Everyone Needs a Little Wicked in Their Lives....

The first play I remember attending was Guys and Dolls when I was in the ninth grade. Clark College put it on and mom was doing the lights, so she asked if I'd like to see it. I don't remember who I saw it with, but I remember the play very well. I loved the music and the story and the characters. I loved the sets and the costumes. I just loved everything about the experience.

Okay, it probably wasn't the FIRST play I went to, but it was the one that made the first impression on me. All plays following were held up to the standard that I had set in my memory of that play. All through the high school productions, the college productions, and many of the non-Broadways, none could ever take the place in my heart and memory of that first performance of Guys and Dolls.

Last summer I saw Phantom of the Opera. Wow, what an amazingly wonderful play. Beautiful sets, costumes, songs, everything. It was part of the Broadway Across America performances that come into Portland. After seeing it, I was forced to grudgingly give it a shared spot in my heart for Best Play Ever. But that was the closest any play ever has come to a successful coup.

Until last night.

Mom, Don and I went and saw Wicked and WOW. It was easily the most amazing play I've ever seen. The story was fun, a little twisted (but in a good way) and full of unexpected "Ah-ha" moments. It was so intense. It drew me in and told the story so completely that when the lights came on for intermission, I realized that if that had been the end of the play, I would have been plenty satisfied. But that wasn't the end. There was still so much story left to be told.

It told the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz and how she came to be known as we know her. It was a story about intentions and perceptions. And it introduced the idea that things are rarely as uncomplicated as they seem; that people are not usually just "good" or "evil" but usually a mixture of both and that it is how they are percieved that makes them so.

I'm obsessed. I want to go out and get the book now (despite what I've been told about the play being better). I have the soundtrack for the play and I have been listening to it nonstop since last night. I can't say enough about the play. Everything feels too inadequate in comparison.

Oh and by the way, now that Phantom and Wicked have been crossed off my list, the only Broadway play left for me to see is Beauty and the Beast. Once I've seen that one, I'll be able to die having "seen it all".