Friday Fave: Wicked in LA

Still flying high after seeing Wicked here in LA at the Pantages.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the musical has much more humor than I expected, all the more better since we saw a very polished LA production filled with great dancing and singing amongst amazingly fantastic sets. Wicked , as the backstory to the Wizard of Oz, is the clever but simplified psychological take to the characters, highlighting the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda. Even better, to me, was the well-disguised subversive political commentary about fear-mongering regimes needing enemies in order to control the masses.

Unfortunately, my very favorite tune, 'I'm Not That Girl', is turning into the maudlin anthem for heart-broken teens everywhere on YouTube so I won't post that one, and the Wicked trademark police appears to be out erasing YouTube clips from the show but below is one that hasn't been pulled yet. It's a horrible public locale but you can imagine how great Eden Espinoza as Elphaba is on stage. Here she is singing 'The Wizard and I'. Update: she is accompanied on the the piano by Stephen Schwartz, the composer and lyricist of Wicked.