I'm that girl!!

So... as some of you may have noticed, and even more of you may NOT have noticed, I wasn't online Friday morning to laaaaaaaaaaaate Saturday evening and, as devastating as it was to surf the web during that time without my presence, I promise I do have a good reason for denying the internet the awesomeness that is me (and for those of you that are reading my current story - my real promises are kept better than my fake ones... hahaha).

Anyway, my excuse for being gone for two days: I. SAW. WICKED. As in the Broadway smash hit Wicked?? Yeah... that one.

Anyone who's known of my obsession knows I've been waiting for FIVE YEARS to see that musical. Anyone who hasn't known... well, now you do. Five years... there's only one thing I've waited longer for... hahaha. So... before I get into the details of the trip, let me get this out of the way...

*runs around room and screams*

*a lot*

Okay.

We left Friday because Sean had to be at Vanguard camp at 9 in the morning on Saturday and, well... that's too early to get up on Saturday morning and drive from Merced. So, we went up Friday night and stayed at Travis, which was fun, and meant I was free for 48 hours - my thoughts were consumed only by Wicked. Star Trek, Heroes, Watchmen, New Kids... it was all out the window... and I could think of nothing but the musical. We had dinner at Chevy's, which was pretty good... they served us something called corn tomallito or, as I effectionately referred to it - Corn Blob.

That's what it was... it was a blob of corn... kind of like mashed potatoes... but... corn. And it was sooooooooo good! It was like eating mashed potatoes that looked like a corn blob and tasted like corn bread! Serious mind trip... but it was really sweet and quite possibly my favorite food item of the night... haha.

I was up by 5:50 the next morning and ready to go by 7... we got to the city (San Francisco) by 11.... and the show was at 2... XD SO - we walked from the Orphium to the business district and had lunch in the mall down there, across from Union Square, then walked back so we could meet up with everyone. I'm not sure who all went... but it was a fairly big group. Took us a little while to get inside - we spent some time taking cutie patootie pictures in front of the big wall advertisements for the show and what not, and then we got our seats and the show started.

I started crying half way through the FIRST song... not because the song was sad or anything, but because I was seeing it. A five year long ambition was finally being achieved... You all saw how excited I was after waiting 2 years for the Star Trek trailer, and that was just a trailer! This was the whole show, with a 5 year wait! *screams again* The actors were AMAZING, and much to my excitement, Nicolas Dromard was Fiyero, and Teal Wicks was Elphaba. *screams again* The show was absolutely amazing... I mean, I knew I was going to love it, but there is SO much that goes on between the songs. I know, I know, duh - but still. There is SO much that goes on between the songs! This was the first musical I knew the whole story of, had every song memorized, everything... BEFORE I saw it. And there was still so much that just made my jaw hit the floor and my eyes tear up.

The stage was amazing... I couldn't get over how magnificent the stage was. I was impressed by everything... just bawled my eyes out because I related to Elphaba and just because I was there, actually seeing it. And the ending... OMIHECK... I didn't see it coming!!!

Afterwards I was absolutely giddy and tear covered... and in need of a restroom XD

We got together and all took a few more pictures afterwards... by this point, I'm in the most MAGNIFICENT mood, and just having fun. My friend, Stephanie - who is also an Ozmazing Wicked Fanatic - directs me to the stage door. I just stood on the sidewalk and stared at it. I really, really, REALLY had to use the bathroom, but I also really, really, REALLY needed to see Nicolas Dromard up close and personal. So... I had this decision to make... and I don't have a lot of time to make it, at which point, I leaned up against he railing for the BART and directed my attention at the empty stairs. While I'm staring, someone walks down and catches my eye, we make eye contact, I smile and wave, and he smiles, waves, and nods... and I freeze.

"So, do you wanna go by the stage door?" My mom asks.

"Hold on," I say, still staring at the once again empty stairs. "I'm trying to figure out." I ran mental image after mental image through my head - head shot after head shot - and smiled despite myself before turning and saying. "No, we can go, because Nicolas Dromard isn't back stage anymore."

"How do you know?"

"Cuz he just said bye to me!" I felt like doing a dance! FIYERO FREAKING ACKNOWLEDGED ME! NICOLAS DROMARD SMILED AT ME! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Which means nothing to most of you, but to this humble little aspiring theater geek, it's the world. And then some. It's like all that and a bag of chips... and the bag of chips was 4 for a dollar, so I got 8, cuz I happened to have an extra dollar. (The first dollar is implied, Heather.)

So I pretty much floated around on a Wicked/Fiyero cloud for the rest of the day. Fantastic. Amazing weekend. Amazing play. Amazing moment. No. Not Amazing. OZmazing.

If you ever ever EVER get the chance to see this musical, DO IT. It's simply... wicked! And worth EVERY PENNY! And the performance... everything was amazing. A couple people said it was better at the performances they saw, but honestly, I can't see it getting any better... unless I got a performance with Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Joey Mac, and Nicolas Dromard... THEN I'd probably wet myself with excitement... haha.

BUT - a fantastic day/experience/weekend. Awesome. Perfect. Beautiful. Another adjective I can't think of right now.

I'm STILL on Cloud Nine... hahahahaha.

*runs around room and screams more*

~Lauren