Wicked Awesome!

I don't even know where to begin! If you have the opportunity, you HAVE to go see Wicked. Sarah and I both loved everything about it. The music, performers, set, costumes... everything! What I love most is the story. I don't want to give anything away (you really need to see it) but at the heart of everything, it's about two unlikely friends that change the course of each others lives. In the mix is a lot of humor (Glinda cracked me up throughout the entire show), a true antagonist, romance, and political satire.
I have been wanting to see Wicked for over a year now and I can honestly say that it was everything I expected and more. I read the book by Gregory Maguire that was the inspiration for the musical and while the two are VASTLY different, the themes stay in tact. I really recommend the book; it's a different tone from the musical, so don't expect the same things from both. I also recently read the sequel to Wicked, Son of a Witch and enjoyed that book as well.
I think I was really drawn to this story because I have always loved finding out what else happened. I want to know what happened before (or after) the story. How did people end up the way they seem, what series of events led to the perceived conclusion, and is that really the best part of the story? For The Wizard of Oz, Wicked answered a lot of these questions for me. In Junior High, I read several of the Oz series of books by the original author, L. Frank Baum. Now I'm really anxious to reread these stories to further satisfy my need to know "what else happened."

Go see Wicked; you'll be changed for good...