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!

Hip Hop Hooray!

Lauren and I saw High School Musical the tour last night. She made me break my “no jeans at the theater rule” but, shockingly, we weren’t underdressed. The average age of the audience was, maybe, ten. And that might have bothered me had I not had SO much fun!

First of all, I would just like to say that I have seen dozens of musicals and actually have pretty high standards for them, lest you be thinking I’m a twit for liking HSM so much. My favorites are Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Jersey Boys, and Wicked. I really want to see Spring Awakening. I just saw My Fair Lady a few weeks ago, and as much as I love the story, the music, and the movie, it was a three-hour snoozefest.

That being said, this production was great. It’s exactly what I hoped for. I love the songs. I loved Sharpay and Ryan. They definitely stole the show. The cast was super talented and with great dancing, singing, sparkly and fun costumes, and all that bubblegum pep, how could I not have enjoyed this slick Disney production? The guy who played Troy was adorable, they shot streamers out during the finale (boy, the kids loved those! They went nuts!), and the kids in the audience were singing along--they were adorable. It was a really fun night!

And don't worry--I promise I won't blog about High School Musical for a while.

Next on my list—The Sound of Music, in London next week!

A Rainy Night in Hollywood

For my birthday, my friend Brent got me tickets to “Behind the Emerald Curtain,” a behind-the-scenes look at Wicked. Brent knows I am a big fan of the theater and the first time I saw Wicked was with him, front and center, for his birthday back in April.

The tickets were for yesterday afternoon’s tour, so Riley and I took the afternoon off work (thanks Kerri and Brad!) and drove up to L.A. for our Wicked adventure. We got there early enough to stop at a hole-in-the-wall pizza place for a bite before the tour. Los Angeles is a dirty city, but the grunginess actually adds to its mystique, if you ask me.

The tour took place in the lobby of the Pantages and inside the theater. It was given by two cast members and was super cool. Here are some things we learned:

Elphaba’s black dress weighs fifteen pounds.

It takes fifteen days to bead Glinda’s dresses. Her dress is the only symmetrical dress in the production, meant to exude order and normalcy in the off-kilter world of Oz.

The costumes are cleaned with water and vodka.

There are 25,000 pounds of electrics/lights hanging at any given time.

Wicked was originally developed as a film, not a musical.

The story never contradicts the original Wizard of Oz.

Glinda always has a pink spotlight and Elphaba has a green one.

The actors only have to be at the theater a half-hour before the show!

"C'mon, we'll be late for Wizomania!" --Glinda

Over 90 wigs are used in the show and they’re made with human hair.

After the tour, we bought tickets to the actual show and then had some time to kill, so we wandered up Hollywood Blvd. in the cold rain to Lucky Devil’s for dessert. Hanging out in Hollywood on a rainy Tuesday night was definitely a new experience! Riley was an awesome not-really-a-date date.

The lobby of the Pantages Theater is so gorgeous!

The show is so hilarious, exciting, beautiful, fun, interesting, and witty. The lights, costumes, music, acting, sets...everything comes together to create an experience that just blows me away every time I see it. I walked out of the theater last night as excited as I was the first time I saw it. After the songs, we just looked at each other wide-eyed, thinking, “I can’t believe how amazing the singing is.” Wicked is incredible!

Not so Spectacular

On Saturday night I saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

I was ready for a fantastic night of all things Christmas! The show was getting rave reviews in the newspaper and they even added ten more shows than they had originally offered, which also sold out immediately.

First, my parents and my friend and her parents had an amazing dinner at Maggiano’s at South Coast Plaza. I had never been there and the food was delicious! I loved the atmosphere, the décor, the food, and our amazing waiter, Charles. He kept those cherry cokes coming…

After dinner, it was on to the show…

And…it was, well, weird.

Weird because there was a dance number with a ton of dancers in bear suits, rat suits, and more bear suits. There were bear soldiers, bear ballerinas with tutus and bows…I felt like I was having a weird Christmas dream.

Weird because Santa’s elves were five little people. I felt strange watching little people play elves. One of the elves was the “cool” head gangster elf, with sunglasses. Yikes. They also dressed up in mini snowmen outfits and kind of waddled around the stage. Is that allowed? Isn’t that mocking and degrading? There was even a little person in our section attending the show! AWKWARD…

Weird because some of the outfits that the dancers wore were so ugly. I was expecting a glamorous, New York, swanky Christmas show. But no. Think Christmas on acid. Neon colors do not go with Christmas. Nice try, people. Fire that costume designer, stat, especially if he/she was also responsible for the blindingly sequined poinsettia outfits that some of the Rockettes had to wear. It was Christmas meets Dream Girls for a second…

Weird because I thought we were seeing a Christmas show starring the Rockettes, you know…like how it was advertised…and they only did a few numbers. I understand that their dances are demanding and they have a lot of costume changes, but I felt like I hardly saw them. When they actually were on stage, they were very impressive.

What was NOT weird was the ending scene of the nativity. Thank you, Radio City, for reminding everyone of the true meaning of Christmas. It was a touching way to end the show, and the live camels were cool.

Oh, what a night!

On Friday night I went to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa with my mom and dad to see a sold-out performance of Jersey Boys. It’s a musical based on the real-life story of falsetto-voiced Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, an incredible rock band that hit it big in the 1960’s with hits like “Walk Like a Man,” “Sherry,” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” Panning the audience, I couldn’t help but notice that there were virtually no young people attending the performance! “Dad, there are, like, ten people here under the age of thirty,” I said. Obviously, it’s a musical that might pull in the baby-boomer demographic, but come on…the Four Seasons’ music is timeless. My dad then said that probably none of my friends could name a single song by the Four Seasons. I begged to differ…I know y’all know them, right?

Jersey Boys won the Tony last year for Best Musical. It was INCREDIBLE! The actors were funny and charismatic. It was so cool to see the journey that these four nobodys from Jersey made to the top of the world—and how they handled fame and fortune. And the music—phenomenal. What an interesting, poignant, funny, feel-good musical. I loved it and hope to see it again!

The play's the thing!

I recently saw an amazing high school production of the classic Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof. There was nary a flubbed line or misstep the entire night. It was a professional-level production. The main character, a milkman named Tevye, was played by a high school senior, and he spoke and sang with the voice of an aged Jewish man and even grew his beard out for the production. I was impressed by the quality and enthusiasm of this incredible show!

Fiddler is set in pre-Revolutionary Tsarist Russia and focuses on the life of Tevye and his family, and it gives us a glimpse into Jewish Eastern European life during a time of turmoil and unrest. Tevye tries to maintain family, cultural, and religious traditions while the world around him rapidly changes. The fiddler in the play, who is seen throughout the production but does not have any lines, is a metaphor for survival in a life of uncertainty. It is a poignant and funny show. Here are some of my favorite lines:

Tevye (opening lines of the play): A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn’t easy. You may ask ‘Why do we stay up there if it’s so dangerous?’ Well, we stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: Tradition!

Perchik: Money is the world’s curse.
Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.

Tevye (to God): Sometimes I think, when it gets too quiet up there, you say to yourself, ‘What kind of mischief can I play on my friend Tevye?’

High school productions are so fun. It was great to see such a talented and lively cast of young people. I had seen Fiddler years ago but appreciated it so much more this time around. Next up for me is A Christmas Carol, an all-time favorite story. After that I’ll be rounding out the year with Jesus Christ Superstar, Jersey Boys, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes. I can't wait!