Read until the end of the post, you won't regret it!

Alright now we all know I love theatre so let me catch you up on two of the past productions that I have seen.

First I saw Wicked. We got students tickets two hours before the show and were on about the 6^th row right in the center. Weirdest thing—they had English accents! That totally through me off for the first few minutes. I guess there’s no reason why they should have American accents, I was just thrown off by the fact that they didn’t have them!

Our Elphaba was Ashleigh Gray. She is the stand-by for Elphaba. I think everyone gets a little nervous when they see an understudy is on, but I don’t know why! She was fantastic! If I hadn’t seen the board before I walked in the theatre I would never have picked up on the fact that she was the understudy. She had a great voice (only not low enough to hit that last not in “I’m not that Girl”).

Glinda, played by Dianne Pilkington, was the one that I did not really like. Her voice was great I had no problem there. She just seemed a bit bored up on the stage. She rushed through all her lines and thereby missed a lot of the punchlines of jokes. I just wanted to scream “SLOW DOWN!” so that people could actually hear the funny parts. The Glinda I saw in Memphis (Helene York) was hilarious.

Everyone else in the production was good. No stand-outs or anything. Except that I did like this ensemble better than the one on tour. Maybe they are more comfortable in their roles here; they just didn’t seem to try too hard.

Another neat thing about seeing it in a permanent theatre rather than on tour is the differences in set. Surprisingly they had the giant dragon on tour (whose function in the play I really don’t understand), but in this theatre there were platforms and woodwork creeping off of the stage and onto the walls.

Sorry I look like a homeless person in that picture. That's Kelsey on the left and Jen on the right. One thing I really picked up on after 3 productions was the strong political undertones in Wicked. It’s really a testament against the government. There’s a ton of corruption going on where the Wizard and Madame Morrible do anything to try to gain power over the land, even if it means suppressing some voices. Actually during class the other day one of my professors said the L. Frank Baum wrote the Wizard of Oz with the Wizard as a representation of Williams Jennings Bryan, fictionalized in the 1950s play “Inherit the Wind”…which brings me to my next play.

As a class we went and saw “Inherit the Wind”. You’ve probably heard of this one before—it’s a fictionalized account of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial where a teacher was prosecuted for breaking the law saying no one could teach evolution in schools. The play basically supports the side of evolution, but if that’s all one takes from the play then you have missed the major point. The play advocates freedom of thought, that everyone should be allowed to express their own opinions. I like to think of it in opposite terms of the play. If the people in power were advocating evolution and suppressing the idea of intelligent design (as things seems to be heading) I would want to be able to have the freedom to talk about my beliefs.

The character of Matthew Harrison Brady, supporter of Intelligent Design, was played by David Troughton. Oddly enough his son was in the ensemble at the Royal Shakespeare Company so we got to see him in about 3 plays! But David Troughton was a fantastically bigoted Brady. His accent was (surprisingly) spot on. The play takes place in a small town in Tennessee, so I feel qualified to judge accents! Some of the characters though did not even try to put on an accent. Apparently Troughton played Dr. Who at some point (maybe he was the original one?). I've never heard of the tv show Dr. Who but it's apparently big over here.

The opposing character Henry Drummond, defender of evolution, was played by…drumroll….KEVIN SPACEY! Agh so cool! I think seeing him in person really convinced me as to how great of an actor he really is. His portrayal of Drumond was terrifying at some points, cheeky at others, but Spacey really drives the show.

I love the picture above. The programs had one man's face on the front and one on the back. Watching David Troughton and Kevin Spacey act up there together was amazing. They are both fantastic actors playing commanding and dominant characters. The results of those confrontations made sparks. That's a lame description, but I have no other words for it.

Best part--all week I had been gathering up a group to hit the stage door after the show, and we met Kevin Spacey! I got him to sign my program and then we took a group picture with him.

He's a really quiet guy. He didn't ask what our names were or even say hello although there was only about 10 people waiting at the stage door. Not that I expect any actor to do that. I'm grateful that he was willing to sign at all! He had a window installed in the door that he can open to sign autographs so he doesn't actually have to come outside. Ha! I guess we're a dangerous group. I did feel a bit like I was ordering a hamburger at the drive thru...