Disney, Hollywood, and Wicked OH MY!

Today was an amazing day! Ashley works for Disney and they had a thing where cast members and their kids get their pictures taken to be part of the redo of Star Tours or something and so we ended up going to the cast store where you can get Disney stuff for real cheap and then to Disney Studios for lunch and to look at the archives and such. I saw the Julie Andrews sound stage where both Mary Poppins and The Princess Diaries were filmed and we had lunch. Oh and also the sound stage (outside of it) where all the music is recorded. The main administration building had a whole front with huge statues of the Seven Dwarves and across from that was a garden with some statues and handprint plaques of the different creative people involved. We had lunch which was really good at the cafeteria and then headed to Imagineering. There was just the photo shoot there and Aaron (Rene and Ashley's friend who drove us about) and I did a bit of shopping where I got an XMas tree ornament. After that we headed to Hollywood.

Hollywood was where things got REALLY fantastic! It was so cool. I admit I went very touristy but I couldn't help it! Hollywood BLvd is nothing like what we have back home and it is so WARM it doesn't seem like winter at all! Anyway, I was taking pictures of everything including stars with the stars' names on them. The Pantages was nearby and Wicked's last week is going on there and we decided to all four of us - Rene, Ashley, Natasha, and I (Aaron dropped us off in Hollywood cause he had to go back to his wife) - on the off chance one of us would win two front row seats for $25 apiece. If one of us won I would get one ticket and we would sell the other to someone who wanted it for the purchase price. Five HUNDRED people signed up for the lottery and the amazing thing was ASHLEY WON!

Wicked is one of my top three musicals right up there with Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis and to have FRONT ROW SEATS just pretty much had me about ready to blast off into outer space. The odds of winning a ticket were just so low and it actually happened! We got my ticket and sold the other one and then took the Metro to the famous Chinese theater with all the handprints and footprints of the stars. I pretty much took pictures of each and every one and then we went to the mall nearby with the Kodak Theater - where the Academy Awards are held.

All this time I was pretty much on cloud 9 and REALLY hyper and jazzed! I parted ways with Rene, Ashley, and Tasha there and took the Metro back to Hollywood and Vine right across the street from the Pantages. I pretty much was about ready to just dance my way across Hollywood! FRONT ROW SEAT AT WICKED! I will be calling all my best friends tomorrow who are also Wicked nuts and they will go green as Elphaba with envy!

Inside the Pantages is gorgeous. The lobby is neat but the actual theater is mind blowing. I SO wish that I could have taken a picture but it was not allowed. It's really hard to describe. Gold with cutouts that showed an ocean blue ceiling above... You really have to see it for yourself. But my seat was A 105 right to the right of the conducter. He was less than 6 feet away from me and the actors were not much farther away!

Eden Espinosa was Elphaba and Megan Hilty was Glinda - both those ladies had FANASTIC voices and were hilarious. The immortal Carol Kane was Madame Morrible which freaked me out to be in the same ROOM as someone that famous let alone less than 30 ft away! She was great in the role and I had been wondering what she was up to. Nessarose was Brianna Yacavone and she was really good too. Derrick Williams was Fiyero and he was good though not as good as the rest of the cast. David Garrison - Steve from Married With Children - was The Wizard and he was actually very funny with a good singing voice! Eddy Rioseco was Boq and he had some really hilarious moments.

There is nothing like being front row center in a musical the magnitude of Wicked. The details you can see are so much clearer! I could see the expressions on every face and the details on all the costumes which were as gorgeous as I remembered. I got bubbles on me from Glinda's bubble in the opening number and had smoke all over me in Defying Gravity (which was even more mind-blowing close up than far away!). Eden sat on her suitcase RIGHT in front of me in The Wizard and I and most of Popular was done right in front of me too! I could see EVERYTHING! My jaw dropped in the first number and pretty much it never closed! Standing O? Oh yes! If you haven't seen this musical it is a MUST SEE! I'm still flying!

Another cool thing is the people I was sitting with. They were so nice and we all just started chatting away and geeking out over the fact that we actually won tickets. I thought I wouldn't win cause the odds were... Welll 500 people and 26 seats and people could get 2 tickets... so... 13 draws.... and I got a seat... Maybe there is a God afterall! Or maybe there is still some magic left in Hollywood afterall!

The musical got out a bit before 11pm and I spent the next 2 hours getting home via the Metro to a station where Rene, Ashley, and their friend Jeff picked me up. It was a bit intimidating riding the Metro alone at midnight but I didn't get mugged and got home safe and sound! What a day! And it's not even my birthday yet!

I am really liking this city. Mountains, ocean, ethnic foods, Broadway musicals, and all the fun stuff with movies you can imagine! I want to move here more than ever. I just need to find a job so I can make the move and all. LA vs Cleveland? Cleveland is very much a dead zone. There IS no comparison!