Things Are Wicked On Broadway

Thursday April 11th 2013

When we got back to the hotel from the American Natural History Museum the Winklers were waiting for us in the Lobby. We quickly dropped things off in our room and then went out to find a nice place for a pre-theater dinner.

We settled on McGee's Irish Pub which was close to the hotel and the Gershwin Theater. It was a nice atmosphere, seated upstairs, with plenty of choice at a reasonable price. We have been craving vegetables and trying to avoid too many fried foods. David had corned beef and cabbage while I went for split pea soup, both of which were delicious. Unfortunately we couldn't steer the boys away from chicken fingers and fries.

After we had had our fill we took the short walk to the theater. We needed to stop on the way to buy me more lozenges in the hope that I would not have a major coughing fit during the performance. Although there were a lot of people it was easy to make our way into the theatre. Once we had our drinks we prepared to take our seats. Initially, the ushers had inadvertently given us incorrect directions so we found ourselves two floors higher up than we were meant to be. Thankfully the mistake was recognised straight away so we had plenty of time to easily rectify it.

We could not have been happier with our seats. Only a few rows from the front and right in the center of the theater. The show was fantastic. We didn't really know what to expect as we knew very little about the show itself other than it was the prequel to the Wizard of Oz. As you would expect, being on Broadway, the sets, costumes, lighting and music were amazing. The performances from all the actors were excellent, especially the two main characters, Glinda - The Good Witch and Elpheba - The Wicked Witch of the West. The actress who played Elpheba had only recently returned to the role but had a long history with the show having performed the role over 1000 times. She is also the first actress to perform it in 3 different languages.

We all enjoyed the show which really makes you rethink everything you always thought you knew about the Wizard of Oz - sometimes in Oz, as in life, things are not always what they seem!!! The boys said they found it hard to decide what they had enjoyed more, "The Lion King" in London's West End or "Wicked" on Broadway. Each have there own features which make them hard to compare. Overall, attending a Broadway show lived up to my expectations and I was certainly glad we went.

When the performance finished we walked back to the hotel. All this sightseeing is exhausting. We only have a short time left in New York, so hopefully we can keep going until we get some well earned R&R in Hawaii.