Wicked

I want to go again!!!  As an early birthday present, NavyGuy got me two tickets to see Wicked at the Fox Cities PAC while I'm here in Wisconsin for wedding prep.  The seats were freakin' awesome, and I was able to take my wonderful friend HistoryGirlie (NavyGuy would have come but alas, he was stuck in Washington doing Navy... stuff).

We saw the matinee this past Sunday.  I memorized the CD over a year ago when Sister sent me a copy, and had been dying - DYING - to see it ever since I had heard the closing number of Act 1 "Defying Gravity."  The day before I went it hit me that maybe I had built it up in my mind too much, and that I would inevitably be let down as it could never possibly meet my expectations.

Ha!  As if!  The show was magical.  HistoryGirlie and I settled into our fabulous orchestra seats ("snob seats" as I called them), and took in the scene.  Before the show starts, there is a giant backdrop on stage showing a vintage looking map of Oz, with a green glittering Emerald City in the middle.  A huge dragon head spans the top of the stage.  We perused the program and waited impatiently for it to begin.

I just can't say enough about the show.  It's the type of musical that you really do need to see several times, because there are too many details to take in all at once.  The costumes, and the sets, and the nuances that are incorporated - just awesome.  My favorite was the actress who played Glinda; she had tough shoes to fill (Kristin Chenoweth set the bar high in the role in the show's debut on Broadway), but Katie Rose Clarke made the part her own and really gave it depth.  Her humorous and lively performance of the song "Popular" had us all splitting our sides.  And no, the last song of Act 1 did not disappoint (love me some "Defying Gravity.")

(Donna Vivino as Elphaba, and Katie Rose Clarke as Glinda.  A still from "Popular.")

During intermission, HistoryGirlie treated me to the drink of the show, an "Oz-mopolitan."  So yummy!  I can't for the life of me remember what was in it, but it was green and girly and wonderful :)  The second act flew by as fast as the first, with a shocking ending and more emotion than expected.  We had such a great afternoon, and I can't begin to thank NavyGuy enough.  He would have loved to see the show... perhaps I'll have to see it again with him in Seattle!