Gotcha, my little pretty!

After some five years' worth of hearing about the show, and having both the LP and the CD of the cast recording for almost as long, I finally got to see the legendary Fred Barton as Miss Gulch last night.

Miss Gulch Returns is only moderately about the minor "Wizard of Oz" character, and is much more about the difficulties of growing old and single (something which I know nothing about, but can still empathize with). By turns hysterically funny and simply moving, with the best drink-as-sexual-metaphor double entendres ever written, Gulch is a joy. It's current venue, however, needs a wee bit of work.

Dillon's is a fairly new cabaret space, so I'll cut them some slack (particularly since they have draft beer, an extreme rarity in the piano bar world), but the seats are cramped, the sound system was somewhat out of balance, and the lighting is not ideal. In addition, the service, while friendly, seemed a bit rushed (for some reason, we were billed together with the table next to us. Corrected fairly quickly, but still slightly irritating). I can't complain too much, though: with the loss of the King Kong Room and the final shuttering of the Firebird, I've lost five cabaret spaces that I have fond memories of (for those keeping track, the other three were Arci's Place, Rose's Too, and the eternally beloved Eighty Eight's). Anyone willing to make a go at this crazy cabaret biz is to be encouraged.