I MET IDINA MENZEL!!

Yes, it’s true! I met Idina Menzel, following last night’s evening performance of Wicked! We had to wait a few minutes outside of the stage door, but sure enough, she and the other cast members came out to meet us. Boy am I a lucky girl!

I’m not one who is easily star struck, to be honest. I could sit next to Julia Roberts on the tube and not think about it too much. But Idina Menzel. She’s just amazing! I was already a big fan of the musical Wicked, but to see her play her Tony award winning part! She brought so much life to the character Elphaba. Sigh.

It took me a long time afterward to calm my nerves. Shann and Kelly can attest to that. I was all jittery in my stomach from the thrill of actually meeting her in person, getting her signature and taking a photograph with her! I also feel guilty that I wasn’t able to get out any words of appreciation for her. I almost couldn’t even ask her for a picture. I sounded something like this: “Um, do you think I could trouble you if it’s at all possible for maybe you to…take a picture with me?” Thankfully she agreed. What a thrill.

I also got to meet a lot of the other cast members. They were really gracious. Idina, who is clearly the star of the show, was a bit rushed and not super warm (understandably), but a lot of the other cast members even signed their names “love.” Naturally implying that they love me. Yay!

^ the whole crew that went to the show

Before going to see Wicked last night, we went to the Christmas lighting show at Covent Garden. The casts of The Lion King and Chicago each performed two songs! Baby Spice also performed. The best was “Downtown,” in which a bunch of male dancers pranced around.

All and all a fantastic night.

I still can’t believe I met Idina Menzel…. I think it was one of the most exciting moments of my young life. I haven’t been this excited since two summers ago when I met my childhood hero, Lisa Sekiya.

Two extra treats:

1) Here is the first picture of Idina and me. She said we could take a picture only if the flash and camera were ready. "It's ready!!!" I said, pointing to Shann, who was standing by. We took a picture and Shann cried out, "It's dark! I can't see anything!" So we had to take a second one, which came out well in the end (I feel guilty about taking two, though). Here is the photoshopped version of the dark one. The resolution is terrible as a result of my tinkering with the levels, but you can still see who we are!

2) A video of Baby Spice singing "Downtown." Well, sort of. You'll see what I mean.


You can find more pictures of these adventures and others here and here.