Tag Archives: musical

Another Wicked Night Out (or Seeing A Show From Up High)

Posted on December 12, 2018 | Comments Off on Another Wicked Night Out (or Seeing A Show From Up High)

With this season at the Pantages, I’ve mentioned that there are a bunch of shows that I have seen before. It’s still a novelty to me to see a show more than once so it’s exciting to see shows again. I can pay attention to different details when I’m more familiar with they show and it always brings a new meaning to it. And while I love when something in a show surprises me, I love it just as much when those surprises are now expected and I can enjoy other aspects of the show.

This past week was another repeat show for me when we had tickets for “Wicked”. It didn’t seem that long ago that I had that show as a part of my season, but when I looked back at my blog post about it I realized it was almost 4 years ago! I couldn’t believe it’s been that long since that season, but I guess I’ve been doing season tickets for a lot longer than I feel like I have. All of us in my group were excited to see the show and I love when we are all as enthusiastic about a show as everyone else.

But because of holiday stuff and travel schedules, it was tough for all 4 of us to get together for the show. We can change our dates on our tickets, but we can’t always get them in the same price section as the original tickets. So sometimes if we change the date we have to pay a little bit. Since I could keep my original date and didn’t want to spend a bit more on tickets, I decided to go the night we were scheduled to be there. And Grace decided to keep her ticket the same too so it was the 2 of us out at the show that night.

Even though these tickets were a part of our current season tickets, they were an add-on show so we weren’t in our normal seats. While I love our normal seats and being so close to the stage, it can be fun to watch a show I’ve already seen from a different viewpoint. We were up in the balcony this time, but we were the first row behind the aisle so it felt like we didn’t have to be right behind a bunch of other people.

Grace had mentioned to me before the show started that she hadn’t seen the show before, and I was so excited for her to see it. But I didn’t realize she didn’t know the story that well and she had a bunch of funny moments where she was very surprised by how characters in the show connected to characters from the “Wizard of Oz” movie. I tried not to laugh when she was totally shocked, but we both had a good giggle when she was blown away by a plot point. It’s so fun to get to watch a friend experience a show for the first time and see their reactions. 

The show was just as good as I remembered it. The songs are always fun songs and the actors were amazing. The woman who played Elphaba has played the role on Broadway and currently is the actor who has played the role the longest. The Glinda we were supposed to see was also from the Broadway cast, but we saw the understudy that night. Being an understudy is a tough job since you don’t get to rehearse the part as often as you’d like, but the understudy did an incredible job. She was so fun to watch and made the role her own. And all of the rest of the cast was just as impressive.

I did miss being so close to the stage and being able to see more reactions on the actors’ faces, but being further back let me see the show as an entire piece and not just a part that I focused on. I got to see the show framed by the stage in a different way and it was interesting to see that. I’ve only sat in the balcony a few times compared to the dozens of times I’ve been in the orchestra. So I tried to enjoy the experience for what it was and enjoy having a new view of the show.

The one advantage of our seats in the balcony was that it was much faster to get out of the theater than it is from our normal seats. So within minutes of the show ending, Grace and I were outside and saying goodbye so I could drive home and she could catch the subway back to her place. But I had to take one more look back at the theater because it was so beautiful being decorated for the holidays.

Our next show is next month and I’m hoping all 4 of us can attend the show together. So far, for the 3 shows we’ve had, we haven’t all been able to be there together. I understand that all of us have slightly crazy schedules and it can be tough to coordinate things. But one of the things I love about having season tickets with my friends is getting to be with my friends. We’ve still got a bunch of shows this season to make that happen, and I know it will.

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A Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out)

Posted on November 14, 2018 | Comments Off on A Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out)

The current season for the Pantages has officially begun! Our first show of this current season was actually an add-on show, so this past weekend was the first show of the main season. And since this season is so close to the end of the last season, it does just feel like one long season. And that’s perfectly fine with me.

And just last the past few seasons, we are going to try to have dinner before the show to make it a full night out. And even before we started to plan what we would do for dinner before this show, I got an email from the manager at Wood & Vine. They have a new chef there and they wanted to see if we wanted to come in for a tasting! We all love Wood & Vine so there was no question that we would be coming in!

I had taken a look at the menu before we went in, and everything looked delicious! I knew it would be tough for us to decide what we wanted to get, but I had a feeling that anything we picked would be amazing.

When we got there, my friends ordered cocktails and we knew we wanted the French onion dip with chips so we got that ordered right away. Then we checked out the menu and I think we got a pretty good variety and selection of things to try.

For starters/side dishes we had the dip with chips, wedge salad, and asparagus.

For entrees we had the shrimp and grits, the 50/50 burger (we got it without a bun as one of my friends has a gluten allergy, scotch eggs, and pork shanks.

