Hello all! What I'm about to say may seem shocking to some of you. I finally saw the musical Wicked for the first time. I know, I know... What took me so long? I have no idea. But I do know one thing: It. Was. Awesome.
I was able to score front row seats through the Wicked lottery. Basically several Broadway shows hold lotteries a few hours before curtain. You put your name in, and if you're lucky, you get selected for generally amazing seats for super cheap (in our case, it was $25 for front row!). Thursday was the second time I tried for the lottery and I just knew we were going to get it this time. I kept telling my cousin Susan that we were definitely winning. When I put my name in, I said to the guy in charge, "I'm so excited to see the show tonight, because I just KNOW I'm winning." And I did!
I've never been in the front row of a show before. I was really excited, then I started to remember how much the Wicked Witch and her monkeys freaked me out as a child. Then I started to get nervous. Was I going to get scared?
And of course, what was the first thing that came out once the show started? The monkeys. Right in front of me. I turned to Susan and said, "I do not like this." But fortunately, I started acting like an adult and became totally mesmerized with the show. Being close-up you really get an appreciation for everything from the intricacies of the costumes to the background players staying in character the entire time. And of course, there's the music. I knew a few songs (mostly thanks to Glee) and bought the soundtrack the second I got home.
I also loved how the story of The Wizard of Oz, something we all grew up with, was re-imagined thanks to Gregory Maguire who wrote the book that the musical was based on. I love origin stories and the author in me was super jealous of his brilliance. Looks like I've got another book to add to my ever growing to-read pile.
I highly recommend Wicked to anybody who comes to NYC or if the traveling show comes to your town. You will NOT be disappointed!
GIVEAWAY TIME! As some of you may have noticed, my comments have been shut down for some time. First, I was getting too much spam, then I wasn't getting legit comments. BUT! I've called in the Big Guns (aka my friends Laura and Kevin) to fix it and we think we got it to work. So what better way to celebrate (and make sure it's working) by holding a contest to win a signed copy of Prom & Prejudice! All you have to do to enter is to post a comment below. That's it. It's open WORLDWIDE too! I'll pick a winner by Tuesday, December 13 by 6:00 pm EST.
Please note, I will be approving comments, so your comment will be held for moderation. I'll be in and out on Sunday, so don't worry if it takes me a few hours to approve.
Good luck! XO, Elizabeth