It was an expensive investment for us, but I just absolutely love going to the theater. Musicals are my poison of choice, though I wouldn't turn down a play if someone wanted to go. I bought the cheapest package possible - our seats are in the highest balcony, but not in the last row. It's not too big a theater, so I don't think there are any bad seats, I can go and be in the last row and still be happy, though on those rare occasions when I'm down on the floor I have an extra special time.
Our first show was the new Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz, which we saw last month. I was excited because I have loved Andrew Lloyd Webber ever since I was introduced to him when I was about 14. I had heard Jesus Christ Superstar before that, but this was my first live-show experience of an ALW show. There's a performing arts school in Fargo, where my Dad used to live, and that year I did the summer program there for younger teens where we got to perform a couple of song/dance numbers before the show started one night. The production that year was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and I was HOOKED.
Well, I didn't love the new Wizard of Oz. I felt much the same way about it as I did about the movie that came out earlier this year - the movie with Judy Garland is just so GOOD. The show is was mostly based exactly on the movie with a few extra songs. There were a couple of parts I was impressed with/really liked (the Wicked Witch of the West's minions performance after she melted was pretty great), but for the most part I just kept comparing the performances to the movies. No one can really compare to Ray Bolger's scarecrow, and the cowardly lion inexplicably didn't sing "If I Was the King of the Forest."
I've had some really memorable experiences at the theater. Seeing Les Miserables for the first time with Justin in Seattle, and being brought to tears by the sheer beauty of the performances during On My Own and Bring Him Home. My first time seeing Rent. Seeing Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neely and Carl Anderson, who played Jesus and Judas in the 1970s film, with my Dad when it toured. My nights out with my girlfriends seeing Mamma Mia and Hair. Seeing Starlight Express on stage in London when I was there since it's kind of the only place to see it because of the stage.
I love to sing, and I think if I could have any job, not considering any other aspects of life or talent, I'd be a broadway star. I'm excited for the rest of this season, tonight we're seeing Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and the remaining shows in the series are The Lion King (which I've seen once before), Once, and Evita (which I am SUPER excited about because I have heard it a million times but never seen it on stage), then The Book of Mormon next summer. I can't wait!
Here are the shows I've seen in the theater (that I can remember):
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (x2 - once at Trollwood School for the Performing Arts in Fargo, and once on stage in Vancouver, BC)
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Rent (x4, one of my absolute favorites)
- The Phantom of the Opera (in London)
- Smokey Joe's Cafe (off Broadway, NY)
- Footloose (Trollwood School for the Performing Arts)
- Beauty and the Beast (Broadway in NYC starring Jamie Lynn Siegler as Belle)
- Cats
- Little Shop of Horrors
- Hair
- West Side Story
- Singin' in the Rain
- The Lion King (Broadway in NYC)
- Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk
- Les Miserables
- Mamma Mia
- The Wizard of Oz
Do you like going to shows? What's your favorite?
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