Raul Esparaza + Wicked = Surprisingly Good

I made absolutely no secret about my intense hatred of the musical Wicked. In some ways, I find that show even more abhorrent than Legally Blonde the Musical, and I have discussed numerous times how much that show bugs me. Part of the reason I have a problem with Wicked is that the music is uneven at best. Some of it isn't bad ("Popular") while a lot of it suffers from bad lyrics ("Like a seed dropped by a sky bird" - what the hell?). When coupled with the show's not-very-subtle moralizing, I had a difficult time sitting through the musical when I saw it on Broadway.

However, I came across a clip of Raul Esparaza singing "Defying Gravity" with Seth Rodetsky at the piano. It is surprisingly good. If you want to read the background on how this came about, go here.