More Theater; Stage and Film

Went to go see 'Wicked" at the Orph3um Theater in SF last night with Husband and J&E. Have been wanting to see this show since it opened in SF back in, oh, 2003. Sold out that whole first run before I even knew it was coming to town, and as it is, for last night's tickets I had to buy them last October AND we were in the very last row of the topmost balcony! Whew!

However, the O is not the biggest theater in the world and we could see evrything just fine. And damn, what a show! I of course was in utter awe of the costumes - I often didn't know where to look! I wanted to buy a program to be able to keep images of them, but the books were prohibitively expensive, sadly. Technically it was pretty fantastic too, and I can see why they have someone who's job title is 'Flying Monkey Specialist'. Really. And the lights, and the stage in general? It was all just stunning. The whole package. Can't wait to see it when it comes back to SF in 6 more years. :D (happy sigh)

I also took myself to see the 'Watchm3n' the other night. Hmmm. I left the theater thinking "Who watches the Watchm3n -- and WHY?!" I am not one to walk out on a movie, but I almost did -- 3 separate times! It just went on and on and on. I had read the book several months ago, and I think that was part of the problem. The movie does such an amazing job of faithfully recreating the book nearly frame for frame that I was bored. Bored, bored, bored. I knew exactly what was going to happen for the entire thing! Well, except for the parts where I had forgotten exactly how violent this story is. (Urp.) On the other hand, if you didn't read the book, I could see how you'd be fairly confused. **rant below

What can I say? Husband came home after seeing this movie with a damp ring on the front of his pants. I probably should have known better.

** Spoiler/rant! below

And the whole penis uproar? Good grief. For all the flap I heard about it I expected Dr. Manhattan to be pole dancing with the camera at crotch level! Fully erect! Possibly even a second penis involved! But no, there were just a few scenes of full frontal from a bit of a distance. Wha-hoo. Stupid, prudish Americans. What, do these people have sex in the dark with their eyes closed too?!? I think as a culture we've been 'spared the rod' too many times, if ya know what I mean.