Follies

Tonight we went to the theater with my father in law and his friend to see Follies. It had pretty good reviews, though people had been saying negative things about Bernadette; that she sounds hoarse and is having trouble breathing. And yes, these things may be true, but it doesn't really matter when you're Bernadette freakin' Peters. Now onto the theater...
Our seats were PERFECT. We were in row S, center section. We were under the mezzanine, but our views weren't restricted at all. We could've been closer to the stage but we definitely saw everything from where we were. This theater is HUGE too. Very wide feeling. We've seen a couple of shows here. Wonderland in row M off to the right, Crybaby in the rear mezz (that was a horrible tragedy of a John Waters story), and Thoroughly Modern Millie twice (once in the rear mezz and once in the front mezz which was a great seat).This show just makes you appreciate the older generation, remember what you forgot, and just enjoy slowing down. The pace of the show is definitely unfamiliar to me. Everything today is a million miles a minute. Aaron said this was one of his top 10 shows he's ever seen AND that he now gets what all the fuss is about this Sondheim guy. YEAH!

OMG, this is love! For real! What more can you ask for?! Bernadette Freaking Peters singing "Losing My Mind." I seriously can die now!

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.

Memphis

Tonight, Aaron and I went to see Memphis! We had put this show off for a long time...why? Not really sure right now as it was AWESOME! What a great show, filled with toe tapping songs, inspiring choreography, and a lot of heart. I was afraid that it was going to be Hairspray without the white people.
We got our tickets through TDF and were seated in row H of the mezzanine. The seats were decent, though we were under the proscenium and missed the top of the stage. (Not like there was anything up there to see, but I like to see the full picture) The theater was half empty. I'm not sure how much longer this show is going to run with half of the mezz empty, but I'm not a broadway producer. At intermission, we moved to row D center section of the mezzanine and Aaron said "whoa, this is a lot closer." So a 4 mere rows forward and the show is THAT much closer.
The show was energetic and though it didn't really break any boundaries or do anything new, the show was solid. We'd recommend it to tourists. It definitely has more pizzazz than some of the crap out there.

Aside from this show, I've see Gyspy with Bernadette Peters twice here in the mezzanine, as well as Spamalot 3 times (once in the orchestra super close and 2 more times in the mezzanine) and I was always pleased with my seat, never having partial view.

How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

We saw How to Succeed the day before my birthday this year. I arrived at the RUSH line 30 minutes before the doors opened and the line was SO long. I was actually afraid that I wasn't going to get in....but lucky for me and everyone else in line, the theater has a lot of "partial view" seats. We sat all the way back in row O on the right side (I'm really happy we were on house right and not house left because very little is blocked on house right and a LOT of blocked house left.)

Here's a picture of where we sat. Pretty much, the whole stage was visible. The only part we couldn't see was a platform for the secretary which was blocked by the boxes above.

The show as a whole was very fun. It was great to see Daniel Radcliffe. He really worked hard. The songs were fun and it looked like the choreographer had a field day. Not my favorite show, but I'm a lot happier about this show after seeing it live.