Wicked's 10th Anniversary

As everyone who knows me knows, I am obsessed with the musical Wicked. the show opened in 2003 and last night (October 30th) it celebrated ten years on Broadway. I was extremely lucky and I am eternally grateful that I had the opportunity to be there for this performance. I left school in the afternoon and met up with fellow Wicked fans and good friends I had met through social media. Elizabeth and Tess, thank you for making yesterday as amazing as it was.
 
We started the day by going to a theatre hangout/bakery, Schmakary's and getting their Wicked themed cookies. Double chocolate chunk with emerald green icing is definitely a plus in my book. They were pretty reasonably priced too, at two giant cookies for $5. We took our cookies back to Times Square and sat on the steps in front of the New Year's Eve ball. We sat there just enjoying talking to each other for a while as we had several hours before the show. Eventually we went to dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner. That place was really entertaining. So many Broadway stars got their start there, and Rachel Potter, in the top 12 on the X Factor is a former staff member there. The entire staff sings live as you are eating, all from memory. They dance, they walk around on top of booths and are all around amazing.  I will be posting a couple videos of some portions of the staff singing on my facebook account.

Finally, we made it to the theatre about an hour and a half early, but we knew it was going to be packed. The show was sold out, which means there would be over were over one thousand people in that theatre all trying to buy merchandise, pick up tickets, search for famous Broadway stars, take pictures, etc. We took numerous pictures outside of the the theatre with murals of Elphaba and Glinda.

We went inside, and I had an e-mail from the theatre company that told me because I had ordered my tickets from the site I did, any apparel purchase came with a free complimentary gift. I had planned on buying a t-shirt anyway, and I was expecting a free gift like a key chain or poster or something. I was not expecting a $20 reusable Wicked themed tote bag. That was just one thing that helped make the night an evening I will never forget.

Finally, we all found our seats and the lights dimmed. As soon as the curtain came up, the house started cheering: all 1800 plus of us. I have seen the show before, but the two people sitting next to me (not my friends, we all had different seats in different areas of the theatre) were seeing it for the first time and it made the night all that much more special to talk with them and watch their reactions as they fell in love with the show that has spoken to millions of people across the globe. I can't even begin to describe how I was feeling as I sat there and watched the show I know so well. Alli Mauzy (Glinda) made her entrance and once again we all started cheering. Every major entrance, including the green baby at the beginning of the show was met with cheers and applause. It was extremely exciting to be part of that.  There was even huge cheers for the actress playing Elphaba's mother as she has been with the show from day one, ten years ago.

The cast finished the first song and the audience would not stop cheering. Alli, in an interview today, stated that she was worried about that due to various issues. "I had a moment where I [thought], 'We might be here all night if they keep applauding,' but I also thought, 'If we go past union [time constraints for the] musicians, this can be a problem. So I knew I had to move on at some point, but the audience just didn't want to stop applauding [at] the notes and the chords and the word 'Wicked.'"

As if that wasn't enough, we reached Defying Gravity and the end of Act 1. Not only did we all start clapping and cheering, again, intermission began with a standing ovation.
 
The second act was just as amazing and I was reduced to tears in For Good. I was not the only one. On stage, Lindsay (Elphaba) and Alli (Glinda) were both in tears also.

There were numerous former cast members in the audience, but I could not find them. Winnie Holzman (She wrote the book for the musical) and Gregory Maguire (author of the original Wicked novel) were both there also, but unfortunately due to the sheer number of people there last night, I did not see them and get to meet them. After the show, Tess, Elizabeth and I headed to the stage door along with about half the audience, but were only told the cast was not coming out that night as they had an after party to go to, and that was not open to the general public unless you felt like shelling out a ton of money.

I am so truly thankful for this opportunity to go to a celebration like this. It went above and beyond a normal Broadway performance.

The night was truly magical and I want to send out a huge and heartfelt thank you to the cast, crew and creative team of Wicked for making a musical that has spoken to me and many others, and will for years to come. To be cliche (even if it is true), because of Wicked, I have been changed, for good. Cheers! Here's to another 10 years and beyond!