Jason and I have always celebrated Cinco de Mayo, but not for Mexican independence. May 5, 1996 was the day that we went from being best friends to “us”. I had been working on a big date night for us in my mind, but yesterday morning I decided to take action.
The first call was to the Times-Union center. We are fortunate enough to have the traveling tour of a Broadway super hit here in Jacksonville. We are further fortunate that they have ticket lotteries on the day of the show for leftover tickets.
My second call was to my mom. Yes, she would keep the babies – even overnight. YES!!!
Online now. Thank you, Priceline.com. I never thought my offer would get accepted, but I guess getting 25% of the regular room rate is better than nothing for the hotels in this economy. Hello Crowne Plaza Jacksonville!
Next call to my wonderful husband and companion of 13 years -
“Are you ready to get your WICKED on?!”
I am still in disbelief that everything fell into place so easily! So I got us packed up, got the kids settled for mom, and I was headed downtown to meet Jason. After we both found the hotel, we went to the T-U center to put our names in for the lottery. They draw 10 names, and those folks get floor tickets for $25 each. Of course, the day we go they said it was the biggest turnout they had all run. We didn’t win. However, they were offering all us losers upper level tickets for $35. Deal! Jason and I ended up in the 6th row of the balcony (known as the Loge). We had great seats.
To say that the play was great is a gross understatement. Even saying it was phenomenal doesn’t come close. I can not remember ever enjoying a play, movie, or a concert more. The story was fantastic, and the music was wonderful. (have already downloaded the soundtrack and listened to it all day) I have heard the book is very dark and humorless, but the play is quite comical and has all these wonderful little backstorys of the citizens of Oz. And are great lessons about what you are, and what people think you are.
I can’t say enough about how great it was. I wish I could see it again. Jason even admitted that he thought he “would enjoy it – I never thought I would absolutely LOVE it.”
Being able to stay downtown made the evening perfect. No fighting traffic, no trying to get the kids back in bed when we got home. (no kids, for that matter ;) We sat on our balcony and looked at the beautiful Jacksonville skyline and listened to the music floating across the river from the Landing. What a night!
I didn’t have my good camera inside the theater, so the stage pics are pretty blurry. I took this one from our balcony when we got “home” for the night.
To explain the post title, and learn more about this unbelievable play check out the Wicked website here.
From the lottery, to the hotel, to the play, even the rushed dinner downstairs in the bar the whole experience was, (dare I say it) WICKED!
