No One Mourns the WICKED

Soo... sorry if my last post was a bit of a "Debbie Downer" but this post should lighten the mood a bit. If you didn't know, as dorky as it may seem, I am a musical freak. I love musicals! There are so many like, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge, Hairspray, Rent, West Side Story to name a few and last but not least... Wicked. My RA (Resident Assistant) for my building has been trying to plan events for us so we can enjoy our time here at Purdue a little bit more and possibly attempt to lure us out of hibernation for an entire weekend during the winter months quickly arriving. She sent out an e-mail last week with a couple ideas for fun things to do and along with paintballing (which I think would be awesome to try) there was a suggestion that we might go to Chicago for a weekend in January and see the musical, Wicked, LIVE and on BROADWAY!! How stinkin' cool is that?! I've never been able to see any kind of musical live on stage before and I cannot wait!!

If you're not familiar with the story of Wicked, let me explain a little. I'm assuming most of you have seen the movie, The Wizard of Oz, right? Well, I would hope so and if you haven't... well, shame on you. Wicked is known as "the untold story of the witches of Oz" and is based on a best-selling book by Winnie Holzman called "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West".

In the beginnining of the story, Elphaba, who is later labeled the Wicked Witch, is born with hideous green skin and has a very unhappy, childhood because of the discrimination against her strange color. When Elphaba goes of to Shiz University, she meets her roommate, Galinda, who you may recall as the "good witch" from Wizard of Oz. At first, Elphaba and Galinda aren't exactly two peas in a pod. Actually, they loathed each other. After a heart to heart conversation between the two about Elphaba and her young, wheelchair-bound sister's rough childhood, Galinda decided to take Elphaba under her wing and give her a makeover to make her become "Popular". Elphaba begins taking special sorcery classes after she reveals an innate magical talent to a headmaster, Madame Morrible at the school and hopes to send her to the Wizard of Oz because she says she could be of great use to the Wizard. Still misunderstood by most of her peers, Fiyero, a dashing young prince who was currently with Galinda, is very hesitant to confess his love for Elphaba who is rather smitten herself. After finding animals being kept in a cage, Elphaba casts a spell on her entire class except for Fiyero and they set the animals free. After finding Elphaba under a bridge, Madame Morrible tells her that she has been granted an audience with the Wizard. Galinda complains to her about Fiyero's waning feelings towards her while Elphaba prepares to leave. Feeling bad for her, Elphaba invites Glinda (having shortened her name in an attempt to impress Fiyero for multiple reasons) to go with her to the Emerald City . After "One Short Day" in the City, Elphaba and Glinda meet with the Wizard and he tells Elphaba to use a book of spells to turn his monkey servant into a flying monkey. She does as she is told. The Wizard reveals an entire cage full of monkeys with new wings and tells her they will make great spies for his evil plan. Elphaba realizes she had been used and that the wizard had no power of his own. They run away and when they arrive back at Shiz, her and Glinda hear Madame Morrible announcing that she is the Wizard's press secratary and that the "Wicked Witch", meaning Elphaba cannot be trusted. Elphaba enchants a broom and asks Glinda to come along. Glinda cannot leave behind her popularity and she refuses. Elphaba tells Glinda to somehow become the leader of Shiz and she rizes into the sky promising to fight the Wizard with all her power. Some time passes and Elphaba goes to find her sister, Nessa, who is now the governor of Munchinland and gives her a pair of ruby red slippers which enable her to walk. Nessa's servant, Boq reveals to her that he is in love with Glinda and must leave. Nessa is furious and casts a mispronounced spell from Elphaba's book on Boq and is now called the Wicked Witch of the East.. In an attempt to save Boq, Elphaba turns him into the Tin Woodman. Elphaba runs into Fiyero after she refuses an offer from the Wizard but they are interrupted when Elphaba senses her sister is in danger but is too late when she finds that Dorothy's house had landed on her. The guards catch them and take Fiyero away while Boq and the citizens of Oz declare a witch hunt. When the witch hunters find Elphaba, Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her and she apparently melts. It's revealed later that Elphaba never actually melted. She and Fiyero, who she turned into a scarecrow, escaped from the castle and run away keeping Elphaba's existence a secret. Glinda is now known as "Glinda the Good," and is now in charge and reforms the government and once again there is peace in Oz.

I cannot wait to see this musical live!! If you want to go see it too, you'd better get tickets soon because 2009 is the last year for the tour!!

"Yes dear, just follow that one road the whole time.. oh I hope she doesn't get lost I'm just terrible at giving to directions!"

~Glinda the Good Witch (WICKED)