"Weren't you... her friend?" asks a citizen of Oz to Glinda the Good Witch moments after the green skinned wicked Witch of the West has melted.  "Yes," admits Glinda to both the surprise and shock of the on-looking crowd.

Thus begins the re-telling of The Wizard of Oz in the spectacular Broadway musical Wicked, which opened this week at ASU Gammage in Tempe, though this time around the whole affair is seen from the perspective of the alleged villain.  It soon becomes apparent that what we thought we knew before in the original L. Frank Baum novel, and more specifically the MGM movie, was actually a lie.

Obviously the re-telling is a gimmick, but it's a great gimmick.  Wicked is simply a wonderful theatrical experience.  For those who have seen either the Broadway or London presentations and feared that a national touring production would somehow lessen the impact of the original, fear not; this current tour hits all the marks head-on, from the imaginative set and lighting design to the choreography, and it can safely boast two outstanding performances from its leads, Katie Rose Clarke as Glinda and Donna Vivino as the green-skinned Elphaba.  For fans of trivia, the name Elphaba is a combination of letters taken from Oz's creator, L. Frank Baum.

The strength of Wicked is its constant invention.  There's a familiarity to the characters - everyone must know the story of Dorothy, don't they? - and yet by turning the whole thing inside out we are hooked to see what we thought we knew change in front of our eyes.  As the poster says, so much happened before Dorothy dropped in, and what we learn is that the wicked witch was never really wicked in the first place, but because of her socially challenged skin color - there's a reason for that green, by the way - she is kept an outcast by everyone around her, including her father, and eventually forced to take drastic steps in order to right several wrongs.

Adapted from the popular novel by Gregory Maguire, writer Winnie Holzman has streamlined a complicated plot and peppered it with sly references to the original that upon recognition always gets a laugh.  After an short absence, when the green witch is asked by her sister why she has returned, Elphaba responds, "Because there's no place like home."

What lifts Wicked into something special, though, are the music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.  His ability to write memorable pop/rock songs for the theatre has been evident for years - Pippin, Godspell and Working are just a few examples - but with Wicked he has risen to the occasion with an inspiring score that manages to incoporate catchy themes, an epic sounding film score and clever lyrics laced with wit.  When the green witch fantasizes of what a relationship with the wizard would be like in the song The Wizard and I, she sings, "I'm so happy, I could melt!"  And there's always a danger, though a pleasant one, that the catchy Popular, where Glinda attempts to give Elphaba a makeover, may stay in your head longer than you would normally like.

But the standout is Defying Gravity, the moment before the intermission when Elphaba climbs a broom and literally takes flight.  Bathed in smoke and spotlights, the green witch displays how defiant and potentially dangerous she can be when pushed as she rises above the soldiers of Oz who have come to arrest her.  It's where the marriage of lighting, theatrical trickery and an inspiring showstopper combine for one shining moment of genuinely great musical theatre.  "If you care to find me," the witch cries, "Look to the western skies!"  When the curtain drops and the auditorium is plunged into sudden darkness, you may find yourself in danger of leaping to your feet for an ovation much earlier than planned.

For more information regarding times, dates and tickets at ASU Gammage, Tempe, CLICK HERE.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  Last summer I received a fair amount of criticism for negative reviews of Speed Racer and Pineapple Express and for being less than enthusiastic for The Dark Knight.  This year it appears that my thumbs down on Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was not appreciated by everyone.

There was this from 16 year old Taylor.  "I can't believe what you said about the Transformers," he wrote.  "It was fantastic and Megan Fox was hot."

I don't think there was anywhere in the review where I wrote that she wasn't.  The problem with Megan's character is that she had nothing to do.  Like all the other shiny material in the film, Megan was just one more piece of decoration, albeit an outstanding one.  Though, let us not kid ourselves about her real role in the film.  It was so that that teenagers, like Taylor, could say how hot she was.

Jason of Gilbert wrote, "My problem with critics is they never get it."  He then asked, "Did you not find the special effects awesome?"

Not really.  We were never given a chance to ever savor the visuals.  How could we when every frame of every shot was so busy?  Half the time it was difficult to even see what was going on.  Remember Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the enormous mother ship floated over Devil's Tower and eventually landed?  There were no dizzying camera tricks, no fast edits, and no painful assaults on our ears; we simply watched and were awed.  Up until that point we had spent two hours invested in a human story and getting to know all the characters.  Once those UFOs and the Mother Ship arrived, we were spellbound.  Transformers 2 has no time for a buildup.  Within seconds of the opening credits we are plunged, headfirst, into an almost unwatchable battle full of explosions and crunched metal that never stops.  How can you be awed when you're not even sure what you're looking at?

