Wicked
As the Box Seats played at Luke's graduation party someone shook me. I turned around to see Kid and to my surprise Aspen, who had come to Columbus that day for a photo shoot, as she is about to graduate from realty school. As the party was wrapping up, Kid and Aspen told me that they had a salsa dance to go to and they asked me if I wanted to come. I went and while I don't have time to write a full installment about it, I just wanted to mention it here because it was a fun night. At the end of the night, I said goodbye to Aspen and told Kid, “I'll see you tomorrow. 5:30 sharp!”
Marshall’s grandma (Granny) lives a few blocks away from Shane and I. She has season tickets to Broadway shows at the Ohio Theater. In fact, I almost went to a show with her and Marshall around Christmas, but I got the day wrong and accidentally created a conflict in my schedule (I feel really bad about that). When Wicked came to town, Marshall invited me to come with him, Granny, and his siblings, Isaac and Chloe. Isaac however had to unexpectedly go out of state so Marshall invited Kid.
I went to the Anderson’s house, met up with Kid, Marshall and Chloe, and we picked up Granny. I have mentioned Chloe before, though not by name. The installment in which she appeared was called “The Coronapocalypse” and as the name suggests that was when Covid hit Ohio. Since Covid was the main focus of that installment I did not have room to develop her character, which is a real shame.
Marshall and his siblings love Star Wars. So much so that he can quote entire scenes from the movies. I have a video from around the same time as “The Coronapocalypse,” with Marshall and Chloe quoting back and forth the climactic scene of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and me turning the camera to myself as I say “There's two of them… HELP ME!” The more I see them together the more I believe that Chloe is literally just the female version of Marshall.
I’m pretty sure Chloe's purpose in life is to embarrass Marshall. She literally has a folder on her phone that consists of embarrassing videos and photos of Marshall that she is going to release at his wedding. While I cannot tell you what is in this folder (Though once Chloe releases it all bets are off) some of these videos are hilarious! She spends the rest of her time when she is with us talking about how much of a “troubled child” Marshall was. Marshall is a very professional (if not somewhat ridiculous) person so hearing about the shenanigans he got into as a kid is the best.
I think what Chloe does for Marshall is the same reason I liked Wicked so much. I kind of knew what it was going to be about based on its relation to the Wizard of Oz, and my theater nerd girlfriend Gabby, but going into it I didn't have any expectation of what it was going to be. For those of you who have not seen Wicked, it is half an origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West and Half a Retelling of the 1939 Movie from her perspective.
While the Wicked Witch of the West is an iconic villain, in comparison to someone like Darth Vader she is not very developed as a character. The entire show adds a level of dimension to her character that makes her someone who is not just evil for evil’s sake. That is my favorite part of storytelling in general, figuring out the psychology of a character, fictional or otherwise!
Have a Greattastic day and be safe!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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