The night I met Idina Menzel!

After months of anticipation, June 26th had finally arrived! Grabbing my suitcase and my picture of Idina as Elphaba, I headed out the door. After a two-hour drive, I saw the theater that she was performing at. Towards the entrance was a huge banner with Idina's face on it. Boy, was I ever excited to see that!

The doors of the theater opened and I got a little souvenir; a shirt that displayed Idina's picture and name on the front and her tour stops on the back. The theater was huge! I also found it ironic that the seats were upholstered in green material. I chatted with two ladies sitting next to me who claimed that they were dying from excitement. I was too, but I was trying to keep my cool.

The orchestra came out on stage and took their place. I was starting to shake from the excitement. As the music started to play, a spotlight hit the curtain behind the orchestra and there was Idina's profile. OMG! She's right there!!! She started to sing "Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high..." and the crowd was completely hushed; the music faded and she disappeared. From behind the curtain, she quickly walked towards the front of the stage and the crowd went wild. She waved and started the song "The Wizard and I".

As she progressed through every song, she stopped every now-and-then to tell a story to the crowd or tell them a little bit about the song. Her laughter was contagious. She was honest, almost too honest, but it was funny none-the-less.

After each song, there was a slight pause. No talking, no singing, no music. To me, it was slightly deafening, and something inside me was boiling to the surface. After finishing a song, she leaned on her microphone stand, looked down at the floor, and something inside me exploded. I cupped my hands and with all the power that I could muster up I yelled "WE LOVE YOU IDINA!!!" The  crowd cheered and clapped and the girl next to me said, "Nice job!" Then it hit me. I was embarrassed beyond words. I cannot believe that that just came out of me! As a flush of heat swept from my toes to my head, I laughed to hide my embarrassment. Idina heard me and responded, "I love you too, but I don't really know you." Idina Menzel acknowledged my existence!

Closing the show, she took her ear piece out and put the microphone behind her back and sang "For Good" a capella. She left the stage and the crowd cheered her into an encore. She came out and started to sing "Something has changed within me...". I dropped into my seat, leaned forward and cried as I mouthed the words to the song while she sang. Never would I have thought that I would hear her sing that song live!

Heading to the stage door when the show was over, we met up with a group that was also waiting to meet her. We waited and waited and waited, hoping that she wouldn't be in the dressing room all night. Then, bad news came. A security guard told us that she was not going to come out unless we all left. My heart dropped. This was very sad news. We all left the loading dock area and headed to a sidewalk in front of the theater. Lots of people left, but we still waited, hoping to at least see her. Debating on whether we should stay or go, we heard Idina's bus start up and drive towards us. Then, it stopped. What's going on? A security guard approached us and told us to make two single-file lines. YYAAAYYY!!! I was about to jump out of my skin!! Idina emerged from the bus all tangled in her sweater. I didn't recognize her at first because I thought she was a lot taller. But, when she approached the crowd of fans, my hands started shaking. Was it excitement? Was it nerves? Was it the power of Idina herself?

My signed picture and my ticket
from the concert!

She made her way through the crowd rather quickly and I was the last in line. As she grabbed the picture I was holding and started to sign, I told her, "I was the one who screamed, 'WE LOVE YOU IDINA!'" "Oh really? That was you?" she laughed. I smiled and I shook my head. She headed back to her bus and turned around to thank everyone. Wow! What a sweetheart!

Adrenaline had engulfed me. I was shaking, smiling and hugging Brittany, my new friend who was just excited as I was. We posed for a picture that radiated our hyper-ness. Walking to the car I turned to my new friends and said, "You know what this means?? BLOG POST!!!!"

And that, my dear readers, is the story of the night I met Idina Menzel!