My partner and I arrived at the Gershwin Theatre around 5:50, just in time for the Wicked lottery. For those of you who don't know what the Wicked lottery is, two and a half hours prior to the performance names are collected on index cards and 26 are drawn for front row seats for only 25 dollars. When we got there about 400 people were already waiting around, so I immediately decided that it wasn't even worth it to try, but we put our names in at the last minute anyway. Lo and behold, we won!

The lottery seats are great, right in the front row where you have a great view of everything. The only problem with our seats were that they were very far to the right, which meant that in some scenes I could see what was going on backstage. It kind of ruined the magic of some scenes, but for twenty-five dollars I couldn't complain.

Eden Espinosa plays Elphaba, the misunderstood green girl who grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West. I saw her a couple years ago when she was the understudy for the role, and man has she grown since then! A powerhouse voice that is only complemented with a great understanding of her character. Espinosa takes the character from being a nerdy, misunderstood school girl to the powerful Wicked of the Witch with such intensity that you wonder if it's the same actress at the end! Her Act 1 showstopped "Defying Gravity" had me on the edge of seat as her powerful voiced boomed throughout the theater. This girl is going places folks.

Kate Reinders plays Glinda, the snobby socialite who will someday be known as "The Good Witch of the North." Glinda is popular, stuck up, but eventually becomes a second sister to Elphaba. Reinders is the third actress I've seen play the part, and by far the weakest. She seems to think that playing every single line in the show for laughs is the way to go, but unfortunately is leaves the audience feeling aliented. Even during serious moments she has the give the audence a little smirk that reads, "I'm not really taking any of this seriously."

Other standouts were Carol Kane as Madame Morrible, the school's evil headmistress, who can't really sing but breaths new life into a thankless role. Jenna Leigh Green in another thankless role as Elphaba's sister Nessarose was also a tour de force in her very limited stage time.

My favorite part of "Wicked" is its set design. From the moment you walk in the theater you feel as if you've been transformed into another world. The scenery ascends from the stage right into the audience, so you feel as if you're in Oz for the whole two and a half hours.

When "Wicked" first opened it received mixed reviews, and many die theatregoers view it as tourist fluff. However, in the world that we live in today sometime's it's nice to escape to a world where animals talk, green girls fly and the bad guys always get what's coming to them. I know I'll be visiting again soon.

www.wickedthemusical.com" title="Wicked: Elphaba (Eden Espinosa) and Glinda (Kate Reinders) face off in a scene from "Wicked." Photo courtesy of www.wickedthemusical.com" class="image image-thumbnail" width="100" height="67" />Wicked: Elphaba (Eden Espinosa) and Glinda (Kate Reinders) face off in a scene from "Wicked." Photo courtesy of www.wickedthemusical.com