Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

There aren't many times that I get to sit in the Palace theater. Mainly, it's because the shows booked there aren't of interest to me. Not the case this time. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a wonderful show about 3 drag queens on a road trip in a bus called Priscilla. The costumes are eye dazzling and the tunes are all the diva hits of the 80's, so you know you want to just get up and dance.
My friend Betsy and I won the lottery and sat in the first row of the orchestra. AA 103 and 105. You'd think it would be a great seat, and sure, it was great for some of the scenes....BUT it was really close and the stage is incredibly tall. When I stood up, the stage was about at my lip level, so let's say that the stage is about 4'8" tall. Quite a tall stage in my opinion. However, to sit in the REAR of the orchestra is also bad, I've heard, as the mezzanine overhang blocks much of the show. SO, for this particular show, the best spot is in the mezzanine. This theater is huge and used to house Beauty and the Beast so you can imagine just how many people they can cram into it.
It's a visual spectacle and it should not be missed.

Previous to this show, I'd seen West Side Story in the orchestra(maybe row M, and perfect seats) and Legally Blonde (front row again, neck hurt but worth it for the price).

The Book of Mormon

I went back to see Book of Mormon tonight. My friend Betsy and I waited in line for the standing room tickets. How long did we wait, you ask? 5.5 hours! Yep, from 12:30 to 6 we sat our asses on the concrete sidewalk and had to hold strong and not let any lottery losers cut in front of us. We were behind the last row of the orchestra, and there were excellent views, folks.

I would even go as far as to say that the view was better than my 5th row mezz seats earlier this summer. Of course, we did have to stand and my back hurt a little from sitting on the sidewalk, but again, it was well worth the wait, we made some friends in line, and we were able to go to Blockheads and get a drink before the show.
Here we are with our tickets. At the SRO line, they actually let you get a max of 2 tickets per person.

We saw the original cast minus Josh Gad. His understudy was much less "weird" but very talented and gave his own performance while still not letting the audience feel as if they missed out on something.

Rock of Ages

Oof! What a disappointment this show was! I don't even know where to begin, so maybe I'll start with talking about the theater. It's a smaller venue and the stage is very deep, noted by Aaron. We were in the mezzanine, row E house right. I should point out that House Right should be called "partial view" because there are entrances upstage left that can't be seen. There is no such entrance upstage right, so try to sit House Left....oof, confusing, I know. Seats weren't bad as far as being far away from the actors, though it could've been because the show was just THAT bad!

Before this show, I had seen Xanadu twice. Both times I saw it, I was in the front orchestra....front as in front row. It was a bit close, but we had a ball at that show.
I wanted to like it, I really did. Who doesn't like rock songs from the 80's, the big hair, and cliches....this show just mocked everything that is 80's, and as Aaron put it, the show was just charicatures of SNL charicatures of 80's people. There were maybe 5 good laughs throughout the show.
When it comes down to it, it's a juke box musical. And if I've learned anything over the few years I've been watching shows, avoid the juke box musical....why you ask? Because when you go to one, the audience members surrounding you know all the songs and feel like they should join in and sing WITH the actors. Yes, I know it's Rock of Ages and it's a "concert" setting, but I'm also referring to Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia. (The only exception I've encountered is American Idiot, though I think part of the reason why no one was singing along was because the show actually had respect for the art of theater) This show was just bad. I wouldn't even go for $20. I'm annoyed I paid TDF prices. I would say avoid this one at all costs, maybe even if you had a free ticket. See it if you're completely shit faced because otherwise you'll be aware of what bad murder of theater is happening on the stage in front of you.

US Open

Tennis anyone? We went to see the second round of the 2011 Us Open. We saw Wozniacki and Djonkovic. Both were the #1 players in the world at this point in time.
We sat in section 336, so on an angle. Aaron said that he didn't like sitting there for women's tennis because the ball doesn't go as fast and it's hard to keep track of it. But for men's he enjoyed it. We were out of the sun though so that was a big plus.