For me, that’s WICKED.

Years ago, when I was seven months pregnant with Emma, my dad surprised my hubby and me with tickets to see it on Broadway. It wasn’t my first trip to Oz. I’d been obsessed with The Wizard of Oz since I was a little girl. My fifth birthday was Wizard of Oz themed, complete with my prized collection of dolls. So when the lights dimmed at the Gershwin Theatre that night, I felt like I was coming home.

I fell in love with the show.

Years later, when it was time to introduce my daughters to Broadway, there really wasn’t much debate. Their first Broadway show had to be WICKED.

Part of me wanted them to experience the music and the spectacle.

But an even bigger part wanted to share something that had become special to me because of my dad.

As we sat in the audience, I couldn’t help but think about that first performance years earlier. It felt like he was sitting right beside us again.

If you’ve somehow managed to avoid spoilers all these years, WICKED tells the story of Oz long before Dorothy arrives. Instead of following the famous yellow brick road, it asks what really happened between Glinda and Elphaba before one became “Good” and the other became “Wicked.”

The music is phenomenal. “Popular,” “Defying Gravity” and “For Good” are the kinds of songs that stay with you long after you’ve left the theater.

Apparently they stay with husbands too.

Mine spent the train ride home singing “Popular.”

I consider that one of the show’s greatest achievements.

This summer I had the chance to return for a third visit, this time as part of a group of mommy bloggers. Before the show we were invited to lunch where we met the actresses playing Elphaba and Glinda and learned about WICKED‘s partnership with BullyBust, an organization working to prevent bullying in schools.

The highlight of the day, though, belonged to Emma.

She finally got to meet Elphaba, her favorite character.

When I asked her why she loved Elphaba so much, she didn’t talk about the songs or the green makeup.

She said she admired that Elphaba stood up for what she believed in, even when it wasn’t easy.

I don’t know if there’s a better lesson for a kid to take away from a Broadway show than that.

The older I get, the more I realize experiences become family traditions before you even know they’re happening. One surprise from my dad eventually became my daughters’ first Broadway show, and now every time I hear the opening notes of “Defying Gravity,” I think of all three generations sitting together in that theater.

That’s a little bit of Broadway magic you can’t buy with a ticket.

My dad treated me to my first performance of WICKED. More than a decade later, WICKED provided my family with complimentary tickets for the purpose of this review after I reached out because I genuinely wanted to share the experience with my daughters. As always, all opinions are my own.

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