Defying Gravity

I've loved the music from Wicked since I first heard it through friends in college. I sang along and dreamed of seeing it on stage one day. That day was Saturday with the bf, my newly engaged cousin Ariel, the Manager, my boss Lily and her friend. I expected it to be amazing, but WOW. I have never seen anything so incredible in my life. Every minute detail, from the sets to the costumers, the lyrics to the musicians, the actors, oh the actors. It was absolutely breathtaking. I had to bite my cheek to ward of tears at multiple points, the music was so incredibly powerful. The attention to every detail was phenomenal. The cast was incredible, what wonderful actors and singers, I absolutely loved each one of them. My best friend Ani's parents have seen Wicked in 4 different productions, and said that this was hands down THE best cast they've ever seen. I don't personally have anything to compare it to, but I can definitely believe them.

It was such an incredible experience that I got to share with such special people. We had amazing seats in the lower mezzanine. The tickets were a little pricey, but well worth it. It was absolutely perfect. I could not have asked for a better performance, it was absolutely flawless. I only wish I could go see it again each and every night while it's here. (I don't think my bank account would appreciate that though) It's so wonderful to finally know and understand the entire story, where before I only knew bits and pieces. I've really been wanting to read the book, as well as Son of a Witch, I want to read it even more now. Hopefully I'll be able to pick those up and get them read.

Wow, I'm STILL gushing over this performance. I really have loved all the musicals I've ever been to. I saw Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway in high school, it was my first large scale theatre experience, though I'd seen and been in other shows. Phantom of the Opera was phenomenal last summer, and Rent was really neat earlier this year. But Wicked, there is just something, well, magical, about the whole thing. If you haven't seen Wicked yet, do yourself a favor and get to a performance anytime it happens to be near you. Or go out of your way to see it. It's magical, simply magical! My words are not capable of doing this musical justice. You just have to see it for yourself, and then treasure the memories.

Defying Gravity

I will be defying gravity come mid-August. I just purchased our tickets to Wicked! It's about time I saw the musical that had such a strong impact on my senior year of college with my friends. I only know the music, I can't wait to finally see the musical.

We ended up getting tickets at almost the front of the mezzanine, dead center. It was a little more than we had planned, but it was SO worth the extra money to get such good seats, and still for under $100. ($81, to be exact)

I keep talking about "we", don't I? Well, "we" consists of me, the bf, my cousin Ariel, my boss Lily, the Manager and his friend. We are all super excited to go, I can't wait until August! I have so many exciting things that I'm looking forward to. My best friend's wedding tomorrow, San Francisco in June, Wicked in August, and many things in between.

525600 Minutes

After falling in love with the music and then the movie, I finally saw RENT onstage. Twice. With Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp (the original Roger and Mark). It was absolutely wonderful. Better than I could have hoped for. Such powerful, moving performances.

I went last Tuesday with Bee, I took her for her birthday. The bf and I went on Wednesday. It was incredible. We were in the balcony both times, which was great, if a little far away. But I know the show really well, so it worked perfectly. Wicked comes later in the summer, and I'm thinking mezzanine seats.

If you haven't seen RENT, do yourself a favor and at least go RENT the movie. It's WONDERFUL. So creative, so powerful. Absolutely inspirational.

Mamma Mia

This has to be one of the best movies I've ever seen. The bf took me on an impromptu date tonight, part of which was seeing this movie. I even leaned over during the movie and told him it was the best movie I'd ever seen.
Yes, it's cheesy at points. Yes, it had me crying I was laughing so hard at other points. I fell in love with ABBA music back in junior high/high school when A*Teens came out and redid a lot of their songs and mimicked their style. My mom loved ABBA, so she and I share that. I've loved Amanda Seyfried since her role in Veronica Mars. I think she was a perfect cast for this (of couse, admittedly having never seen the stage production) Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth were all wonderful too, and so was the rest of the cast.

I have to say, I'm loving this trend of putting musicals to the big screen. I know that some people are completely against it, but it's made me fall even further in love with Broadway shows, and in my opinion, brings amazing shows to people who otherwise would not have the opportunity to experience them. I mean, Phantom of the Opera? I saw the movie first and fell in love with it, though admittedly it was PHENOMENAL when I finally saw it on stage about a month ago. I had no clue what Hairspray was when I went to see it with my friend last summer, and completely fell in love with that. And how could I forget Rent? And now I've fallen in love with Mamma Mia. I swear, I need to go to New York again (finally) and just basically LIVE on Broadway for a few weeks and see EVERYTHING. Seriously.

I will warn you that this one does get a little cheesy and possibly even over the top at times...but come on, it's a musical. It's a comedy. It was absolutely wonderful. Also? I want to visit Greece...even more than when I watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Incidentally, I also want to see the newest movie of that. But really, though the first one was GREAT, read the books, they're even better...same with the newest version of Pride and Prejudice (the one with Keira Knightley), read the book, it's AMAZING. And if you have to go for a movie, block out some time for the A&E version with Colin Firth. It's about as true to the text as you can get, and hello...5 hours of watching Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy? Need I say more?

La-di-da....oh hey, there's my train of thought come round to pick me up. Mamma Mia was amazing. I can't wait for it to come out on dvd. I'm rather disappointed that my A*Teens cd is at home and not in my cd case down here. I should also borrow my mom's ABBA cd next time I'm home...I never did put it on my computer. Also, thank you so much to everyone for the prayers and warm wishes for my mom. She is doing a lot better, and I actually got to see her for a while on Sunday. (we had a half-birthday lunch for my Great-Grams) It was relieving to be able to see firsthand that she was doing alright. And I have it on good authority that my wonderful little Angel puppy is doing quite well.

Final aside, I've been kind of mia in the blog world recently. Work has been crazy and I've barely been home. We're all gearing up for the freshmen move-in and beginning of school. But I'm slowly catching up on my blog reader and will try to get back to posting more regularly.

Sing once again with me

I finally got the chance to see Phantom of the Opera live on stage. I've wanted to ever since my best friend Ani and his mom introduced me to it in the movie theater several years ago.
The handbell choir that I sometimes play with got a section of seats to opening night of Phantom here, and they invited me along. I even got to take the bf with me (he bought me a shiny program!) It was absolutely incredible. We had great orchestra level seats and could see everything. It was seamless, better than I had imagined it would be. I've loved Phantom of the Opera since Ani introduced me to it, so last night was about the coolest thing ever. Simply amazing! It's really only the second show I've seen on stage (Broadway-type show, not amateur productions) The other was Jesus Christ Superstar back in 9th grade during our band trip to New York. I saw it on Broadway and absolutely loved it. I still need to see Wicked and Rent, I'd love to see Hairspray, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, Tarzan, and other Broadway classics like Cats and Chorus Line. Basically I just love Broadway shows, and want to see more of them.