Wicked Is As Wicked Does

(warning: SPOILERS AHOY for both Wicked the musical AND Wicked the book.)

As you can see by the program above, I finally got to see Wicked: A New Musical last Friday, January 21st, as it finished out its Tucson run. Back in October, Nathan & I decided to treat ourselves -- we bought tickets to Wicked and decreed it would be our (slightly late) ninth anniversary celebration. So, we caught dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, strolled around the University of Arizona campus for a while, then finally sat down to enjoy the show.

And we weren't disappointed! I'd heard nothing but praise for this musical ever since it first appeared on my radar, and I'm happy to say that it (mostly) met my expectations.

More on that in just a moment, though (excuse me while I put on my "critic" hat)...

I was initially perplexed by the musical's huge popularity, since I really wasn't a fan of the book upon which it was based. I got the novel Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West as a birthday present years ago, and I was very excited--I thought the "twisted fairy tale" premise had a lot of potential. After reading it, though, I was mostly confused. Did I just not "get" it? Was I missing something? So, like the glutton for punishment I am, I read the book AGAIN.

After this second read-through, I was forced to admit that really, there wasn't much to "get." Gregory Maguire came up with a wonderful premise, a compelling heroine in Elphaba, and a nicely reimagined Oz...and then squandered all those things with a meandering, preachy, hopelessly muddled plot. The second half of the book really goes off the rails; it feels like Maguire is taking every soap-box topic in his arsenal and throwing them at the wall to see what sticks. The preachiness & the randomness of the novel's second half wore on me quickly; by the end, I no longer cared about any of the characters or what happened. So, I sold the book and gave it no more thought.

So, when the musical came calling, I decided to do some "research" to see if it was really worth my valuable time & money. I listened to the soundrack (not bad, I thought), and even checked out the "book of the musical" from our local library. From what I could gather, the musical focused primarily on the friendship of Glinda & Elphaba--a good thing in my mind. So it was off to the theater!

Comparing the two stories is really fascinating. My first impression was that the musical's plot was oversimplified--but in this case, that's a good thing! For example, here are a "few" things that DON'T happen in Wicked the musical:

-Elphaba was born inside the Time Dragon Clock, and was born with teeth & multiple genatalia (!!)
-Elphaba's "father" wasn't the governor of Munchkinland; he was a missionary preaching religion to the Munchkins.
-Nessarose was also a bastard, and instead of crooked legs, she was born with no arms. She also never had a "thing" for Boq; she was too busy being a religious zealot just like her daddy.
-Boq did have a crush on Galinda/Glinda, but got over it fairly fast. Instead, he becomes close friends with Elphaba and eventually marries one of Glinda's college friends.
-Dr. Dillamond isn't expelled from Shiz College; he's murdered in his classroom, and no investigation of the crime ever takes place
-Oh, by the way, Dillamond's killed by a Tik-Tok, a race of mechanical servants that populate all of Oz. They don't seem to be in the musical at all.
-Boq and Fiyero visit a nightclub in Emerald City and engage in a bestial orgy, scarring them sexually for life. Um, WHAT THE HECK??!?!?!?!?
-Elphaba doesn't flee the Emerald City after confronting the Wizard; she lives there for years afterwards as a domestic terrorist. She's not a lone revolutionary, but part of a whole underground movement.
-While in the underground, she starts an affair with Fiyero, who lives in town as a diplomat. Oh, by the way, he's married with 3 kids by now! When they met in college, he was already married (he got married at like 14), and his family was living back in the castle at Kiamo Ko.
-Poor Fiyero ends up being murdered, presumably by the Wizard's secret police force. Consumed with guilt, Elphaba retreats to a monastery, where she delivers Fiyero's bastard son and lives for seven more years, before traveling to Kiamo Ko to apologize to his widow.
-Elphaba lives at Kiamo Ko with Fiyero's family for at least a year. It's during this time that she starts messing with the Grimmerie, and she voluntarily creates the winged monkeys (although her original goal was just to have them speak; the wings ended up being an extra frill).
-At one point, Fiyero's family flees the castle, forced out by Ozian soldiers. They are presumed captured, and their fate is uncertain. Does Elphaba care? Does Maguire care? Nope...we never find out what happened to them.
-Nessarose becomes a tyrant ruler of Munchkinland, and it's a random cyclone that kills her, not one conjured up by Madame Morrible.
-Speaking of Madame Morrible, Elphaba tries to murder her by bashing her skull in towards the end of the book. However, Morrible had died just a few minutes before, denying Elphaba the satisfaction.
-At one point, Elphaba becomes convinced that the Scarecrow is Fiyero come back to life/in disguise. Why does she believe this? Heck if I know. It turns out to be untrue. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman are never explained in the book; we never learn who or what they really are.
-Surprise! Turns out Elphaba really is allergic to water. When confronting Dorothy, she accidentally catches her broom on fire. Dorothy tries to save her by throwing water all over her, and POOF (or should I say Ding Dong?), she's dead.

