We started the evening at El Patron restaurant. It's a large, hacienda-style building with Mexican murals and decor, serving New Mexican cuisine. The service was excellent, the food was delicious (I meant to take a picture of mine before I started, oops) and there were two musicians playing guitars and singing on a balcony over the main seating area. Although we still love El Pinto, we now have a pretty great alternative, and much closer to our house.
After dinner, we drove the short distance to UNM and parked in the parking garage. One more advantage of living in a city -- everything is so close here! We were early, so we waked around campus for a while.
Popejoy hall is the venue for Broadway touring shows in Abq. The main theater is a bit smaller than Proctors, seating 1950 (Proctors seats about 2700). It originally opened in 1966 during the term of University of New Mexico president Thomas L. Popejoy.
Our seats were three rows from the stage, which provided a different experience from the first time we saw Wicked at Proctors, when we were in a box near the soundboard. Those seats afforded a better angle and overview, and I'm glad that's where we sat for our first Wicked show, but it was fun to be so close that I could watch the conductor, see the actors' facial expressions, and really appreciate the sheer athletic physicality of the dancing.
We thought the production was excellent, although not quite as good as the first time we saw it. At that time, there were more members of the original Broadway cast in the touring company. We both thought that the two female leads were well-cast, with lovely singing voices, but that their duets weren't quite as tight as in the Proctors show, and we didn't love the singing voice of the actor playing Fiyero, although we both thought his acting was excellent.
The orchestra was outstanding (especially the oboe player), and of course the sets and technicals were awesome. We had a great night, and will certainly not hesitate to go to Popejoy for future shows!