We also tried the pasta dishes. We got the mac and cheese and the vegan spaghetti and meatballs.

And we got 3 of the 4 desserts they had (one of them was already sold out so we couldn’t try the cobbler).

It really was a ton of food, but the portions aren’t ridiculously huge and almost everything was split among the 4 of us. So while we were all full, it wasn’t that bad. And everything was so good so it was so worth it!

There was nothing we tried that I wouldn’t get again. But there were a few standouts to me. We all loved the French onion dip and even asked for more chips so we could keep on eating it. Then when we got our burger we discovered that dipping the fries in the dip was even better! The pork shank was a favorite among the entire group and I know that I will be getting that every time I’m there and it’s on the menu! The shrimp and grits was a hit with my friends, but since I’m very sensitive to spicy foods I had to only have a little taste. But what I tried was delicious! And I think the mac and cheese was the best variation of it that we’ve had from all of the times we’ve ordered it at Wood & Vine (yes, even better than the lobster mac!).

All the desserts were delicious and we were happy to see they kept the butterscotch on the menu. This version was a bit lighter and had more air whipped into it, but I liked that. And the ice cream was the perfect thing to have with the butterscotch. But I think if we had to pick a favorite dessert, the donut holes were the winner! It came with a chocolate bacon sauce and a raspberry sauce, and they were both great dipping options.

We also got a chance to meet the new chef, Rick Sipovic. He has been the chef at restaurants all over the country, but he grew up in the south so a lot of his dishes are inspired by that. He was so friendly and fun to talk to! We enjoyed hearing about how he decided on certain things on the menu and how the crowds that come in for dinner before the show can be very different from show to show. We were enjoying talking with him so much that we were there until about 5 minutes before showtime! We quickly said goodbye and thank you to Rick and everyone else at Wood & Vine to go across the street to the Pantages.

The show we saw this time was “A Bronx Tale” and none of us knew really anything about the show. A few of us knew it was based on a movie which was based on real life, but we hadn’t seen the movie. But I’ve heard that sometimes when seeing a show based on another thing, it’s best to go in with limited knowledge. We didn’t have the movie to compare the musical to and that’s usually a good thing.

We enjoyed the show. It was an interesting journey about the life of the main character when he was a kid and as a teenager and the story was easy to follow (a worry I have when I don’t know anything about the story). There were several very catchy songs and a bunch of them reminded us of other musicals which was a fun surprise. I think it was a nice musical to have to officially start off the season and it’s one of the only shows this season I had no familiarity with before going in. I’ve said it before but it will be interesting this season when I know a majority of the shows we are seeing, since usually I only know one or two of them.

This really was the perfect night out! The show was fun and we had a truly incredible dinner! There was never a question before that we would keep going to Wood & Vine before several of our shows, but now I’m looking forward to it even more to try the other things on the menu and see how it changes as the menu is based on what is available that season. I’m sure the winter, spring, and summer menus will be just as good as this fall one is. And I am so excited to keep having the best dinners before seeing some of the best musicals!

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Another Musical Season (or Enjoying A Repeat Musical)

Posted on September 18, 2018 | Comments Off on Another Musical Season (or Enjoying A Repeat Musical)

Even though the last season of our shows at the Pantages just ended about a month ago, the new season just started for us! Technically the new season officially starts in November with the season ticket package we bought, but our group also decided to get a couple of add-on shows so we got to start our season early! That also means that we have 11 shows this season instead of the 7 that came with our package! It’s going to be a full season, but I’m really excited for it.

One thing that is different for this season is that I have more repeat musicals than any other season. Out of the 11 shows, I’ve seen 7 before. That’s a lot considering that in the past seasons I usually only had seen 1 or 2 before. But since I’ve been enjoying seeing musicals more than once lately, I’m actually really excited about it.

And this first show was a repeat one for me. We saw “Beautiful“, which I previously saw about 2 years ago when Dani and I did our Black Friday deal for a mini-season of tickets.

Dani and I had seen the show before, but the 2 other people in our group hadn’t seen it. Michelle, who has been a part of our past 2 seasons and is doing this season too, was new to the show. And my friend Grace is the 4th person in our group this season, but she was unable to make this show. So my birthday twin Joanna took the 4th ticket and she was new to the show too! Joanna actually didn’t know really anything about the show, but when I asked her if she wanted the ticket she was free and the price was right so she said yes!

I remember the first time I saw “Beautiful” that I was almost a bit overwhelmed. There was so much to pay attention to in the show and I knew I missed things. There were some on stage quick changes that I wished I could see again and sometimes I got distracted by the music because I didn’t realize the song was done by Carole King. So it was nice to get to see the show again so I could focus on it in a different way than I could the first time seeing it.

