Wicked

I'm a fan of just about any story that focuses on the power of friendship between two women. The boy-meets-girl has just be done and I think women are so much more interesting, they shouldn't be relegated to a love interest. As such, we snapped up our tickets to see Wicked and we were so excited to share this experience with the girls! This was their first Broadway musical and they didn't quite know what to expect. We tried explaining it was the backstory of the Wizard of Oz. We played the music for them. We described the plot but in the end, we told them they just needed to see it. Brent had to work downtown so he met us at the parking garage and we grabbed some dinner. It was clear the other people at Potbelly's were going to Wicked as well. Finally, we headed to the theater. Before going inside, we had to snap a few photos!

Brent had been following a singer on TikTok who happens to be the alternate for Elphaba in this production. She didn't perform this night, but it did pique his interest just that much more in going.

Just a few more photos by the posters!

I dunno why but I like the black and white better!

An usher with a button that said she had seen Wicked 57 times showed us some booster seats which was perfect. We were seated at the front of the balcony- prime viewing for the Defying Gravity number. I remembered the map but I completely forgot about the dragon! Gita really loved when the dragon's eyes glowed red...

About that Defying Gravity number- I kid you not, it felt like Elphaba was singing directly to us. I sat pinned to my seat as her beautiful voice washed over me and it felt like a baptism of sorts- I felt healed. In that moment it felt like everything was going to be ok and I let go of all those little concerns hanging out in the corners of my mind and just soaked up this moment. That may sound cheesy, but it's true!

I was concerned the girls wouldn't enjoy it- they'd be bored or think it was too weird. When the lights came up for intermission, it was clear they, too, had seen the light. They LOVED it! I mean really loved it. Brent and I couldn't stop smiling at each other. The Popular number was really campy- even more so than I remembered. They really hammed it up. For Good was incredibly touching which I loved since I feel like it's the crux of the whole show.

This is the girls doing Galinda's hair "toss, toss".

Not our theater, but we passed this on the way back to the parking garage and I had to snap a photo! I love that we live in Chicago!

Not only did the girls love it, they started plotting for ways to see Wicked again before it left Chicago. They checked for available tickets, counted up their loose change, they told me about a daily lottery... our schedule was just too packed to make it happen (and really, those tickets are so expensive, one time is enough) but I'm so happy they enjoyed themselves! Gita decided to be Elphaba for next Halloween and Sydney decided to be Galinda- vacillating between which colorful costume to wear. Ahhh I'm so glad we did this!!!