We are all characters in this story called life. What we do with the days that we are given is up to us, but remember that what we do can also impact the lives of others. Make the most of every day.
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend the Broadway on Tour performance of Jersey Boys at the Ohio Theatre. I had heard lots of positive things about the show and was definitely looking forward to seeing what it was all about.
Well, the show and the packed house did not disappoint. It's the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and how the group came to be. The story is told in a very entertaining way from the perspectives of all four members of the group in four segments (seasons) and they use the seemingly endless hits that they produced to do it. I've been to several of the shows in Columbus the past few years and this was probably the most the entire audience has gotten into the entire performance.
You don't realize how many hits these guys had until they just keep singing and singing. It was a very interesting look into life on the road for four guys and all the things that go into keeping groups together and watching them fall apart. The rise and fall of relationships, financial struggles, sacrifices, and successes.
Nick Cosgrove as Frankie Valli really delivered with a voice that you just don't find anywhere. Jason Kappus as Bob Gaudio, Brandon Andrus as Nick Massi, and Nicolas Dromard as Tommy DeVito were also outstanding. All four really embraced their roles and seemed perfect for the personality that they were portraying.
If you are looking for a fun evening out, this is a show for you. There is some language that would not be suitable for children, so just make this a date night and enjoy!
Last night, I had the opportunity to take the family to see the Broadway show Wicked at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus. This was my third time to see it and it seems to get better each time!
The story is basically a prequel to the story of the Wizard of Oz and attempts to explain what all is going on when Dorothy arrives. However, it's a story like you've never heard with lots of plot twists and turns that you never expected.
The show starts by showing how Glinda, the Good Witch, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, met in school. Like any relationship between strong personalities, their story has its ups and downs, but after a rocky start as rivals they become friends.
Jenn Gambatese, an Ohio native, stars as Glinda and does a great job of portraying the self-absorbed blonde with great vocal range and a flair for the overly dramatic. She has great comedic timing and provides plenty of laughs with her antics.
The star of the show is Alison Luff, who has only been portraying Elphaba for just over a month since joining the team. While she may not have been 'greenified' for very long, she pulls off the performance with aplomb. Her vocal skills were so outstanding that my oldest daughter leaned over to me at one point and said "Dad, she sings better than the Elphaba on the (original cast recording) CD." That's pretty high praise. She also did a great job of portraying the misunderstood girl who grew up to wear the label of Wicked Witch. Of the three different performers I've seen portray the Elphaba character, she was definitely the best. The young woman has some serious pipes and had the best rendition of "Defying Gravity" that I've heard.
Curt Hansen was strong in his role as Fiyero, the love interest of both of the main characters as well as some of the swooning women in the packed house. He also nailed his songs including his duet with Luff on "As Long As You're Mine", which is my personal favorite song in the show.
Fiyero and Elphaba singing "As Long As You're Mine"
Kim Zimmer as Madame Morrible and John Davidson as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz both brought plenty of experience on stage and television to the show and did a good job in their roles. The rest of the cast was also outstanding and never missed a beat.
How much do I like this show? I would go to the performance each night if my schedule and bank account would allow it. In fact, I need to see if there is a way to volunteer to be an usher because it would be worth it just to hear the show each night. It's that good!
Ashley, Carla, and Kylie getting ready for the show to start
Tonight, I had the opportunity to take my family to the Palace Theatre in Columbus to see NETworks presents Disney's Beauty and the Beast and what a fun night it was.
When we arrived, our girls (ages 11 and 7) were excited to see that we were sitting a mere seven rows from the stage. They had been to two previous Broadway shows (Mary Poppins and Wicked), but both times our seats had been in the balcony fairly far back. They could not wait for the show to start so they could see the actors up close and personal.
The plot of the show follows the script of the Disney movie by the same name, so my girls were able to just sit back and enjoy the action as they already knew the story. They remained attentive throughout the entire show which lasted a little over two and a half hours yet never seemed that long.
