Ahh, theatre!
Went to see The Wiz tonight. Erm, technically last night. Woah, it got late!
Anyway, it was really good. The guy who played the Scarecrow was dance captain when I was in the chorus for Kiss Me, Kate, so there was someone I knew. Everyone in it was good, a lot of people were great, he was *fabulous*. Then again, the Scarecrow is pretty much the best role as far as dancing goes, and he's probably the best dancer I know. He's at least the best male dancer I know...
It's really weird, but there are a lot of things in The Wiz that are closer to the books than (the film) The Wizard Of Oz. Like the green glasses, the silver shoes, Glinda being the good witch of the SOUTH.
The production I saw had some modern twists, but it kept the old-school funky feeling of the orig., and it was way fun. Well, okay, light and sound could have been tweaked for the better, but performance-wise, costume-wise, makeup-wise, it was all fantastic.
Also, random childhood memory: I'm kinda realizing just how much of an impact the world of Oz has had on me. The original film, of course. A biopic on Baum (made for TV? I don't know... I remember watching it, but... does anyone know what I'm talking about?), Return To Oz had a HUGE impact on me. And of course, having the books read to me at a very young age. It's the books I had the RCM about; I remember listening to the Oz books and in my mind, wild imaginings spinning out from there. Mostly the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. In my mind, it was pretty much all about them. This was before I had any idea whatsoever about sex, and very little concept of romance, but when I look back, it was clearly a proto-romantic relationship I was making up stories about. Was this really my first foray into what would someday become the sordid little world of slash writing? There was a lot of hugging in my stories, and a lot of pulling-each-other-out-of-danger.
I totally 'ship them now. (confession time: still haven't seen Tin Man-- taped it, lost the tapes. Eventually we'll probably rent it at Blockbuster or something) Anyway, in ALMOST every incarnation, I ship them. Don't know about Tin Man 'til I see it. I mean, I expect to, just because, come on. They seem to be my first OTP.
There was a totally slashy little moment in the production of Scarecrow checking Tin Man out, too.
Wow, it was really nice being in the audience... The only times I get to be in the audience, I'm ushering or ADing, or have laryngitis. I never get to just watch for fun. But I wouldn't want to be in the audience too often, I get all itchy to be a part of things.