I know I just saw “The Little Mermaid” at the Hollywood Bowl recently, but I just saw it again this past weekend! But this time, instead of it being a screening of the film it was the musical that was created for Broadway! I had never seen the musical before (but we did get to hear some of the songs from it at the Bowl event), so I was pretty excited to check out the show. But even better than seeing a musical, a guy I went to high school with was in it!
Dennis and I were both drama club members (and in the same drama classes) in high school. He was a year behind me, but the last time I saw him was when I graduated high school. So we hadn’t seen each other in 15 years! So when I heard that he was in a show that was touring in Orange County, I knew I had to go!
I had asked around to see who wanted to come with me, and my friend Rayshell was able to make it. We got some seats that were in the back of the balcony but pretty centered and we met up at the theater on Sunday for the show.
We had gotten there pretty early and it was pretty hot out, so we walked across from the theater to a smoothie bar to get something to drink. It was nice to have some time to catch up and to get something cold to drink because the a/c in my car died so I was feeling a bit overheated. We’ve both been pretty busy lately so we haven’t had a chance to do a happy hour catch up when we’ve been wanting too.
After enjoying our treat, we headed back over to the theater. I knew from when we purchased our tickets that the show was almost sold out then. I was guessing it would be sold out by the show date since this was the last show of the run.
Dennis had been touring with this show for 3 years and this was going to be his last show, so it was a pretty big night for him. I didn’t know that when I was buying the tickets (we just bought based on when we could go), but I thought it was pretty cool that we were there to see it.
The show was really great! The only negative thing to me was that there were a ton of kids in the audience talking and singing through the show. I usually go to shows that only have adults there, so it threw me off a bit. There was also a woman in front of us who kept checking her phone in her purse. I think she thought keeping in her purse would hide the light, but it was blinding every time she did it.
Besides the distractions in the audience, I had so much fun watching the show! The choreography was so much fun especially during “Under The Sea”. That number was just so well done with the small cast that they had and the energy was amazing! And all the actors were really talented singers and I think they did a great job taking an animated film and bringing it to life.
After the show was done, Rayshell had to head back home so I said goodbye to her. But I didn’t go home right away because I wanted to see Dennis! I went over to the stage door to wait for him to come out (there were a couple of kids hanging out there asking everyone if they were in the show so they could get autographs). He had warned me it might take a while before he was outside, but he was out pretty quickly.
It was so cool to see him after 15 years! Most of the people who were doing drama in high school have gone on to have “real jobs” like being doctors or teachers. Dennis and I are pretty much the only 2 who have continued to pursue an acting career and I think that’s pretty special. We didn’t get a ton of time to talk because his family was in town to see the show too, but it was nice to get to talk for even just a few minutes.
And of course, we had to get a picture to remember our reunion!
We promised our next reunion wouldn’t take 15 more years (hopefully I’ll see him the next time that I get to NYC), and I headed to my car to head home.
It’s pretty rare that I get to see a big production like this with a friend of mine in it. A majority of my actor friends do film and tv work, so I see them on screen. But getting to see a friend perform live like I did is really special and I felt so lucky that I got to be there for it.
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