Theater tickets!

Early this fall, Mandy and I were strolling through one of the many art festivals in Piedmont Park when we stumbled across the Broadway in Atlanta tent. Only a few minutes later, we were Fox Theater season ticket holders!  Then we proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon perusing the artist's fares and soaking up the end of summer. It was a brilliant day that I continue to reap the benefits of!

 

We've attended 1 of the 6 shows and so far, so good! I am really, really excited for Book of Mormon, but I'm also really excited about getting out and doing things that I enjoy! It's such a special Thursday night treat, the tickets weren't outrageously priced, and it would make the perfect date night. I have to admit though, it's doesn't make for a bad girls night either!

 

What have you done lately for yourself that you are excited about?

 

Musically Inclined

Remember last winter when I went to 2 awesome productions over the span of a week?

I don't know if I told ya'll, but I then listened to the soundtracks on repeat for the next 2 months, or 1/6 of 525,600 minutes. Sorry I'm not really sorry, poor officemate. We have a music out loud policy, and since I own the iPod and iPod player, I get to pick the music. I like to refer to it as Katie's Office Musical. That could make a great televsision show, just sayin'.  I know I've come so far...but I've got so far to go! :)



Finally sometime around late January I decided that I had finally had enough of Rent and Hairspray and added some Wicked into the mix, which prolonged the Katie's Office Musical Hour another 3 weeks or so.

In March I finally laid my "Showtunes" playlist to rest... or so I thought. I made a new playlist with popular songs that were on the radio. Hey Mama, Welcome to the 60's! But it's been less than 2 months and I've switched back over to the Showtunes playlist. You just can't stop the beat.

"If you fear the storm ahead, as you lie awake, lie awake in bed, And there's no one, no one there to stroke your hand, And your mind, your mind reels, if your face is salty wet and you're drowning in regret...just don't forget."

Anyway, just thought ya'll should know that my secret obsessions are weird and really kind of...obsessive. At least you don't have to listen to me singing along!

No other love, no other way, no day but today.

I'm on a MAJOR musical kick, in case you haven't noticed. I blogged a couple of weeks ago about my lucky streak, and going to see Rent last week was a part of that.

The entrance to the theater!

Yes, I saw Hairspray one night and Rent the next. And I may or may not have mad a "Musicals" playlist comprised of Rent & Hairspray songs. And I might have listened to that playlist on my way to the airport this morning, home from the airport this morning, and then on my way to the airport again this evening. Thanks, AirTran, for both of the round-trip tickets! I'll put them to good use! 

All the actors/actresses pictures on display!

Anyway - on to Rent. IT WAS AWESOME. I know Hairspray was awesome. But so was Rent. After seeing it, I realized that Rent is probably a really difficult musical to put on without the funding from a major production theater. However, Fabrefaction's performances were top notch. The music was really great, the acting was well done, and the theater was small and personalized enough that I felt like I was getting an intimate performance, just me and the actors. I loved it! And, I really have listened to the soundtrack for the last 24 hours straight.

Part of the stage, with the LIVE BAND underneath the set!

The people at Fabrefaction were SO NICE (my friend Jackie is on crutches and they were super accomodating!) and even sought us out afterwards to talk about upcoming shows and whether or not we liked it. Plus, the location rocks. For you Atlanta folks, it's behind Chow Baby off Howell Mill, over in the Westside District. My new favorite place! If you aren't an Atlanta native, based on my 2 experiences last week, I highly recommend checking out local theaters for their production schedule. You can usually get tickets for less than $25 and if you aren't socially awkward like me, you could probably stick around and meet the actors.

Hats off to you, Rent performers, because that was awesome! I'll be listening to the soundtrack approximately 525,600 times.

PS - I wrote about Hairspray & Rent because I went and becuase I was really impressed, not because anybody told me I had to. Over & out.

I wish every day was negro day.

Name that musical.

If you guessed Hairspray, you guessed right. And that may be my favorite line in the whole musical mainly because of my roommates when I lived in Spain. We might have watched that movie 17 times while I was there. We didn't have internet, but we had movies, and the Tudors.

ANYWAY - I went with my sweet friend Jackie to go see Hairspray at the MJCCA because one of her friends was in it. Her friend got knocked up and got kicked off the Corny Collins show early on... 

I'm pretty sure Lauren & Lindsay over at the Q+DD discussed this musical and also had personal connections so really that is reason enough to go, but seriously - it was afro-tastic. Dudes in drag singing better than I can, a positively perfect Penny Pingleton... I was grining from ear to ear the whole time! And, the theater was small and Jacks snagged us 2nd row seats, so all the actors and actresses could see me with my giant smile and I like to think it was encouraging to them. Jury is still out on encouraging vs. creepy. I also decided against taking pictures with the actors and actresses. I think then the jury wouldn't be out and I would have just been straight creepy.

Sometimes I wish my life was a musical. Anyone else? I'm turning it into one, because next up tonight is RENT (also with Jackie... are you sensing a theme here?) Hopefully I will not be too freaked out to take pictures, because I read somewhere that they help you gain more readers. I guess my humor and wit ain't cutting it. But, in the famous words of Tracy Turnblad... You can't stop the beat!