Oz or Bust!

Be Popular.

Defy Gravity.

Meet Mr. Wonderful.

Dance Through Life.

Most importantly, if you haven't already, GO SEE WICKED!

Caelleb & I recently took a trip to So Cal. We flew in on the morning of Wed., 3/12. My mom was having minor surgery the following day. So, what do you do the night before surgery? Go see a musical, of course! :) My mom had been wanting to see Wicked for awhile. I had heard great reviews. Once we had our airline tickets purchased, my mom bought theater tickets for me, her & my sister-in-law, Kara. I had been listening to the audio CD (which my mom sent for my birthday--did I mention I turned 34 about a month ago? Yea, tried to just slip right past that one, but I digress. . .) We started the evening at the Hollywood & Highland Center, dining at a CPK (I had a pizza w/avocado on it--I LOVE California!). From a balcony right outside the restaurant you could see the "Hollywood" sign, which is barely visible in this first picture but I cropped and zoomed the second picture below. . . We then took a cab (I had NEVER taken a taxi in CA before) over to the Pantages Theater. Let me just add here that the theater itself was amazing!The theater had a major restoration done in October of 2000, in preparation of the Lion King opening. Here's what one review had to say, "...the Pantages invested almost $10 million in a massive facelift of the landmark theatre, restoring it to its original glory. The Pantages was always something to behold, but its dazzling, ornate interior, gleaming with new gold leaf is now simply spectacular. It's almost worth the price of tickets to a show just to see the theatre itself."

Wicked did not disappoint! Here's a synopsis directly from the Wicked website: "Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years."

I LOVED it! Pretty sure it is my new favorite musical, even topping The Lion King on my list! I'm looking forward to seeing it again in May in Kansas City!

Thanks Mom, for a wonderful evening!