Finally, William asked two questions. "If the film has already made $200 million in the first few days how can you argue with that?"

Easily.  We should never equate how much money a film makes with quality, and if you personally have no financial investment in the film's profit, why would you even care how much money it made?  All you should care about is if the film is any good.  The recent Paul Blart: Mall Cop made a surprising killing at the box-office, but I'd be willing to arm wrestle anyone who thinks it was a truly good film.

Second question from William.  "Can't you overlook the silly plot and just enjoy it for what it is, great summer entertainment?"

The idea of cars and trucks turning into killer robots is not the issue, though it is, admittedly, silly.  The problem is how the story is told and the style of the film.  And that, I'm presuming, is why the film has been so universally condemned.  Director Michael Bay's style is chaotic overkill.  Like all movie-goers, I love to be surprised and entertained.  CGI effects can be stunning when employed with imagination and that extra touch of human emotion, but all of that is absent in Transformers 2.  The whole effect is about as subtle as swatting a fly with a mallet. Very depressing.

If you have any thoughts or observations, or you just want to agree with Taylor that Megan Fox is hot no matter what, write to me at davidappleford@clearchannel.com

If you were to go to David Thomson's The New Biographical Dictionary of Film and looked up the entry for Transformer's director Michael Bay you'd find the following entry: "He makes noisy garbage."  That was written in 2001.  Unfortunately, not much has changed in the past eight years.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is exactly that - noisy garbage that remains continuously noisy for most of it's 150 minutes.  Yes, 150 minutes!  Mel Brooks told the history of the world in under 92 minutes, and it had a better plot.

In this sequel to the 2007 hit Shia LaBeouf as teenager Sam Witwicky is off to college where all the female students look as if they'd be more at home at the Playboy mansion than at school, but within seconds of attending his first class the action begins.  Action in a Michael Bay film always involves explosions and buildings being destroyed.  If two people are talking in a room, within minutes, usually seconds, the room is either on fire or shattered into a millions of pieces.  Locations are not meant to be enjoyed, they're there to be pummeled.   When the film takes us to Paris you just know that key French historic buildings will soon go up in flames. 

To go into detail about the plot is redundant.  There's a whole explanation about how the Fallen - an evil transformer - will rise and can only be defeated by a Prime - a good transformer - but this is all buried way down in there among the screaming, the explosions, and various other ear-shattering sounds that never quit.

In its favor, the film looks good.  In Michael Bay's world everything photographed looks shiny, polished and full of hardware.  When military brass enter control rooms, the place is lit from the blue glare of video monitors.  It's impractical, but it looks cinematic.  And that's the whole point.  No matter how impractical everything is, as long as it looks cool, mission accomplished.   

The poster boasts more of everything - more action, more explosions, and more Megan Fox.  And it's true, Miss Fox certainly gets a lot screen time, though her role and her whole reason for being is somewhat diminished from the first film.  Other than doing a lot of running around and making last second leaps to escape another explosion, there's no real reason in the narrative for her to even be there.  She doesn't move the plot forward, she's decoration.  She drapes the film in the same way that she drapes her motorbike in her opening shot.   

It's often difficult to hear the dialog due to how visually busy every frame tends to be, even in the non-explosive moments, but now and again a phrase or two survives the visual mayhem that might make you smile.  The best line goes to John Turturro as Agent Simmons when he confides in Witnicky.  "What you are about to see is top secret," he says, then adds, "Do not tell my mother."

If only Michael Bay had taken notice of David Thomson's critique back in 2001 and reflected on why his inventory of previous films were considered nothing but noisy garbage, maybe in 2009 he would now be receiving the kind of praise he would prefer  - Bay has already announced he's tired of the overwhelming criticism he receives, and this was before the Transformer 2 reviews came out - but notice was never taken, obviously.  As it stands, this blockbuster sequel is the art of film at its worst and illustrates everything that is wrong with commercial Hollywood. 

What's more depressing is that it has already made more than $200 million in it's first five days.  Revenge of the fallen, indeed. 

MPAA rating:  PG-13   Length:  150 minutes