Catch Me If You Can

My mom was nice to think of me and invite me to go with her to the Hale Center Theater to see "Catch Me If You Can" the musical! Thankfully I didn't have anything going on Friday night (shocker... I rarely do these days) and I could go with her.

The main lead in the musical wasn't the best singer, but he played his part well. I really enjoyed it and the music is fun and of course the story (which most are familiar with) is fun as well. We were on the first row next to the state... which basically means you up close and personal... like I have to move my feet so they don't step on them. I am always amazed at what they can do with such a small stage. You can really get into the story with just a few props and costumes.

What a fun show! Thanks for inviting me mom!

Thriller - Take 2

First time I saw Thriller (The dance show) was 4 years ago. I remembered that the show wasn't as amazing as I thought it was going to be... that the dancing is rad, but there isn't enough of it.

Well, Hillary got free tickets to Thriller and wanted me to go, so I told her I would go again. Maybe they changed the show. It had been a while, I didn't mind seeing it again... especially for free.

So I put it on my calendar. Hillary had gotten 6 tickets. She was giving 2 for our trainer and his wife and then we were both supposed to find dates. I told her right away I wouldn't be able to find a date, but if she had a guy friend that had a friend for me, I would do that. Long story short... we both didn't end up with dates and were having long crappy day's at work. She was going to give the other two tickets away, but it was too last minute and that didn't happen. She ended up having to go back home and gave all the tickets to me... I went in by myself.. the show had already started so it was dark and I couldn't see where I was supposed to sit. Josh and his wife came in first and sat next to me. We moved seats to where I thought we were supposed to be sitting except there wasn't enough seats. Hillary came back... but she was not feeling it so she went home before coming in... SO...... It was me by myself sitting in between 2 couples. I didn't that I knew the other couple sitting on the other side of me until after the show was over... but man... did I have fun sitting by myself on my phone during intermission between 2 couples. Ha ha... honestly, had I known Hill was going to bail, I wouldn't have gone. The show is fine, it was exactly the same as the last time I went 4 years ago except they took out the clown (thank goodness) and changed up their video's in between shows. I still felt like they were trying too hard to be funny and they aren't and I still felt like there wasn't enough dancing for a dancing show. It was something to do Friday night and it was free... so I can't complain too much. I chatted with my trainer for a little bit, but he was trying to cheer up his wife who was also in a bad mood. Wasn't a good day for anyone I guess. ha ha.

I wouldn't go out of my way to go to this show again. Unless it was free again. It was good to see Lyndi though (who was the other couple sitting on the other side of me that I didn't know until the show was over because I had never met her boyfriend. So that was nice. Would have had a lot more fun had Hillary come in and sat with me though.

Michael Jackson ONE

One of the things I did in my spontaneous trip to Vegas this last weekend was go to see the new Michael Jackson ONE Cirque de Soleil show. Last Cirque de Soleil show I saw was also with Lolly... a couple of years ago. We went and saw Beatles LOVE, which I loved... so I had even high expectations with this show because I am such a HUGE Michael Jackson fan. Have been since I was in 3rd grade. I mean, I even through a Michael Jackson birthday party for my friends! Lolly had also never seen it, so we were both super excited to go. We dressed up for a night on the town (my shoes were kind of Michael Jackson style) and headed to the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino theater. We were trying to figure out what was playing in that theater before this show... we finally figured out that it was The Lion King... which I also saw there.

We got to the theater and got all kinds of excited. All of the people working at the theater dressed in different Michael Jackson outfits.

I loved checking out how they decorated the theater to honor Michael Jackson. There were dance silhouettes on the walls. A series of pictures of Michael doing the moonwalk. One of my favorites... the wallpaper, it was all of his song titles in different fonts. What an awesome idea!

