Out of the cities that I had the chance to visit thus far, New York City is definitely one of my favorites. It’s one of those places that I would like to visit again and again until an immediate, renewed again!
Every time we visit New York, we schedule our stay with back to back activities to be in sync with the positive, vibrant energy, lifestyle, and pace of the city that never sleeps. One activity that never fails to make our schedule is to watch a Broadway show, especially since my daughter is very much into music and acting; exposing her to Broadway musicals subsequently exposes her into dreaming at large, and why not? This past summer, we visited New York and our chosen musical was “Wicked”.
This musical is based on the novel “Wicked” by Gregory Maguire; though it varies a little from the story in the book, it remains a deeply moving legend with endless creativity that leaves you enchanted heart, mind and soul!
Lacking the expertise on rating musicals, of course I would not allow myself to rate this musical, but to me, watching “Wicked” was beyond delightful! The breathtaking voices and talents of its two leading ladies, Alli Mauzey and Lindsay Mendez, gave free reign for melodic magic to awaken and fully own my deepest sensations. Throughout the show, it felt like my being was swinging back and forth between the cynical, intensive humor of ironies, the magnificence of inner beauty, and the deepest pain of evilness & unfairness! If you are one of those who tear up when you’re moved (keep it between us, I am one of those!), you would have experienced many of those moments of concurrent hysterical laughs and wet cheeks.
The musical narrative tackles complex human themes such as external and internal beauty, morality, judgment, individual struggle between good and evil; but the story events revolve around the unfairness of deceiving, hurting, and the wickedness of framing the victim of the harmful act as the wicked. I believe a very familiar scenario that we may have seen and have experienced quite often is that usually those who hurt intentionally out of greed, self insecurities, hatred, jealousy, superiority in all its shapes and sizes or for whatever is the reason never seem to stop at the hurting act; unfortunately, they also have to go beyond to frame their victims as the wicked. The resulting pain of the framing act is usually deeper than that of the hurting act because it signifies the ultimate unfairness or words beyond unfairness; such acts have the power to completely obliterate someone.
All the negative personality traits that drive people to hurt one another are rooted in each one of us at different levels; they are the results of the interaction of the universal human nature with life’s overall experiences, exposures, and in-born personal characteristics. Keeping those negative personality traits under control and willingly converting them to positive traits is not an easy task, but each one of us should continuously endeavor to do so. Can you imagine a world without pain caused by another human peer? Can you imagine how wonderful it would be? “Be the change you want to see in the world”… When you get hurt, it’s your right not to forgive the one who hurt you until you are ready to do so; however, you can break the hurt cycle by not hurting back, walking away, taking the highroad to greater and better things and never sparing a chance along your way to lend a helping hand to a deserving fellow human!