Even after having a crazy weekend at the convention, I wasn’t going home to rest after we were done on Sunday. I finished up with everything in the early afternoon, had a little break to get some lunch, and then it was off to my next adventure for the day.
It was the first musical of the new Pantages season! This season, I’m going with my friend Dani again for the shows. And it will be an interesting season because only the first few shows are at the Pantages. After that, they move to the Dolby and I’m still curious how the shows will work there since it’s a much bigger theater. I’ll have to wait until our shows move there, but for the first few shows, we have the usual seats that we’ve had for the last few seasons.
Dani and I went for dinner before the show and we checked out a ramen place that we’ve walked past almost every time we’ve gone to a show. For some reason, we’ve never gone there and we wanted to check it out. It was really good and ramen was the perfect thing to have before the show. I wanted something warm but not too heavy because I was worried I would fall asleep during the show. I was already tired (both physically and emotionally) but the ramen seemed to perk me up.
I was excited to see “Anastasia”. I love the cartoon and have seen it multiple times. I always thought it would be a good musical since the songs in the movie were really memorable. I’m glad that it was made into a musical so we could see it!
The musical was very similar to the movie. They did change up some of the characters and the magical elements were removed, but it was, for the most part, the same story as the movie. And the songs that were in the movie were used along with lots of new songs, but some of the songs from the movie were in different places. I actually liked where they moved songs to and it almost made it make more sense they way the musical had it done.
The set was interesting with being just a few walls with pillars and having screens where the windows would be as well as long the back. It made it easy for the show to change locations and made it really fun to watch when things were supposed to be moving in the background. For example, when they were on a train the screen in the background showed the tracks and the landscape moving. There were a few moments I didn’t love the screens, but overall I think that was a smart design idea and it helped make the stage seem full without a lot of set pieces or props.
And I think one of the best things in this show were the costumes. They were incredible! We are lucky that our seats aren’t too far from the stage so we do get to see some of the details on the costumes, but I wish I could have looked at them closer. I saw some photos online and they have so much detail work on them and the work was impeccable. Even if we sat in the first row, I don’t know if we could have appreciated all the work that was done. But you can still tell even when seeing them from a distance that they were done with a lot of care.
We did have some annoying audience members seated behind us that felt like singing along and talking during the show was appropriate (and they wouldn’t quiet down). It’s unfortunate when there are people in the audience who don’t respect the performers and the theater in general. We have been lucky that we rarely have bad audience members near us for all the shows we go to. But when it happens, it’s extra annoying.
But despite the bad audience members, I really did enjoy the show. I really wanted to see a show that was easy to watch and also a bit of an escape. And that’s exactly what this was. I didn’t want to watch anything dramatic or serious because I had dealt with so much the few days prior. And this show was perfect to help me feel better and that’s one of the things I love about having these musical seasons. Before I started doing this again, I forgot how much going to shows was self-care for me. And now I get another year of shows to look forward to.
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