I'm not from around here . . . or am I?

Last night, ef, her sister and I went downtown to see "Wicked." ef had printed directions off the Broadway-in-Chicago website that incorrectly informed us the Oriental Theater would validate parking if we used the Self Park on Wabash and Adams when in fact it was the Self Park on Randolph and State that we wanted. Fortunately, we checked with the parking attendant before leaving the car -- and were informed that we were in the wrong place. A woman paying her parking fee overheard us talking to the parking attendant and asked "Oh, are you girls going to see 'Wicked'?" And we told her we were and she offered to draw us a map to where we needed to be.

I basically knew where we needed to go, but she seemed like she wanted to help us out, so I let her draw a map. "Now, you're on Wabash," she told me, drawing a line to represent the street. (I knew we were on Wabash, the school I attended for the past 2 years was a mere block away -- but I played along.) "And you're going to want to go up to Michigan Avenue, which runs along Lake Michigan and it's very busy this time of year . . ."

At this point, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I let her finish the map and thanked her for her help and she told me that we were going to love "Wicked" and that where we were going was the Loop's "theater district" . . . right . . . got it . . .

Chicagoans are so friendly!

After finding the right parking lot (without help from the map) we went to eat at a semi-upscale restaurant in the "theater district." We ordered appetizers -- calamari, misto fritto and illegal duck liver pate and ef and I each had one of the restaurant's micro-brews. Shortly after serving me my beer, our waitress stopped back at the table to ask me, "How do you like Chicago beer?"

Why, it's delicious! Thank you for asking! (I mean, it's not often that people ask me how I "like" things that I regularly consume. "How do you like Camel Lights?" "How do you like coffee?")

"Wicked" was very satisfying. (Shucks! Back in Cornpone, Alabamy we ain't got none o' that high-falutin live theater!)

I was surprised by how invested I became in the storyline and how enchanted I was by the set designs. The music wasn't exactly suited to my tastes . . . but overall it was really enjoyable. Very clever take on the original.

My favorite part? Flying monkeys. If anyone wants to make a three-hour musical all about flying monkeys I, for one, will definitely see it. Flying monkeys totally freak me out. Because it's not often that I'm truly freaked out, I appreciate things that cause me to do so. Bit of advice for "Wicked" producers: MORE FLYING MONKEYS.

Flying monkeys aside -- I'm also a big fan of the Wicked Witch a la The Wizard of Oz. It was kind of hard for me to accept the Wicked Witch of the West as a kind, misunderstood soul when I really like the flame-throwing-manically-cackling-wild-eyed-crystal-ball-gazing-what-a-world-what-a-world-shrieking Margaret Hamilton witch . . .

Link of the day: THIS.