Unlimited: How Wicked Changed Me for Good
Last night was the Oscars, and the opening number was Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo doing a Wizard of Oz, Wiz, Wicked medley. You might be asking yourself, Azurae, why are you talking about this on The Message Connection?
Azurae:Well, I'll tell you why.
Azurae:Because these girls delivered. Okay? I don't know if you're into this craze, but Wicked is having a moment. And this is not a new story.
Azurae:This story just celebrated its twenty first year on Broadway, and I wanted to take some time to talk about it. So if you're ready to go on a journey down the Yellow Brick Road with me today, then welcome to The Message Connection where we're gonna talk about Wicked. So glad you're here. Welcome to The Message Connection, a podcast dedicated to exploring all the angles that it takes to get your message to the masses. I'm your host, Azurae Phelps.
Azurae:And with over twenty years of experience in the world of production, I've seen behind the scenes of everything from recording studios to the Super Bowl halftime show, and everything in between. Week after week, we will dig in to the medium of podcasting, as well as host conversations with entrepreneurs, business owners, coaches, artists, creatives, educators, and more, to see how they got to the heart of their message and what it took to get them to the place where they were ready to share it. Let's get into it. Every entrepreneur has gotta have a hobby. You gotta have some stuff that you're into that's not just about your business.
Azurae:And I love business, and I love learning, and I love applying things I learn, and I love spending time and doing research, and I love helping clients, and I love working with my colleagues, and I love traveling for work and all of those things. But what I did not see coming in the last year was my obsession with Wicked. Now I know it seems a little bit like, Azurae, come on. Everybody's on this bandwagon now because of the movie. But I wanna talk about the fact that one year ago, I was able to take my daughter to New York City to celebrate a milestone birthday, and she is a musical theater kid.
Azurae:Now I have always loved Broadway. Music is more my background, working with artists and in those kinds of live venues. So I haven't really done a lot of work in the theater, but I'm definitely an appreciator. And then I have musical theater kids, so you better believe I am a stagemom.com. Now I'm not a weird stage mom.
Azurae:Okay? My kids may say differently, but I'm just saying, I'm backstage making sure the show is happening. I love it. I love anything to do with a live performance getting to the people. But Broadway in particular, the first time I went to New York City, I was 19 years old.
Azurae:It was a graduation gift from my parents from high school. This was a massive deal because I think my parents had only been one other time before. And the fact that they took me to New York, it was like my dream to live in New York City, and I just could not believe it. I was so excited. I mean, we got on that subway, and my mind was firing on all cylinders.
Azurae:I just was like, who are these people? What are they doing? Where are they going? Are they going to work? Where does their family live?
Azurae:How do they afford to live here? What do they do for a living? This was pre iPhone, pre smartphone, so everyone's got the newspaper or they're sleeping. They're doing a crossword puzzle. Some people are reading, wait for it, a real book, like a paperback.
Azurae:I was fascinated by the whole thing. I just I loved it. And on that first trip, we saw three Broadway shows. One was Jesus Christ Superstar, which was okay. One was Lion King, which was mind blowing to me.
Azurae:I couldn't believe it. And by the way, this is, like, twenty five years ago. So at the time, it was newer, and tickets were almost impossible to get be like trying to get a Hamilton ticket when Hamilton first came out years ago. And then we also saw Annie Get Your Gun starring Bernadette Peters. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with her, but, wow, she crushed.
Azurae:It was just incredible. And, again, I wasn't sitting in the audience like, that's gonna be me someday. I just loved it. The thing about live theater is that you can go to the movies and have I mean, how many times did I go to the theater to see Titanic? Tons.
Azurae:I mean, back in the day, I mean, movies stayed in the theater forever. Right? And you just went back again and again with your friends. But it's the exact same every time. Live theater, everybody that's in the room is having a shared experience for that one time.
Azurae:They're having a shared experience where if something went wrong tonight, if a cue got missed or whatever, we're all having that experience together. So that was my first experience with Broadway. I'd seen other shows coming through the town I grew up in, but something about being in New York City on Broadway where you just know that people are moving there for their dream. And for so many people, even just going to those few shows at 19, watching people literally live out their dream in front of me, I was so impressed. Fast forward many years, I would go back to New York to visit multiple times and would always see a show because it just felt like part of the experience of going to New York City.
