Happy WICKED Day!

Today is Wicked Day- the 9th year anniversary of when Wicked first opened at the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway.

I can't believe it's been 9 years! Unfortunately, there will be no show on the anniversary, due to Hurricane Sandy that is wreaking havoc on the East Coast of the USA. (Is anyone else thinking Madame Morrible? No, sorry. That's not funny. As I write this, we just heard that 5 people have died so far, which is terrible. I hope everyone is staying safe).

Anyway, Congratulotions Wicked for achieving 9 years! As of October 21, they have done 3, 726 shows and is the 12th longest running show on Broadway. (Just FYI, it needs to do 4, 092 to move ahead of Miss Siagon into the 11th place).

Here's to another 9 years! (And a movie, but that's a different issue).

So have a happy, safe, green Wicked Day everyone!



Writing Update

I'm in a unique situation at the moment, one that hasn't happened many times before and never for a Wicked fanfiction.

I'm writing a story at the moment that has a firmly fixed number of chapters. There is no way I can decide to add or remove chapters at any time during the writing process.

I can tell you right now that my current fic 40 Weeks will be 40 chapters.

This means that it's really easy for me to give you updates so you know how far I am into the story and how close I am to finishing.

Well, as of today I am on chapter... 18.

Yes, I still have another 22 chapters to go. And at this stage, I can't tell you (even a rough estimate) when you can expect this story to be finished and uploaded. All I can say is that, hopefully it will be up by the end of the year.

Too much drama

So, I guess anyone who knows me knows I am a Delta Goodrem fan. I have been since the beginning when I was... wow, 12?! That's just crazy.

Anyway, Delta and her music have seen me through a lot of major life-events the last ten years, and I read about hers from fighting cancer at age 18, to being engaged, to breaking off the engagement... 

Yesterday, her 4th album (and first since 2007) was released, Child of the universe. Delta always writes about things she's gone through in her life, and this is no different. So of course, the album makes reference the end of her relationship with Brian Mcfadden (formerly of Westlife, I guess that's where most people would know him from. It's where I did before he was with Delta!).

And then of course, there's been drama. 

Vogue Mcfadden (nee Williams), Brian's new wife, tweeted the other day:

"You say you don't want to discuss your personal life so DON'T!! but please stop using it to promote yourself it's embarrassing ... #fake

 This was brought to Delta's attention during a radio interview and she just laughed it off saying that it was "really cool of them to listen to the album early and listen to the lyrics".

But this is the thing that bugs me- Delta fans have been tweeting Vogue about her comment.

Rachael Leahcar, Delta's finalist on The Voice tweeted "*throws orange*" to Vogue and then someone added a "Dead" to that.

Brian replied to that, asking "are you threatening my life? I'll find you" (I'm assuming he meant "wife" we all know about autocorrect and how that works), and that's fair that he was upset about that.

But now it's getting ridiculous. People are tweeting Brian things (e.g. "go back to Ireland, we love Delta, etc") but he's replying (e.g. "get a life. A real idol and a nutritionist").

Guys, none of this is cool.

I love Delta, and honestly, I don't care about Vogue and Brian. I don't know anything about her to form an opinion. I liked Brian in Westlife and I have some of his songs from iTunes, but all from when he was with Delta, because well... he was writing about Delta. And they were nice songs. And he has a nice voice.

I don't think it was cool what Vogue tweeted, even if she at least didn't mention Delta directly. I mean, Delta has never come out and said these songs are about Brian... even though everyone knows they are. LOL. I mean, they were together for seven years, which is a really long time. And did people really expect Delta wasn't going to write about it at all?

But no matter what your thoughts/feelings on Vogue/Brian/Delta are, is it really necessary to tweet such things? You don't like Brian- don't buy his music, watch Australia's Got Talent or follow him on twitter, whatever.

Tweeting things to Brian and Vogue isn't going to accomplish anything, just stir up more drama, and give Delta fans a bad name. And didn't we learn anything from the whole Charlotte Dawson incident?

Delta and Brian have both moved on. Brian is married, and they're both happy. This wouldn't even be news if Delta's album hadn't come out. I think it's sad that when they first broke up they still seemed friendly with one another and all that's fallen apart now.

Can we all just move on please?

An Amazing Story

Ok, this was only recently brought to my attention, but I thought it was amazing.

I love funny coincidences, and this was just too good not to share.

In 1940, a film was made by the name of The Shop Around the Corner.

This movie starred Frank Morgan, who of course was the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, which had been released the year before in 1939.

In 1949, a musical adaptation of this film was produced called In the good old summertime, starring none other than Judy Garland, who of course, was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Of course, The Wizard of Oz gave us Wicked,

and around the same time Wicked came out (the book) came another adaptation of The Shop Around the Corner, called You've Got Mail.

And this movie, of course was the inspiration of my Wicked fanfiction by the same name (You've Got Mail).

So, how crazy is it that I would be inspired to write a Wicked fanfiction, by a movie that was based off another movie starring one Wizard of Oz star and that had an adaptation starring another?

I'm a big believer in signs, and I can't believe how amazing this one is! Of course, you may all think I'm crazy and that it's not interesting at all. But I'm just fascinated.

Jemma Rix

On Sunday October 7th, 2012, the Australian production of Wicked closed in South Korea.