The show was awesome. They had a good mix of Michael Jackson's music through the years... even a little bit of his young MOTWON. It was visually stunning as an Cirque de Soleil show is with lots of amazing stunts... but on top of that, what makes this show different from others is that they include a lot of Michael Jackson style dancing along with the acrobatics. It's awesome! Lolly and I both agreed that one of our favorite parts of the show was when the stage was dark and people were dancing with lights on their suits. They did some neat tricks and dances with this. It was seriously awesome. Throughout the show I just kept saying... WOW!! ha ha. I don't know how else to describe it. All I can say is I loved it and am SO glad that we went.

Then of course you have to take pictures next to the display outside. Lolly and I have learned from past shows and concerts... EVERYONE wants to do that after the show and it gets all kinds of crowded. We decided to do it before the show this time, that way we could just peace out after the show. We are learning. It was a good move. :) Anyway... if you are going to spend anytime in Vegas, and you like or love Michael Jackson's music, go see this show! You won't regret it. Plus, Cirque de Soleil shows are always a good idea. Seriously. Thanks Lolly for another great night out on the crazy town of Vegas!

Flashback Friday 91

Today I'm flashing back to October 2003. I had been living in Utah for a almost 3 months. I met a girl in my ward who I took a tap class with. We both said we love to travel and had never been to New York... so we found a round trip ticket to NYC from Salt Lake for $200 and we went! We hardly knew each other... but it was great fun. We stayed with my cousin Greta who was living there at the time with her husband.

While we were there, we were both excited to see our first show on Broadway. We heard about student rush tickets... where if you got there early and stood in line, they gave out 20 tickets for $25 for the night show and the matinee show. Did I mention they were for the front row? We got up early and took our chances to try and get tickets for Aida.

We really wanted to get tickets to the night show rather than the matinee because Toni Braxton was staring as Aida! Love Toni. We got SO lucky. The people in front of us in line wanted matinee tickets and we got the LAST two for the night show!

So my first show on Broadway... for $25, front row... next to Toni Braxton. She is beautiful in person by the way... and I love her deep passionate voice. She did a great job.

It was a great show. Love the music. Love the play. Love Broadway.

I keep all of my Playbill's... but I can't find this one for the life of me. SAD! My first show on Broadway and I don't have the Playbill. I know I didn't throw it away... but I don't know where it is.

Thriller

Friday night, Megan and I had a roommate date. We had both been wanting to see Thriller for years but never had the chance... until now.

Never heard of Thriller? (not Michael Jackson's music video... of course we have seen that). Well, it is a show put on by a dance company that does a bunch of Halloween dance numbers. I happen to love dancing, so I was excited to go.



One number in the show... a bunch of people came out in panda costumes and tap shoes and were acting like kids. It reminded me of when I took tap in first grade and did a tap number to "Yes I am a Panda Bear". As soon as I thought that... that music started playing and they were doing the same tap routine that I did in first grade. I sang along to the whole song and was impressed that I remembered that far back... because I assure you, I haven't heard that song since. It was funny.

Before and after the show and during intermission, they had zombies going around and creeping people out.

All in all... Megan and I gave the show a 7/10. Reason being... first of all, it was too long. It started at 7:30 and went until 10 with a 15 minute intermission. I was starting to get pretty antsy towards the end. Second of all, the dancing was awesome, like seriously awesome, but there wasn't enough of it. I understand the dancers need breaks and costume changes and such... but I feel like there are better ways of doing it. They had these LONG stupid video's that they would show, they had a clown (I hate clowns) that would just talk and try and be funny (which it was a little) and they had a singer that would sing morbid songs. I would have given it a 10/10 if they would have made it shorter with more dancing.

Of course I am still glad that I saw it. Will I make a it a tradition and see it every year? Probably not, but it was still a fun show with some amazing dancing and it really got me in the Halloween spirit. Megan and I had a great time. So glad she wanted to go with me. After the show we met up with Dave and got some shakes. Good times.

