Guests had a 'Wicked' good time at this fundraiser
Crystal Diamond talks to Marco Moura as the Yellow Brick Road.
Gregory Maguire gave an author talk at the fundraiser. 
Michael Jodoin, from New Bedford, dressed as Glinda.
Jenn Yong, Andy Pollock, Juli Parker, Cynthia Cummings and Kate Will.
There were 175 tickets sold to the event.
Gregory Maguire signed books at the event.
Crystal Diamond performs to "Popular."
Tami Rater, from Bourne, as a Flying Monkey.
Cynthia Cummings, Dartmouth, and Juli Parker, Swansea, as witches.
Marco Moura, from Fall River, as the Yellow Brick Road.
Some ruby slippers.
Crystal Diamond performs to "Nobody Does it Like Me."
Tim Evan as the mayor and Howe Allen as the scarecrow, both from Fairhaven.
Andy Pollock starts the event off with a speech.
Ruth Doran, from Dartmouth, painted as the Wicked Witch.
Wicked themed cupcakes.
Drey Annachie, of New Bedford, and Regan Rodrigues, of Duxbury, dressed up for the event.
Dennis Yong, who is from Dartmouth and is on the Board of Directors, with Jenn Yong, from Mattapoissett.
Some of the costumes from the original play.
Crystal Diamond and Gregory Maguire.
Gregory Maguire with a picture of him and his siblings (he is on far right.)
Crystal Diamond interacted with the audience during her show.
Tim Evans sang and played the piano during the fundraiser.
Crystal Diamond and Tim Evans.
Crystal Diamond talks to Marco Moura as the Yellow Brick Road.
Gregory Maguire gave an author talk at the fundraiser.
Michael Jodoin, from New Bedford, dressed as Glinda.
Jenn Yong, Andy Pollock, Juli Parker, Cynthia Cummings and Kate Will.
There were 175 tickets sold to the event.
Gregory Maguire signed books at the event.
Crystal Diamond performs to "Popular."
Tami Rater, from Bourne, as a Flying Monkey.
Cynthia Cummings, Dartmouth, and Juli Parker, Swansea, as witches.
Marco Moura, from Fall River, as the Yellow Brick Road.
Some ruby slippers.
Crystal Diamond performs to "Nobody Does it Like Me."
Tim Evan as the mayor and Howe Allen as the scarecrow, both from Fairhaven.
Andy Pollock starts the event off with a speech.
Ruth Doran, from Dartmouth, painted as the Wicked Witch.
Wicked themed cupcakes.
Drey Annachie, of New Bedford, and Regan Rodrigues, of Duxbury, dressed up for the event.
Dennis Yong, who is from Dartmouth and is on the Board of Directors, with Jenn Yong, from Mattapoissett.
Some of the costumes from the original play.
Crystal Diamond and Gregory Maguire.
Gregory Maguire with a picture of him and his siblings (he is on far right.)
Crystal Diamond interacted with the audience during her show.
Tim Evans sang and played the piano during the fundraiser.
Crystal Diamond and Tim Evans.
Rachel’s Lakeside got swept up in a tornado and went over the rainbow on Saturday, March 28.
The Southcoast LGBTQ+ Society held a “Wicked” themed fundraiser with special guest Gregory Maguire to build a new community center in New Bedford.
“We’re in a horrible time right now, when they’re trying to push us back to where we came from, and we’re not going anywhere,” Cynthia Cummings, a Dartmouth resident who attended the event, said, “As we said in my generation, ‘We’re queer, we’re here, get used to it.’”
Guests enjoyed dinner, local drag artist Crystal Diamond performed a drag show backed by songs “Popular,” and “Nobody Does it Like Me,” Tim Evans performed “Old Cape Cod” and “New York, New York,” but as “New Beige, New Beige,” a silent auction, a costume contest and a talk by Maguire, author of “Wicked” which inspired the Broadway show and recent movies.
He discussed his life and career without charging the society so all funds raised would aid the fundraiser. During the event, people could buy a brick to go in front of the new community center with a message carved in. Organizers are still calculating how much the event raised.
This community center would be the only one of its kind said Andy Pollock, the executive director of the Southcoast LGBTQ+ Society. It would be a physical location for members of the LGBTQ+ community, regardless of age, with community outreach groups for older people, teenagers, women and more.
“I think ‘The Wizard of Oz’ means a lot to LGBT folks, because it talks about otherness and it talks about home and it talks about belonging,” Pollock said, “There’s evil, there’s good, there’s a lot of interesting concepts that I think gay people kind of pick up pretty innately as kids.”
“The Wizard of Oz” has been connected to the LGBTQ+ community since its creation back in 1939. A “friend of Dorothy” was a way to refer to people who were gay in the 1970s, and legend says the Stonewall Riot was partially triggered by Judy Garland’s death.
“No matter how many rights that the [LGBTQ+] community has gained in the past five decades of my adult life, there are always marginalized peoples and people in difficulties, in one town or part of the country, don’t always have the resources that can be provided by other parts of the country” Maguire said. “So I really like to support people who are outside of the great urban centers.”
Rachel’s was as decorated as Oz, with golden bricks, costumes from the original play, people dressed as witches and scarecrows, poppies and cutouts of characters.
During the costume contest someone dressed as a flying monkey won a heart, a wicked witch won courage, a scarecrow won a diploma, and Fiyero as a scarecrow won ruby slippers. The overall winner was the Yellow Brick Road, who won a $50 Ziterion gift card.
“If we’re not in it all together, we will struggle alone and we don’t want that to happen,” said Juli Parker, who runs the Gender and Sexuality Center at UMass Dartmouth.
This was not Maguire’s first time in Dartmouth. While teaching at Leslie College he would teach weekend classes at UMass Dartmouth when it was still Southeastern Massachusetts University. He joked that when he arrived for the event he basically remembered the way to Rachel’s Lakeside.
During his speech, he said he was not allowed to watch TV much, but would watch “The Wizard of Oz” when it came on once a year.
“There was Christmas, Easter, the Fourth of July and ‘Wizard of Oz,’” Maguire said.
He would have his siblings act out the movie, and add in characters from other beloved shows and movies. Eventually he started writing stories, partially to hide from the tragedy of life. His mother died in childbirth and he spent time in foster care before his father remarried and took him back.
Maguire said he wrote stories he found fascinating, which meant bombs ended up in hotels or love stories ended with revenge and acrobatic careers. He said he felt a compulsion to create.
He said when he sat down to write Wicked, he wanted to look into the nature of evil, a deep philosophical piece disguised as a popular novel. He continued writing to reclaim the novel, after its popularity with the musical.
“Sometimes we are changed for good,” said Maguire.“That’s what you’re doing here tonight.”
