The Sound of Music ~ A Review

Janell, I stole your parents for the evening. . . . and I liked it!! mwuahahaha!!!!

Ok, so a group of us attended The Sound of Music at the 24th St. Theater last weekend. . . it was delightful! Many of plays have I seen at this theater, and all are worth the $20 admission price (with the exception of one which I will not name but which we left after the first scene and were able to get our money back). If you are unaware of the story line, here is a synopsis:

“In 1930's Austria, a young woman named Maria is failing miserably in her attempts to become a nun. When the Navy captain Georg Von Trapp writes to the convent asking for a governess that can handle his seven mischievous children, Maria is given the job. The Captain's wife is dead, and he is often away, and runs the household as strictly as he does the ships he sails on. The children are unhappy and resentful of the governesses that their father keeps hiring, and have managed to run each of them off one by one. When Maria arrives, she is initially met with the same hostility, but her kindness, understanding, and sense of fun soon draws them to her and brings some much-needed joy into all their lives--including the Captain’s. Eventually he and Maria find themselves falling in love, even though Georg is already engaged to a Baroness and Maria is still a postulant. The romance makes them both start questioning the decisions they have made. Their personal conflicts soon become overshadowed, however, by world events. Austria is about to come under the control of Germany, and the Captain may soon find himself drafted into the German navy and forced to fight against his own country.” Written by LOTUS73

If you would like to attend this performance you must hurry!! The last showing is on November 23! (also, I would recommend dining first at Crepeville, across the street from the theater)

Sweeney Todd ~ A Review

Ok. . . Sweeney Todd has captured my attention for a while now. It perhaps started when I heard Josh Groban sing “Not while I’m around” live in concert. I then met Josh and learned that his dog’s name was Sweeney . . . “as in Sweeney Todd??” said I.

I learned about a month ago that Sweeney Todd, the Broadway musical, was coming to Sacramento and was playing at the Music Circus, Wells Fargo Pavilion. I was determined to get a group together to see this well known musical. Several of my closest buds had agreed to go and we set the plan in motion.

First of all. . . I had never been to the Music Circus before. It was great!! The theater was situated with seats surrounding a small stage in the center. The actors/actresses would enter from several corridors making it a bit more interactive with the theater goers. The atmosphere is quite a bit more relaxed than the Sacramento Community Theater . . . one may purchase food and beverages in the outside pavilion (complete with waterfall) and bring these goods inside the theater!

Ok . . . on to the story of Mr. Todd. According to Wikipedia, “In Stephen Sondheim's 1979 stage musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the 1973 play of the same name by Christopher Bond, Todd was known as Benjamin Barker, a middle class barber, married to Lucy Barker with an infant daughter Johanna. The villainous Judge Turpin exiles Barker to Australia on false charges in order to have Lucy to himself. Mrs. Lovett tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself and that Turpin adopted baby Johanna as his ward. By the time Todd returns to London, Johanna has become a young woman and falls in love with a sailor, Anthony, with whom she plans to elope.

In the Sondheim musical, Mrs. Lovett takes in an orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, after Sweeney kills Toby's previous guardian, Adolfo Pirelli, who turns out to be a former assistant of his that tries to blackmail him. Toby is the first character to catch onto Sweeney Todd's crimes and also is responsible for Todd's death in the finale.”
Benjamin Barker, Sweeney Todd, is full of hate, vengeance and murder. His sole purpose is to kill Judge Turpin but after the first killing of Mr. Pirelli, Sweeney cannot stop his lust for blood. He begins to kill all of his customers and Mrs. Lovett then makes meat pies out of them to sell in her shop . . . “Seems an awful waste...I mean, with the price of meat what it is, When you get it...If you get it...” she argues.

It was actually quite funny, yet gorey and morbid. While my good buddy Chris would argue with me on this subject, I believe that the moral of the story is what sin, vengeance, bitterness and hate can do to a person. Mr. Barker was not an animal with murderous intents when the whole story started. Yes, he was done wrong . . .very wrong, but he allowed thoughts to enter his head and after the first taste of blood he could no longer control his hunger for vengeance and was eaten up with it. (this could deffinitely preach!!!) It just shows how low humanity can go without even really realizing it . . . This man no longer cared who he killed, when he killed them, or how. . . . . Think good and hard before you let bitterness and hate creep into your heart. . . . dumm dum dum dum duuuummmmmmm (scary music)

Go ahead Chris. . . I know you are ready with a rebuttle. . . ha!!

The Phantom of the Opera: A review

Last Saturday night I enjoyed my graduation present from my wonderful brother. . . . orchestra seat tickets to the last performance of The Phantom of the Opera at the Sacramento Community Theater. In addition to myself, Ryan & Kelly, Bro. & Sis. Moya, my mom and dad, James & Emily, Jared & Charity, Nate & Amanda, Ryan C. & LaChrisha and Drew also enjoyed the performance. I have to say. . . . I have seen The Phantom of the Opera at least 3 or 4 times and this performance was THE BEST YET!! I was almost brought to tears when the phantom provided such a heart wrenching performance of “the music of the night” . . . . (The phantom, listening and watching Raul and Christine sing “that’s all I ask of you” and feeling betrayed, softly sings “I gave you my music, made your song take wing . . . and now, how you’ve repaid me . . . denied me and betrayed me. . . . Christine. . . .”) and then wraps up the night with outstanding acting and singing as Christine must make a choice between freeing Raul and staying with the phantom forever or leaving Raul to perish as she makes her escape. It was all very emotional. More emotions were to come when I saw a picture of the phantom in the playbill (very nice) and decided to catch a peek of the actual actors as they were exiting the building. I was disappointed. . . . the phantom did not seem to be the same dashing man whose photograph was in the playbill, but rather an older and a bit “heftier” version. LOL! Oh well . . . he still did wonderfully! I was much pleased with the whole production and cannot thank my brother enough for this exceptional gift.


I haven't been able to stop singing "Phantom" songs since. . . *sigh*