The show was extremely enjoyable and very well done. Every single character played his or her role very well. Hilary Maiberger as Belle nailed the lead role and has an incredible singing voice. She seemed perfect in the role. She also had good chemistry with Darick Pead, who played Beast. Jeff Brooks stepped into the role of Gaston for the night and I cannot imagine the main actor being any more believable. In fact, if this was his first time to move up as understudy, I'm guessing he'll get a lot more chances. Hassan Nazari-Robati (Lumiere), James May (Cogsworth), and Erin Edelle (Mrs. Potts) were also excellent in their roles as servants turned household objects in Beast's palace.
Belle (Hilary Maiberger) and Beast (Darick Pead)
If you are looking for a fun date night out or a good evening for the whole family, this show is for you. It's only in Columbus through Sunday, though, so don't miss your opportunity. You can find all the showtime details and ticket information by going to the CAPA website.
If you have followed this blog very long at all, you know that my wife, Carla, and I enjoy checking out Broadway musicals whenever we can. Well, last night, we had the opportunity to attend the opening night performance of Memphis at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus and we were blown away by the show!
The backdrop for the story is 1950s Memphis, Tennessee where segregation is still a very real every-day issue with a strong line drawn between black and white. Enter Huey, a white man with only a 9th-grade education but a love and appreciation for the rock and roll music of the underground black clubs and a penchant for creating his own words and off-the-wall sponsorship plugs as a radio DJ who plays black music on a white station and the journey begins. The plot explores the racially-charged issues of the day and shows how music has a way of bringing people of different races together.
This show, which won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Show, was high energy from the very beginning with incredible voices, talented and funny actors, and fast-moving, high-flying dance scenes. There was not a weak link in the cast and every one from the lead performers to the ensemble and swing groups contributed to the success of the show.
Bryan Fenkart as Huey was a perfect fit. He has a great balance of comedic timing, strong singing voice, and dance skills to successfully lead the show with pizzaz and humor. Felicia Boswell as Felicia, an undiscovered black singer longing for her big break, has incredible pipes and kept the crowd clamoring their approval on several numbers as she just kept going for more and more as she knocked out several big songs. Quentin Earl Darrington is another incredibly talented performer with a booming voice in the role of Delray, a club owner/music producer and Felicia's brother. Will Mann (Bobby), Rhett George (Gator), and William Parry (Mr. Simmons) are also exceptional in their roles, while Julie Johnson steals the show from time to time as Huey's doting mother, who can sing even better than she can keep you in stitches with her lines and dance moves. Seriously, the entire cast is incredible and I could go on and on writing things about all of them.
I've been to several musicals like Mamma Mia! and Rock of Ages where the crowd really responds to the songs because they are so familiar with them. While I had never heard any of the Memphis songs before, I felt like the crowd really embraced each number and the whole theatre was just waiting to explode as we all had a great time. I've been humming the songs ever since and I can definitely say that now "Memphis Lives in Me".
If you want to enjoy a night out without the kids and watch some incredibly talented performers execute a well-written script and belt out some great songs, then Memphis is the show for you. But, don't waste any time as it will only be at the Ohio Theatre through June 3. For complete ticket information, visit the CAPA website.
Last night, my wife, Carla, and I had the opportunity to go see Mamma Mia! on opening night at the Palace Theatre in Columbus and what a fun time we had!
Over the last couple of years, we have really come to appreciate all of the great Broadway Across America shows that CAPA brings to Central Ohio. For us, it all started when we saw Mamma Mia! the last time it was in Columbus and we have been hooked ever since and try to go whenever it fits into our busy schedules and tight budget. We've even introduced our kids to a couple of shows as they have now seen Wicked and Mary Poppins and loved both of them.
Back to last night's show...we arrived along with what appeared on the main level to be a near capacity crowd who all seemed eager to have a fun evening. Once the doors opened and we all settled into our seats, the fun began and ran uninterrupted nearly three hours with one intermission between the two acts.
The setting is a Greek island where a wedding is about to take place. It's the story of a single mom (Donna) and her daughter (Sophie) and everything that has led up to this big day. There are lots of twists and turns and plenty of laughs as Sophie tries to figure out who is going to walk her down the aisle on her big day. And, it's all set to the backdrop of ABBA's greatest hits!