Got all that? Yeah, it irritated me just typing it out. Anyway, virtually none of that stuff is in the musical (one or two of those things are cleverly twisted at the musical's conclusion, however).

You may be asking yourself, "Where's Glinda in all that mess?" The answer is: "She's not in the book all that much, particularly after the first half." It's a shame, because she's one of the few supporting characters in the book that's truly enjoyable to read. She's a dynamic character that grows and changes over time, particularly with her relationship to Elphaba. Their unlikely friendship is one of the few things that really worked in the novel. Wisely, the musical's writers took that thread & ran with it.

The result is a very simplified version of the novel, which fancied itself both a socio-political allegory and an existential rumination on good & evil. The musical's story does raise some of the same questions of the book ("what is good?" versus "what is evil?"; how our personal biases affect our views of "right" and "wrong"), but does so primarily through the friendship of two very different people. The Wizard is still a mysterious tyrant, and he & Elphaba still clash over their treatment of the Animals, but that's no longer the main focus. In the musical, it's all about Elphaba and Glinda: how they meet; their rivalry-turned-friendship; how they view the world differently and how they are both forced to revise those views; and how their actions ultimately pull them down very different paths.

And that aspect of the musical works wonderfully. Most musicals have one strong male or female lead; Wicked the musical is really a two-woman show and I love that it treats both characters sympathetically, even though they don't always do the right thing or even treat each other well. It's a simpler way of telling the audience, "See? Sometimes it's not always about 'good' or 'evil'; it's just a different way of looking at a situation." And it's much less tedious than wading through pages of Elphaba moping and wondering if she's really "wicked" or not. She gets to take that journey with a friend, and that makes it a much more compelling journey for the audience.

There's only one aspect of the musical's story that really suffered in comparison to the book: the treatment of Nessarose and Boq. Both characters in the book were fairly dynamic and even likable. In the musical, they come off as pretty one-note and shrill. Boq's hopeless infatuation for Glinda ends up defining his whole character...he literally exists for no other purpose, except to explain where the Tin Woodsman comes from (unnecessary in the book, since the Tik-Toks were present).
Also, in Act 2, when Boq tells Elphaba that Nessarose is ruling Munchkinland with an iron fist, it seems to come out of nowhere, and Nessa's motivations seem silly. So...she becomes a tyrant because Boq doesn't love her enough? Hmmm. It works much better in the novel, when Nessarose attempts to convert (and then enforce) her strong religious beliefs over all of Munchkinland. Religion seems a better motivator for tyranny than pining over some boy. This has (sadly) been proven over and over again in real life. However, while I wish Nessa's character had more substance, I think removing the religious aspects of her character was a hard but necessary omission from the musical. Adding religious overtones to an already complex universe may have made the story too volatile & less audience-friendly.

Otherwise, though, most of the changes from book to musical were definitely "for good" (see what I did there?). The Elphaba/Fiyero/Glinda love triangle adds a nice dramatic thread (and a more personal conflict between the two friends that amps up the tension on stage). The Wizard is made more buffoonish, although Madame Morrible's character becomes stronger & more sinister to compensate. Having the Grimmerie be a well-known, mysterious artifact makes Elphaba seem that much more remarkable (and dangerous) to her opponents. And the lengthier "college" scenes in Act 1 make us care much more for the characters, so we can empathize with them when things go wrong in Act 2.

