Beware Pretty Farm Girls in Flying Houses

[ljplicease]

Robert Frank

I went into New York City today. Started out with the new Museum of Modern Art, now back in Manhattan after a short retreat in Queens. Excitedly went to the Photography gallery where they had all kinds of cool stuff, including many prints from Robert Frank's The Americans, and one of William Eggleston's prints from Guide. Overall, the museum was excellent. I will have to return when I have more time to visit it with greater scrutiny.

William Eggleston

We met mum's distant "relative" as defined by the fact that his mother has the same last name as my mother, had a very expensive lunch (thank goodness, The Company got us into the museum for free) and saw some of the paintings. They had a lot of Impressionists.

Idina Menzel

Then we went to see Wicked starring Idina Menzel and Jennifer Laura Thompson. This musical is The Wizard of Oz from the point of view of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, making her the heroine. Glinda's portal as a dumb blond is cliché, but forgivable, since the whole thing takes the story you know and turns it on its head. My mum left the theater saying it was very 1984, because she had recently read the book, though I corrected her by saying the term usually used is Orwellian.

The original story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Balm was overtly political. The movie adaptation The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland (of course) is not. It was kind of neat to see the producers of the musical inject some of the original themes of the story, although with very modern overtones.