Girls Night Out: Carousel at the 5th Avenue Theater & MOD Pizza

Thursday evening my cousin and I went to see Rogers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle.  A friend from church  had a couple of tickets and asked if I wanted them.  "Sure!"  I instantly answered.   

I had heard of the movie "Carousel," and may have seen clips from it, but I had no idea what the musical was about.  My cousin thought she had seen the movie before.  She had been to the 5th Avenue theater once, a long time ago.  I have never been, so even that was quite a neat experience.

Before the theater opened, we had decided we wanted to eat at MOD pizza.  It was both our first time going there, so we were a little inexperienced on how to order, but we did a really great job of building our pizza.  My cousin ordered a Caesar Salad, and doctored it up with a few things.  We decided to share a gluten free crust (at my cousin's request), and I was totally fine with that.  We started with the Caspian, which is mozzarella, gorgonzola,  BBQ chicken, barbecue sauce, and red onion.  We were then allowed to add as many toppings as we wanted for the same price!  So we added sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, mushrooms, and garlic.  I asked the person behind the counter if she would suggest anything else, but she thought we did an excellent job, and definitely improved the pizza.

We took our seats in the restaurant, and my cousin shared her delicious salad.  After awhile, we were told that our pizza had accidentally burned, and would we like 2 free milkshakes to make up for it?  So, obviously, we did not pass that up!  The shakes were super thick!  I had to get a spoon to get mine started.  It was good, though.  We finally got our new pizza, with all the same toppings.  It looked absolutely terrific.  I went to pick up a piece, and naturally, it was piping hot.  Once I was able to taste it, I knew we made the right choice.  It was delicious, and filling.  Of course, we did have a salad and a shake each first.  I would definitely go back again. 

By the time we finished our dinner, the theater opened its doors.  My first thought was that it was quite different than the Paramount.  It had an Asian style to it.  It was very colorful, but a muted colorful, in tones of burgundy, forest green, and brown.  The lobby was shorter than I expected.  The lighting fixtures were spectacular inside the theater.  The carvings were exquisite.  

We went clear to the front to catch a glimpse at the under-stage orchestra.  Because of the angle they were sitting, I wondered how they could see the conductor.  A second later, I noticed each seat (or seating area) had monitors for each musician to watch.  That was quite interesting to me.  I have not seen anything like that before. 

We looked at the stage.  Beautiful lights hung down.  Three performers were sitting silently on stage, each faced in a different direction.  I had no idea what it meant at the time.  I did not even know right after the play, I think I may have even forgotten about that part.  Then, I remembered and thought, 

"What was that all about, I wonder?"  

Then after a few seconds, I realized, 

"Oh........!" 

 I cannot tell you anymore, because, well that would spoil it for the people who see the play.

One of the first things I noticed was the creative set designs.  Beautifully constructed, there were lights, sailboats, a flowery branch of a tree, and of course carousel horses, even a rotating stage!

The rotating stage was put to great use.  It was used not only for the carousel part, but to set time and tone as well.  Lighting also played a big part in setting the tone.  There were dance moves that also contributed, which were very well done.

The costumes were mostly pastels and muted tones.  Except for the carnival people.  They wore bright colors.

Many of the songs are catchy, and upbeat.  There is much happiness going on, while there is underlying sorrow for others.  The story is mostly sad, but there is humor and hope in the musical as well.  The overall message is a good one.

Laura Griffith, who plays Julie Jordan, has a beautiful voice.  Billie Wildrick, who plays Carrie Pipperidge is humorous.  Brandon O'Neill did a great job acting his part.  Madelyn Koch, who plays Louise, is an excellent dancer.  I enjoyed the other performers as well.

Overall, we had a good time.  The play runs through Sunday, March 1st, in case you want to try and get tickets.  I also suggest you bring tissues, if you have a tendency to tear up.  Binoculars can be handy too, if you are sitting in the back.  Cameras are not allowed in the performance area.  

For more information on Rogers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" at the 5th Avenue Theater, click here.

For more information on MOD pizza, click here.

You Make a Great Musical, Charlie Brown!

Earlier, in month of November, I traveled over to my hometown to go see "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown."  I have always wanted to see the musical since I first heard of it a few years ago.  Apparently, this particular musical has been around since 1968, which I had not realized.

 I just happened to ask my friend Julie what has she has been doing for awhile, and she said she was playing piano for this musical, "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown."

I had missed an opportunity to see the production of the musical awhile back, when someone in my church had played Charlie Brown at a local high school here.  I am sure he was perfect for the role, too.  I really felt like I missed out, so I did not want to miss seeing the musical again, despite the fact that it was a long drive, I didn't know any of the students cast in the show.

My friend, who is an excellent pianist, said that the music was quite challenging to play.  There are many different styles, and one song is particularly fast-paced.

The musical was real fun.  Before the play, images of the Peanuts gang showed on a screen just above the stage. 

The sets were beautifully done, and colorful.  The costumes were great.  I especially enjoyed the Snoopy costume.  Normally, the play has a type of hood with ears for the Snoopy character, but since Snoopy was being played by a girl, she had her hair up into short pigtails, which actually looked more like dog ears.  It made the costume more convincing, because it was part of the young actress herself, looking less like just a person in a dog costume.

