By Liliane Alblas, Year 10

On Wednesday, 20 September, before anyone else was at school, the turning circle was buzzing with excitement. The Year 9 and 10 drama, dance and music classes were getting ready for the long drive to Sydney - we were off to see Wicked.

Wicked, based on the book by Winnie Holzman and with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, is the hit-musical prequal to The Wizard of Oz. The musical follows the Good Witch, Glinda, and the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba. The audience realises that Elphaba was not, in fact, wicked, and Glinda was not completely good. This revelation destroys the storybook ending to The Wizard of Oz and shows the audience that the characters are more complex than they first seem.

The performance was outstanding. A musical is a perfect culmination of the various elements of the performing arts. Every student was able to relate to the different parts of the production, whether that be as an actor, dancer, musician or techie. It was inspiring to see these elements come together in a professional production. Wicked made us all think about the potential for future Radford productions. This shared experience brought our two cohorts together creatively, and we look forward to working together as seniors.

The songs in Wicked are still being sung loudly in the Performing Arts Centre. However, I don’t think we are quite as good as Australian stars Courtney Monsma and Sheridan Adams (yet).

This exciting day was only made possible by our fantastic teachers, Ms Sally Stenning, Mrs Emily Leong and Ms Danielle White. These enthusiastic and talented teachers made the day joyful and memorable.