Chloe Tucker, who plays Sophie, is a bundle of energy as she handles the role effortlessly. She has good chemistry with Happy Mahaney (Sky) and is equally as talented vocally as she is delivering her lines with both dramatic and comedic timing. If you really want to see her enjoying herself, watch her get after it during the finale. That alone might be worth the price of admission. She was also nice enough to chat with Carla and I after the show, and I found it refreshing how much she still thrives on the role with more than a year of doing it under her belt.
Kaye Tuckerman, who plays Donna, also did a solid job in her role. She nailed all the songs although there were a few times that the sound just was not quite loud enough on some of the quieter parts. It didn't detract from the overall performance, but it would be the only negative that I could find in the show.
For me, what makes the show so much fun are the great comedic relief moments provided by the supporting cast. Donna's old friends and former band members, Tanya (Alison Ewing) and Rosie (Mary Callanan), steal the scenes over and over again and will have you laughing until your sides hurt. Donna's old flames, Sam (Christian Whelan), Bill (John-Michael Zuerlein), and Harry (Paul DeBoy), also each play their roles with gusto and are very talented. And the ensemble cast is very good and works together like one big, happy family. There's even a dance routine in scuba gear that is hilarious.
If you are looking for an entertaining night out that will have you at the very least laughing at the dialogue and tapping your feet to the music, then Mamma Mia! is definitely the show for you. It will continue its run at the Palace Theatre through December 18 and you can find tickets by contacting the CAPA ticket office. This is one show that shouts "Take a Chance on Me" and is well worth it.
On Friday night, my family and I had the opportunity to take in Mary Poppins - The Musical at the historic Ohio Theatre in Columbus and what a fun evening it was!
For us, the story starts well before Friday night as the Disney movie version of the story has long been one of my favorites dating back to my childhood days. As I grew up and started a family of my own, it was one of the first DVDs that we purchased for our girls. At 9 and 6 years old, they have probably watched the movie close to a hundred times and love the story as much as I do. Their self-created dance routine to "Step in Time" is one that would have even Jillian Michaels gasping for air!
So, when I noticed that CAPA was bringing the show to Columbus as part of their Broadway Across America season, I was quick to purchase tickets and have looked forward for months to taking the girls to their first show. I knew this was the perfect opportunity since it was a story that they loved and everyone who had seen it had great things to say.
Well, the show certainly did not disappoint! As soon as the curtain went up and the main house on the set rolled out like a page from a pop-up storybook with people coming out of it, my daughters watched with eyes filled with awe and amazement for the next two hours and 45 minutes as the story unfolded. My oldest daughter, Ashley, would squeeze my arm tightly from time to time and offer whispered commentary about how cool this or that was, and my youngest daughter, Kylie, just sat still (which if you know her is no small feat) and with eyes as big as saucers soaked it all in.
Steffanie Leigh, who plays the title role of Mary Poppins, was outstanding. She nailed all the songs and played the character every bit as well as her movie predecessor, Julie Andrews. In fact, she might have even had a leg up on Andrews as she busted some moves in the dance routines previously unobserved from a prim and proper British nanny. :)
Nicolas Dromard, who plays Bert, the chimney sweep, also did a great job. I remember growing up wishing that I could do all the things that Dick Van Dyke did in the movie version and Nicolas took the role even farther by tap-dancing his way up the walls and across the ceiling of the Ohio Theatre during "Step in Time". I loved his comment midway through that "it's not as easy as it looks". The girls were on the edge of their seats during this part.
The entire cast did a great job with their roles, the sets and costumes were eye-popping, and the entire performance left the audience on their feet clapping along at the encore wanting more. When I asked Kylie what she thought of the show in one word, she said "Awesome!" And, Ashley summed it up best by saying that it was "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" The Parsons' family gives it eight thumbs up - a definite must-see for the entire family!
To purchase tickets for Mary Poppins - The Musical which is in Columbus through May 8 or to find out more information about upcoming shows in the Broadway Across America series coming to town, check out the CAPA website at www.capa.com.
Hi, my name is Dave and I'm an 80's hair band music addict. Yes, that's right, buried beneath the exterior of this guy who typically spends his days doing stats, press releases, and website updates for the successful sports teams of a small private college is a love affair with all the big hair, loud drums, and steely metal sounds associated with 80's rock.
