Something "Wicked" This Way Came

Good news, everyone!  The latest Broadway series production of Wicked wrapped up its six week run in Pittsburgh yesterday, so the coast is clear.  You can come back into the city again without fearing traffic gridlock and you should actually be able to find a parking spot within walking distance of your destination.  

In case you have somehow remained blissfully unaware of the phenomenon, Wicked is an immensely popular spectacle of a show that sells out even after running for years.  Like lemmings to the sea, whole families will flock to the theater to see it, over and over again.  Why, you'd think it was a large rubber duck docked at the Point or something.

Did you miss your chance to see Wicked while it was in town, or are you experiencing Wicked withdrawal symptoms?  Don't fret!  It will be back sooner or later - nothin's gonna bring IT down!  In the meantime there are several other fine shows in town because Pittsburgh has a thriving cultural scene (don't tell anyone, it's a secret!).  I braved the snow, the ice, the frigid temperatures and streets full of little girls in town to see Wicked to attend three fine productions of shows in the past month.  See, nothin's gonna bring ME down either.

Still yearning for a good show for the family all about a green outcast who prevails in the end? Try Pittsburgh Musical Theater's spirited production of Shrek the Musical at the Byham Theater.  This production, with its clever story and catchy score, is pretty faithful to the original animated film and features all the characters your kids and you have come to love, with some fart and burp jokes as a bonus.  The lead players are spot-on in this company and are supported by an ensemble which is bursting with youthful exuberance and huge voices, all the while never missing a step of the choreography.  But hurry!  The show only runs one more weekend (through January 16th).

Literally be the one of the first to see Judge Jackie Justice -a New Musical Comedy a world premiere commissioned by the Pittsburgh CLO and now showing at the CLO Cabaret.  Written by the hot new team of Koonan and Dimond (CMU grads), this is a show you don't want to miss-a witty satire with great music, exceptional performances, and a surprisingly well-written story with a nice little message. You will never watch Judge Judy the same way again.  The show is scheduled through April 27th.

Next door you can spend time with some pretty talented Company at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. This story of Bobby the bachelor and all his married friends takes a thoroughly entertaining if somewhat cynical view of relationships.  Pretty edgy at the time it first showed up on the scene in 1970, it reads more like a period piece now, but this production is a must-see for Sondheim fans.   It is just chock full of those clever hard-to-sing songs he likes to write so much, all delivered by performers with a staggering amount of talent.  There until February 23rd.

Whatever the show, you can have a wicked good time going to the theater in Pittsburgh.

A Cinderella Sandwich

Outside the snow was falling, the wind was blowing, the temperature was plummeting.  It was the weekend, we had food in the house and no place that we had to go.  We stayed home because we could.  This means I finally had some time to catch up with all those Facebook quizzes, so now I know what Disney Princess I'd be, what musical I'd star in, and what food I would be.

Some of the results are uncanny in their accuracy.  For instance, if I were a Disney Princess, I would be Cinderella. Well, no kidding!  That is absolutely correct.  I have identified with Cinderella since I was a kid watching the incomparable Leslie Ann Warren in the televised Rodgers and Hammerstein version.  Of course, I also identified with the Stepsisters (Why would a fella want a girl like her, a girl who's merely lovely, Why can't a fella ever once prefer, a girl who's merely me?)  

Just to keep with that underdog theme, the musical I would be in would be Wicked.  Also appropriate because I fully understand from bitter first-hand experience that it's not easy being green (or different in some other way).  At my age I would be playing Madame Morrible not Elphaba, which is just as well because if I were Elphaba I'd be flying while singing "Defying Gravity," both pursuits fraught with the potential for disaster.  Besides Mr. Rip hates it when I sing that song, but then he hates it when anyone sings that song.

If I were a Big Bang Theory character I'd be Amy Farrah Fowler.  Well, I would have guessed Leonard, but I do look more like Mayim Bialek than anyone else on the show.  Come to think of it, I am not a scientist and I'm not frustrated in my relationship (because Mr. Rip is really not anything like Sheldon no matter what he tells you), and I sure hope I am just a bit more fashionable than she is.  Other than that I'm just like her.

If I were a food, I'd be a sandwich - something about being flexible and portable and you can take me anywhere.  Well, okay, but if I were a sandwich I'd want to be an Italian hoagie or an Eat n Park Tuna Melt.

I was delighted to find out that the city I should be living in is Paris.  Naturally, I've never been there but I've always wanted to visit.  I just love those French composers and I desperately want to experience the Louvre.  I also understand that Parisians eat a lot of bread and cheese and walk a lot, which really does sound like me.  The way I see it I really will have to visit Paris now just to determine if the quiz got it right.

So I was game when they told me I would be Wilma if I were a Flintstone (I am someone's mother), or Captain Kirk in Star Trek (I don't really see it but William Shatner is just so damn cool) or  Souki on The Gilmore Girls (at least I wasn't Kurt). I was a little more skeptical when they said that I was Tom Branson on Downton Abbey, or Pinky in Grease (Pinky??  Not Jan?).

But it all really went south when The Hunger Games quiz revealed that I would be Katniss.  What??  Fierce, unbeatable bad-ass survivor Katniss? Goodness.  I thought I'd be Cinna, or whichever minor character was chosen to be in the Games and who died of fear on the way to the Arena.

Well, maybe I can channel my inner Katniss when I have to venture out into the world again and face the elements.