Wicked Closing Night

So last night was overwhelming! I believe it was completely sold out (and had been for a while?). Here's my semi-short recap:

I had been to a few performances before closing night, and nobody ever really applauded or cheered except for after songs. Last night, when Megan Hilty came down the bubble, there was a good solid minute-ish of cheering. She was so adorable and gracious. Still my favorite Glinda:)

Eden of course was cheered for when she first came running out. I had seen her once before, and I personally thought her riffs were all over the place. Last night though, her singing sounded much more controlled. Especially during the last note in Defying Gravity and the incredible "Fiyeroooo" during No Good Deed.

To my delight, there were speeches at the end. Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman came on stage and did their round of thank yous, and congratulated Megan, Eden, and Derrick (Fiyero) for their years in Wicked. It sounded like the rest of the cast was moving on to San Francisco, minus those 3.

The stage door was INSANE to say the least. It wrapped all around the building back to the main entrance. They were taking groups into the theater and shuffled them through to meet the cast. I was a little more than halfway back, but because they had a wrap party, they cut the line. Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky ones to make it in (I'm convinced the people in front of the line had left before the end of the performance, or during speeches). However, when Eden and Megan were leaving in the car to take them to to the party, the remaining people pretty much swarmed the car and were taking pictures of the car (the windows were tinted, so I'm not sure how that would work...). It reminded me of paparazzi, but with crappier cameras. That got a little insane.

All in all a wonderful evening. I'm so sad to see it leave LA, but excited for the 09 season!

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