...Dare to Dream...: Wicked Weekend

Wicked Weekend!!

Shaleeni came for the weekend from Port Augusta. For those who do not know, she is my swimming friend way back in Malaysia in those swimming days. She's now working as a pharmacist, in Port Augusta, out in the woop woops, 3 hours from Adelaide.

I have not seen her for 3.5 years. But we still keep in contact every so often through facebook, emails and now on the phone since I am in Australia now and calling from 3 to 3 is included in my plan.

After much planning, she finally came to Sydney for a visit. Perfect timing as I just finished my 2nd placement and have one week off. And as a bonus, mum and dad were here so we could go and see places other than the city.

She arrived Friday night. Caught a train to Town Hall. That girl... got down at Wynyard station and was claiming she's at Town Hall. I was at Town Hall station waiting for her and I swear I couldn't see any lost person wondering inside. After much wandering around, I finally realized she's at Wynyard. I called and ask which station she's at and she didn't really know... until I asked she if she was at Wynyard station.. then only she was like.. 'oh shit!'. Hahaha.... people from port augusta, can't blame them.

Went for korean dinner in the city with mum and dad, as well as lucas and his gf. During dinner, she was talking about her life in port augusta, how it's a very small place and everyone's really friendly, about how it's very beautiful there and how you can take the boat out and see DOLPHINS!!! I am so going to plan a trip there one day in the near future!!

She then asked about if Wicked is in Sydney because she saw a lot of ads around in the train station. And I told her it is playing but I have not watched it yet. Wanted to watch it last year in November with Swan and Ivan, but we decided to spend that money on food instead :p

She have watched in when she was in Melbourne and was going on and on about how I have to watch it. I was so tempted to watch it since they're here for the second time but just don't have anyone to watch it with. She then said she'll watch it again with me if I want, she don't mind. Ahhhhh!!!! And even said it'll be my belated belated birthday present and she'll pay for it.

So when we got home, we checked out the times and there was one show on Sunday at 3pm. I was still sitting there, thinking if I should watch it or not. There was a Mother's Day special promotion and tickets were $95 bucks, 10 bucks cheaper from the usual which made it even more tempting. But, I was still thinking. It's not my money and I feel bad getting her to watch it the second time and paying for it as well.

This girl couldn't wait anymore and took out her credit card and bought the tickets!!! I guess deep inside she can tell that I really want to watch it and just bought the tickets. I was so excited!! I am gonna watch Wicked on Sunday!!!!!

So on Sunday, after my half marathon, we went for lunch at Chat Thai which was just opposite the Capitol Theatre, where the musical was gonna be at. We ordered heaps for lunch. Pauline, another swimming friend, joined us for lunch. Poor girl waited 45 minutes for us as I was rushing home after my run and getting changed. Had the yummy pandan drink, deep fried snapper, massaman curry and spring rolls. Also ordered the sweet potato balls for snack but couldn't finish them. Took the sweet potato balls into the musical. Hehehehe....

shaleeni and pauline

So after lunch and walking Pauline halfway to the train station, it was time for Wicked!! So so excited as it is my first time watching a proper musical. Been watching all those musical way back during college, performed by the drama students. I enjoyed those a lot and was really looking forward to this.

And... it was absolutely mind-blowing, amazing, fantastic, super duper whooper awesome!!

The stage set up, the lighting, the effects, the props.... it was all perfect. When it comes to a different scene, the props on the stage slides away and the new ones slides out. You don't see any backstage people dressed in black to take the props away and put in new ones. They just slide in and out by itself.

The best part was when the wicked witch sang Defying Gravity. Towards the end... it was just.... WOWWW! it left me speechless.... Let's just say the wicked witch really defied gravity. Just too impressive and you don't notice any wires/strings attached. You don't even realize when it was attached. You wonder if it was attached to her all these while. The engineers for this musical are just too intelligent.

The storyline itself fell into place so nicely with The Wizard of Oz. Throughout the whole play, you slowly realized how the tin man, the cowardly lion and the scarecrow came about. Everything just clicked. There was a reason as to why they become like that and there was a good reason behind it. The singing was good but not as good as the original one on youtube. The person playing Glinda the Good wasn't that good. At some point, it sounded like she was out of tune. But she had pretty dresses and she's pretty hot so that makes up for it. Hehehehe.... The person playing the wicked witch however had a really good voice. Love her to bits. She's my favourite character. I couldn't really see how she looked like because she was all GREEN. I call her the girl version of Incredible Hulk, minus the muscles, the size :p

I thoroughly enjoyed the musical and had a high from it until even now. Came home and downloaded the soundtrack, went to Wikipedia to read more about it, went to youtube.... And right now as I'm blogging this, I am listening to the soundtrack. My favourite is For Good. Got a bit emotional because it was going to be the last time these two witches see each other and the song was expressing how they felt for each other. How both had a huge impact on each other lives.

Also because Shaleeni sang this song and sent it to me long time ago and I fell in love with it.The lyrics are very meaningful and touched me. I think I was clapping really really loud when it ended. It was just too good.

I do not want to reveal the ending really. You would think the wicked witch died because she was misunderstood and that's sad. But... it was actually a good ending in a way.. there was a twist... and I pity the Glinda the Good at the end of the day. OoOoOOO!! Twisty ending. hehehehe.... Go look it up if you want to know why. If not, go and watch it. Come to Sydney and watch it. Or if it do ever go to NZ, you gotta watch it!! Get the good seats I reckon'. It's worth it. I got the cheaper ones, sitting on the top but Shaleeni said it would have been better to sit at the bottom. The effects are way way better.

And so, that was my Wicked experience, it was WICKED!!!!! Thanks babe for paying and watching it for the second time with me!!!

Other things we did before Sunday...

Trip to Blue Mountains with mum and dad because they had a car. My first time to blue mountains...

us at the blue mountains national park

Didn't get to walk around and explore much. It was more like a preview of Blue Mountain. Definitely going to come back again and spent the whole day walking on the many tracks they have. And also going all the way down the Giant Stairway. We only went down halfway and climbed back up because we ran out of time.

Giant Stairway Very Steep- Strong Walkers only. We only read this sign after we came up

The Three Sisters

Next was Clovelly and Coogee beach.

Had fish and chips there where I bought a jar of tartar sauce next door because as we all know, I refuse to pay $1.50 for a small packet of tartar sauce.