Okay, the posters have been all over town for months, various online newsletters and entertainment sites have forewarned you – Did you get a ticket?  Did Ya?

Wicked – still here at the National Arts Centre for a few week!

If you want to read anything bad about the show, the worst part was that I could not clearly understand the “ensemble” songs – when 10 people or more are combining voices to create amazing harmonies and powerful vocal energies, the lyrics would get lost amongst it all.  The rest of this post = “fangirl time”!

So,  I had taken a phone pic of the stage set up while waiting – and then I managed to delete it – so I’ll describe it.  The curtain is a large map of the Land of Oz, like you would find in a fantasy book, hand drawn with each area indicated and the central focus is, of course, the Emerald City, all sparkly with green lights glittering.  Above this is a huge dragon, nestled on the top of the map, overseeing it all, and us!

The show opens with the “ensemble cast”  power singing, then the lovely Glinda singing in the most blonde and bubbly voice you have ever heard!  Since I really don’t want to give away anything – I loved going with no foreknowledge of what to expect other than having listened to the audio book, Wicked, by Gregory Maguire – I don’t want to spoil it for any of you.

So this is a general rave about it!

Click here for all of the cast – I think this is pretty accurate to what i saw last nigth!

– costumes: inspired!  Reminiscent of the movie, Wizard of Oz, but really that was just a hint of a direction that was then expanded upon beautifully.  I suspect there will be a lot of new characters gracing the Gathering, this coming October!

-Singing: Elphaba – blew me away. Glinda, also amazingly accurate to character!

– Monkeys: pretty good, though not quite as notable as the imps in Dracula from a few years back.

-the Wizard – hmm, I am torn here.  I found I immediately disliked him, but perhaps that was because he did a good job, the character being one that could go either way.

– Orchestra – great – although once in a while it did drown out the singing briefly – again making it difficult for me to understand all lyrics – but this is my obsession, so it may not matter to others quite as much.

Anyway, I am not the only person who saw it last night – the place was full.  Men, women, and teenage girls – and everyone had a great time.

My New T-Shirt – with some additions by me 🙂

Reminder that Row A in the Balcony is a good seat if you have no fear of heights.

So, did you go?  Are you going?  Post some comments and share your thoughts!