Speaking of Act 2...it seems to go really fast. Maybe it's because I'm aware of how much junk was cut out of the story to make it flow faster (see my list above, most of which takes place in the "Act 2" timeline equivalent in the book). But that's a minor complaint. As for the music itself...it's pretty good but not great. A few songs sound a little too "pop" and I worry that they'll sound outdated in another decade or so. The same goes for some of the dialogue and slang used in the show. However, most of the music is in good service to the story, and there are a few real showstoppers ("For Good," "No Good Thing," and "Defying Gravity" in particular are great--"Defying Gravity" gives me goosebumps!).

I hope this doesn't sound like me being too critical; these are just some thoughts I've had stewing for the last week. I really had a great time at the musical, and think that, while it could have been a little better, was still the superior version of the story--it actually manages to improve on Maguire's original idea! I also think this is a good show for girls (not that it's overly "girly"; Nathan really enjoyed it as well). Maybe I like the idea that girls can feel empowered watching Elphaba make her own destiny, and even watching Glinda grow beyond her original narrow views to embrace the exciting differences in others. I look forward to going back to see Wicked again someday--and this time I hope to take my girls along!

However, I'll probably pass on the book... :)

Our Disneyland Thanksgiving: The Road Home

What more can I say?? We woke up, we packed, we ate breakfast, we hit the road. We took lots of potty breaks, we (almost) ran out of gas at one point, we had some quick meal stops, and after driving through a lot of nothingness on I-8 (and later, on I-10), we made it home.

We don't know exactly when we'll go back to Disneyland...probably in 3 years or so (sometime after Celeste turns 5). In the meantime, though, we'll have lots of good memories to keep our hearts warm. Yes, I am aware that last sentence was a little cheesy.

The only other thing to report is our short (but very photograph-filled) trip to the beach--a place the likes of which our children have never seen (and Nate & I have rarely visited). I'm afraid the exact location of this particular beach escapes me; it was south of Laguna Beach but north of Dana Point.  Regardless, it was a beautiful, secluded spot, and we were almost the only people there since it was early Saturday morning!

It was neat to show the girls what an ocean looks like, and it was calm & refreshing to get some sand between our toes before the long drive home. Here are a few pictures:

See you back in Arizona!

Our Disneyland Thanksgiving, Part 4

One more day at Disneyland Resort...time to hustle and check off all the things on our wish-list!

As you can see above, we rode the Teacups (and posed in the stationery teacup for a picture with cheesy grins galore). But what next?

How about the Matterhorn, which we'd been talking up since Day 1? Lorelai had asked about it over & over again, but when we finally got to the front of the line, she almost lost her nerve. Daddy had to almost force her into the toboggan. Only the fact that Celeste was also going on the ride finally made her toughen up. Still, I think she kept her eyes closed the whole way down (she was terrified of the "monster" in the ride, which we'd made the mistake of telling her about). Sweet Celeste, on the other hand, went on the ride with zero expectations, did okay, and lived to brag about it afterwards. Ah, the joys of being oblivious to fear.

 We also took a brief trip inside Sleeping Beauty's castle, so Aurora could see her namesake!

 From there, we headed further into the park to catch some of the classic rides, starting in New Orleans Square, which was all gussied up for the holidays. First, to atone for Wednesday's misfire, we all headed aboard the Pirates of the Caribbean ride...

...which, hum, I didn't get any pictures of, except this Jack Sparrow painting smiling sexily at me. Oh well, this ride needs no introduction: it's really incredible and tons of fun all the way through. I hadn't been on the ride since before the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, and I was wary of the revamps Disneyland had done. But I needn't have worried; the changes were small ones that didn't detract from the animatronic goodness already on display. It was a little unnerving to see a life-sized Johnny Depp simalcrum moving & talking, but it was all in good fun.

I was even more excited to see The Haunted Mansion, which was given an EXTREME holiday makeover, a la The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of my favorite movies when I was a teen. There was a lot of wonderful detail...

