Clybourne Park

 What an amazing piece of theater. I was really worried about this one. We've been burned by a lot of plays this last year. This was nominated for best new play so we figured it couldn't be that bad. It's pretty much a side story/sequel to A Raisin in the Sun. It really interested us because it dealt with gentrification of a neighborhood, something that is happening in our neighborhood. The actors were great. In fact, one of the actors won a tony for his performance. And how could he not?! The cast is comprised of 7 actors who play 2 different roles, 1 in the first act, the other in the 2nd. Some of the actors play similar attitudes throughout, but man, this one actor was a complete 180.

I even really liked the set design. I'm not sure how they made this house in the first act look nasty and covered in grafitti, but they did a seamless job.

We had excellent seats (thanks TDF) in row F of the orchestra in house left. We didn't miss a thing.

Jesus Christ Superstar

I have been putting off seeing Rock Musicals/Operas because the music is just meh for me. I'm not huge into rock to begin with, so making a show ONLY music for 2 1/2 hours is rough for me. I've never liked the music of JCS, but lo and behold, I now like it due to this cast. Were they perfect? Definitely not. The cast didn't look happy to be working. They were only nominated for 2 tonys, one being best revival and the other for their Judas. Both Judas and Jesus were great. Mary was nice, but her voice I found to be very held back. Maybe she was holding off for a different night?

 We sat in row M of the orchestra off stage right, but didn't miss anything. The concept of the show was great, using lots of lights like the Dow. It felt very much like a rock concert. And a very powerful moment of the show was when Jesus got whipped repeatedly, counted 40 times by Pontius Pilot.

Previous to this show, we have seen Chinglish and La Cage Aux Folles here.