A Wickedly wonderful evening

So I finally saw Wicked ths past Saturday, and a wonderful show it was!

The evening started at House of Tricks, a nice, unassuming restaurant near the theatre. If you wanna check it out, visit www.houseoftricks.com. It came highly recommended by a couple of friends of mine and some of the entrees are rather unusual twists on old stand-bys so I figured, sure, why not. Well, I'll tell you why - the service was atrocious, the environment wasn't all that comfortable (too hot, little air movement, holes in the ceiling), and the food wasn't good enough to make up for the price of the experience. The food was definitely good, though, in spite of some of the less-than-stellar cheeses. The brie was awful, and I think one of the other ones might have been goat cheese. It was rather disgusting so I didn't care what I was eating as long as I didn't have to have another bite, but the bites I did have were still entertaining at the very least as my date helped me to laugh at my own reactions to the taste. It's rather impossible for me to take things too seriously when she's around (she know at a glance when I'm too stressed or focused and somehow gets me to smile for which I'm grateful even if I say I'm not).

After dinner it was straight to the show. The parking at ASU isn't the greatest so we had to walk a little ways to get to the theatre but once we arrived things were just dandy. All the beautiful people came out in there duds for the show and we were no different - my girlfriend looked quite wonderful in her dress, her face sparkling in the lights as we walked through the lobby, looking very much the lady, and I even shined my shoes the night before! And truly, the show didn't disappoint. Glinda gave an incredible performance, as did Madamme Morrible and The Wizard, the ensemble sounded superb, and the set looked amazing! The only real downer was Fiyero - he looked the part and could sing alright, but his acting was only so-so and his dancing was painful to watch. This is a particularly bad principle to have as a poor dancer considering his big number is entitled "Dancing Through Life," and it wasn't even an understudy! Regardless, the show was quite entertaining.

Overall it was a great night. Good food, a great show for my girlfriend's first "Broadway" experience, and amazing company.

Now the next question is can I make it to "Chicago"...