For Good

In my quest to fit in as much as possible into my last week here in Sydney, I went to see Wicked at Capitol Theatre. For those who are unfamiliar (you should be ashamed of yourself), Wicked is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and ultimately the back story of The Wizard of Oz. If you haven’t seen the musical there may be a spoiler or two in here so watch out!

yay!

I want to preface this post by saying that I had already seen Wicked on Broadway in NYC and sang many of the musical selections in high school Chorus so I was very familiar with the musical and scores. That said, it was AMAZING! I didn’t expect to so blown away. Glinda the Good Witch had the best acting I’ve ever seen in a musical hands down. Often times when I see musicals I feel as though the actors/actresses depend on the songs too much and don’t focus enough on the actual acting. Glinda was amazing vocally AND acting wise. and Elphaba, the wicked witch of the west was incredible! I mean that voice, phew! She had a few standing ovations throughout the show.

There’s a song towards the end of the musical, For Good, where Elphaba and Glinda apologize to one another and thank each other for an amazing friendship. The song is very popular at graduations as it is a beautiful farewell song and it truly hit home for me as I am due to leave Sydney in exactly one week. The song goes:

“It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime.
So, let me say before we part:
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you.
You’ll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you’ll have rewritten mine
By being my friend.”

As the two amazing vocalists sang their duet I couldn’t help but feel as though the song applied to myself and Sydney. These past four months have been the most amazing four months of my life. I’ve learned so much about myself and the world. Done so many amazing things and met so many amazing people. And who knows if I will ever come back to this beautiful country but because of this experience “I do believe I have been changed for the better” and “because I knew you (Sydney), I have been changed… for good.”