ding ding dong. ring-ga-ding ding ding dong from october fourth to november eighth, i will be participating in an online book club. for what book you ask? the wonderful wicked by gregory maguire. i cannot tell you how much i love this book. i'm pretty much a sucker for anything wizard of oz but a book that re-imagines the classic tale from the wicked witch's side? i'm in. this free online course will allow readers to interact with the author and participate in discussions led by him. online book clubs are the greatest thing on earth. not to disparage brick and mortar book clubs of course but being able to interact with the writer of one of your favorite books is just so much easier on the net.



and speaking of interaction, the wicked musical is about to lose some of its leads soon. so, i've made a plan (in my head) to fly over to new york to watch the play before january. that's when the originial elphaba -- played by idina menzel, an original rent cast member and wife of taye diggs -- leaves the cast. to pressure pack the situation even more, joey mcintyre of nkotb fame will also be leaving the cast in january. i cannot live without watching this musical at least once. i have friends who have already seen it, some of them twice, and they tell me that it's great. without even having seen the musical, i'm ready to elevate it to my top five list, just based on personal bias and predisposition.



now i have to factor in the cost of flying to new york, buying a good seat in the house, and factoring that in to my life "budget." two hundred fifty dollars to fly to new york for a weekend. sixty bucks for a ticket. taxis and meals will cost a pretty penny. so in short, am i willing to spend close to four hundred dollars just to see a musical? strangely, i think the answer is yes.



if i didn't have work until january, i could just go to new york for a week and incorporate the musical into my plans, instead of planning around the musical. but that would just be too cost effective and easy. a higher power has chosen to test me by putting idina and joey's leave date around the time our project for work rolls off. i see a test of faith and fortitude when i see one. i will be there wicked, just leave me a seat up front, thanks.



if anyone would like to join me on my journey to the emerald city, speak up. or if four hundred dollars is too steep a price to pay, you can send me ten dollars and i'll write up a detailed review for you. for fifty i'll wear a black dress, paint my face green and act everything out. for one hundred i'll do all the above and throw in a "you got it (the right stuff)" cover.



bonus. wizard of oz also led me straight to the discovery of jewel in 1995. she was dorothy in a "wizard of oz in concert" special, also co-starring jackson browne, natalie coleman and nathan lane as the cowardly lion. has anybody else besides me ever seen this? you would instantly become one of my favorite people if you have.