Wicked

After having our pan de sal brekky, Ogz & I walked towards the Subway station. We'll be going first to Gershwin Theater to buy tickets for "Wicked".The ticket booth opens at 12 so Ogz & I decided to meet Tom first. We waited inside a Gap store. A few minoots later, we're reunited with our good friend. He's sporting skinhead again and he's got a new toy that he got from being a Marriott VIP member. Now, Ogz & I can be in the same photo. Teehee.First stop was this Pedigree dogstore in Times Square. Too bad we missed Kate Walsh, the star of "Private Practice" and Addison in "Grey's Anatomy". She opened the store just last week. The pet adoption store will only be here for 2 weeks. Hopefully, Pedigree could raise funds for our homeless four-legged friends.Inside, we got our free coffee & hot choco. Unforch, there were no dogs in the area yet. Otherwise, I would've enjoyed the experience more. I bought a cute shirt (knowing that I contributed to Pedigree's Dogs Rule campaign).

We had to fill our stomachs so we checked out this pizza place by a certain Ray's. I ordered spaghetti for Ogz & I. Tom wasn't hungry.Then we headed back to W 51st for our tickets. There's a line for cancellations. If you want to wait for that, you must pay the full price, which is about 110++ sumpthin. Then there's a separate line for the raffle. Y'see, Wicked gives out 26 tickets for the price of 26.25 bucks each. Yep, all you need to do is to wait in line from 12:30 till about 1 o'clock. Then they will announce the 13 winners. You may register a friend with you by indicating on a piece of paper the number 2. I tried writing down 3 'cause I want Tom to see the show too but it's not allowed. While waiting, Tom joked that if he won, he'll tear up the ticket into pieces in front of me. Or he'd sell it to me for double the price. Or he'll take Ogz instead of me.When it was time for the 13 names to be called, the theatergoers (more than a hundred participated) went quiet and huddled. Then the guy in a suit started shouting the names. I'm not quite lucky when it comes to raffle. I never win. When I heard, "Salvador Balan!" Ogz and I shouted, "OH MY GOD!!!" Then I dashed to the front and gave the people my biggest smile. I couldn't believe it. I was so freakin' happy.I presented my ID and paid the tickets. I also bought my souvenir junk: a Program, a t-shirt and a magnet.On Sundays, they only have one show at 3. We've got more than an hour to kill so we just walked around the city. We decided to look for the Apple store on 57th street. On our way there, we heard honks & shouts from peeps in cars waving a red flag with a double-headed eagle.Near Central Park, we located the Time Warner Center. This is where we did most of our photo ops. Work it out!We found the Apple store on 5th Avenue. I tried to buy a MacBook Air but got declined. Oh well, I just need to cancel my existing order online so I could make the purchase tomorrow.At 2:30, we started walking back to Gershwin Theatre. We parted ways with Tom. He'll meet us later after the show.

So excited to see this show after hearing about it from my evil twin sister, Joyish. I tried twice last year. During the first time, I didn't win the raffle so I didn't get my ticket. The second time, I bought a 180 worth of ticket but due to the writers' strike, I had to get a refund. Then now, I'd finally get to see it from the first freakin' row!!! Yep. I was seated at the dead center of the first row.

There's a big map covering the stage.  On both sides, there are mechanical thingamajigs, industrial lights and stairs for the actors. On top, you could see a mechanical dragon. Since we're seated on the front, we could see the orchestra down below. I could touch the Musical Director if I wanted to.I noticed that peeps who are seated on the first row were smiling at one another. We're all too damn happy to win ;oP

Elphaba is played by Stephanie J. Block while Guh-linda is played by Annaleigh Ashford. Ms. Block reminds me of Iza Calzado. Annaleigh, on the other hand, reminds me of Reese in "Legally Blonde". Found out later that Annaleigh used to be a cast in the Broadway version. 

I like the songs, the costumes and the production. My favorite was the bedroom scene with Elphie & Galinda. That's Galinda's moment. I absolutely adore her. It would've been more enjoyable if I caught Kristin Chenoweth's performance in the original Broadway production. I love Kristin in "Pushing Daisies". I like the control in Stephanie's voice. Her "Defying Gravity" number was awesome. The opening scene of the second act reminded me so much of the balcony scene in "Evita". The final scene of the two friends featuring "For Good" brought tears to my eyes.

After the show, we met Tom at an H&M store. He recommended to have dinner at Japas where you can eat & drink all you want for, like, 30 bucks. Unforch, when we got there, the 30-buck-all-you-can-eat promo is good from Monday to Saturday only. But the big books of songs were too tempting to pass up. They've got Tagalog songs too!

I was able to sing songs that I've always wanted to sing: "The Phantom of the Opera", "Last Dance", "Don't Rain on my Parade", "Kailangan Kita", "Just Because", "We Belong Together", "With You I'm Born Again". So happy.The food that we ordered was pretty good too. We only stayed there for 3 hours though. For the first two hours, it's 8 bucks per person per hour. If you wanna sing more, it will be 15 bucks. But the bad thing is, after your time, you must go. They don't care if there's still food or drinks on your table. Oh well.We went back to the Apple store but still I couldn't buy the MBA 'cause of insufficient credit. Very frustrating!Before heading to the subway on 42nd street, Tom bought us coffee at Starbucks. I had caramel macchiato. Thanks, Tom!We then waited for our R train. After waiting for, like, forever, I noticed that Tom & Ogz had left. I quickly followed them but they were nowhere to be found. I searched all around. Very close to panicking. Subway in New York is confusing when you're a bit drunk and tired. I decided to just look for a 7 train going to Queens. I still remember the way home. If they decided to go to Port Authority and leave me behind, I just didn't care anymore. So tired and sleepy. 

Before the 7 train left, I heard my name being called. It's Tom & Ogz. They bought Gatorade and were looking for me. I gave 'em the cold shoulder.