This was depressing on many levels, not least because I never got to Korea to see it. And as I've seen it in every place it's been so far except for Melbourne and Adelaide, it was sad.
And also, because unlike when it closed everywhere else, this time we hadn't heard where it was going next, and all the cast were tweeting really sad farewell messages... ugh. It was a highly depressing day.

So, there's rumours that the show will be going to New Zealand and then back to Australia to play in Sydney and Melbourne, but the only official word we've had so far is that Wicked is "hanging up it's jewelled shoes to take a bit of a break and decide where it wants to land next". We have no idea where/when that will be or who the cast will be, so more sadness; because our cast is extremely talented and full of some of the lovliest people I've ever met.

But there was a good thing amongst all the sadness!

Jemma Rix (our amazing Elphaba) performed her 800th show as Elphaba on that day. And it also gives her the record for the most number of shows in English as Elphaba, which is such an amazing achievement.

And I'm super proud this record was set by an Australian!

Jemma is such a lovely person and such an amazing Elphaba. I'm going to put up a clip from YouTube of her Defying Gravity, but honestly, it just doesn't do her justice.

Jemma and I at WICKED stage door in Singapore in April 2012

Seriously, this is the woman who made me cry in the lobby of the theatre in Singapore when we could hear the end of Defying Gravity from the lobby (we were just buying merchandise the night before we saw the show, LOL).
And then the second time I saw the show in Singapore (my 6th time total), I didn't breathe from the time Elphaba rose up in Defying Gravity, and then I cried (embarrassingly) all through intermission.

So, Congratulotions, Jemma!

PS. It's only audio of her Defying Gravity, it's super hard to find video that is good quality. This is audio I found on YouTube from the Seoul season.



50 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

I saw this trending topic on twitter and thought 'I can easily think of 50 things I want to do before I die' but rather than do 50 tweets, I thought it would be easier to do it as a blog entry.

They're in no real order, I just wrote them as I thought of them.

So, here goes:

50 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:

1. Get married
2. Have children
3. See Wicked on Broadway
4. Meet Julia
5. Go to the USA (especially New York)
6. Go to London
7. Meet Tim Campbell [ACHIEVED June 2014]
8. Own a dog (current breed of choice is a schnauzer, but that could change)
9. Finish writing an original novel that I don't hate once I've finished it, or think is stupid.
10. Buy a house
11. Get a tattoo
12. Meet one of my favourite authors (I'd prefer JK Rowling, but I'm not picky)
13. Take a course in creative writing.
14. See Miss Webb again (my Year 8 English Teacher who was a huge influence on me in so many ways. I haven't actually seen her since Year 9). [ACHIEVED July 2014]
15. Take my siblings to see Wicked. [semi ACHIEVED November 2014 (took Nikki)]
16. Go to the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios.
17. See Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam.
18. Actually get my P's and be able to drive (am working on this). [ACHIEVED July 2014] 
19. Meet Delta Goodrem (again. I met her once, but I was a rambling mess)
20. See Idina Menzel live in concert [ACHIEVED June 2013- TWICE] 
21. Meet Idina Menzel. [ACHIEVED June 2013] 
22. Write something meaningful.
23. Go to Tasmania and the Northern Territory, so I can say I've been to every state and territory in Australia.
24. Do something important.
25. Ride a horse.
26. Be a bridesmaid at someone's wedding.
27. Finish the Harry Potter fan fiction I abandoned to write Wicked fan fiction two years ago and have barely touched since. LOL.
28. Hold a lion cub.
29. Swim with dolphins (or just be in water with dolphins given that I can't actually swim). [ACHIEVED 15/4/2013]
30. Stay at a 5 star hotel somewhere, even just for one night. [ACHIEVED May 23rd 2014] 
31. Teach overseas
32. Get through the entire Wicked book series (every time I've tried I can't do. I made it to end of Son of a witch and that was it, although I own the whole series).
33. Go out dancing.
34. Do karaoke (I'm mostly a watcher. I'm too shy to actually do it myself. Plus I can't sing). 
35. Give a sermon.
36. Read the whole bible cover to cover.
37. Look and feel beautiful, just once.
38. Finish Wuthering Heights. I've started it 5 times. Every time I get bored and stop, but it's one of those classic novels.
39. Re-read Great Expectations. The last time I read it, I was 9. 
40. Get a hug from my sister. (She's not a hugger. The last time I remember getting a hug from her, she was probably about 10. She's now nearly 21). [ACHIEVED October 3rd 2015] 
41. Break a bone. (This sounds weird, but I never have. And I'd like to be able to say I have. Otherwise all I have is splitting my chin open and spraining my wrist and big toe- at different times). 
42. Actually keep a diary, instead of forgetting it's there and only writing in it once every 6 months or so.
43. Be able to have a deep, personal conversation about myself without crying.
44. Go to Prince Edward Island (Four Words: Anne Of Green Gables). 
45. Read the entire Narnia series (the only one I've read is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
46. In my house, have a library.
47. Sponser a child in a Third World nation.
48. Go to a psychic (just for fun). [ACHIEVED 18/4/2013]
49. See at least one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
50. Enter the lottery- just once so I can say I did. [ACHIEVED 19/4/2013- and won $4. LOL)