January 2007 – Page 3 – Priscilla Spencer

Okay, details! Back in September, a group of friends and I bought tickets to see Wicked. The group consisted of current-roommate Ko, Sophomore-year roommates Deep and Nikki, GA Erin, friend Stephanie, and acquaintance Suma. We had to get the tickets ridiculously far in advance, but the wait was worth it!

I didn’t want to mention this beforehand in case it didn’t go through, but when I mentioned to Jimmy that I was going to see Wicked, he told me his roommate was in the show and might be able to take us backstage. My fingers were black and blue from being constantly crossed all week.

We took the Chinatown bus early in the morning and did a bit of window shopping before heading to lunch at noon. After a delicious and reasonably-priced meal at Pigalle, we met up with Jimmy, who took us on a brief tour of Times Square, then guided us to the theatre. My friends all approved of Jimmy, which stands to reason. He’s a fun guy to be around!

The show itself was phenomenal! This was Ko’s first Broadway production, and even though she was sicker than a dog, she was in a state of utter glee. Ko, Suma, and I had all read the book, and we spend Intermission mocking the differences while gushing over how fantastic the show was anyway.

Our Glinda (Kendra Kassebaum) was AMAZING. I have no idea how she managed to sustain that level of bounciness throughout the entire performance. She brought so much to the character! Her voice was a touch too operatic for my taste in the opening number, but otherwise she was brilliant all the way through. Our Elphaba (Julia Murney) was fantastic, though her voice could be a little spotty. But then she made up for it by totally groping Fiyero’s butt in As Long As You’re Mine. I wonder if the actors have a running joke.

I was a bit annoyed about our Fiyero (Sebastian Arcelus–didn’t you see him in Rent, Renata?), because when I’d checked the cast list on the Wicked website, I was delighted to see our Fiyero was black (as he is in the book), but as the cast changed last week, we got yet another white boy. Also, they re-choreographed Dancing Through Life since I saw it two and a half years ago, and all the references to the choreography of “If I Only Had a Brain” seem to have been dropped for no apparent reason. Feh. Still, it’s not the actor’s fault. He was still great in his role! I’m being overly critical. Excellent performance! And he was really sweet after the show–he was one of few to stay and sign autographs at the stage door, and he helped us find Noah!

Speaking of: Noah! Noah Rivera, Jimmy’s roommate! Part of the Ensemble and understudy for Boq. When we asked Sebastian where Noah was, he said he’d just seen him outside, so we were all briefly horrified that we may have missed him. We resolved that each time the door was opened, we would shout “Noah!” Turns out he was just inside the door–it was kind of adorable how his head perked up when we shouted his name. He grinned and waved at us to come on in, and giggling like the schoolgirls we were, we entered. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the jealous glares we got from some of the surrounding fans.

We were all giddy as we introduced ourselves to Noah, then as he took us in the elevator that led to the stage level. Then there were all the props–Elphaba’s broom! Nessa’s chairs! The Oz heads! The Yellow Brick Road!–and then there was the STAGE. We were standing on a Broadway stage! And there were all the set pieces in the wings, and there was the giant auditorium and we were standing ON THE STAGE! Erin and I alternated singing random snippets from the songs, walking the fine line between wanting the experience but not wanting to seem like total losers. Noah was very accommodating to our deranged glee and answered all our questions, and Stephanie promptly fell in love with him.

Then two women crossed the stage, and as they passed us, Noah said offhandedly “You know, that’s Elphaba and Glinda.” I’d thought one girl looked quite Glinda-esque, but I didn’t recognize the other without the green body paint. They stayed to chat briefly with us and pose for a picture and answer our questions and sign autographs, which was really sweet of them.

After the tour, we called Ken, our House Dean, who is a huge Broadway fan. We thought he was going to cry when we told him what we’d done! Then we called Jimmy to thank him, but he was at work and his cellphone was off, so we left him an inaudibly squealy message, thanking him for hooking us up. Then there was delicious dinner, then a subway mishap I don’t feel like chronicling, then we were off home!

BEST. DAY. EVER.