I also really enjoy taking in the different Broadway Across America shows that come to Columbus each year. My wife and I have seen such shows as Mama Mia, Wicked, and Legally Blonde, the Musical and really had a good time enjoying the talented casts, great songs, and vivid sets that go with them.
So with that stage set, you can just guess my anticipation level for Rock of Ages, the acclaimed musical, to come to Columbus. I had tried several times to plan a trip for my wife and I to go to New York to see the show on Broadway. Then, I found out that the show would be coming to Columbus. I've had the dates circled on my calendar for at least six months and the time finally arrived this week.
Late last week, I saw a post on the Columbus Association of Performing Arts (CAPA) Facebook page offering a free ticket in exchange for blogging or tweeting about the show on opening night. I thought...why not? Sure, enough, they sent me an e-mail and said my ticket would be waiting at will call. They gave me another one for a friend and my buddy, George Hartz, went with me.
When we arrived at the Palace Theater, we had a little time to kill and enjoyed listening to all the 80's songs that were being played before the show started. It really helped set the mood for what we were about to watch. There were plenty of members of the crowd who were singing along and, yes, I was among them. George and I were highly entertained by the group of people in the row behind us who only had one volume for their conversation - loud. However, while it could have been annoying it was pretty hilarious and actually made the night more fun. As we were approaching the time for the show to start, one member of that group got a text that the final couple who was supposed to join them wasn't going to make it because they supposedly had a flat tire. Well, that set the group off and they kept talking about how that couple really didn't want to come to the show. More on this later.
The show got under way and it was just as billed and then some. The music was awesome! The live band did a great job all night and all the vocals were outstanding. From the pure standpoint of treating it as a concert, it would have been a success as a top of the line cover band concert. However, what really took it to the next level was the hilarious story that wove all those 80's songs into the framework of Rock of Ages. Whether it was making mash-ups to have two story lines going at once, slowing things down to make it more of a love song, or totally changing the rhythm to fit the comedic element, the music made the show a tremendously funny story-telling experience.
Constantine Maroulis was outstanding in his role as Drew, a rock-n-roll wannabe from Detroit who came to the Sunset Strip to chase his dream. He came off as a low-key, shy guy in conversations, but as soon as he got the microphone in his hand to sing he belted out songs with reckless abandon and passion. It was really a great mix that made his character a down-to-earth one that everyone would root for. (George and I also got to meet him afterwards thanks to CAPA and he was exactly that way in person which was very refreshing.) After watching his performance, it was easy to see why he was nominated for a Tony Award and also had the success that he did on American Idol.
The rest of the cast all played their roles brilliantly as well. There was plenty of comedy to go around and the cast all had great timing to pull it off perfectly. There were even a few impromptu lines that added to the experience.
Thanks again to CAPA for hooking George and I up with tickets to the show and the opportunity to meet the cast afterwards. Central Ohio really is blessed to have this organization bringing amazing shows to Columbus on a regular basis and I encourage you to check out their website for the complete schedule and to order tickets for not only Rock of Ages but the other shows that will be coming soon.
As for the group of people who sat behind us last night, the one guy summed up his thoughts on the couple who didn't come because they supposedly got a flat tire but ended up missing out on a great evening of fun like this: "Game on, flat tire, game on!" Yes, those people will not live down missing this one.
Well, I can hear the strumming of guitars and the start of another song from last night starting to fill my head. If you like 80's rock, this show is definitely for you. I will be headed back to see it again on Friday night with my wife this time since that was when we had planned to go before CAPA gave me a chance to see it twice. I'm looking forward to seeing what I missed the first time. Rock on!
Relationships are the most important thing in my life. This blog is about connections I've made and adventures I've had. We really are all connected in some way or other. Thanks for joining me on the journey.
Current running PRs:
Mile - 5:23.6 (5/1/13)
5K - 19:01 (8/16/14)
5 Miles - 32:35 (10/15/13)
10K - 41:00 (11/26/13)
10 Miles - 1:08:19 (2/13/13)
13.1 Miles - 1:32:04 (5/04/14)
Marathon - 3:10:25 (9/14/14)
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