of this show, but that will be a while again. Maybe we'll still try to get down to San Francisco to see the cast there.