Seems I hardly have to sell anyone on "Wicked," now on stage at the Murat Theatre in downtown Indianapolis, part of the Broadway Across America series of tours (click here for info and tickets). The house was practically sold out last night, and will likely be fairly full through the weekend. Fortunately it's in Indy for a three-week run. (And there's always the "ticket lottery".)

A number of political pundits have sounded the death knell of the Republican Party. Like the premature announcement of Mark Twain’s death, the GOP obituary is exaggerated. The national GOP is on the ropes, if not on a lifeline. That is nothing new. Both political parties have suffered tremendous defeats and subsequent crises of identity before. Democrats contemplated a lengthy exile in 1972, 1984, and 2004. Republicans did the same in 1964, 1976, and 1992. In each case the exile was short-lived.

The much-anticipated tour of the Broadway hit "Wicked" -- the story of events leading up to the "Wizard of Oz" with how the Wicked Witch of the West came to be, based on the bestselling novel -- is now in Indianapolis, playing at the Murat Theatre downtown through June 21.

For those tight on money, or just wanting a chance to save some, there is a "ticket lottery" for a limited number of seats before each show. Be at the box office two and a half hours before curtain (11:30 a.m. for 2 p.m. Saturday shows, 10:30 a.m. for 1 p.m. Sunday matinees, 4 p.m. for 6:30 Sunday evenings, 5 p.m. for 7:30 Tuesdays through Thursdays, 5:30 for 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays) and have your name placed in a lottery drum, with drawing 30 minutes later. Show a valid ID to claim and pay for tickets -- $25 each, cash only, limit two per person.

We all know stories of the “crazy cat lady” and occasionally see a news article about an old person living in a house in disrepair, overrun with animals. But she wasn’t always like this, was she?

A pair of women who fit the stereotype when filmed for the 1970s documentary “Grey Gardens” turned out to have quite a glamorous past – related to America’s “royalty,” including former First Lady Jacqueline (nee Bouvier) Kennedy Onasis. That film inspired a stage musical, a hit on and off Broadway, which makes its American community theater debut at Buck Creek Players.

I was out of town during the opening of the musical “Annie” at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis, featuring B&B favorite Ty Stover as Daddy Warbucks. So friend and correspondent Wendy Carson filled in:

Given the dark economic forecasts that deluge us daily from the news media, Beef & Boards offers us glimmer of hope, reminding us that the sun will come out tomorrow, in their wonderful production of “Annie.” Although our current climate is not quite as dreary as the depression-era setting of the show, its message of change and optimism certainly helps to keep our spirits up.

Buck Creek Players, the entertaining and innovative community playhouse just over the county line, will host the local premiere of the Broadway hit “Grey Gardens: The Musical,” with performances 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, through June 14.

Theatre on the Square on Mass Ave. in Indy has a real gem on its hands with the new play "Mafia Daughter." Based on popular dramas like "The Godfather," "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos" with a healthy dose of humor stirred in, the story of the (fictional) Angelina crime family is fun and entertaining.

"This... is all we have to work with."

That quote from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" came to mind when considering the play "Interpreting William," in its world premiere at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in downtown Indianapolis through May 31. The context isn't nearly as crude as that of the quote I just used; in fact the sanitized feel of the story of William Conner erred in the other direction.

This turns out to be a busy weekend (May 16-17), and I didn't have enough room for everything on the At Your Leisure page. Here are some more area events:

The young actors of KidsPlay Inc. have their hands full with their latest production, Pat Cook’s farce “A Tough Act to Follow.”

We’re not just talking props, though for this show, set in the front room of a top Broadway talent agent in the 1940s, aspiring performers bring roller skates, playing cards, a ventriloquist dummy, a flea circus, scripts, boxing gloves -- and then there’s the tough guy with the gun.

The cast also has to contend with overlapping dialogue, slapstick, general chaos and varying degrees of New Yawk accents. Somehow they manage, even as they worked on the remaining rough spots in final rehearsals.

And then the lights went out.