Weekend Show - Iris

I got so freaking lucky on Saturday night and at the very last minute got a free ticket four rows back from the stage for Cirque du Soleil's Iris. I was so freaking stocked! I have been wanting to see this show since the second I found out about it. Heck, I wanted to work on the show the second I found out about it. And it was everything I imagined it would be. The technology, the acrobatics, everything. Amazing! I grew up going to Cirque shows in Vegas with my parents and brother when my dad had to go to conventions and I recall all of their shows being awesome, especially O. I'm not sure if it was the subject matter of the show or me being older and more appreciate of the show, but I think this one was probably the best. Which is interesting because the guy at the merchandise stand told me that some people walk out because they don't like it and one of my mom's co-workers didn't like it either. The show was just so pretty and to see what the Kodak Theatre is capable of is just awesome. I was in awe. I'm definitely thinking that my background in theatre and my appreciation for film has a lot to do with me liking it so much. Too bad it's is so expensive, otherwise I would go see that thing 100 more times. It's here for like 10 years so maybe the ticket prices will go down. Either way, I will find a way to see the show again!

Weekend Show - John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl

Another wonderful Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl. I was scared it was going to be hot because it was ridiculously hot during the day, but surprisingly it was cool. Anyway, I went with the parentals to see John Williams with special guest James Taylor. I went to the show last year and I knew all the Star Wars fanatics were going to be there, but I don't think anyone is ever prepared to see 2,000+ light sabers come out. It looks very cool and my parents loved it.

The show this year was a bit odd. The first half was music from all his cowboy movies where James Taylor read a story and sang a song and then the second half was all his famous movies like Harry Potter, ET, Star Wars, etc. I was a little disappointed because I feel like they could have showed more movie clips than they did. I know it's all about the music, but it's always nice to see the 2 paired together. There was one really cool thing they did with Indian Jones though. They showed the clip without music and John Williams spoke us through the action and then they showed the clip again with the music. It was very fun. But definitely more movie clips would have been better. Either way, John Williams is awesome and it's insane to me that he has all that music in his head.

Weekend Movies and Show - Thor, Bridesmaids and God of Carnage

This weekend was a little jam packed with entertainment, which was a very nice change of pace. My boss gave everyone in our office movie passes for making him look good and he told us to go to the movies during our work time so on Friday, his assistant and I went to see Thor. It was totally not what I expected. I thought it was going to be a total war movie, but it wasn't at all. I mean there was fighting and what not, but not all out war. Basically, there is Thor in his world and he does something bad to get him banished by his father to Earth. There he meets Natalie Portman and her friends and his goal is to get back to his home. Other stuff ensues, but that would just ruin the movie. Natalie Portman has been searching for other life forms her whole life and then this guy comes along and proves her theories right and they fall in love blah blah. There were some very cheesy parts to the movie, but it was entertaining. If you're looking for mind numbing fun, this might be a good movie. I think Natalie Portman needs to pick it back up though. She was in an awesome award winning role and then does stupid movies like Thor.

On Saturday night I saw Bridesmaids because I kept hearing how awesome it was. People get saying it was the female version of The Hangover. I disagree completely. The Hangover was funny and had me laughing a lot, but Bridesmaids just made me sad. People around me were dying of laughter and I was just sad. The stuff that happened in the movie was sad. The main character was losing her best friend and destroying her happy moments and it just wasn't funny. Obviously, everything turns out good in the end. It definitely had me laughing at some points, but for the most part it made me feel bad for the characters. It's not necessarily a chick flick so if you're interested, you should see it.

Finally, last night I saw God of Carnage at the Ahmanson with my mom. I wanted to see it so badly because of Marcia Gay Harden and Jeff Daniels and of course they were both amazing. It's about these 2 couples coming together to discuss the fact that one kid hit the other kid with a stick and knocked 2 teeth out. The rest of the drama ensues from there. The set was destroyed by the end of the show. It had me laughing quite a bit. All the actors were from the original Broadway show and they won some awards so it was an awesome privilege to see them.

Weekend Show - HAIR

I saw HAIR with my mom on Friday night. I figured she would be the best person to take because she loves the show and loved the production I did in college.

I’m always skeptical of other HAIR productions because I’ve seen the script and I know that it’s very open to interpretation. Some directors can do good things and some can do bad. I’ve seen both. This one was pretty good. The first act was a little slow, but the second act was definitely better. The guy who played Claude had the most amazing voice!

The thing that bothered me a little was the fact that there was no dancing. Yeah, the tribe members moved around and danced on their own during musical numbers, but there was no choreographed dancing. The production I did had choreographed dancing and it made the first act less boring, I think.

I think everyone should see this show. It’s about the war and being drafted and peace and all that hippie stuff. Don’t see the movie. Don’t ever see the movie. You’re doing yourself a real disservice if you do. See the play. It’s at the Pantages until January 23.

