Way Down to Hadestown

Tonight Phoebe and a friend hung out by seeing the filmed version of the Broadway show Hadestown. The theater is about 30 minutes from our house. Since I had to drive there anyway, I took Cooper and Sophie and we saw it too!

The five principle actors were the same that I saw in the original cast in 2019. It was so cool that I got to share this beautiful show with some of my kids.

When In Rome

I had a great time tonight with friends watching a Shakespeare production I'd never seen or read. Coriolanus was very well done. For me, a mark of good Shakespeare is how easy it is to understand. The actors did a great job making the meaning of their words clear. I was also pleased with how quickly my brain switched into Shakespeare mode. It's good to know that knowledge still exists in my brain!

Austenland

Tonight my friend and I saw The Complete Works of Jane Austen abridged at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and had a grand time. Once again, it's great being "the theatre friend." 

On the Wheels of a Dream

A few months ago my dear friend Brett told me that she and her husband would be in New York for a few days in March and asked if Bryan and I could join them for one of those days. We cleared our calendars and thoroughly prepped the kids to take care of everyone (mostly Topher) at home.

On a day in mid-March we got up extra early, made sure we were ready for an adventure, dropped Sophie off at chorus before school, and drove to a park and ride lot in New Jersey. We took a bus into New York, then walked to The Morgan Library and Museum to meet our friends!

This is the second time I've been to this library, but I had only seen one small section the first time. Most of this was new to me. And it was so beautiful!

Photo credit Brett

In addition to the three story collection of books, there were grand offices, an art display, and exhibits about Mozart and storytelling.

This was Mozart's childhood violin.

And this is where Mozart sat and did most of his composing.

Me and my buddy Will.

I feel this quote deep in my soul.

I really loved the exhibit about storytelling. These are pictures from Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust.

Here are some of Henry David Thoreau's journals.

A cell from Plane Crazy, the first Mickey Mouse film.

After the library, we grabbed some pizza, took a few pictures in Times Square, and headed to the theater.

Photo credit Brett

Photo credit Ben

The first Broadway show Bryan and I ever saw was The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee during a trip to visit our friends who lived in NYC, almost twenty-one years ago. Here's a much younger version of me next to that original poster.

When Brett said she and Ben wanted to see the off-Broadway revival and invited us to join them, we said yes!

It was a fantastic production! And it was in a theater complex I'd never been to. It was almost completely underground and had six theaters, kind of like a movie theater with several screens, but for live theater instead, which I think is such a cool concept.

We took a picture with one of the cast members after the show.

We had a little time between the show and dinner, so we explored The Drama Book Shop.

We ate a delicious dinner at a noodle shop that had gluten free options. Then we said goodbye to Brett and Ben (and Brett's brother and sister-in-law who had joined us for dinner) and Bryan and I began the long walk uptown to Lincoln Center.

I've wanted to see Ragtime since it first debuted in the 90s. When I heard it was being revived, I brainstormed ways to go see it. The invitation from Brett to join them in NYC gave us a reason to be in the city. Why not stay a little longer and see a second show? Bryan and I talked about it and we tried to get tickets, but were initially unsuccessful. A few days before the trip I was looking up other shows that we might see instead. Bryan asked me what I was doing and I told him. His response, "Oh, don't buy tickets to anything. We have tickets to Ragtime that night."

YAY!!!!

It was absolutely transformative, possibly the best thing I've ever seen on Broadway. The singing, the acting, the staging, the lighting, the costumes, the pit, all of it was stunning. And the message of Ragtime was so beautiful and sad and full of hope. It was just what I needed.

Also, a key scene takes place at The JP Morgan Library! It was so cool to see a replica of the big bronze doors that we had just seen in person that morning.

Brett and Ben, thanks for asking us to join you in NYC, it was a wonderful day! It was so great to hangout in person and to talk as we walked around the city!

Musicville

Sophie's school musical was this past weekend and she was marvelous as the villain! 

The show was Musicville and each character was musical notation or the embodiment of some piece of music theory. There were characters named Counterpoint and Syncopation and Forte. Sophie played the Sorcerer of Silence, a whole rest who wants the constant music to stop. (Yes, the irony of Sophie playing someone who thinks music is awful noise was not lost on us.) She poisons the water to take away each persons voice. The two heroes go on a quest to undo her magic. It was kind of The Little Mermaid meets The Wizard of Oz, with music theory.

Sophie owned the stage whenever she was on it! She had fantastic presence and wonderful song and line delivery.

All of her Young Women leaders came to see her on opening night! They brought their kids with them, hence Sophie's crowd of fans.

We were there to support her on opening night as well. Peter stayed home sick, but he was able to see her in her second performance as the Sorcerer.

The show is always double cast. She played the villain for two performances and was in the chorus as a townsperson and a tangero (the inhabitants of the part of Musicville where they love Tango) for the other two.

More sweet friends, from church and our children's choir, came to see her second night as a lead.

She got to hang out with castmates at Applebee's after one of the shows. This is a great group of girls.

Here she is in tangero mode during her final show.

After the last show, the kids were invited to come take pictures onstage. 

The whole cast did a great job! And, of course, Sophie was my favorite person on that stage!

Well done, Sophie!

Hours of Curls

Bonus Grease post: I had to document the curls we were able to achieve. There is so much hairspray holding them together, but they lasted all the way through many dance numbers! These pictures are from two different show days. We learned that a regular curling iron didn't work for her hair, but curling with a flat iron did the trick.

Grease is the Word

The last four months of work culminated in performance weekend for Phoebe. She did a wonderful job in Grease! She was one of five members of the cheerleading ensemble. She also danced in several group numbers, usually highlighted in the front. And she had some funny bits as a background performer. 

She had lots of fun, but she's glad she can sleep on a regular basis again.

Due to the PG-13 nature of the show, Topher and Peter didn't attend. I took Cooper and Sophie on Thursday, opening night. Then Bryan and I saw it on Saturday night.

Great job, Phoebe!