Streetcar leaves me to desire more...

This is going to be short because there isn't much to say really.  Sometimes shows that you had no expectation surprise you and other times they are just down right disappointing   

Sign outside Lyric Opera

We were able to take in Lyric Opera's very limited showing (only four total) of "Streetcar Named Desire" on Wednesday.  I've seen the movie, and it was pretty good, and Renee Fleming was playing the lead, so despite everything else going on we decided we couldn't pass this up. 

I suppose we could have though.  In short, Renee Fleming did not "wow" me the way that I expected.  I've never been able to see her live, though I've had many an album of hers that I listened to over and over again. As soon as she came out though, I was already a bit disappointed.  Were my expectations too high?  Perhaps.  But considering the hoop-la around this show and her, I think that's warranted.  

In short, Renee Fleming does not pull off a southern "voice" too well while being all operatic.  I was having flashbacks of Halle Berry playing Storm in the X-Men movies, and the viewer would raise an eyebrow on the occasional "oh that's right, I'm suppose to have an accent in this!" moment.  Or Renee is too classy a broad to pull it off!  The male lead, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, while nice to look at (bald, built, and tattoos!) made me cringe at several points.  I was excited when he walked out because he didn't seem the norm as far as opera singers, but again, left disappointed.  

The shining star in my opinion was Susanna Phillips playing Stella.  She was flawless, played the role well and I bought her as the character as opposed to the first two.  I wanted more of her instead of everyone else.  

In the end, I can now say "I saw Renee Fleming" but this show left me shrugging my shoulders and trying not to giggle at the "STELLA!!!" (sung, of course...) coming out of a bald man ripping his shirt off on stage.  Let's leave that to Marlon Brando, I think.

No more Mormon in Chicago?

Man, talk about right timing.  So the rumors are going this week Book of Mormon is about to be done with it's course here in Chicago.  THIS was a very well put together article in the Tribune today as to why they think so.  

I loved having Wicked in Chicago as a semi-permanent staple, but the really neat thing was hearing how many people knew someone actually in the show.  BoM is a touring show, so these people aren't Chicago actors.  

So I breathe a sigh of relief knowing my tickets are hanging on the refrigerator and will finally see it in a week.  It was a great gift for Chicago to get the extended run.  I'm also almost relived we're seeing it so we don't get asked why haven't we seen it yet??  I feel like I know the soundtrack so well already that I'm not going to LOVE it like I should but I have a bit of hope since I keep hearing how well Ben Platt is doing as the role of Elder Cunningham.  He did great on Pitch Perfect, so we shall see!  

But time for Book of Mormon to move on and something else to roll into the Bank of America theater!  

Been waiting since 2011...

....and in two weeks the day will finally be here.  We're finally going to see Book of Mormon here in Chicago.  

Any theater ticket that has "Explicit Language" is okay by me

Marquee of Chicago's Bank of America Theater

Almost every single person we know, whether they enjoy musicals or not, has seen this show, and the two who based their wedding on musicals because they love them so much?  Yeah, haven't gotten around to it just yet.  I finally found a random matinee a month out that had two not-so-high balcony seats with one seat on the aisle and another single one behind it.  We don't need to talk during the show, so that worked out just fine - and much cheaper than the inflated floor seats (NOT saying it's not worth it though).  

Entrance to Book of Mormon Chicago

In any case, I have a fear that it won't live up to my expectations.  And it might not.  It might be like Les Miserables and the two tries we've given it now.  But at least we're fortunate enough to live in the next major city for Broadway theater and Book of Mormon decided to stay here for awhile instead of just a two week engagement.  

And it's at my least favorite theater of course.  Groan.  But we shall persevere and say "Hello!" to Book of Mormon Chicago soon!

"A cock, in a frock, on a rock." - Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

So it has been FAR too long since this blog has been in action.  A year almost to the DAY.  No excuses!  We've seen some small productions but not too much of note lately, but I felt bad I hadn't even written about the smaller ones.  But no more!  We're back on the wagon!

 Sometimes you have shows that completely surprise you at how much you enjoy them.  In the past, shows that have done this for me have been Fela! and American Idiot.  Last night was another one of those shows.  

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was a movie (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) I had only seen once, but my wife adored   Without her, I probably wouldn't even know this movie.  I kept track of the musical when it came and went in 2011 on Broadway, although I noted and clapped for their Tony win in costume design, because WOW.  I considered seeing it when we were in NYC, but it just didn't thrill me enough to go.  

