One short weekend, in the Emerald City.

Considering my audience of Mormons, family members, and Mormon family members, I'm assuming you all know about the musical "Wicked" or at least know how to get a synopsis on Wikipedia.org. My gracious, generous, hip-happenin Mom hooked me up with a ticket (and one for herself, of course) to the musical of the year. Probably more like two years, but who's counting? I just had to provide a plane ticket for myself, to come to the ever beautiful Emerald City (Seattle, not in the land of Oz) this weekend to see the show. Done and done.

I've been listening to the soundtrack for about a year now, I know all the words by heart, and the only person I annoy with that is my roommate, who has to suffer through my car singing of the whole CD, on occasion. I read the synopsis of the story on Wikipedia, loved the characters, loved the story, loved the music, this was DEFINITELY going to be an amazing night. The closer it got to show time, I couldn't help get concerned. Maybe I was hoping too much. I'd been listening to the original cast soundtrack, and this would be the touring group. Then we see in the program that the girl playing Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) is a standby, not the girl that's been performing all week. What if this production was sub-par?

Of course, it wasn't.

The music started, the stage began to move, the characters began to sing, and I was mesmerized. I was mouthing the words to myself (but not audibly, to the relief of all around me) and sitting open-mouthed during the whole show. I don't want to be melodramatic, so I'm trying to keep this review low-key but honestly, it was spectacular. Elphaba was dynamite, Glinda was perfect, Fiyero was spot on, Morrible, Dillamond, and the Wizard were all superb. My favorite song from the soundtrack is "The Wizard and I" and I think I must've had my mouth open and my face kind of blank because my Mom leaned over and said "Well, do you like it?" I couldn't respond truthfully, because I had already started crying as it was. So, I feebly said "oh, yeah, it's great". She must've known what I meant, because she shoved a tissue in my hand. (Note: If you are a member of the Banks family, you cry whenever something great is happening. It doesn't even have to be that great, just a little out of the ordinary. So, of course, I cried for no reason at the play, just because I love the play. Judge not.)

I can't describe how beautiful the set was, how perfect the costumes were, how moving the music was, and how fantastic the characters were. You'll just have to go see it for yourself. Everyone, should see this play.