And being able to focus on it in a different way gave me a different appreciation and I got a different enjoyment out of the show. I was so glad that it was just as good (if not better) the second time around because not every musical is one that I think I would enjoy seeing a second time. Some of the shock I felt the last time seeing the show from not realizing things would be happening was gone and I could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the performances. It was funny because I did tell Joanna that there were some amazing on stage quick changes and when they happened she had the same reaction I had the first time. And after the show was done she was telling me how much she loved it.

Dani and I both agreed that this touring cast was amazing. We had some favorites from the last touring cast and this one, but overall it was still a really wonderful show and we enjoyed it. And Michelle really liked it too and I think we all agreed it was a great way to kick off a new season of shows.

The last time I saw “Beautiful”, I said it was my favorite musical I had seen. It’s still one of my favorites, but now that I’ve seen so many musicals I don’t know if I can pick a favorite anymore. I see musicals a different way now that they don’t feel like a rare treat. When you don’t see them that often, I think it’s easier to pick favorites. Now that I see them about every month or every other month, I can notice more specific differences between shows. One show might have the most impressive songs while another has the best overall script. One show might be incredible with costumes and dancing while another can have the best actors. I don’t know how to pick which show is my favorite because for almost every single show I’ve seen in the past few years I can name one thing that was the best in that show.

I really wasn’t concerned that this coming season of shows would be a lot of shows that I’ve seen before. There is only 1 show that I have seen more than once that I really didn’t care for it after the first time. It’s still a bit of a novelty for me to see shows more than once since I went so long without seeing musicals. And fortunately almost all the experiences I’ve had before with repeat shows have been good and usually make me appreciate the musical more. The next show will be a new one for me, but with all the repeat shows coming up I am getting more and more excited to see what it will be like seeing those shows again. I’m just really glad the first show in this season of repeat shows was such a wonderful night out to start things off on a really great note.

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The Last Show Of The Season (or Ending On A High Note)

Posted on August 7, 2018 | 1 comment

This past weekend was the last show of the current season at the Pantages for my group. It’s been a pretty amazing season and I’ve loved having these Sunday adventures with my friends. The next season for us will be starting in 5 weeks, so it’s not that much of a gap between this season and next. But one of the members of our group won’t be joining us next season. She is going back to school to get her doctorate so she won’t have the time to commit to the season. We do have another friend who will be joining us, but it was still a bit sad to know that this was going to be the last show for this group that has been together for 2 seasons.

We started our evening out at Wood & Vine like we have for so many shows. We love going there for dinner because it is always great and the staff spoils us there. But they also just got a new menu (they change the menu seasonally) and we really wanted to see what the new offerings were and checking out what some of our new favorites would be.

I had looked at the menu before going and had picked out a few things I knew I wanted us to get, but I still took a look to see if my mind had changed. And our group quickly decided that we wanted all 4 main dishes that were on the top row of the menu plus the street corn. We thought all 4 of those main dishes were new ones, but it turns out the lamb burger has always been on the menu and we just never got it!

Our veggies came out first. We ordered the corn but the manager also wanted us to try the salad.

The salad was nice and fresh, but the corn tasted so luxurious! It was perfectly seasoned and the creme on it was delicious! We quickly ate it all and were excited to get the main dishes we ordered.

The 4 things we got were the pork belly tacos, the lamb burger, the pasta with prawns, and the tequila chicken.

Without a doubt, our absolute favorite was the tacos. The pork belly melted but was also nice and crispy. It was so good that I wish I was having it again right now because my mouth is watering! The lamb burger was a bit spicy so I only had a small taste of it, but my friends said that it is a must-order for the next time we have dinner. And the pasta with prawns and the chicken were amazing too! We all were tasting everything and most of the time we were eating we were much more focused on the food than talking.

And the dessert menu at Wood & Vine was expanded recently and the manager wanted us to try 2 of the new desserts.

I don’t like pineapple (it hurts my mouth), but I loved the ice cream in the pineapple sundae. And my friends said the pineapple was beautifully grilled and tasted amazing. And I loved the chocolate truffles! They were really rich, but the perfect size to enjoy them and not feel stuffed.

As always, the food at Wood & Vine really amazed us and we were having the best time having dinner there. I have a feeling that we will continue going there for dinner before our shows multiple times in our next season. The manager also told us some ideas they were thinking for the fall menu and we cannot wait to see what they go with and try out all the new things!

After dinner we walked across the street to the theater to go to our show. This time, we were seeing “Waitress” which was one of the shows I was most excited to see this season.

