WICKED

(Wednesday, April the 18th went as follows)
[Edena Espinosa as Elphaba (better known as The Wicked Witch of the
West) singing "Defying Gravity". She was incredible!]

The Pantages Theater in Hollywood holds a raffle every night of performances for Wicked. They give away 26 tickets in the front row for $25. Last Wednesday, Ashley, Samantha, Amanda and I went to enter our names in the drawing. We got to the theater an hour early so we and ate at a restaurant called Birds a few minutes away. I'll tell you what happened there in a minute. We ended up losing the raffle, but before they drew the last name they gave another offer. Side orchestra seats for $45 dollars "for that night only" (so they said). We did that. After the raffle we had 2 hours to kill before the show, so we got appetizers at the Hollywood and Vine Restaurant. Then, OFF TO SEE WICKED!!!
The show was AMAZING! Ashley let me borrow her CD a few days prior to get as savvy with the music as I could and it made it all the better. For those who may not be familiar with Wicked, it's basically the true story of The Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba). It's the story of her birth, life in college, where she roomed with Glenda "The Good Witch", and how she got labeled as being "wicked". The two initially despised each other, but then grew to be good friends with rocky times. The relationship and dynamic between the two characters, directly due to the performers was so clever and fun. The way they played off each other had the audience dying. You could tell they (the actors) were having a blast on stage. I LOVE IT! It's so clever and very very funny, and the music is so perfect and even beautiful at times. "Defying Gravity" is probably the most memorable and famous song from the show, and rightfully so. I love theater. I really do. Please go see as many shows as you can whenever you can!

[Megan Hilty as Glinda singing "Popluar". She was absolutely hilarious!]

The day before the performance, one of the ensemble members (Brooke) came to Ashley's dance class at Pepperdine. Ashley told her that she was going to see the show the next night and Brooke told her to come to the actor's exit after the show and she would take her on a tour. So we did! We went to the back and got a tour of the stage and backstage. She showed us costumes, props and set pieces. It was awesome. And the stage was tiny! It looked huge from the audience. While on the tour I got to tell Carol Kane (who played Madame Morrible) "good show". I also ran into Andrew as he was leaving for the night. He was the sound engineer at Pepperdine when I was there. He left to do the national tour of Les Mis, then got the Assistant Audio Engineer position for Wicked. I talked to him for a couple minutes on the stage. It was incredible to see the detail put into everything. Brooke said all of the ensemble members had costumes worth close to $30,000! Everything was crammed into the side stages; set pieces, props, costumes, waiting rooms, technical gadgets and such. Just incredible.

[Carol Kane playing Madame Morrible, Elphaba's University headmistress]

[Ashley and Amanda in front of The Pantages]

[They didn't like me taking pictures before the show. Oh well...]

Oh yeah, so about our meal at Birds. It was me, Ashley and Amanda sitting in a booth near the front door. We're talking and eating, then Ashley looks up and says "That's Quentin Tarantino." I look at her very seriously and say "Don't tease me about something like that." She says "I'm not." I turn around and Quentin Tarantino is standing there as the waitress grabs a him a menu. He sits at the booth right next to us and as I'm eating I am all but staring at Tarantino right in the face while he reads his magazine. The girls and I are in shock, giving each other quick glances and trying to play it cool. YEAH RIGHT! In my head I'm working up the nerve to tell him what I've been telling everyone else I know, that Grindhouse was the funnest experience I have ever had in a movie theater. We finish eating and the girls get up to go to the bathroom. I get up and take 3 steps to his table where he lifts his head and reaches his arm out to shake my hand almost immediately. I shake his hand and say "hey man, sorry to bug you but I've been telling everyone how seeing Grindhouse was the most fun I've ever had in a theater." He said "Oh thanks, we worked really hard to make that happen." I'm freaking out inside, but say "Yeah, it was kind of long so people would get up to go the bathroom but they would come running back." "Oh thanks man, what a cool thing to pass on. I appreciate it." I shake his hand again and since I'm a dork say "no, thank you man." He goes back to his magazine and I wait for the girls to come back from the bathroom. And that was my second encounter with Quentin Tarantino.
I am such a nerd!!!

It was a crazy full and exciting day.