WICKED

WICKED was the best part of the trip to Chicago. I had seen an amateur version of it in Spanish, by the group "amorevo", and I just loved the story. It's so witty and it changes the way of looking at the characters of the Wizard of Oz, which I love.

We went Saturday at 1 p.m. to the box office of the Oriental Theatre in Chicago. All the tickets were sold out for the weekend, and on Mondays there is no show. I was heartbroken. I was determined to go back to the theatre before the show and try to buy a ticket in the last moment.

I didn't need to do that. There is a drawing 2 hours before each show. So I went back to the Oriental Theatre at 6 p.m. with my friend Andrea. I was convinced that I would have to wait to see it until summer or Spring break. We entered our names and waited.
We had arrived very late, so our names were the last to go in. There was no way our names were going to get picked. One person won, and another, and another. Every time a name was announced, the winner and his/her friends would yell with excitement. I was thinking, "If one of our names comes out, I am not going to shout or anything. I am not going to make a spectacle out of this."

When my friend's name was said, I didn't realize it was him for a few seconds. Suddenly my head gave a little cry: "Oh my god it's us!" I had to shout, I couldn't help it. I think my friend got scared, because I got hold of his jacket and started giving little jumps. I started laughing, I couldn't believe it.

Two tickets for 25 dollars each. In the first role. I was thrilled.
The Oriental Theatre is everything but simple. It's richly decorated. Maybe too much. I thought it was gorgeous.

The play started and it was everything I thought it would be, and more. It has very funny moments. The music is great, so meaningful every phrase.
In the show I attended the role of Elphaba (the main character) was to be played by Dee Roscioli. She is the stand by for the Chicago production, but I heard that she is taking over the role in two months, because she's so good. I agree. She is a very good actress.
Later I learned that the actress who was supposed to be Elphaba is the main character of the Pirate Queen.

I had to buy a book called The Grimmerie. Is a behind the scenes look of the musical Wicked. The musical is based on Gregory Maguire's book Wicked: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Universal originally bought the rights to the book to make a movie of it, but it ended up being a musical. By personal guess is that a movie will come after the success the musical is.

I also bought the Soundtrack. It's such a beautiful music and lyrics. I can't stop listening to them.

The big hit of the musical is Defying Gravity. Here is a video with the Original cast of Broadway: Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda.

One of my favourite songs is No Good Deed. The lyrics are just amazing. In this video Eden Espinosa makes a great performance of the piece.

Probably the most hilarious part of the musical is the song called "What is this feeling?"

Dee Roscioli and Kristoffer Cusick had a special chemistry on stage. In this song: As long as you're as your mine. Love song from beginning to end.

A very beautiful song that summarizes the friendship story between Elphaba and Galinda is "For Good". In this video we can see a behind the scenes look on how the two actresses transmited their friendship to the stage.

One of the best things of the musical is that it goes from a very tragic moment to a really hilarious one, and it does it very naturally. Like in this video:

To end this Wicked post, enjoy this Behind the Scenes video. You can learn all the work that takes to do the sets and the choreographies, and more.