The play's the thing

Aloha friends!
After a lengthy absence, I am back at it (I hope). I spent a week in sunny Florida. Well, I'm told it was sunny and it sure looked beautiful from the windows of the conference center. But who am I to complain, I still spent a week in Florida. Other than one teary moment thinking of Oliv and Al, I done good!
Before I left for Orlando, my aunt and uncle took me to see the play Wicked for my birthday. Wicked: from the official press announcement: Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch. This was a cute play. Nice musical numbers (Glinda was fabulous!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it - until I realized intermission wasn't the play's end.
I love The Wizard of Oz. The movie to me is just completely wonderful. I have to tell you, if you love the movie, Wicked may not be the play for you.
This musical plays quite a bit on the history of Oz and changes it at will.
I may spoil some stuff here, so if you were planning on going to see this play - stop reading now.

I think the play could have explained the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba (who eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West) and how Elphaba was drawn to a dark magic, while having good intentions, without bringing it to the point of Dorothy's visit to Oz and Elphaba's "death." There is a point in the play when you see a lion cub who gets very scared (ahhh! ok) - cute, right? wrong! If it had just been those little glimmers like that, all would have been well. But to redefine how the Tinman and Scarecrow came to be? I was just left feeling like they took the easy way out.

So if you want to be entertained by a show, Wicked is worth the cost of admission, but you have to take it to be an entirely different story with no real relation to the true story of Oz.

Well, another year in the life of me has passed and I have entered into my true 30s. 31 - blah. What did 30 bring? Many changes in career, plus a year with Olivia in my life. I look forward to more time with Olivia and Al and all the changes this year will bring!
Take care,
V