PATTY DUKE IS THE BEST THING EVER.

My friend Sarah and I decided to go put our names in the lottery for the $25 tickets to see Wicked last night. So I put my name in, she put her name in, and we waited to see if we would be drawn. After a good 10 names or so, we heard Sarah's name announced. We quite literally jumped for joy (much to the delight of bystanders), and went to hang out at the library for a while until the show started. We saw a cool calligraphy exhibit in the library, and then we headed over to Gyro King, a restaurant neither of us had been to but had gotten good reviews. Sarah loved her gyro, I didn't like mine because there was too much dill. How did I ever survive with Russian food?

Then we walked over to the theater. The good thing about San Francisco is that the whole city is quite compact. It's a "big city," but it's not big by any means. So literally, the Orpheum is right across from Gyro King, which is right across from the library. Quite convenient. We stood back from the crowd while people were still buying tickets, and when they started letting people in, we went straight in, discussing Spamalot and other crazy things that had nothing to do with the issue at hand. We found our seats (row G in the Orchestra, which was fantastic--limited view, but no matter because we got to see every minute detail on everyone's face), and sat down to watch the show. The production was quite good. Sarah and I had both seen different productions, so at the intermission we were comparing the Glindas and Elphabas to the other productions we had seen.

Now, confession here. I'm not a huge Wicked fan, which might surprise some people. I think the lighting is absolutely phenomenal, I think the sets and costumes are amazing. I don't particularly like the script, and a lot of it doesn't make much sense. I probably would have passed on seeing it this time if it weren't for Patty Duke as Madame Morrible. I've always loved Patty Duke. Ever since my mother showed me The Miracle Worker for the first time when I was about 5, I have loved her. Recently I saw her at the Castro and got to see how amazing she was as a person as well, and I was kind of newly entranced. So of course I made up my mind to go see Wicked, even though I'm not particularly crazy about the play.

Afterward, we went to the stage door. The cast came out, one by one, to autograph programs and such, and Sarah got the autographs of just about everyone in the cast. I wanted to save my program for Patty Duke. She finally came out, and when she got to us, Sarah said "I'm going to let her go first, she's the big fan."

So I told her "I've been a fan of yours since I was 5." She looked at me, obviously moved, and said "Ohhh, god BLESS YOU!" I told her "Ever since my mom showed me The Miracle Worker." She looked like she was about to cry, and then reached out and gave me a big hug. By this time we were attracting a lot of attention. After she gave me the hug she said "You're wonderful!" Then I told her I saw her at the Castro, and we talked about that for a little bit, and it was all so...amazing and surreal. I'm still on cloud nine from this experience.

I felt SO AMAZING. She is just so incredibly nice, and she essentially made my life. But really, what makes me feel the best was that I think I made HER night. She seemed so genuinely moved that someone would be such a longstanding fan of hers. She's talked in interviews about how she enjoys meeting fans at the stage door, and I think that she was surprised that someone as young as I am is a fan of hers, and not only that, but has been a fan from such a young age. It pains me to say this, but I'm not sure too many people knew who she was at the stage door. Seriously, no one else got a hug!!! And we attracted quite a bit of attention!!!

If any of you ever get a chance to meet Patty Duke, don't pass it up. She is the warmest, sweetest most down-to-earth person you will ever meet.

Chickadees, this night was amazing.




-Lara