I love the movie “Waitress” and it’s one that I watch over and over. The story behind the writer, director, and one of the actors is a sad one and that makes the movie even more special for me to watch. She created this amazing movie and was waiting to find out if it got accepted to Sundance but was murdered before she could find out it got in. The movie was critically acclaimed and she never got to experience that. And I love that her legacy is continuing with the musical being loved by so many people.

Since I was familiar with the story and characters, I was excited to see what changed they made from the movie to the musical. Sometimes adaptations skip some of my favorite parts or I feel like there is something missing. But this time I was so happy with how the musical took elements from the movie and expanded upon them. I felt like so many characters were built upon and they were even more lovable. And the main story and plot was very true to the movie and that made me happy too.

I’m so glad that this musical didn’t disappoint me since it was something I had been looking forward to since this season was announced. It’s not that often that I am disappointed by a show, but it can happen and I’m always a little worried that something I’m really excited about will do that. But this wasn’t that situation and it really helped to end our season on such a wonderful high note!

I’m already so excited for the next season and the season after that will be announced in a few months. Hopefully that season will be another one that many of us want to go to and the tradition will continue with getting season tickets. I’ve said this pretty much every time I go to a show, but going makes me so happy and I’m just grateful that I have friends who do this with me and make these evenings feel so special.

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Another Bowl Night (or Not Letting Rude People Ruin My Fun)

Posted on July 31, 2018 | Comments Off on Another Bowl Night (or Not Letting Rude People Ruin My Fun)

Every summer I say that I’m going to try to get out to the Hollywood Bowl more often but it usually doesn’t happen. Typically I’ll make it to one show a season, which is still awesome and I know how lucky I am to do that. And when I went to the “Beauty And The Beast” show I thought that might be my one show this season. Of course I had my eye on a few other shows I might want to check out, but I never made any plans for anything.

Every summer at the Bowl they do one musical. I usually see when those are announced and try to find anyone who might want to go with me. This season they announced that they would be doing “Annie” and I thought it would be a fun show to check out. I’ve seen the different movie versions but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the musical staged. But after asking around when the season was announced, I didn’t think too much of it again because I had other things on my mind.

But then an acquaintance of mine announced on social media that they had been cast in the show and I was motivated again to see if I could find someone to go with me. My friend Dani was free and I looked online for tickets. It was so close to the date I figured we’d have some not-so-great seats. I was looking in the back sections since we wanted to look at the cheap seats and I happened to find 2 seats in the first row of one of those sections! The first row is the best since you have the concrete barrier to use as a table and I was so excited to find those seats at the price level we wanted to be at!

The day of the show we met at the Bowl Bus location and we each brought different things for our picnic. We had cheeses, meats, crackers, fruit, veggies, desserts, and water. I think we might have brought too much food, but that’s ok. The ride to the Bowl wasn’t too bad, it’s so much easier doing the bus there so we don’t have to think about it and we can just goof off and catch up on the ride. And traffic wasn’t that bad either considering it was rush hour. We were at the Bowl pretty quickly and went up to our seats.

We were in the very back, but our seats were very centered and we were excited about that!

As you can see from my photo, the section in front of ours was almost empty. It was weird, almost all the sections at that level were empty. We thought about just moving down and hoping those seats would stay empty, but we decided to not do it since it would be annoying if we had to move again and for all we knew a ton of people would show up late. We would regret that decision.

Our section seemed to be filled with a student group from a foreign exchange program. They were loud and many of them were playing noisy games on their phone before the show started, but we figured they’d quiet down when the lights went down and the performers came out. We were wrong. A few of them were quiet, but most of them kept talking and it was difficult to hear the performers. We could hear the songs ok, but the dialogue was harder to hear because of all the people around us talking. There was another group sitting in our row who was just as annoyed as we were with the talkers and they tried to quiet them down too. But nothing helped and the frustration just kept building. But as soon as intermission started, we grabbed everything and went down to the empty section in front of ours.

The second half of the show was a much better experience. Not only were we away from all the chatty and rude people, my acquaintance was in the second half! I tried to take photos of him singing, but it was too tough to do that with how far back we were and I wanted to focus on his performance and not on taking photos. But it was so exciting to see someone I know on the stage at the Bowl! I’m pretty sure this was the first time I knew someone in a show there!

Excluding the rude people in the section we sat in for the first half, I had a really great time at the show. It was a slightly different take on “Annie” than I expected. Some of that could be due to it being the staged version versus the movies. But also the closing song this time was actually the opening song to the sequel to “Annie”. The only reason I knew that was when I was in high school I thought I bought the CD soundtrack to “Annie” when in fact it was the soundtrack to “Annie Warbucks” which is the second show. It was crazy that I recognized the song since it probably had been at least 18 years since I had heard it.