It looked great inside & out! When all was said & done, though, I think I preferred the original Haunted Mansion to the tricked-out Jack Skellington version. There's something pitch-perfect about the goofy, slightly spooky tone of the original, and it didn't need any improvement. Plus, it doesn't feel like such obvious merchandise-whoring, since Nightmare is soo hot these days with the Johnny-born-lately fans, who buy all their clothes at Hot Topic and bizarrely fancy themselves ahead of the crowd on this one. Um, hello teenage girls, wearing those "Jack" T-shirts? Yeah...I was watching that movie on video before you were even born.

 Anyway, moving on...we visited Critter Country next, and while Daddy took the little girls on the Winnie the Pooh ride, Lorelai & I paid a visit to Splash Mountain...a first for both of us! It was a lot more elaborate & exciting than I was expecting; I got a little freaked out at that big drop towards the end! I had to be brave though, because Lorelai was freaking out the whole time, and was beginning to sob as we made the final ascent. She enjoyed the adrenaline rush, after the fact, though.

After these rides we ate lunch in Critter County...

...while watching the big boats go by along the Rivers of America. That afternoon, we decided to slow things down a bit, so we did some climbing around in Tarzan's Treehouse (formerly, per Nate, the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse):

It was scenic and fun, and gave us all a bit of a workout--even if we got turned around occasionally! The girls also enjoyed playing the "jungle" instruments at the end of the walk:

After that, it was time for some souvenir shopping! Nate got himself a new baseball cap (Pirates of the Caribbean-style), I got a new shirt and some Mickey-Mouse themed Christmas tree ornaments...

...and the girls each got a stuffed plushie--Lorelai got Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo, Celeste got Tinkerbell, and Aurora got Nemo himself! As you can see they are varying degrees of excited about their gifts (other toys were bought more secretly and saved as Christmas presents). Then it was back to the hotel, to eat dinner (pot roast in the Crock-Pot--YUM), to pack our things for our drive home tomorrow, and to prepare for the fireworks that night.
Some other attractions Nathan & I visited without the kids (at various times on this trip):

Space Mountain. The kids were all too young for this one, and apparently, I'm too much of a wimp for it. It's Nate's favorite ride (in fact, he rode it twice in 15 minutes!), but I only went once after waiting in line for a long time. It's very dark, fast, and disorienting, with very sharp turns & loud music. Ugh. Maybe I will go again, but only as a formality.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Now this was more like it. Yee-haw! It's a very rattly roller-coaster (and apparently, people have died on it), but despite all that, I had way more fun than I did on Space Mountain. Maybe it's because I can actually see where I'm going and feel fresh wind blowing through my hair. Maybe it's that hillbilly announcer at the beginning of the line who says, "It's the wiiiiiildest ride in the WILDERNESS!!!!" over & over. Who knows?

Indiana Jones & the Forbidden Eye Temple Thingy. I enjoyed this ride, but Nate didn't care for it much. Maybe he doesn't like the bumpiness (it does get pretty bumpy, but you're supposed to be in a rickety Jeep, so it's kind of the point), and maybe he's soured on Indy from that latest atrocious film that came out a couple of years ago and which we will speak of no more. But he also said it wasn't exciting, and I have to respectfully disagree--even that giant rock rolling overhead at the end got a screech out of me. Oh well, different strokes. Maybe I'm still an Indy fangirl.

It was our final night at Disneyland. How better to celebrate (as well as celebrate Thanksgiving, and the newly minted Christmas season) than fireworks? We headed back into the park one more time, dressed snug and warm:

We parked close to Small World, which was lit up beautifully for the holidays, and which went dark in time for the fireworks show...

Of course I don't have any fireworks pictures (not with my camera!!). However, it was beautiful and lots of fun. And then...a Christmas miracle! It started snowing!! Well, the snow machines hanging overhead turned on, anyway. Maybe if you were from SoCal (or even AZ, like our kids), it would have been beautiful and miraculous. But Nathan & I are still Colorado kids, and we found it a nice gesture, but still pretty cheesy & fake looking. There's just no substitute!

After all this excitement, our kids were about done in...

...as you can tell by Lorelai's facial expression. Farewell, Disneyland Resort! "See you next time!!", as Lorelai is fond of saying. Just a few more pictures left to share...next time.