Aladdin

As you may know, it is our roommate tradition to go down to St. George for a weekend and see a play at Tuacahn. You can read about our other trips here and here. It is a great weekend trip. Every year we  eat at our favorite cafe (TwentyFive Main) and we shop at our favorite store (Rock n Rose) we lay out by the pool and we see a play. This year they did Aladdin. I honestly didn't even know they had made it into a broadway musical. Not that I should be surprised because almost all the Disney movies have been made into broadway musicals. I had never heard anything about Aladdin though... so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Tina and I bought our ticket's at the last minute, so we didn't even get to sit next to each other. In fact, I don't think we could have been further away. We were on opposite sides of the theater from each other.  We made the most of it though and had text conversations about the people around us and we were making each other laugh while we sat by ourselves in the theater.

Here is my review on the play. I thought it was well done. Tuacahn typically does a good job with their plays. They sang well, I liked the songs etc....What I didn't like was that #1. They had a guy instead of a bird for Eago. They could have done puppets... they do that all the time in plays/ #2. They had 3 guys instead of Abu. These 3 are the ones that were pushing the humor and trying too hard to be funny. However, they had great songs with great harmony. That aside... the set was awesome and the props were awesome. I think Tuacahn was a perfect setting for this play. They had real animals on stage for crying out loud. Camels, birds, dog.... it was awesome.

We were handed 3D glasses at the beginning of the show. There is a portion of the show that is in 3D. The whole play... I kept waiting for them to tell me to put them on. Some people just put them on anyway. I never put mine on and wondered if I missed out on anything because I never put mine on. Wouldn't they have told me to put them on though? I asked after the show what I missed and they said nothing.... because they ended up cutting that part out because it was too windy for it and ended up cutting out 10 minutes of the show. Could have been cool. Guess I will never know. Genie was pretty funny though. Best part was when Genie sang Celine Dion's "All By Myself" and I thought to myself, Celine, I will see you tomorrow and I really hope you sing that song. And she did... It was a great day.

Tuacahn is a great tradition and I recommend it to everyone. All of the show's they do there are some. They announced the show's they are going to do next year. Ready? Marry Poppins and Camelot! Awesome right? I loved Marry Poppins when I saw it on Broadway. Anyway... good show, good weekend, good friends.

The Sound of Music

Last night Rachel asked me if I wanted to go with her and her parents to see "The Sound of Music" at the Sundance Outdoor Theater. I love musicals and I love outdoor theaters and I had never been to this one, so of course I said yes. Hard to turn down a free ticket and dinner (Rachel's parents are the sweetest). Rachel's sister was playing the part of Maria, so that was fun.

The theater is beautiful. Everything is green and beautiful. It's nice to be outdoors in the summer, so I love being able to watch a play while being outside.

Rachel's sister did an awesome job. I enjoyed seeing the play. It takes everything in me to not sing along though. I always have that problem unless I am going to a new musical that I am not familiar with. The fun thing about this play was... sometimes the audience did get to sing along... every time the nun came out on the side of the stage, it meant we got to sing the rest of the song with them. I thought that was a cute idea.

I am a people watcher for sure. Before the show and at intermission, I noticed a few people around me. In the picture below, look at the man with the black jacket and the red visor. I'm pretty sure that the hair on top of that visor is fake. I probably came to that conclusion because it doesn't match the rest of his hair and it happens to look like the hair was taken from a stuffed animal that I would have slept with as a child. The row in front of fake hair guy there is a couple. He is wearing the stripped shirt and she is in Red. They are an older couple, but I am pretty sure they were on their honeymoon or something. I came to this conclusion because during intermission, they were ALL over each other. His arms were around her and his hands in her butt pockets. Couldn't stop smooching her (seriously... didn't stop the entire intermission) and kept rubbing noses and kissing her neck. It was one of those shows that you didn't want. It was pretty funny because I was telling Rachel about them and I guess I wasn't being very quiet because as soon as I said something, two other ladies rolled their eyes and looked at me and said "I didn't realize that I had paid for 2 shows". I guess I wasn't the only one that noticed. People felt awkward around them. For a moment I considered singing "PDA" by the backstreet boys. Not sure what held me back.

We had brought a bunch of coats and blankets, so Rachel's dad put them in trash bags in the end so it would be easy for us to carry it around. As we were hiking down the hill... I mentioned that I looked like a hobo... so she took a picture of me looking like a hobo with my trash bag.

