Mar. 6: “Wicked” hangover

Gah, I say. Gah.

Yesterday was busy busy busy. My mom and I spent the morning at IKEA and a bit of the afternoon at a few other stores in the area. That would have made the day exhausting enough—while it was fun, we were worn out from all the walking and could have easily spent the rest of the day relaxing. But, as they say, there’s no rest for the wicked. We beautified ourselves and took off to see “Wicked” with some friends.

Mom and I met her friends (and my first boss at WWC) Betty and Manford Simcock for dinner at McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside at the River Place Marina. That’s always been one of my favorite dining spots downtown because the area is lovely for walking and sightseeing, and the view from any table in the restaurant is impressive. However, last night it was dark and rainy so we mostly had to enjoy the view of each other. Which was fine. Because we were a handsome group.

Dinner conversation (and food!) was divine; the time went quickly and suddenly we were about to be late for the show. We got back up to Keller in record time and without me running over very many pedestrians. Yay me.

The Lovely Lori had seen “Wicked” the night before and texted me to say they had the Galinda/Glinda understudy but she was fabulous—it wasn’t one of those “No Bette Midler?” things—so not to worry if the “real” one wasn’t on for our show. Our Glinda (the “ga” is silent) was Katie Rose Clarke, not the understudy. I don’t think she was as good as Lori’s because although I thought she did a terrific job, I wouldn’t exactly go on and on about her. I admit, I still have a bias toward Kendra Kassebaum, who played Glinda at my first “Wicked.”

The Elphaba (Donna Vivino) was also very good, but her voice was not nearly as strong as Shoshana Bean’s, who played Elphaba on the last tour that came through Portland. Shoshana is from Beaverton but I don’t just love her because she’s one of Oregon’s few celebrities of which we can be proud—she really is quite amazing. Here’s the link to her appearance on Martha Stewart’s Halloween show when she was still performing on Broadway a few years ago.

April asked for my review so I’m going to be totally honest and a little negative here. I did not like the guy who played Fiyero (Richard H. Blake). I didn’t think his voice was very good and he danced super-weird. He did have a pretty nice butt though, so I concentrated on that. April, remember that if you get the same Fiyero: look to the butt.

Madame Morrible (Myra Lucretia Taylor) was good. She’s a fun character in the musical. Definitely not in the book. The first time I saw “Wicked” Morrible was played by Carol Kane, and it’s hard to top someone so perfect for that role. This one did well. The Wizard was played by Lenny Wolpe, whom I’ll always remember as a defendant with Tourette’s on L.A. Law; I thought he did a good job but I kept waiting for him to spit out a string of obscenities. He didn’t.

The only understudy we had was for Chistery. Who cares (besides the understudy’s parents)? Meh.

In spite of the cast not being jaw-droppingly phenomenal, the show still was. The two moments that made my eyes squirt a salty discharge: “Defying Gravity” and “For Good.” I could see “Wicked” show over and over. There were so many things I caught this time that I’d missed in previous shows and I can’t tell you what they are without giving away a whole bunch of good stuff that you have to see the show for yourself to understand so don’t ask me because all that info’s in the vault.

After the show Manford and I waited in the lobby for our small-bladdered companions and by the time we got back to the car, the line out of the parking garage was more than two levels high. We considered blasting the soundtrack out of the speakers and performing a little dance number or six for the waiting cars. Fortunately (for them) three of us weren’t nearly drunk enough to do that. After 20 minutes we finally got out of there, took the Simcocks back to their car near the restaurant, and Mom and I headed home.

The dogs went nuts when we walked in the front door, even when we reminded them that Katie and Jack were sleeping and they needed to greet us quietly. They did not listen.

The cat’s barricaded in our room while Mom’s giant puppy is here because, as Millie puts it, “Spit! Hiss! Claw the face of whoever’s holding me! Spit some more! I don’t like that big dog!” Because she gets very lonely and bored in there by herself, when we come in and sit with her she gets active and playful and we think some exposure to Gilly might not be such a bad thing. Last night after I turned off the lights she continued to jump up and down from the window sill, run across the bed, and play with a noisy bag that apparently wasn’t hidden well enough. In other words, I’m kinda blaming Millie for the fact that I feel 95 years old this morning.

This headache, sore feet, and overall muscle stiffness certainly could not be the from the hustle-y bustle-y day we had yesterday. ‘Scuse me, I gotta go brew another pot of coffee now.

P.S. Confidential to Melodie: my mom totally got away with calling your father-in-law a smartass last night. Seems he’s okay with that. You might want to file away that little tidbit for future use. “Grandpa Smartass” might not be so fine, though, so you probably shouldn’t share this info with your kids.