Azurae:Get a slice of cheesecake, have a slice of pizza, go to Central Park, see a Broadway show, walk through Times Square, go to a new restaurant. These are the must dos every time you go, even if you've gone 20 times. So when my daughter got into musical theater in these previous years, I was so excited for her because I think anytime a child finds something that they're super into and they wanna put their whole heart and soul into it, as a parent, it's such an honor to get to fan the flame of their passion and support them with those endeavors. She's so into it. It's awesome.
Azurae:So for this special birthday celebration, we knew New York City was the destination. And I felt so grateful and honored to get to take her mother daughter trip. But, of course, the first thing on the list was what shows are we going to see. We were gonna see one show per day, and the list was totally up to her because, of course, I mean, I'm I'm just along for the ride on this one. Sutton Foster is one of her favorite performers, and she was performing in Sweeney Todd the weekend we were gonna be there.
Azurae:Another exciting thing that was happening was The Notebook, the musical, was opening the weekend that we were there. This is not even a film she had seen, but being at a show for opening weekend felt like a bucket list type of experience to check off, so that was added to the list. And then we had heard from some friends that back to the future, the musical, was incredible and absolutely worth seeing, which kinda blew my mind because I just thought how in the world are they gonna make that into a Broadway show? But we trusted these friends, and I'm so glad we did, by the way. And then, of course, as every teenage girl who's ever and, frankly, any person who's ever been into musical theater, you have to go see Wicked.
Azurae:Now I saw Wicked years ago when it came through Seattle, and I have to be honest with you, I didn't get it. In fact, I think I probably dozed off at the beginning of the second half after intermission. This happens to me a lot, by the way. I sometimes I'm just like I'm nodding off. I'm not tracking.
Azurae:I don't know what's going on, and there's not enough p and m and ms to keep me awake. So my husband had read the book. He knew more was going on. I was kind of explaining it to me, but I just wasn't in the wave of it. But my daughter really wanted to go, and so we went to see it on her actual birthday, her golden birthday, and, that was a big deal.
Azurae:So it's an evening show. The lights are bright on Broadway. You know, it was just incredible. We go to this show, and first of all, it is in the Gershwin Theater, which is the largest theater on Broadway. Every single seat is sold out, and we've bought our tickets in advance, by the way.
Azurae:But even still, every seat is full in the house. And they're doing this show eight times a week, and every seat is full. This is before the movie, by the way. This is months before the movie came out. And we're there, and the energy is palpable.
Azurae:These songs have they're they're classic songs in the musical theater repertoire. Every kid learns popular. Defying gravity is the vocal stretch of every child who's trying to learn how to be a singer in musical theater. You know, there's lots of musical theater kids. There's families.
Azurae:There's people who are have been there many, many times to see the show and folks like us who it's their first time seeing it on Broadway. What we didn't know when we booked our tickets was that the main principles in the show, so those are the women who play Elphaba and Glinda, had just changed over. There were new contracts that had just begun ten days prior to us being there. This is exciting, but we had no reference. So that night, it was a Friday evening, we're looking through the playbill, and we see not only is the Fierro being played by an understudy, but the Elphaba is being played by the standby.
Azurae:Now, again, I have no reference for these women, and and I'm just trusting the process, right, that we wouldn't be here on Broadway if they didn't think these people were absolutely 100% legit. I will tell you right now that these actors absolutely crushed it. I was completely enthralled with the entire thing. I was crying. I was so engaged.
Azurae:I couldn't believe it. I'm looking at my daughter. We're smiling ear to ear. I mean, the whole thing was absolutely stunning. We went to the stage door afterwards to meet some of the actors and actresses who came out to say hello and sign play bills.
Azurae:They were so kind. It was just the the best atmosphere. It was wonderful, and I was completely shook. I was I was completely sold on the entire thing. I I couldn't believe it.
Azurae:Okay. Now people have all sorts of theories about this show, and I just wanna remind you that my obsession with Wicked now is coming up on its year anniversary, and this was way before the movie. I didn't even know they were making a movie. This is how out of the mix I was. One of the main reasons that the show struck such a deep chord with me this time last year was that the year prior, my best friend since kindergarten had passed away from battling stage four breast cancer for almost five years, which what a what an incredible battle.
Azurae:What an incredible ride. And Wicked to me I mean, everyone has their own interpretation of the show, and believe me, there are many. But for me and in the season of life that I was in, there was something about this show that struck this chord with me about friendship between women. What it's about to stand up for one another, to navigate societal pressure between communities and to expand into the fullness of who you are. The the story line, the story arc, I don't wanna give too much of it away, but for me, watching these two women navigate a friendship and even step into their respective roles in the community had me in my feels in a deep way.