It was a cute play and a fun night. Thank Rachel and Rachel's parents for treating me to a fun night.

The Little Mermaid

We have started a roommate (or old roommate) tradition. Going down to St. George to go see plays at Tuacahn and spend a fun weekend in St. George. This year the play was "The Little Mermaid". I am going to be honest with you... as soon as I heard they were doing this show I was SUPER excited. Why? Because when I was in New York a few years ago, I had missed the opening of this show by 2 weeks. I was so curious about the music and how they would put a movie based in the water on stage. Shortly after that trip I downloaded the Broadway soundtrack for "The Little Mermaid" and completely fell in love with the music. It is super cute. I love the songs that were not in the Disney movie the best. Going to a play for the first time when you already know and love the music is a bonus. Along with great music, this show also had great costumes and set, did a great job using water on stage (which Tuacahn is known for doing anyway) and it was all cleverly done. I LOVED it and totally recommend it.

I didn't run into anyone that I knew this year like I did last year. However, there were a couple of funny experiences while we were there that had us all laughing.

#1, we sat behind these two gay guys. I mean... we weren't for sure at first if they were. It was my guess that they were. The one that sat in front of me was of course tall. Story of my life.  He was actually really nice though and as soon as he sat down in front of me he apologized because he knows he is tall and said he would slouch. It was actually fine because its stadium seating... but whatever. So at intermission we see these two guys staring at the wall and stairs to the right of all of us. I start staring over there to see what the fuss was about. It was a cockroach. They are kind of gross... but I don't think its a big deal. Everyone was freaking out over it. Tina tells them they are men and should take care of it. The tall one in front me me says "Gay men don't handle bugs" and I said to myself... I KNEW IT, I knew they were gay. ha ha. They were so funny so I got up and took off my shoe (I was wearing heals). They both just looked at me and said... wow, she is going to handle that? As I am chasing after the dumb bug with my shoe... the guy behind me sees what I am doing and picks it up with his bare hand and tosses it over the wall. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to kill it. Tina and the gay guys in front of us couldn't get over how that guy just picked it up with his bare hand. Tina just kept saying to the guys "WITH HIS BARE HAND". ha ha. Maybe you had to be there... but it was pretty entertaining.

#2, being the single girls that we are... when going to see a play we want some eye candy. Last year Tarzan was pretty darn cute, so we were happy. We were hoping that Prince Eric would be a hottie. We looked at his picture (as Price Eric) in the program and shook our head with disappointment. Not very cute. We looked at his head shot in the program and he looked very cute. Not sure what happened, but we just closed the program and we were ready to watch and enjoy the show... even without any eye candy. During the show I kept looking at him. I thought... he is kind of cute, maybe its just the wig. It was a pretty ugly wig. I also thought he looked a little familiar... but not enough that it bugged me to think further into why. After the show we stayed after to meet the cast, tell them they did a good job and that we loved their show and to get pictures with some of them. Ariel and Price Eric were both super sweet and gave us all big hugs and I made small talk with Prince Eric. He is from San Diego. That is beside the point. We got back to our hotel and were telling Allyson (who arrived in St. George later and didn't go to the show with us) all about our funny experiences that night and then we were telling her about the show and talked about Price Eric and how we were a little disappointed that he was not as cute as we were hoping for (even though he definitely grew on me) and then I start reading his little biography in the program. Just as Tina says "Well, he was no Tarzan" I read in his Bio that he was coming back to Tuacahn for his second year and that he had played Tarzan last year. I started laughing and said... actually, he IS Tarzan. I thought he looked familiar! ha ha. We all started laughing so hard... only because we were all so in love with Tarzan last year and not into Prince Eric this year at all. What was the difference? It is not like either wig was that attractive. I just laughed and laughed for a long time. I think there may have even been tears. Here he is as Tarzan last year and Prince Eric this year look at the last picture on this post. P.S. He has a rockin voice. I could listen to him all day.

All of us together with our favorite characters in the play and of course with Ariel and Prince Eric.