Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Christmas Present!

DH bought us tickets for Wicked for my Christmas present this year! He was encouraged (nagged) to do so by DD2, and I must say it was an excellent present.

The date was last Friday, and both of us took time off work in the afternoon to get the party started with a bang. We went to Red Lobster (DH's favorite) and participated in their sale, which made it very reasonable. Then we drove down town Chicago, arriving 2 hours before the curtain went up. We were not excited, or eager, or anything like that!

It was bitterly cold down town, so we waited at a nearby book-store, in the coffee shop. We read magazines, had coffee, enjoyed people watching, and each other's company. I noticed ballet classes going on across the street, and realized afterwards we were watching the Joffrey Ballet! So cool!

At the theater we saw people dressed all the way from "North Face" comfort to theater glitter. We were comfortably in the middle.

Wicked1

Of course, there is no photography allowed in the theater, but everyone I saw had their cell phone out. DH took this discreet photo. The Cadillac Theater is about 1/2 as big as the Chicago Theater we went to in September. The light section in the picture above is a map of Oz, with the Emerald City showing as a sparkly section in the middle. Above the map is a dragon, part of the Dragon Clock of Oz, which keeps time for the whole country. At strategic moments it would flap, the eyes would glow, and it would breath smoke. Fun!

The whole setting was a little "Steam Punk" which is funny, because I never pictured Oz that way. The story was good. Both of the main characters were the understudies, but still had beautiful voices. I only wish I had been able to understand the words better in the songs, but that is my own hearing, no one else's fault.

I wanted to get a picture of us in front of the Wicked poster, sort of "proof" we were there, but many other people had the same idea, and it was too cold to stand around waiting our turn. We just bundled up and headed for the car. We were both glad we had chosen warmth over fashion.

It was a wonderful evening. Thank you DH!

4 comments:

Gina said...

Hey, driving to downtown Chicago also means you risk getting hung up somewhere for a good hour so you were right in heading there early. Sounds like a great time had by all!

Lelia said...

http://www.stlyrics.com/w/wicked.htm

link above has lyrics -- just skip thru the 'ring tone' ads

two of our children have seen it + they enjoyed it very much.

Unknown said...

Glad you enjoyed yourself! My DD and her friends have gone to see it, and love it. I think there is a cd with the music from the show so that you could hear the words better. I know that DD has it playing sometimes on her computer.

Bonnie said...

I went with friends to see it in NYCity. It was my first time to a broadway show, and I loved it. Then it came locally so I took our Daughter to see it, I loved it as much the 2nd time as I did the first. Thank you for helping me to remember.