WICKED

I come from a family that LOVES theater, particularly musical theater. My parents still have season tickets to both Pioneer Theater Company at the University of Utah AND Broadway in Utah. Additionally, my sister Cynthia majored in vocal performance and then got advanced training at the American Music and Dramatic Academy. However, it took both of us until the beginning of March until we FINALLY saw Wicked. The musical that everyone just raves about. Cynthia even had the words memorized to most of the songs. So, when I went down to LA to see her perform, I decided that we HAD to go and see this show.

The theater is beautiful- here's the inside lobby.

But, even better was our inside view. We had gotten orchestra tickets (it is SO worth it to pay the extra to have orchestra tickets for good Broadway musicals) and when we picked up our tickets, we found that they had moved us even closer! We were on Row G, just off center on the right side. Here's our view of the map at the beginning.

And of the side stage. We were SO impressed by the staging and effects.

We both felt that the show WAS worth all of the hype. We thought that the music and storyline were fabulous and we LOVED our Elfaba. It turns out that she was the understudy but she was phenomenal. The only sad thing was Glinda- or Glenda :-)- she was just extremely irritating, and not just because her character is supposed to be that way. The show totally presents a different take on the Wizard of Oz. You'll never look at that movie the same way again.

This musical is definitely one of my top favorites. Hands down though, my all time favorite is Phantom of the Opera. That show is SO MAGICAL- the music, the staging- its so great. And, to make things even better, I heard from the lips of Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber himself (on a tv show) say that he is working on the sequel to Phantom! I definitely can't WAIT for that to come out. I might have to make a special trip to London to see it . . .

But I will definitely see Wicked again, and not just because it is "pop-u-lar"