"Oh look! It's tomorrow!"

...that's what happened when I started this post, and it's also the reason you didn't get any post today. Or yesterday. Whatever.
Time and timing aside, here is the next in the Four Fandoms in Progress. Your clues were, Musical. Girl. Misunderstood.  

a random picture of Eponine to prevent spoilers in people's feeds

...which totally doesn't cover every hit musical ever.
All right, here's a better clue: it rhymes with Cricket. Kind of.
Guessing game's over!

 

When I first heard of Wicked, I must confess I rolled my eyes, as I usually do with misunderstood villain-type plots.  I just don't care for them, and they're usually quite far-fetched, if not just wrong. I've never been a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz, to my knowledge (though I read a few of the sequels and enjoyed them), and a musical spin-off explaining why Dorothy was really the villain seemed a bit unnecessary.
Ha. hahaha.
I'm still no expert on Wicked--I've never seen it live, I don't own anything related to it, and I don't really have an extensive knowledge of every Elphaba ever.  But I have watched the entire play, thanks to a bootleg video on Youtube, and my fellow family members keep singing some of the songs ceaselessly. That's a good sign, right?
 I was concerned about the magic at first (see my concerns about HP) but 1. Elphie obviously has a natural talent for magic, which I'm fine with, and 2. This is Oz, not Earth. So, with my conscience satisfied, and with the recommendation of several of my closest friends, and my math teacher, of all people, I set about checking it out (la! A rhyme!).
Let me say this: my mother will probably never like this musical. Here's why--there's no movie or concert recording that she can watch. There's no way for her to see/understand the whole thing (I think we all agree that needs to be fixed ASAP). The other reason is the style of the music--it's that Broadway belting style that grates on her nerves so badly. It does take some getting used to, and Idina does make my spine do a weird little dance (and not in a good way) with some of her vocal manipulations. Oh, and did I mention that it's Popu-lar (see previous post about my family's attitude towards hype)?But I can live with that. However, mother dear, if you can't, I completely understand. And I apologize for all those times you have awakened from slumber with "I'm flying HIGH, DEFYYYYING GRAVITY!" already. Those times are probably not over, alas.
So, some random bits...
~~like I said, I haven't seen clips of every cast ever (yet), but my favorites right now (and possibly forever) are these gals:

 
~~I also like Alli Mauzey's Galinda, even though she is frighteningly giddy sometimes...

 ~~speaking of Galindas, I also like what I've heard of Annalene Beechey

 ~~I adore the costumes in this musical, particularly--you guessed it--G(a)linda's. Here is a couple of lovely posts about the costumes.  The Popular gown and the Bubble gown are particularly lovely.
I even attempted to replicate the spirit of the "Popular" gown for Halloween. It was all very last-minute and the sweater, alas, was necessary because of the chill in the air. And my curls are unfortunately not visible.

with my dear friend Gabbi, who used to have a lovely Elphie braid but chopped it off before I was interested in this crazy thing. *sigh*

 And what is this strange thing I find on the internet?

...could this possibly be a BLUE 'Popular' gown?  I need one. 

~~I love that it's a musical about two girls. Not two boys and a girl, not two girls and a boy*, not two girls and two boys, two girls.  And they sing together. It is ridiculously hard to find fun duets for female voices! Usually one of the singers is forced into playing tenor or baritone, which can be mighty straining and unfit for public performance. I had such high hopes for Frozen, but it did kind of let me down in that regard. Wicked, on the other hand, has "What is This Feeling?" and "For Good," one funny, the other serious. I LOVE IT.

*I know, I know, there's Fiyero. But frankly I found him to be the weak spot in the whole thing (unless played by Aaron Tveit). Please don't shoot me.

~~I just really like the story--it's a great look at everything from the power of the media to loyalty and hypocrisy to how (not) to deal with roommates. 

And with that, I am (hopefully) off to watch an installment of the next featured fandom. Here's a hint: unlike the previous one, it doesn't rhyme with Cricket. Happy guessing!

Have any of you lucky ducks seen Wicked? How did you meet this musical? Are you a fan of Fiyero?