When the show was done, we made our way back down to where the Bowl Bus picks us up. It was much easier leaving this time compared to other times I have been there because the section was empty and there weren’t a ton of people trying to leave through the same walkway at one time. And as always, the ride home was easy and stress-free.

There are still a few shows I’d love to go to before the Bowl season is over, but I’m not totally sure I’ll make it to any of them. But maybe I’ll luck out with another last minute purchase like I did this time!

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On Your Feet (Good Food And Good Music)

Posted on July 19, 2018 | Comments Off on On Your Feet (Good Food And Good Music)

I can’t believe that my current season of musicals is almost done! Then again, right after this season ends in August the next season starts in September so I won’t have that much of a break (unlike last time when “Hamilton” was here for several months). But this past weekend was the next to last musical of this season, and we made sure we had a good night out!

We started at Wood & Vine again. It really is our favorite pre-musical restaurant and we knew they’d be changing the menu soon so we wanted to go back before the change. We loved so much of the food we had last time and we wanted to have those again in case they were not on the new menu. We were seated on the patio which was nice since the weather had cooled down a bit since the heat wave.

We ordered the mac and cheese, asparagus with tomatoes, and tortellini again that we had last time. But we switched it up and decided to try the rib eye steak as well. It is a bit of a splurge, but it’s a huge steak that was more than enough for the 3 of us to share. If I was only sharing it with 1 other person, I think the steak and a veggie side would be enough to make me full.

The steak was so amazing! We all miss the bone marrow (and hope that it will be coming back to the menu soon!), but the steak was delicious and I have a feeling we will be ordering it again the next time we are there!

We were just deciding which of the desserts we wanted to order when we discovered that they were sending us all of the desserts! They really do spoil us there and I love getting to have all of them awesome food. But we really weren’t expecting to get the desserts sent to us and we were all so happy to try them. They had made some changes to the desserts and they were even better than they were the last time.

After we finished dinner, we headed across the street to the Pantages for our show. This time, we were seeing “On Your Feet” which is the Gloria Estefan musical.

I’ve seen a few different jukebox musicals and expected it to remind me of “Jersey Boys” or “Beautiful“. We although thought maybe it would be similar to “The Bodyguard” since some reviews said it was similar to watching a concert. We all went into the show with an open mind and excited to see what it would be like.

I’m familiar with Gloria Estefan’s music, but I knew that I didn’t know all of her music or that some popular songs were hers. And I knew for sure that I wasn’t too familiar with her story of how she got to where she is now. So I really liked how the musical really did tell her story of her family and how they came to America as well as how she got started as a teenager. It really was a great telling of her life and even though there were a few brief flashbacks it was almost all chronological so it was an easy story to follow.

And as expected, there were a ton of songs that I knew and loved and a few songs that I loved and didn’t know were hers. Every time a song started you could feel the energy of the audience perk up. Fortunately nobody was singing along (a problem we’ve experienced before at shows) but everyone was enjoying the show and loving the performances of the actors. They were all really talented and there were times I forgot I was watching someone play Gloria Estefan and not watching her sing.

I definitely learned a lot about her story and it made me admire her so much for all the work she has done for her career. It was impressive to see how she had to fight to be a crossover artist and sing in English. And I didn’t know about the bus accident that she was in and how doctors thought she might not walk again. In the car ride home from the show, I was looking up so much about her story because I realized how little I knew about her. While my mom enjoys musicals, she doesn’t love them the same way I do so I usually don’t recommend shows to her. But this was one that I called her about as soon as I was home and told her she needed to see it when it was touring near them.

Our last show of the season is about a month away and then we’ll be in our next season. And of course we are already looking at the 2019-2020 season which should be announced toward the end of this year or beginning of next year. They’ve only announced one show so far, but I have a feeling we will be getting season tickets again because of how fun these nights are for me and my friends.

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A Backstage Adventure (or Back to Back Pantages Nights)

Posted on June 27, 2018 | Comments Off on A Backstage Adventure (or Back to Back Pantages Nights)

We were just at the Pantages, but we had another night out there the night after seeing “Cinderella“. But this time, we weren’t there to see a show. Because we have season tickets, we were invited to an open house and backstage tour of the theater! I was so excited to get to do this for a couple of reasons. I am a huge theater nerd and wanted to see what all the backstage stuff was like. Plus, I love to learn how things work and all the technical weirdness. So this was something I  was thrilled to get to check out!

When we were at Wood & Vine the night before for dinner, the manager told us that they were one of the restaurants that would be featured and have free food. And he told us about a few of the other restaurants that would be there. We figured out that we wouldn’t be there right when the open house started, but he said that would be fine and that there would be lots of food and fun no matter what time we got there.

