Wicked

Little One and I spent an enchanted evening last night in our nearby Big City, attending the touring Broadway production of Wicked.

To cut to the best quote of the night, she confessed at intermission, "Nana, I almost cried. It isn't scary; it's just overwhelming."

She was right.

The event started for us, I guess, at about 3pm when she dedicated 1.5 hours of her time to coaxing my hair into a French twist for the occasion. Then we threw on clothes, drove to a nearby restaurant for a quick meal, and proceeded to the City for the show.

Usually the evening rush-hour traffic on our interstate is headed toward our town, not back into the City, so I had not been concerned. I was edgy, however, when all lanes of traffic came to a dead stop -- not once, not twice, but 4 or 5 times in a 10-mile stretch. We never did see an accident or signs of construction. Despite the stops, and the intermittent rain, we got to the auditorium, parked, ran through the rain, and arrived inside in plenty of time to have a refreshment and pick up a size S "Wicked" t-shirt before the seats opened.

During this time, LO spotted a merchandise fellow wearing red sequin shoes, and asked me to take her picture with him. "Sure," I replied. This child knows no strangers, and marched up to the guy. She announced that his shoes were screaming to be in a picture with her. He smiled and agreed. Please check this blog soon for inclusion of the photo -- it's on her phone and she's at school at the moment.

Now for the play: This will be very short.

I've seen only a few Broadway plays in my life -- a few in NYC and a few traveling productions.

Nothing I've ever seen pales to this production.

Sets: amazing.
Special effects: artful.
Costumes: oh my goodness.
Cast energy: over the top.
Talent: ......wow.
Script: clever.

And the music: we were still humming it this morning. Headed to iTunes after this post to see what I can download....

During the play I glanced at our girl a few times to see how she was reacting. I wondered if she heard more in the music than I did, seeing as she can truly sing, and I have a double-case of Tin Ear. Her eyes were just filled with wonder. I rarely see her totally, completely absorbed in anything, but last night, she was. She thanked me and hugged me several times since, and, I really feel it was worth every hard-earned penny.

We drove home in more intermittent rain and reached the house at about midnight. I am so thankful for this enchanted night.