Polite Dissent

The Polite-Wife and I are back from a brief — yet very nice — pre-weekend getaway. Thursday night we were in Chicago to see the musical Wicked at the Oriental Theater.

It was an excellent show; the best musical I’ve seen in quite a while (much better than The Producers). The sets and costumes were well done and the singers, particularly Elphaba and Fiyero, were perfect. I liked the way the musical alluded to both The Wizard of Oz movie and book (for instance, the guards costumes were right out of the movie, but the slippers were the book’s silver — not the movie’s ruby).

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Wicked, it’s based on a book of the same name by Gregory Maguire. This book takes a look at the events leading up to and including The Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch’s point of view. That’s a gross oversimplification of the story, but it gives you the general idea of the theme.

Like most of the best musicals, it’s not always a happy story, but it’s one that’s well worth watching. We’ll definitely see it again, and this time try to sit a little closer to the stage than our balconey seats last night. If you like musical theater at all, I highly recommend Wicked.