Wicked

I went and saw the musical, Wicked, last night.  What a fun day!  First of all, my friend, Jody, picked me up and off we went.  A whole 12 hours with a good friend and no children.  LOVE my kids, but wow, was that ever needed.  We hit up IKEA first (of course), and then out for dinner.  Olive Garden, mmmm.  And off to the show. 

The music, the set, the costumes and singing, the dancing.  Oh, it was magical.  It was so, so fun to watch.  I was literally breathless by the end of the song that concluded the first act. 

But then there was the second act.  And the storyline started making me feel ill.  Started triggering me in a major way.  The story, in a nutshell, is how the Wicked Witch of the West meets Glinda, the Good Witch, in the land of Oz, before Dorothy ever arrives.  They start off in school together.  Glinda is rather self-absorbed, concerned with her looks and clothes.  Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) is misunderstood, not terribly attractive, but has a good heart.  They are roommates and end up rubbing off on each other and becoming good friends.  Glinda has a boyfriend, Fiyero, who eventually starts seeing who Elphaba really is and starts falling for her.  And in the second act, clearly cheats on Glinda.  And it's a double betrayal as Glinda's good friend is the "other woman". 

So, that completely coloured the rest of the musical for me.  Totally triggered.  There was the whole generational thing, as Elphaba was the product of her mother having an affair (with the Wizard of Oz!), and then she fell into it, too.  And what bothered me the most was that it was so happily accepted.  Elphaba "deserved" this love because she was always hated by everyone and never thought anyone would ever love her.  And Fiyero "deserved" to be happy because he didn't really love Glinda anyway (even though he had publicly committed himself to her). 

And isn't that just typical of everything in our freakin', messed-up culture.  If you're not happy with the person you're with, go find someone who will make you happy.  Never mind vows, never mind promises, never mind working on a relationship because you're already IN it.  Okay, I knew this show wouldn't promote that kind of morality.  I didn't expect that.  But the "celebration" of Fiyero and Elphaba's love made me positively nauseated. 

I must say, though, Glinda took the high road.  Held her head high, even in the face of utter betrayal, and in the end, stayed loyal to her friend, Elphaba.  She was my hero at the end of the night. 

Not exactly what I was expecting as I went to it and hadn't read any synopses of the musical.  All I ever heard was how "amazing" it was.  And in terms of music, singing, dancing, the show itself, the acting, it was.  But that storyline?  Just another example of how, if you're not happy or your partner annoys you in some way, it's OKAY to find someone else.  *sigh*  No wonder infidelity runs rampant in our world.