He also promised to take a photo of the theater empty since that wouldn’t be possible for us to take when the open house started. And he was right that the empty theater is an incredible sight to see.

We arrived about 30 minutes after it started and the lobby and many parts of the theater were almost empty. But when we got to the stage where all the food was, it was packed! They had a much larger crowd than normal at the open house so many of the restaurants were running low on what they were serving. But we did get to have the Nutella Bombshell from Wood & Vine again along with a few other nibbles. While we were looking forward to the food, the main reason we were there was to check out all the stuff we normally can’t see.

The tour of backstage was more of an exploration. So many different areas were open for us to check out and take photos. We first went to the star dressing rooms which were on the stage level. In the biggest dressing room there was a poster with signatures of so many actors who had used that room while doing a show at the theater.

And of course, with the dressing rooms having giant mirrors we had to take some silly photos in them.

Then we went below the stage to see the ensemble dressing rooms. The star dressing rooms are nice because they are big, but to me I think the ensemble ones feel a bit more exciting because I think about all the performers sitting next to each other getting ready for their show.

In all the dressing rooms, people had signed their name in different areas. I didn’t get photos of them, but the smaller mirrors with wooden frames had signatures all over them as well as under the tables. It was fun to see the casts from shows we saw recently who autographed various pieces of furniture.

I was hoping we’d be able to check out the orchestra pit area, but that was closed to the public (only a few spaces were closed off to us, but that was one of them). But next to the orchestra pit was where the lift area was created for when “The Lion King” was performing there. I don’t know if they use the lift area for more than storage now, but I feel like there have been some trap door stuff in shows I’ve seen so they must still use it.

We continued to wander around the various rooms below the stage. Since “Cinderella” closed the night before and the next show wasn’t going to be in the theater for a few days, most things were pretty empty. It would have been cool to see some of how they organize the props, costumes, and set pieces; but I understand why it would be difficult to do an open house when there is a production using the space. Maybe one day in the future I’ll have a friend in a show there so I can explore some more backstage while I show is running.

When we got back up to the stage level, we checked out the restaurants that were still there and got a bit more food. We also took a look at some of the random things on the sides of the stage like a collection of rubber ducks that were just off stage and the photos on the walls of various production crews from the shows that recently toured there.

Things were starting to clear out a bit when we were getting ready to leave, but it was nice to see things with not as many people crowding the stage. I took time just to look out at the audience and take it in. I don’t perform in front of an audience that often so it was nice to feel that sort of feeling I had when I used to do plays again. And of course I took a look at where our seats were located to see what it looks like looking at our seats from the stage (compared to the stage from our seats).

I don’t know what I was expecting when we found out about the open house, but it did exceed my expectations in a bunch of ways. I just loved getting to see a different part of the theater than what I usually get to see as an audience member. And I think all of us just enjoyed having another night out too. We’ll be back at the theater in a few weeks for our next show, but I think it will feel different watching now that we know what the view is like for the actors on the stage.

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Default Thumbnail42nd Street (or So Much Tap Dancing!) Default ThumbnailBook Of Mormon and Marrow (or Another Night Out At The Pantages) Default ThumbnailThe End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom) Default ThumbnailEnjoying Movie Nights (or Watching My Screeners) Default ThumbnailSunsets and Songs (or Why Season Tickets To The Pantages Was The Best Decision Ever) Default ThumbnailMore Musicals! (or Another Season At Pantages)

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An Amazing Dinner and Show (or The Food Might Have Been The Highlight Of The Night)

Posted on June 26, 2018 | 1 comment

It was already time for another musical this past weekend! It’s been so fun having our shows back to back and I’m happy that it’s going to be that way for a little while. And with all of our shows, we try to have a fun dinner as well. We realized recently that it had been almost a year since the last time we were at Wood & Vine so we had to make a plan to go back there! Because we have gotten to know the manager from the times we had been there before, I sent him an email once we made our reservation to give him a heads up that we’d be there.

And the manager really hooked us up while we were there! First, we sat upstairs and got to sit at his favorite table. We had a great view of the theater and it allowed for some fun people watching.

The menu had changed since last year so we took some time figuring out what we wanted to eat. The bone marrow we love wasn’t on the menu this time (but they did mention it might be coming back in the future), but there were still lots of options that sounded good to us.

Everything on the menu is designed to be shared. In the past we’ve gotten a few things that we all wanted and then one or two things that only some of the group wanted. But this time, we seemed to agree on everything we wanted. We got the cheese plate, the scallops, the salmon, the lobster mac and cheese, and the asparagus and tomatoes. But when the manager saw what we got and noticed we didn’t have the tortellini, he sent some to us because he said we needed to try it (he was right). And he also spoiled us by sending us all the desserts from the menu! It was so much food, but nothing was too rich or heavy so we didn’t feel overstuffed.