The view from the front row

So I had been tossing around the idea with my wife for the past couple of months about going, and I honestly don't think unless I had gotten a TravelZoo email about it, would I have made the trek downtown to a box office to buy tickets.  So I'm thankful something got us into gear.  And we scored on the tickets too.  Usually with these deals, you get tickets around $27 (add on the fees about $50) and *usually* they're in the balcony section or at best rear orchestra.  Well, I'm not sure if someone at TravelZoo screwed up or what, but I landed front row tickets for the discounted price!  

Front row was a great place to be for sight, not so much for sound.  For one, the "people" in front of you is the orchestra which can drown out the vocals sitting that close, and then the speakers projecting the performers mike's above your head and not point towards you.  But in this show, much like Hair, you know the songs, and the plot line is campy and not imperative to pay attention to.  We were however right in front of the confetti cannon.  You heard me:  CONFETTI CANNON.  

All-in-all Priscilla is a mesmerizing visual show.  The costume details were just phenomenal.  During the funeral scene at the beginning of the show, I have no idea what was going on with recently departed Trumpet, and instead was marveling at the different religions being shown through outfits, hats and umbrellas.  The Divas who came down from the rafters several times during the show were the strongest voices, in my (unprofessional) opinion.  I didn't care much for the vocals of Tick, Bernadette or Felecia, but then again, it's campy and about drag queens, so I'm ultimately not caring about this.  The drag queens I watch in Chicago's Boystown never sing period.  And who can forget the classic scene of Felicia on the high heel of the bus 'belting' "Sempre libera" from La traviata?  Perfection.

The ladies werking the lobby of the theater

The crowd was phenomenal!  It was the oddest split of gay men and the elderly - the latter being just there on their season ticket night we assumed, and wondering what is going on on stage.  When we arrived in the lobby, there was a group of drag queens posing for pictures with everyone.  Right before the show started, they came in, took off their wigs and sat down to raucous applause.  I assumed they were part of the Priscilla experience  but no, they were actually there to watch the show!  

In the end, this show made me laugh for over two hours - which was much needed as I had been sick and barely out of the house for the past two weeks.  As an artist the costumes just took my breath away, the LED lights "painting" the bus pink were a great touch, and the music along with the high energy of the performers made this show a delight.  I'm happy we ended up seeing this in the end, and would recommend it to anyone.  This touring show definitely shows some "hot stuff" on stage.

We saw the green fairy!

Best. Show. EVER.

Seriously.  If you're in Vegas and you love the whole idea of Cirque du Soleil acts, but also like good comedy and dirty jokes - this is THE place for it!  The whole experience is an experience! In reading reviews it sounds like everyone sums the show up as Cirque du Soleil meets Rocky Horror.  It combines fun into one not so very large tent.
The thing about reviewing this show is I don't want to give away all the fun.  Considering there wasn't a great description of it anyone could give me except "trust me, you HAVE to see it", I now get that.  You don't want to spoil it.  And it's amazing-ness cannot be summed up - it has to be experienced.
It's a process to get into the show to start.  You can begin lining up 45 minutes prior to the show starting.  There are no assigned seats unless you purchase a VIP seat.  This gets you in the first 3 rows and a complimentary drink.  In my opinion, unless you want to be that close, or the free drink, or dragged on stage, you don't need the VIP seats.  There are not many seats, and they're in a circle around one tiny stage!  There's not a bad view in my opinion.  We ended up 6 rows back.  Not too shabby I'd say!
What I love about Absinthe is the encouragement to be loud, rowdy and obnoxious.  Your host is so why can't you be?  They encourage being drunk/drinking.  They love people that play back with them - and if you don't want to play, god help you, you're screwed because they'll latch onto you after that!  The Gazillionaire is your host along with his assistant Penny.  The chemistry between these two odd characters is fantastic.  And so funny, you're crying.  A lot.  It's just the funniest thing I've ever seen. 

And with that hilarity, there's a show of acrobats happening!  Starting with a guy balancing on chair after chair in the middle of the tent.  To the point he reaches the ceiling!  Some strong men that created an almost ballet-like performance.  There was lots of balancing.  Lots of sexy women and half naked men.  Some talented folks are in this troupe.  And unlike the Cirque people, they're actors as well!  They play along, mess and be messed with the Gazillionaire and genuinely seem to be having a great time.
Let's face it.  What other show will tell you if you're in the front row do not stand up while the roller skaters are on stage or you WILL get kicked in the teeth?  Or what other show will put on a tightrope act literally above their audience?  I doubt you'll find one.  
The inside of the theater is gorgeous and decorated for the bordello that absinthe should be served in.  The people that work there are incredibly kind and helpful.  Down to their own Twitter feed where the person on the other side of the computer remembered me tweeting about seeing them soon and before we left to head to Nevada, sent me a tweet to ask if we were excited!  Excellent use of social media.  Inside the theater, you don't have to worry about being yelled at for taking photos.  Just don't use a flash and they let you snap and video to your heart's desire!  Quite different!

