Event: Wicked in Manila

Wicked is probably my favorite musical of all time. So when the guys at Concertus Manila brought them here, we bought our tickets immediately. We settled with a Friday night show, so we can watch it with our folks (they are usually out of town during the weekends). We left early and braved the traffic. We got there just in time to get a quick dinner right before the show.

It has been a while since I've been to CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) so I was surprised that there were tons of restaurants across the side street near the marina. You can get your food from this area.

Funny too, because you can spot those who were going to watch the musical. People in fast food restaurants were wearing evening clothes, not evening gowns and tuxes, but little dresses, jackets and pants, that sort of thing.

That night, Visa had a photo booth area. They were offering free photos for each Visa cardholder. I heard promotions differ each night. My tita went another night and they were given witch hats.

Bottom photo grabbed from vsunday's IG

We also took some photos at the lobby --

... and inside too. Don't worry it was right before the show started. I was soooo glad I didn't hear anyone singing near us.

The stage was exactly like the one we watched in NC.

After the show, we went and got dessert at Diamond Hotel -- awesome truffle fries and salted caramel ice cream, by the way. My sister got lucky and she was able to have her picture taken with Fiyero (outside CCP), Glinda and Elphaba (at Diamond Hotel). Lucky, lucky girl.

Photo grabbed from rypaulvillanueva's IG

Well, one thing's for sure. We'll never tire of watching Wicked. If you haven't watched yet, you have 8 days left. Hurry and get your tickets now from Ticketworld.

Event: Wicked in Manila! Yes!

I am THISCLOSE to confrming that Wicked will be coming to Manila. Yes. THISCLOSE. Maybe closer.

Wicked is the musical basis of Gregory Maguire's book of the same title. It is somewhat a prequel to the Wizard of Oz -- the story of Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (Good Witch of the North).

Sidenote: Elphaba's name came from the initials of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' author L. Frank Baum. Haha, sorry ngayon ko lang nalaman.

Okay, so I've been browsing through tweets of those I follow. One tweet led me to an article from

Event: Wicked in Manila?

I've been hearing stuff about Wicked coming to Manila as early as January 2014. Wicked is probably my all-time favorite musical. I watched it while we were in the US, but not in New York. We took a drive up to North Carolina with my sister to watch it.

I remembered the NC stay vividly because it was the first time I decided to partially use my miles (and my credit card) to book a hotel, and when we got in the hotel, they didn't have my booking. I was so pissed at the airline that time because I got a confirmation number in the email to go with it. We called the miles customer service, and they spoke to the receptionist. Nothing. The miles people couldn't help me out. Then, the good folks at Hampton Inn took pity, booked us a room and upgraded us to a suite for the same price. I love them!

As for the cc payment I used to partially pay for the initial booking, Amex took care of that. All it took was a phone call. I explained the situation. They immediately credited it back to my account. I swear they are the most awesome, easiest to talk to credit card company in the whole world. If I can just hug them, I would.

Here is the lobby of our hotel.

Our bathroom had a television behind the vanity mirror.

After a few minutes of resting, we went ahead to the theater.

It was a tiny theater.

We took some photos before the show started.

We were three happy campers.

I don't mind watching it again. Okay, that's the understatement of the year. I would LOVE to sit up close the stage and watch it again. I promise I won't sing along. You better not too.

P.S.
I heard tickets might go on sale as early as July this year. I'm feeling giddy just thinking about it.