Azurae:And this is because a huge part of what I have had to walk through in the last year is why am I still here, and am I showing up fully into the life that I've been given? This story is so much about navigating those types of questions for me. You have Glenda who is having to represent essentially a a front to society that everything's great and grand. And you know what? Sometimes as a leader, you have to do that.
Azurae:As an entrepreneur, as a parent, you have to absorb things, keep them at bay, not to be listen. I'm not saying to be disingenuous or to lie, but there is something to that. Right? Like, everything's not for everyone to know. And she had to do that, and she did it with such poise and grace.
Azurae:And then you have Elphaba who is coming into her own. And for me, in this last year, I have felt a a sense of alphabeness, of stepping out into my own uniqueness. The line that gets me in defying gravity, which, again, I'm not gonna give anything away because this stuff is everywhere, and these women have been singing it for over twenty years, but is when she starts to sing the word unlimited. And I am not here to talk about anyone else's experience, but I will say that for myself in the constructs that I have been operating in and around for almost forty five years, the ways that I have limited myself, by the way. Yes.
Azurae:Society, la de da. All of that is neither here nor there, because at the end of the day, I'm responsible for me. 100. I believe that. I stand by that.
Azurae:Have there been hard circumstances? Absolutely. Have there been constructs that I've lived and operated in, things I've been a part of that limited my capacity, maybe even squashed a lot of who I am. Yeah. But guess what?
Azurae:I I participated. So there's a % ownership to take in these types of situations. And for me, cracking open this concept of being unlimited, why am I limiting myself? What am I doing? This is ridiculous.
Azurae:It is time to step into the fullness of who I am. And, yes, to do that in a way that is honoring to how I'm wired and what I care about and all of that, but it but just watching her sing that and, like, have that realization, it cracked me open. And I was just I was in a puddle. I was in a puddle watching it happen live. It was incredible.
Azurae:And mind you, so the first time I went to see it, I'm with my daughter. We're having this transcendent experience. Like, I'm crying. She's crying. She looked at me, and she said still gets me in my feels.
Azurae:So she watched Alexandra Socha play Glenda, and she looked at me, and she said, mom, if she can do it, I can do it. And I was like, woah. This girl is so legit. She gets it. She sees someone else being brave, stepping into their gifts, using them fully, and instead of being intimidated and like, woah.
Azurae:I could never, she's literally seeing possibility. In that moment, it changed it changed me. I couldn't I was like, what is this wisdom? What in the world? It was so incredible.
Azurae:So just that night alone was so amazing. And by the way, that night, we saw the standby, Lisa de Guzman play Elphaba. She absolutely completely crushed it. I I would have had no I would have had no idea. So kudos to Wicked and their entire organization for just the level of talent that they maintain, pursue.
Azurae:So that was March 2024, and we had the best time. We came home. We're listening to the soundtrack on repeat. A couple months later, we had the opportunity to go back to New York City as a family, which means our son now got to have this Broadway experience. He had just done his first musical theater show, and he'd been listening to the record on vinyl in the house, and so he was stoked.
Azurae:We'd also been listening to Back to the Future on repeat because it was actually so incredible. And so as a family, we were like, okay. He's quite a bit younger, but we feel okay with him seeing Back to the Future and seeing Wicked. So all all four of us went to see Back to the Future. Absolutely incredible.
Azurae:So much fun. Such a blast to share it with the boys because we'd had such a good time seeing it a few months prior. And then we did a divide and conquer where my son and I went to see Wicked, and my husband and daughter went to see their show. And, I mean, my son's mind was, like, absolutely blown. Because, again, think about this.
Azurae:He's been listening to the music, and then to see it come to life on stage was just absolutely unreal. Now the funny thing was here I'm seeing it again, and Alexandra Socha is playing Glenda. Jordan Litz is back in as Fierro. He was the cast Fierro. But I saw Lisa de Guzman play Elphaba again.
Azurae:She was in the standby role again. I was like, what is going on? I guess she is my Elphaba. This is what they people often say, like, whoever is your first Elphaba, like, who you see on Broadway, like, that's your Elphaba. And I'm like, I guess she's my girl.
Azurae:You know? And she crushed, and I cried, and it was beautiful. It was amazing, and I couldn't believe it. I took my son to the stage door. The they were so kind.
Azurae:Jordan Litz came out. He's talking to him, like, are you an actor? And he got to say yes, and he signed his poster. And it was just it was incredible. So then our daughter had had wanted to see a show with a particular actress in it, and there was a standby that night.
