Given the past few weeks’ worth of news spreading throughout social media one of the more welcome ones would be scenes of friends posting photos of themselves over the backdrop of Wicked. Whether it be photos of the huge signboards with pen marks at the CCP lobby, the mechanical smoke-spewing dragon atop the stage, or the standing ovation for the cast after every show, it’s safe to say that Wicked is definitely a hit.
I fell for the books before the play when one of my good friends (who eventually became one of my best men during my wedding) ran up to me one morning before class started (this was the early 90’s) and said,
“Hey! Did you know the wicked witch of the west has a name?”
“Really?”, I said, brows raised.
“Elphaba.”
“What?”
“Elphaba. E-L-P-H-A-B-A. Elfie for short.”
“Oh.”
And I forgot about the conversation entirely until I popped into a Power Books back in 2007 and found a bonanza of Gregory Maguire titles sitting at the front best seller display. In fact, I wrote about it! This was one of the first books I digitally catalogued in my Delicious Library barcode scanner.
But yeah, the book. It was amazing, just like his other works. “There’s always another side to everything.” — That was the premise of all of his books. Elphaba was really just an animal rights activist who just wanted to do the right thing.
The blog post I wrote in 2007 casually mentions the play and I never thought they would screen it here. I got my two tickets up front and center (best seats in the house!) thanks to the perks of Smart Infinity. I’d been a subscriber for over 10 years but it was only this year I made the switch to the more premium service because after looking at my bill for the last couple of months, I was pretty much racking up the same amount (I was previously using an ALL-IN Plan and have since switched to the near-equivalent with Infinity). The main difference are the perks — they gave me Wicked tickets, a 16GB iPad mini when I signed up, discounts and various other perks (like the concierge service (which comes in handy when you aren’t as virile as you used to be).
There’s a big difference between your favorite book coming to life in a movie and coming to life in theater. In a musical. It’s totally different. I’ve prepped myself with several months worth of the soundtrack on repeat in my car from a pre-event teaser last year. On stage, there’s really no room for disappointment, especially with Wicked. Goosebumps, I tell you. It’s a visual and sensory treat you absolutely need to see for yourself. It’s the same with showing photos of your favorite nature scene versus actually being there. The words and photos just don’t compare and some things (like this) are best left out of social media.
I’d like to give a big shout out to the guys from the Infinity team for the perks. As Dorothy and Elphaba would say, there’s no place like home (with Smart!).
