Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Going behind the curtain...


Wicked (22)
Originally uploaded by thesolaris5.

You might recall a few months ago I went to a weekend matinee performance of "Wicked", and it did live up to its name. I very much enjoyed the show and even though I couldn't quite finish the book, the theatrics of the musical have stayed with me.

So as a special treat, Lex's dad treated us to a special "Behind The Emerald Curtain" tour into the inner workings of the show. They only feature this program at 5pm on Tuesday nights, so it was something worth attending. In the foyer of the Oriental Theater, they had set up booths with costumes and wigs and masks from the show. Then two of the actors came out and chatted to us about how the show evolved from the book to the stage.

The actors were funny because someone asked them which characters they play. They actually looked disappointed in themselves when they admitted that they were understudies for the understudies (or whatever). Hey, if I had made it through those BS auditions and tap-danced my way to Chicago, I'd be sticking two fingers up at the audience and loudly proclaiming, "you know what suckers?! I'm the understudy for that guy who's never on the stage anyway - beat thaaaaaat!!!". Or something like that anyway.

There were some real dorks in the audience who asked some bonehead questions but all in all, it was an interesting and informative hour-or-so tour. And I certainly suspect that if you went along to the 'behind the scenes tour' BEFORE seeing the show, you'd be more resolved than ever to get a ticket - cause they build it up to be one show-stopper production.

I wonder how many people stopped to get the actors' autographs after the tour? I didn't see many...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know .... we at home often go thru much the same sorts of rituals with Spoggy everytime she buys something new ..... she builds it all up to a huge crescendo, models it this way and that .... and then disappears into her den (or is that lair!!) {sublime peace and quiet reigns again}. And we don't have to pay for tickets either .........

Unknown said...

Or she describes the outfit to you in enormously graphic detail - and even sketches it for you on a scrap of paper - and you never see her wear it. Ever.

Come to think of it, the photo I used on my post looks a bit like Spoggy, don't you think?