Description: 
Somehow, my kids have fallen in love with musical theatre. I think it began with
Les Miserables, which my middle one fell for at the tender age of 8.
Joseph and other Andrew Lloyd Webber shows,
Aida, Children of Eden—just the soundtrack is enough to hook them. My nieces introduced them to
Wicked, and soon they had the music on their iPods and were learning the story from multiple sources on the web.
So for Christmas, we found tickets to a matinee over the King holiday in Chicago, and planned a family road trip to see it. Our expedition took on extra excitement as we left school and town early to escape the ice storm, racing through rain as we covered most of the ground to Chicago. After a day and a half exploring a fraction of Chicago’s other offerings, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the show.
The theatre district near Randolph and State streets was less than a mile from the hotel, a short cab ride away. As we turned down Randolph Street, the Oriental Theatre marquee rose into view over the hill, where people were already clustering at 1:15 for the 2pm matinee. We spent a while huddled together outside the doors before the theatre opened, letting us into the Oriental’s highly ornate lobby.
Our seats were in row X, on the right side in numbers 8-16. Although they were three rows from the back, the view was terrific, and the petit balcony above doesn’t come close to interfering with your view. It was easy to see the whole stage, and its extras (which I won’t spoil for you). They weren’t cheap ($85 + cursed TicketMaster charges) but they were good.
I still get a thrill when the lights go down and the orchestra begins. I was ready to enjoy the show—so many friends and family had raved about it that I knew we’d all like it. I found it better than expected, and moving in ways I hadn’t anticipated. I guess I should have known that a cutesy story about Oz wouldn’t have received acclaim as this production has. It was poignant, funny, heartbreaking, and unexpectedly political resonance. I thought the second act wasn’t as powerful, as it works hard to connect all the open ends in this story with those in the story you already know. But that didn’t detract much from the experience. The cast here was very good, and although it’s hard not to wish for Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, I was really impressed with both leads. In fact, as we listened to the soundtrack on the drive back home, I preferred the voice of our Elphaba (Dee Roscioli), which was a great contrast, to Glinda’s (Erin Mackey). If you haven’t seen
Wicked yet, I’d highly recommend it.
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