Monday 9th December 2024 in 2024

Today’s highlight was definitely seeing Wicked. It’s the kind of thing where you know the songs so well already, you half-worry it won’t live up to the hype—but it absolutely did. Not without some lulls, though. I mean, a couple of the songs in the middle felt a bit like they were just padding out the runtime. Necessary plot moments, maybe, but not exactly spine-tingling.

That said, Jonathan Bailey was fantastic. He has this way of commanding the stage where you just can’t look anywhere else. He’s a bit of a scene-stealer, if I’m perfectly honest. And Cynthia Erivo—what can I say? The woman is a force of nature. If she doesn’t walk away with an Oscar I’ll be shocked. Her “Defying Gravity” was electric; I felt the hairs on my arms stand up.

And of course, the iconic songs—“Popular,” “I’m not that Girl,” the whole lot—they’re just such showstoppers. Everyone in the audience was buzzing afterward. I left the theater humming under my breath, pretending not to notice that half the crowd was doing the same.

It was very late by the time I got home. I made cheese on toast and crashed straight into bed. But you know when you’re so hyped up from something you just experienced, you can’t sleep right away? I lay there, replaying the big moments in my head, feeling that odd mix of energised and exhausted. Worth every second.