All the food came out pretty quickly so we were able to enjoy our time and relax while we were eating. We didn’t feel rushed (which has been an issue in the past with other restaurants) and we felt like dinner was a nice starter to a fun evening out. It feels like such a splurge to eat there even though it really isn’t. But it feels so much nicer and the food is so delicious that it does seem like a treat.

We ended up staying there until about 5 minutes before the show started (the benefit of eating right across the street from the theater) and got inside with time to spare. This time, the show we were seeing was “Cinderella”, which was one of the shows I saw when I went to NYC a few years ago. I enjoyed the show when I saw it then and I was excited to see how the tour compared to the Broadway production.

I was impressed with the tour production. It was almost exactly the same as the Broadway show with the sets and costumes. I know that it’s not always possible to do that when it’s a tour since they have to be able to pack it up and move it from city to city, but they were able to keep it all the same as I remembered it. I’m sure there were some differences, but nothing noticeable or that I could tell.

Dani and Michelle hadn’t seen this musical before so they were excited to check it out. And they both enjoyed it. It was a nice show to see when life has been a bit stressful. We could watch and escape and there was nothing too heavy and dramatic. And of course since we are all Disney nerds this was nice. I know the musical isn’t the same as the Disney cartoon, but it’s close enough.

I’ve had more and more opportunities lately to see musicals for the second (or third) time and that’s still a treat to me. I love being able to compare productions and see the little changes that are made. The shows are still pretty much the same but I do like to notice the little differences or things that make each production special. While this show was so similar to the Broadway show, it still felt special and different in a way. The performers were all awesome and the way the audience reacts is always different too. I seriously just enjoy being in an audience with a group experiencing any show. And that was exactly what I did.

While our next musical is in a few weeks, we’ve actually already been back to the Pantages already! But that will be shared on here tomorrow!

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Default ThumbnailTaking Time For A Show (or Seeing Summer) Default ThumbnailAnother Dinner And A Show Night (or Classic Musicals And Yummy Food) Default ThumbnailFinally Seeing A Popular Show (or It’s “Rent” Time!) Default ThumbnailThe Last Show Of The Season (or Ending On A High Note) Default ThumbnailThe Bodyguard and Bone Marrow (or An Amazing Dinner At Wood & Vine) Default ThumbnailA Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out)

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The Color Purple (or Such An Empowering Musical)

Posted on June 5, 2018 | 1 comment

For the next few months, it seems like I’ll be going to a musical every few weeks! The way this season is set, each musical is having a shorter run than what we’ve seen before. So each new show comes pretty quickly. But I’m not complaining. I love my nights at the Pantages and they are such a bright spot in my life.

And this week, the musical that my group went to go see was “The Color Purple”.

I read the book and saw the movie when I was in high school, but I don’t think that I read it or saw it since then. And high school was a little while ago for me so I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t remember enough of the plot and would get lost trying to figure out the story. Sometimes I can get so lost in watching a show that I don’t pay attention to the dialogue or songs and then get pretty confused. I didn’t want that to happen with this show. So I looked at a quick summary of the book online before we met up to get dinner before the show. And a few things seemed familiar to me and there were several plot points and characters that I had forgotten about, so I was glad that I did this.

Our dinner was pretty casual at Green Leaf Chop Shop and somehow we ended up being really early for things! A lot of times we are getting to the theater 5-10 minutes before the show should start, but this time we were inside 30 minutes ahead. So we took our time getting to our seats and continued to catch up while we waited for the show to start.

Even though I wasn’t too familiar with the story since it had been so long since high school, I thought I remembered little bits and pieces of it and that seemed to be confirmed by reading the summary online. I thought this was going to be one of the sadder musicals we saw because I remembered it being a very sad story. But I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t the case!

While there are a lot of sad and upsetting parts of the story, that is really not how the musical felt. Obviously when you are watching the characters being hurt you are sad, but it seemed like more often there were moments of overcoming those issues and that was so positive. There were so many empowering moments in the show and the entire audience was buzzing with excitement when those were happening. It was just not at all what I was expecting but exactly what I needed to see.

With feeling down and working on trying to get back to myself, I know that I do need to work on feeling empowered and not a victim to circumstances. And that’s exactly what the characters in this musical were doing. Their circumstances were very different from mine, but that didn’t matter. Having the examples of watching people do this gave me stuff to think about and try to see where I can have that same attitude in my life.

