Yup, I finally saw the musical sensation Wicked!
First, the practical LA Scene side of the story.
The Wicked Lottery offers up 26 front orchestra seats for $25 each. The names are collected from 2 1/2 hour to 2 hour before show time. You can request one or two tickets. You must be 17 or older with ID and pay in cash. It is quite the festive atmosphere as the guy calls out the names of the lucky winners.
After the lottery ends, and if you don't win and this evening, I did not, you can get in line to buy left over tickets to certain sections at a discount.
This is really smart marketing by the theatre company. I'd say there was well over 200 people there for the lottery and of that group probably 1/2 lined up to get at the discounted tickets. What a great way to get people to get out on a rainy Thursday night to insure a packed house!
As for the appeal of the musical, the clear favorite numbers were "Defying Gravity" and "For Good" which were the emotional moments of act I and act II respectively. "Defying Gravity" celebrates the discovery of one's abilities and the sense of possibility for one of the main characters and sends the audience off to intermission exuberantly. "For Good" provides the moving emotional closing of the circle of the two main characters.
The musical has won a devoted following among many members of my church youth group and now I understand why!
The characters are easy to identify with. The social "stereotypes" of the cast of characters in the story mirror the social pecking order of their lives in school and indeed our lives as adults too.
The musical numbers, "What Is This Feeling?" "Popular" and "I'm Not That Girl" would be instantly accessible to anyone who has gone through even a modest amount of teenage angst and haven't we all?
My final two thoughts before I call it a night would be that the musical is incredibly post-modern and it is a celebration of friendship.
It has all the rhetoric of the post-modern perspective toward history that puts truth up for grabs. Yet, its message in the end is that there is still a truth to the lives of people even if things aren't as they seem at first glance. Truth existing in personal context is another theme of post-modern thought.
An interesting topic for discussion the musical could fuel is whether it advocates moral relativism (another common feature of post-modern thought) when the musical asks: are people born wicked or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?
Lastly, the story works and moves the audience because it is about love and friendship. Life is messy. There are misunderstandings. There are circumstances: stuff happens. There are mixed motivations. And in the end, what brings joy is those moments when we can connect with another soul in the journey.
As entertainment, it is a really wonderful show with great staging, costumes and musical numbers. It leaves you in awe at the skill and creativity of all involved. And if you want to think about it, it also provides some good food for thought about world views and the human condition.
Contemporary art often blurs the line between "high art" and "pop culture" and "consumer products."
The same is true of the performing arts. It might be "pop culture" and "entertainment" but there is also a filter on the world being described consciously or not.
For those so inclined, discuss amongst yourselves and I wish I could listen in on those conversations.
2 comments:
Nice post, Rene! I did the lottery in NYC probably 10 times and won only once. Got it on my first time in San Diego. Have you tried it more than once? I'm wondering if I should buy tickets before driving all the way from San Diego or chance the lottery. How many people on average do the lottery in LA? How cheap (and how good) were your discount tickets? Thanks!
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. I went to the Wicked Lottery on a rainy Thursday night and there were about 200 people. I'm told that Friday night and weekend shows are really popular.
I got $45 seats which were located at the back of the orchestra section.
Here is a seating chart. I was in row ZZ in the 300 section of the orchestra section. From the ticketmaster, I would guess these seats usually go for $57.50.
Hope that helps and hope you'll be able to visit the Emerald City soon. Would love to hear what you think of the show!
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