we took the family on a trip to Richmond yesterday. We went to see the national tour of Wicked. It was my first time seeing the show, but not the first time I heard the music. My kids have been obsessively requesting the CD since last spring. It great to finally see the book scenes. The staging was fun and had a really good pace. It was interesting how it seemed that more book scenes were in the second act, or at least half the songs in the second act were short reprises of previous songs. I liked how they integrated the existing elements from the Wizard of Oz movie. In that way it departed from the novel, but was understandable considering more of the audience would be familiar with the original movie than Gregory Maguire’s version.

But of course I can’t just watch a show like this, I was constantly figuring out how they did it. Seeing which set pieces repeated, seeing how they use projection, looking for the person onstage that clips Galinda’s harness everytime she gets in or out of her flying ‘bubble circle’. That being said, I don’t feel that it takes away from my enjoyment of the show. I really think I may have enjoyed it more.Although McKelvey was rapt the whole time. Perhaps a show like this can’t be enjoyed more by anyone other than a little girl.

McKelvey thoroughly enjoyed herself. Although Arden had to keep asking questions to keep up with the plot, I think she also had a fabulous time.

Afterward we went out to dinner, in the Carytown section of Richmond. It had some cool shops and a bunch of different restaurants. It reminded me of areas of Chicago or Brooklyn. I wish we could have taken a block of it back to Lexington.

So I loved the show, and while watching it figured out how to do it at W&L.

Without hiring a flying company.