Wicked

I enjoyed last night's production of Wicked so much, I don't even mind if they changed the ending from the book. I felt it was superbly produced and thouroughly entertaining. But enough gushing about the show, for those of you unfamiliar with the story, it is an alternate perspective of the Wizard of Oz show we all know and love so much. It focuses on the Wicked Witch of the West and the events in her life leading up to her tragic ending, being 'melted' by a bucket of water. I especially liked how both the show and book portray this seemingly innocent land and gave it a more complex level of depth, a more satisfying explanation instead of the typical good vs. bad plot. Since the land of Oz is not homogenous, there is considerable strife between regular humans, the munchkins, and talking animals. A kind of uneasy segregation exists The flaws of the people in the land of Oz smash the ideas of how we knew them in the orgional story. The Wicked witch isn't so wicked after all, the good witch is actually pretty selfish, the Wizard is the evil one, and there is a secret conspiracy to silence all talking animals a la Gestapo style. Simply put, this musical puts a new, more satisfying spin on a classic tale, giving new life to a story we thought was dead and forgotten.