Azurae:So we surprised her with tickets to go again, and we guaranteed everybody was in the show. And it was like, okay. Cool. We're gonna do it. And so then the rest of us were like, what are we gonna do?
Azurae:At this time, Rachel McAdams was on Broadway in a play, and I went and got a day of seats. It was kinda cool to go by myself and see something different. And then the boys went back to Wicked, and they got to see Mary Kate Morrissey by Elphaba. So my husband's Elphaba is Mary Kate Morrissey. Now admit, you might be listening to this guy, and, like, I
Azurae:don't even understand what you're
Azurae:saying, Azurae What does this even have to do with entrepreneurship or messaging or anything?
Azurae:Here's here's the deal. The experience of connecting to a message so deeply that you would pay to see it multiple times. And then by the way, it came to our hometown just recently, and my birthday weekend, my daughter and I went to see it together Again, I cried again. I just the message of this story rung like a bell that I could not unhear in a way that just spoke to me so deeply last year, and I needed to hear it.
Azurae:When we were there in November, we got our respective bracelets. She got a bracelet that says for good, and I have the unlimited bracelet. And it's this bond that we share, these words, this word. I need this word, unlimited. I need it.
Azurae:I need that phrase. I need that in my mind. I need for good. I need to know that I I'm still here for a reason. My relationship with Amanda, my best friend, changed me for good, and I am so thankful for the life I got to live alongside of her for all the years that I did.
Azurae:And her absence in my life, I feel it. You know? I wanna text her sometimes, and sometimes I do when it goes to green, and I feel so sad. Like, I miss her, but I know that I've been changed for the better because I knew her, and that my mandate still here on this earth is to be unlimited, to press in to the fullness of who I am. And this story, this show, it it means something to so many people.
Azurae:I'm not alone in this at all. And then let's add the movie on top of it because now way more people are getting access to this story that could never go to New York City, that could never afford the Broadway ticket, that could never be in those seats. Now they get to tap into this beautiful version of the story, which is not the same as the Broadway show. I mean, they're able to go take the story in in lots of expansive directions even with the way they can tell it on film. And it's so beautiful.
Azurae:And I I'm going to have to share another part of this story with you on another episode about how I got to go to a premiere of the film when I was back in New York again at the end of the year with a dear friend, and how much it is meant to talk with him about this show and what it means to me and what it means to him and his story. But I I know I'm not alone in this. And the ripple effects of this story and this this show, I mean, they just go far and wide. And it's because this taps into a human primal emotional thing, which is storytelling and messaging, and it cracks people open. The beautiful thing about the arts is that they speak to and reach people in all walks of life.
Azurae:Everyone who sees Wicked has some version of this story, some way that they're impacted by it. Just like going to a concert or reading a book that really impacted you deeply, You hear the song on repeat, and you remember where you were, and you think about when you saw that performance live and what it meant to you, and the shared experience of being at the concert and buying the t shirt. And these things, they stick with us because the message of these communicators cuts to the heart. All of us have a version of a story like this, and I'm just so grateful to Steven Schwartz and the company of Wicked and all of the people past, present, and future who tell this story. I think it's such an important story, and it's meant so much to me and my little family.
Azurae:And it was a beautiful part of my year last year. And as the Broadway company is coming up on changing out their principles, which means that there are gonna be new women playing the lead roles, I'm excited to see how the show's going to evolve and change because everyone plays it a little bit differently, but I know it's going to be beautiful. If you have seen the Broadway show and you have thoughts, please I would love to hear them. If you have seen the movie and you wanna see the Broadway show, I'd love to know what you thought about the movie and who you related to the most, whose message lands in the pocket for you. My encouragement to you is as an entrepreneur, as a solopreneur, a lot of you, make sure that you have hobbies, things that you enjoy, that you love sharing with friends and family.
Azurae:Make time for your passions and interests. It's important. It it builds deeper connection with your clients, with friends, and that's what it's all about. So thanks for listening to me talk about one of my interests. I would love to hear what those things are for you and how it's impacted you and your business and your life and brought balance to your world.
Azurae:Have a great week, everybody. Thanks so much for listening to The Message Connection with Azure Phelps. If you found this episode valuable, I'd love to hear from you. Check out the show notes for details on how to stay in touch, and please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. These reviews help us reach more people who will enjoy and benefit from the show.
Azurae:Don't forget to subscribe to the message connection wherever you get your podcasts, so you never miss an episode.