The acting was very good, too.  I really think all the students did well on that.  My mom complained that the girl who played Lucy did not have black hair, but there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the program that the actors won't necessarily look like the original characters.  I thought her acting skills held up to make her look like Lucy anyway.

The actress who played Sally seemed to steal the show.  For one, she sounded just like the cartoon character does!  She also had some of the best lines.

It is truly unfortunate that I neglected to bring my camera with me.  My other device that I often use as a back-up, is sadly not holding a charge well.  Visually, I don't think the play could be much better.  I have looked up other plays, and they do a good job, but this one really got my attention - with the bright colored sets, and the fun props.

My only small complaint of the entire show was that many of the singers performances sounded a bit flat.  However, it was not enough to keep me from enjoying the musical.  Overall, it was a good time.

The next day, I decided to look up the music online for "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."  If you have Amazon Prime, you can listen to the "New Broadway Cast Recording 1999)" album for free.  Kristen Chenoweth sings the part of Sally in it.  She does a great job, along with the rest of the cast.  It was enjoyable to listen to a different version of the play, while still visualizing the play I had seen already in my head.  I am really glad I was able to see the play in person, first.  There is a lot more to this musical than just music!

Once I returned home, I found out some more exciting news about the Peanuts gang.  Peanuts is going to hit the movie theaters in 3D!  I am really excited about this.  Unfortunately, It is going to be a whole year before it comes out.  Scheduled to hit theaters not this Christmas, but NEXT Christmas in the year of 2015.  It is a long time from now, but I think it will be worth the wait.  

Broadway Musicals (featuring "The Lion King")

I had the opportunity to see the Broadway Musical of “The Lion King” this weekend. So far, I have seen three Broadway musicals. I saw “Dreamgirls” on Broadway in New York, when I was in Jr. High (though I wanted to see “Cats” instead). I saw “Les Misérables” in Spokane with a church group of mine, and this last one, I saw at the Paramount in Seattle.

When I saw “Dreamgirls” for the first time, I knew nothing about it. I was excited to see a play that was actually playing on Broadway, but I was disappointed that the person in charge of our tour group chose “Dreamgirls” over “Cats.” The theater was pretty though. We all dressed up, because in New York, that is what you do. I really liked the dress I wore to it.

The play, as a Jr. High student, didn’t really excite me much. Oh sure, the singing was excellent, but the plot at the time kind of bored me, the costumes seemed like regular-people clothes, and the sets were just backdrops of color. I have been thinking about renting the movie lately though, since I don’t really remember much more than that. I think I might appreciate it more now.

The second play, “Les Misérables” was way more exciting to me. I went with a group of single adults from my church, we dressed a little more casual, but still in skirts in dresses. I remember some people being a little more formal, but I don’t remember anyone being more casual than what we were. The theater building in Spokane was nothing exciting. We sat far away, but that didn’t seem to matter, in fact it was a good spot to sit, because the sets were spectacular! The costumes were great, as they suited the time period, and I love the music from it. One of my friends thinks the music is kind of repetitive, which annoys him, but that didn’t bother me. I thought it was an excellent musical, and I highly recommend it.

So finally, after years of waiting to go see “The Lion King,” I finally decided to get tickets! I was given some money for Christmas, and instead of saving it towards a different car, I decided I wanted this more. I still need to decide what I really want in a car anyway.

The Paramount in Seattle is a very pretty building on the inside, very ornate. My friend and I were in the lobby, up one flight, and decided to take some photos. Immediately, two of the people downstairs shouted, “NO PHOTOS IN THE THEATRE, PUT YOUR CAMERAS AWAY!!!” The lady shouted it twice, even though both of us were putting our cameras away as soon as she said it. I just replied, “Okay!” in a tone that was like, “I’m sorry, I did not know…”

I can understand why no photos would be allowed during the performance or even in the seating area, but I don’t understand why they wouldn’t let people take photos of the beautiful architecture inside. My friend made some comment “you think we were spray-painting the walls!” to me. But I digress….

In Seattle at a play, you can basically wear anything to it, nobody really seems to care. There were some people who dressed up, and some who wore jeans, one girl even wore those trendy ripped jeans. So pretty much anything goes. I wore slacks, a nice blouse, and some pretty earrings to dress my outfit up a little. It was freezing outside, and we decided to look around a bit before heading into the theater.

When we were finally seated, it was pretty far back. Almost the very back. Luckily, we brought our binoculars with us. If you go to “The Lion King” and you sit towards the back, I highly suggest you do this. The costumes are spectacular and very detailed, but it is kind of hard to see the great details when you are that far away. I also suggest not sitting too close, because it is also nice to see everything that is going on on stage. The costumes really are great though, very unique. The musical follows the original Disney movie in some ways, but it changes it enough to make it interesting. Expect to hear some new great songs, and some different arrangements. The young Simba and Nala, I especially liked. The boy who plays young Simba is very talented. The older Simba and Nala are great too. A female plays Rafiki, her character was very humorous, and she has an outstanding voice. It was all just so beautiful.

After the show, there were many positive comments, one little girl (I think she may have been nine), thought it was “the best time ever.” At least I think that is what she said…

All in all, it is a great show. If it comes to a city near you, you should check it out, when you get the chance.