Our Disneyland Thanksgiving, Part 3

Happy Thanksgiving to us! On this day, we were the most thankful for everyone's good health. Lorelai woke up Thursday morning after recovering from her stomach bug, and she was ready to go. Also thankfully, none of the rest of us were sick for the remainder of the trip. Time for fun!

On Thanksgiving Day, we'd planned to spend most of the time in California Adventure. But since it didn't open until later in the morning, we walked over to Disneyland to hop on a couple of rides...and meet Donald Duck, my favorite "Classic Disney" character! I enjoyed his cute sweater & matching earmuffs. The girls were a little weirded out by Donald, but they took it in good humor.

Then we visited one of Disneyland's most famous (and for some, most annoying) rides...

...It's A Small World. Nathan was reluctant to go, because he was afraid that song (you know the one I mean) would be stuck in his head for the rest of the day. We were in luck, though...Small World is another ride that's altered for the holiday season! It has holiday bling added to both the exterior and interior; each room had significant additions of "winter wonderland" and "holiday spirit"-themed animatronics in addition to the usual multicultural puppets. Best of all, the music involved "that song," alternated with a handful of Christmas carols. So it wasn't too bad. The kids, I suspect, experienced a bit of sensory overload.

After that, it was California (Adventure), here we come! Our first stop was Radiator Springs...

...what, you though only boys are excited about Cars? Lorelai was thrilled to see Lightning McQueen & Mater. I'm no NASCAR fan, but I thought these mock-ups were pretty cute, creepy moving eyes & all.

After looking around the park a bit, our family split up briefly; Lorelai & I tackled Grizzly River Run, a whitewater-rafting-style water ride that was a little wet and a lot of fun (and best of all, the line was very short, so we went on it two or three times!)

After that, we joined Daddy, Celeste & Aurora, who'd been entertaining themselves at one of the hidden treasures of California: the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail! This is a forest-themed, giant-sized playground, filled with slides, rope bridges, climbing walls, and logs to climb on (and through).

Apparently, the whole trail was modeled after the movie "Brother Bear," which no one saw but WHO CARES? This place was great. It sure beat standing in long line after long line to passively experience some mechanized super-ride; you were the one actively engaging your sense & having fun. You actually get real exercise doing all the climbing/walking/crawling/sliding/etc.

The woodsy setting actually helped us feel isolated from the noisiness & crowds of the rest of the park. Best of all, there weren't many people around, so we had the run of the place! If you have young children, I highly recommend the Challenge Trail area for your little ones to "unwind" in between visiting other attractions.

Then it was on to the unofficial "main hub" of California Adventure, Paradise Pier: it's designed to look & feel like an old-timey, Coney Island-style amusement park. It was very retro & cute, and our family found lots to do here. Daddy & I each took turns going on California Screamin', the only "real" roller-coaster in either park!

As you can see, Nate enjoyed it quite a bit. I even liked it, and I'm not a big roller-coaster fan. We also visited a few of the more traditional carnival rides, such as the Silly Symphony Swings, which became Lorelai's favorite ride of the whole vacation. She was not tall enough to ride the swings alone, so Nate & I would ride with her on the tandem swings...and since the wait time for the tandem swings was practically nonexistent, we went on this ride many, many times.

...yeah, anyway, just imagine this over & over, and you have a fair approximation of what our afternoon was like.

We also ate lunch in the Paradise Pier area (sourdough bread bowls & soup, yummy!), then checked out the seagulls on the lake and caught a glimpse of Santa in the upper pier area, visiting with kids (he's sitting in the pavilion just behind that tall Christmas tree). Lorelai used this sighting as ammo in our "does Santa exist?" argument that we had later that month.

We spent much of the afternoon waiting in the long line for the Toy Story Mania! attraction. Too bad there were no FastPasses for this thing, but what can you do? It's Toy Story, and the whole family loves it, and you've gotta go. We spent part of our wait being entertained by a giant talking Mr. Potato Head, who also serenaded us on occasion...

