"Wicked!"

My crazy mother (I can say that because I'm pretty sure she hasn't figured out how to access the world wide web yet, let alone a "blog") stood in line early in the morning this past December to buy the whole family tickets to "Wicked!" as a Christmas present. We've all been waiting in great anticipation for April 30th to roll around when we could experience the "real story" of the Wicked Witch of the West.

In preparation, my wife and I listened to and became familiar with the soundtrack and checked out some video footage of the original cast online. Other than that, all we knew about the musical was that it was about the Witch before she was The Witch who tried to kill Dorothy and her little dog, too. I am typically the kind of person who likes to know the ending of things before I experience them. For example, I know the entire story of Harry Potter just by word-of-mouth. Whenever I asked people about the details of "Wicked!" however, they responded, without exception, "You have to see it for yourself." So, I curbed the desire to find a synopsis of the show, and went in without knowing anything but the very barest of bones.

For those of you who have not seen "Wicked!" I say, "You have to see it for yourself." I was totally overwhelmed by the two leads, Donna Vivino's Elphaba and Katie Rose Clark's Glinda. I was brought to tears once by the story, but I teared up at least twice involuntarily due simply to the brilliant performance of these two actresses. I was rendered entirely speechless and could have sat through the entire production again right away.

It has now been a few days since "Wicked!" I was sure by now the magic of the show and its impression on me would be long gone. But even now when I think about that night, the music and the performers, my reality is once again suspended. I was so lifted by something so...secular. Whatever it is that I do in life, I hope to make people feel as good as I did, and still do, because of "Wicked!"

I'm starting to feel like I should bear my testimony, so I will now shut up.