Defying Gravity

(This will most likely be one of those horridly inarticulate posts where I am far too excited to write well. You've been warned.)

 Last night, I went to see Wicked. *scream*

 For those of you who don't know, Wicked is a musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz. You get to see the entire story from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West, who finally gets a name, Elphaba. An outcast all her life due to her green skin, Elphaba is a very sympathetic character, and you can't help but cheer her on. The whole show plays with the ideas of "goodness" and "wickedness"-- neither Glinda the Good nor the so-called Wicked Witch are as black-and-white... I mean, pink-and-green... as they appear.

 Nerd confession: I've owned the soundtrack for a while never having seen the show. The music kept coming up on my Pandora and I just loved it, so I bought it. It was awesome to get to hear the music in context and figure out how essential it was to the plot. Elphaba (played by Mamie Parris) was just INCREDIBLE. That woman has PIPES, man. "Defying Gravity" (the main song-- look it up on YouTube if you care to) was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen/heard. My feeble words really aren't doing it justice, but seriously. It was awesome. Exceptional. Stunning. Fantastic.

 Glinda, played by Alli Mauzey, was nothing short of hilarious. She perfectly captured the ditzy, popular girl character, charming and obnoxious all at once. The whole show was hilarious-- so many witty one-liners. At one point Glinda insulted Elphaba's broom, to which Elphie replied, "Well we can't all come and go by bubble!" There were several jokes referencing the Judy Garland movie as well, which I enjoyed.

 Some of you might remember my beefs with The Wizard of Oz-- so many of them were totally resolved by this show! The script and story are truly brilliant-- figuring out how everything ties together is so fun. There were so many ironic hints with wordplay and the suchlike as to how things were going to turn out, but there were definitely a few curveballs.

 I'm adding Elphaba to my list of roles to play before I die... "I think I'll try defying gravity..."

 :)