A Practically Perfect Night

Back in May, my friend Lauren asked me for some dates I'd be free in November to go out for a night to celebrate my birthday. She said she had to buy tickets in advance, but wouldn't tell me what the tickets were for. I had no idea what she had up her sleeve until months later when I saw a commercial on TV for Mary Poppins the musical, playing in L.A. I knew that was where she was taking me!

Lauren is usually quite a planner--she does research on restaurants, makes reservations, and prints out directions. But last night we thought we'd wing it a little more than usual. So we headed up to L.A. early to walk around and find a nice place to eat dinner before the show. Little did we know what the night had in store for us...

First, after we parked, we noticed a street that was blocked off with bright lights and a film crew. Some nice policemen told us that Heroes was filming. We expected their next sentence to be something along the lines of "You can't go any further to see. Stay back, please." Instead, they said, "There's some stars from the cast...you should go see what they're up to!" We got a blessing from the police...I mean, we had to investigate!

Seconds later, we found ourselves about fifty feet from Milo Ventimiglia, filming a solo scene. Milo plays Peter Petrelli on the show. Now, I've only seen the first (excellent) season, so I can't vouch for the rest of Heroes. But I've been a longtime Milo fan since his days as Jess on Gilmore Girls, where I kind of fell in love with his character as soon as he stole Rory's book and wrote in the margins. Anyway, Lauren and I stood there watching him filming for about five minutes, and then they finished and started tearing down everything. Milo just sat down on the curb...alone...like he was waiting for us. So we walked over to him and asked if we could get a picture.

And he was so sweet! He even took the photo himself. I'm not really sure what I said or what happened. If I didn't have the picture, I might believe I imagined the whole thing. I just hope I came off as a normal person and didn't ask if I could run my hand through his hair or anything. Lauren said I was composed, so I'll stick with her version of the story! I've seen plenty of celebrities over the years, but never one I'm actually a fan of. It was so great!

After we met Milo, we had dinner at the Daily Grill and then asked the host how to find the shuttle to the Downtown Music Center. (We read on a brochure somewhere that we'd be able to get free transportation to the theater, which was about eight blocks uphill from where we parked.) "Actually, we have a free stretch limo that I can call to pick you up and take you instead." Um...okay, guy!

Ten minutes later, we were in a nifty limo heading to the show. I had never been to the Ahmanson Theater. It was beautiful and our seats were great--first row balcony (right where Mary flies over the audience at the end). Mary Poppins was an incredible show--the music, acting, story, sets, lights, choreography, and special effects were, well, you know the word...

After the show, our limo was waiting to take us back to our car. A trip to L.A. with a limo ride and a celebrity sighting...we definitely got the royal treatment last night! It was practically perfect in every way!