I love when something that I have scheduled to do or attend just happens to fit in with exactly what I needed to see or hear. It doesn’t always happen that way and more often than not the musicals we see are just a fun night out. And there’s nothing wrong with having a fun night out because I know that they are important to my mental health. And I can forget to have fun sometimes and having musicals scheduled help me to not forget about it. But when the show we see hits me much deeper and has such a great impact on me, it feels so special and precious to me. And that’s exactly what “The Color Purple” did for me and I’m so glad that this was the musical we had this week.

Our next show is 3 weeks away and it will be a musical that I’ve seen before, which will be fun. Even though I’ve seen a lot of shows recently, it’s been rare for me to see something that I already have seen. And seeing a show for a second time (especially when it’s a different cast and production) is really fun for me because I love to see how things are made unique with that combination of cast and crew. But I did realize that the next season (which starts this fall) will be so many shows that I’ve seen at least once before and I’m getting super excited for that to happen!

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A Night At The Bowl (or Combining Several Of My Favorite Things)

Posted on May 29, 2018 | 2 comments

The Hollywood Bowl doesn’t officially open for the season for a few more weeks, but when it’s not the regular season they do still have lease events. I don’t usually go to the lease events, but when I see something I’m interested in I try to get tickets. So when I heard that they would be doing a screening of “Beauty And The Beast” with live orchestration and singers, I knew that would be a fun event to go to. And of course, I asked my Disney friends if they wanted to come with me and they did! When you mix Disney, musicals, and going to the Bowl you know it’s going to be a great time!

I was in charge of getting our show tickets and found seats in the first row of a section in the very back. I don’t mind sitting in the back but getting seats at the front of a section are the best! You have a concrete barrier in front of you that is perfect to use as a table for the food you bring with you. And we all got lots of random food to have a pretty epic picnic there!

We took the Bowl bus to get there, but because we are used to going on weekdays when there is rush hour traffic we got to the Bowl before it was open! We waited outside the security area for a little while before they started letting people in. This was the first time I got there before we could go in and it was a nice change from feeling rushed to get to our seats. We had to go all the way to the top to get to our section, but they had a few different photo spots and we found one that didn’t have a line so we took advantage of that.

When we got to our section, we were all so surprised about how empty it looked! I’ve never seen it look so empty unless I’m there when they don’t have a show and it was nice not feeling squished as we got to our seats and sat down.

We had over an hour before the show started so we took our time getting out all the food we brought for the picnic and enjoying the food. We had way more than what we needed, but it was all so delicious! We had various types of chips and garlic dip, goat cheese, olives, fruit, veggies, and desserts. We tried to only take out a few things at a time, but we ended up just stacking most things on the barrier in front of us so we could all pick and choose what we wanted. It ended up being perfect and we were all just so happy sitting back, enjoying the food, having good conversation, and getting excited for the show to start.

This show was similar to how “The Little Mermaid” Live was done. The movie played but the orchestra on stage played all the music. And whenever there was a song they had celebrity singers playing the various characters. But what was different and really amazing with this show was how they utilized the venue. There is a border around the stage area and they did projection mapping on that area that matched what was on screen in the movie.

It was so fun to see what they added around the stage and it really did add to the movie. It was just a nice special touch that made this event even more unique that it normally is. This is already one of my favorite Disney movies and getting to watch it in this setting was awesome. And whenever they had the celebrities singing it was even better!

There were a lot of fun and different touches that they did with the songs. You could tell that the cast had a lot of fun and since there are different puns and double entendres they were taking advantage of that. There were a few added jokes that I missed, but all the ones that I caught were funny.

While I’ve seen the movie recently, for some reason I thought there were more songs and the movie was longer. When intermission happened I was pretty surprised that we were already halfway through the movie. And there weren’t as many times that the singers were out and singing live. There were still a lot of times to get to watch the singers and have it be more than just a screening of a movie, but it was much less than I expected. It’s not a bad thing, just something that surprised me (and my friends agreed).

When the show was done, it was the typical madhouse to get down to the area where the buses get us. There is a time limit to how long you can take to get to the buses, but I have yet to miss one. And the worst case is that we miss it and get an Uber or Lyft to take us back to where we parked our cars at the bus pickup. But even with all the crowds and making a stop to go to the bathroom before getting to the bus, we were there with plenty of time.

I don’t have any other tickets for the Bowl yet this summer, but I’m hoping I’ll make it back to at least one or two shows this summer. There are so many times I just get tickets last-minute and I think I need to do that more often. I have lots of evenings free and I could go get a cheap ticket to watch one of the jazz or classical shows. It’s just something different in my routine that makes an evening feel a bit more special.

But I’m glad I made it out for this show because it was a really great night out and helped to get me to feel more like me. I’m slowly busting out of this funk that I’m in (more on that later this week) and I’m glad that I had this show to help out with that!

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