We saw Cirque du Soleil's 'Zumanity' the night before and I was worried that Absinthe might be as lame as that was (it's seriously not even worth my typing to talk about it - just go see O or Love and do yourselves a favor and skip Zumanity).  The thing is Absinthe is perfect for Vegas.  It doesn't try to hard, it just is the production that it is.  And now they're pitching a tent (giggle) in NYC this summer?  Sold and heading that direction when it opens! 

All-in-all if you're not a prude (seriously, there's some flashing dick and simulated puppet sex) and can't stand to hear the word "fuck" and "cock" repeatedly this is the show for you!  If you're in Vegas, it's the new must see.  It's hard to explain, but when you finally see it, it all makes sense in a very drug-induced way!  


And a few notes:  yes there are absinthe spiked cocktails.  Though I wished there was time for proper absinthe drinks!  Also, there is no bathroom inside the tent.  You have to go outside.  Believe me when I say, you won't remember needing to pee.  You'll be amazed and laughing to hard to even consider leaving the tent for fear you might miss something incredible!

We say "Yeah-Yeah!" to Fela!

I love it when shows surprise me when I leave with how much I enjoy them.  This has happened with shows such as Working, and more recently American Idiot.  But it's fantastic leaving with that "show high" that comes so often (one should hope) after leaving the theater. Val and I usually have to hit up the bar for an 11 o'clock night cap to talk about what we just experienced and just to calm down our excitment.

Fela! was a nice surprise though in many respects.  I got a Yelp message (which lately I don't get many of) and it's telling me about comp tickets to the opening night of Fela! at the Oriental Theater.  So of course I jumped right on that!  When we arrived we found that we had not only free tickets, but free orchestra level tickets?! I was prepared to hike it up to the balcony and instead just walked right in.  Very nice!

The story I had to look up before we came.  The only thing I had ever seen of Fela! was a performance on the 2010 Tonys when it was nominated for 11 Tonys, including Best Musical!  And I knew that Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith's names were attached to it in some fashion.  So in looking it up online I learned of the real life activist and musician Fela Kuti and the turmoil he had to deal with just to make life in Nigeria a little better.  


One thing I didn't expect from this show was how interactive it was.  Just 10 minutes into the production "Fela" tells us to all stand and then teaches us how to shake our hips to the music.  Lots of hoopin' and hollerin' and hip shakin' happened while actors ran up and down the aisles for encouragement!  Fun and gets the mood set right away for the rest of the show.  

Some notable parts, or should I say people, would be for one the fabulous Melanie Marshall playing Funmilayo.  This woman could SING.  Loud, soft, high note, low note.  I was even amazed at the rolling of her "r's" (something I could never master in French class) while singing.  She was incredible, and after looking at the Playbill and seeing the training she's had, it makes sense.


Now onto Fela "himself".  Sahr Ngaujah was the original Fela and is now touring with the production, which I read is something he didn't want to do at first considering how taxing and emotional the show is to begin with, then you add the travel part!  This man was the complete package ladies!  He can sing, he can crack jokes, dance, play the saxaphone (while dancing) AND he's hot with his shirt off.  Sahr was perfectly cast for this role.  The way he interacted with the audience was hilarious, and he shows the exact characteristics that one might think Fela Kuti had.  


The set was incredible and the sound made the floors shake!  There's a scene with black lights that is eerie and gorgeous all at once!  Paulette Ivory who played Sandra, also has a killer voice (and was the original Nala in London's "The Lion King"!).  Also, I loved the touch of the actors running up and down the aisles to created a scene (you are suppose to feel like your in the Shrine night club after all!) and behind us there were people occasionally clapping and hooting and hollering to create the scene all around the audience.  Touches like this make me smile ear-to-ear at the theater.

This show extended its run in Chicago for the Spring Break season and I highly recommend everyone go see it - grab a discount code if you have to!  I'm sure the sounds projects amazingly up in the balcony too it's so loud!  Enjoy and lemme hear ya say "Yeah-Yeah!".