...and when we finally made it on the rides, we ended up having a lot of fun! It's more of a "game" than a ride; the little cart shuffles you from 3D screen to 3D screen, and you use your little pop-gun to toss virtual rings, and shoot virtual darts, eggs, baseballs, etc. The controls were pretty sensitive, and you played a random set of any of a dozen games narrated by the Toy Story characters.

 Your scores were posted afterwards. Theoretically, you could play over & over again and try to top the daily score charts, but I would never want to wait in that line more than once in any given day, so we forgot about that. Still, it was fun and (almost) worth the wait. Plus, we got to pose as superhero toys nearby:

I think we were all doing our best Buzz Lightyear impersonation...with varying degrees of success.

A quick rundown of a couple of other rides/attractions we enjoyed at California Adventure:

Tower of Terror. Nate went on this free-fall, Twilight-Zone-inspired ride about 3 times, but I never got up the nerve to go. He said it was lots of fun; I'll take his word for it (free-fall rides are not my favorite)

Soarin' Over California. A fun flight-simulation ride, in which you are elevated up in the air, and then watch an IMAX-sized screen as you fly over various scenic California locales. It's surprisingly exhilirating, and maybe too "peaceful" for some adrenaline junkies, but Lorelai & I really enjoyed it.

World of Color: This is California Adventure's new evening show, and it's a pretty amazing production involving water fountains, colored lights, and projected images. It's more a tone-poem with several interlocking themes, but it's gorgeous and engaging. Two caveats: it's late at night (about 9:00 or so), so little kids may not care about it much (Lorelai liked it at first, but was mostly bored & tired by the end). Also, if you really want to go, get there early, since not all the seating is very good (like the seating we ended up with).

Some other not-so-great things:

ElecTRONica. Bwahaha! I know California Adventure caters more to the teen/adult crowd than Disneyland, but this really seemed like they were trying too hard. I guess you've got to market your new holiday sci-fi movie somehow. Crazy neon lights, talking electronic robot tracking systems, and images from the upcoming film "Tron:Legacy" were sprinkled all over the Hollywood Backlot area of the park. Also, there was a DJ and some kooky Eurotrash dancers. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Daft Punk (who scored this film), but this was all a bit much.

A Bug's Land. Meh. We only went on one ride here (the kiddee flyers shown above), and were unimpressed. Nice try, but I guess A Bug's Life didn't exactly set our imaginations on fire.

Monsters Inc. Ride. Don't get me wrong, I actually quite like Monsters, Inc., but this ride didn't really do it for me. It was nothing more than a passive ride through major scenes in the movie. It was nicely made, but too conventional. It felt like a ride that belonged in Fantasyland, not shoehorned into the far corner of California Adventure. The highlight was a talking Roz figure at the end of the ride that seemed uncannily aware of the visitors (she told the guy in front of me with a camera to "be sure to get her good side," and in the next car she referred to a young woman by her shirt color. Hmm...)

Another thing I noticed about California Adventure was that much of it was still under construction. Several parts of Paradise Pier were completely closed off, as was much of the area adjacent to A Bug's Land. Word it that these new attractions will include a Little Mermaid-themed aquarium/water ride, and a whole new section of the park devoted to the Cars films, complete with go-kart racing. Cool.

In summation, California Adventure was more fun than I expected, but I think it has a way to go before it can give Disneyland a run for its money. It's not as thematically unified, and not quite as attractive. However, you can tell it's working hard on improving its image, and I suspect that when I visit here again (in a few more years), it will be even more fun. Then again, Nate said he liked it better than Disneyland itself, so what do I know? Of course, it does have more adult-themed rides, so maybe that's why he enjoyed it more.

When we arrived back at our hotel, tired & hungry, dinner was waiting for us...

...in the form of a Mexican chicken Crock-Pot casserole! I got the idea of cooking our own meals in the hotel room from a friend, who said she'd used her Crock-Pot  on her last Disneyland vacation. Before heading to the park that morning, we threw all the ingredients into the Crock-Pot, turned it on, put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on our hotel room door, and voila! A tasty, "home-cooked" meal that was probably more cost-effective than going to that darn IHOP again. It was probably the first time I've ever had a Mexican casserole for Thanksgiving dinner, but this was a special time!! Just one more day of park-hopping to go...