Weekend Show - The Glass Menagerie

My mom is part of a book club that also has season tickets to the Mark Taper Forum at the Music Center. The Mark Taper is known for doing more of the artsy plays. The Ahmanson does all the big shows and the Mark Taper does the straight plays that tend to be on the weirder side. This past Sunday, they had tickets to see The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and they had an extra ticket and I really wanted to go. I, of course, learned about Tennessee Williams as a theatre major and all the symbolism in his plays and how they're pretty much all about his messed up family. Well, The Glass Menagerie is probably the closest to an accurate depiction of his family. Usually, he just used his family as inspiration for his plays, but this one was almost spot on. I was a little disappointed though. All of his plays have a major climax, but this one doesn't. Yes, the play is very sad, but there's no huge event that turns your guts, you know.

In real life, Tennessee Williams's father was a traveling salesman who also happened to be an alcoholic, his mother was borderline hysteric and his sister was diagnosed with schizophrenia. This play portrays a father who is a traveling sales man who never returned home, a mother who is kind of nuts and won't leave him the hell alone and a sister who is crippled and super shy. At the end, the Tennessee Williams type character leaves and never returns. Kind of sad, but also kind of boring. I wanted an explosion. I was waiting for an explosion. At intermission I was preparing myself for an explosion between the mother and the son. The son kept talking about a boy he was going to bring home for his sister and I wanted the son tells his mom the boy is his gay lover. After all, Tennessee Williams was gay. But nope. That didn't happen. So all in all, I was bored and disappointed. All of Tennessee Williams's plays have a crazy climax that changes everything. I want to rewrite this one and give it a huge climax.

Weekend Show - John Williams and the Music of the Movies

Nerd Alert! I went to the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday night to see John Williams conduct music from famous movies including music he composed. I thought the entire show was going to be his music because he's pretty much composed every movie ever, but that was not the case. He and the LA Phil played quite a few movies that weren't John Williams movies, such as Sunset Blvd, which I've never seen, but am now very interested. The movie is about a silent film actress whose career is no longer and desperately wants it back. She meets a man and kills him for whatever reason and all the attention she gets from the police makes her believe her career is back. Very interesting. They also played a tribute to Audrey Hepburn, which was amazing. The main violinist played the song from Sabrina while clips of Audrey Hepburn played. Sigh. She's so amazing. Screw you Emma Thompson for not liking her!

I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically
twee ... Twee is whimsy without wit. It is mimsy-mumsy sweetness without
any kind of bite. And that's not for me. She can't sing and she can't
...really act, I'm afraid. I'm sure she was a delightful woman — andperhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I
don't and I didn't, so that's all there is to it really.

Anyway, I digress. I'm just bitter. Another movie they played the music from was Psycho and even after all these years, that movie is still incredibly creepy. The fact that Norman Bates watches the chick through the peep hole he's carved out in his room and the fact that he keeps him mom's skeleton locked up. Creepy! Of course, they played the theme from Indiana Jones and Jaws. It made me realize that I've never seen Jaws all the way through. There are famous scenes that I know, but I've never actually watched the movie in its entirety. I need to add that one to my list as well.

This is where the nerd alert hits. We all know John Williams did the theme for Star Wars and that was the finale of the show. As we sat waiting for the show to start, we saw a bunch of people walking around with their lightsabers in their ridiculous Jesus robes and we thought nothing of it, but we finally realize the severity of the situation when the Star Wars theme began to play. Every single person raised their lightsaber. At that point I wasn't sure if my IQ went sky high or dropped a bunch of points. Even John Williams was shocked to see all the lightsabers. He turned around to face the audience at one point and had a look of utter shock on his face. Then, he played the Darth Vader theme and all the lightsabers were moving in time. The group I was with was probably the coolest group there. We were just surrounded by uber nerds. They all made noise too. People would turn them on and they would make the lightsaber noise. Seriously ridiculous. Funny, but ridiculous.

The show was entertaining and good, but I was hoping the entire show would be John Williams music. I was hoping for Jurassic Park and Harry Potter and what not. I was happy with that I got, don't get me wrong, but John Williams has done some amazing stuff. One person from my group over heard someone saying they thought the entire show was going to be Star Wars music. Can you imagine? I don't think I would have gone to that show....

Here are some pictures we took in case no one believed us. They're a little dark, but all those tiny lights in the audience are lightsabers.

Weekend Show - Master Chorale

This weekend was a very busy weekend. Graduation parties and baby showers and Tupperware parties and somehow in the middle of all of that, I was able to see my very first show at the Disney Concert Hall, The Master Chorale. I drive by it everyday on the way to work, yet I have never been inside. I know all the controversy surrounding the building and who the architect is and I was always curious to know what it looked like inside. Let me tell you, it is freaking awesome. They spent a lot of money on that damn building. When you actually get into the house, the acoustics and lights and architecture are pretty amazing. There is 360 seating and every seat is a good seat. If you needed an emergency exit, some seats aren’t so great, but otherwise there was not a bad seat in the house. We sat behind the stage area and we got to watch the conductor the entire time. He was intense and that’s all that needed to be seen really. During the show, I would catch myself starring at the architecture in the room and the audience members across the way. Totally worth sitting in a funky spot.

On top of all that, The Master Chorale was pretty amazing. I’ve never been a big fan of choir music or even watching a choir for that matter, but this was just awesome. They sang a bunch of different songs. Folk Music, Spiritual Slave Music, etc. Some of the songs even had my mom bawling. The sound was just so pretty. It gave me goose bumps. Now I’m curious to see how an orchestra sounds in there.