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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Things I've meaning to blog about... 

well, it doesn't seem like it's been more than a week since my last post...

It's funny - when I'm out and about, I'm constantly thinking about things that I can write about. Sometimes my random thoughts only make it to my Facebook status, sometimes I remember to take a photo, and sometimes my thoughts make it all the way to my blog.

There are several things I've been meaning to write about - I've had a lot of fun outings lately - but alas, I didn't find the time to sit down and blog about them.

I did, however, take several photos over the past couple of weeks to share. Wish I had more. Somehow, I managed to spend 4 days visiting friends in Seattle without ever thinking of taking a photos! drat.

Nonetheless, here are a few things that I have done lately...



Andrew and I went to the Contemporary Jewish Museum a few weeks back to see the Maurice Sendak Exhibit. It was really fantastic. I was only familiar with "Where the Wild Things Are", but Andrew was very knowledgeable on several books and artwork. We had a great time examining several beautiful original illustrations.



A few days later, I made my way down to San Jose to have a long-overdue visit with my dear friend, Kimi. We had a late lunch (yummy dumplings) then went back to the school so I could have a quick visit with her two boys before I had to leave. It was SO nice seeing all of them!


Uncle Wes with "Bad Boy"

Last Thursday, I went to Stockton for the afternoon with my Sister and her boyfriend. We went to visit my Grandma, and to take her out to lunch and run some errands. The first thing we saw when we pulled up to the house was my Uncle Wes and his new motorcycle (named "Bad Boy"). I've never seen a motorcycle quite like this one. So pretty! I was too intimidated by Bad Boy to even sit in the seat!



We had a yummy dim sum lunch at China Palace, our favorite Chinese restaurant in Stockton. Delish!



While we were out and about, Grandma took us to Winco - a grocery store in Stockton, which is apparently a chain, although we don't have any in the Bay Area. I've been hearing about Winco for years from all of my Grandparents who lived in Stockton, but I had never been. Now, I know what I've been missing! They really do have amazing prices - many things (like cereal) were less than half the price of what they would be at another grocery store - especially in SF. Really great deals, good quality merchandise - I'll be back!


Tiff and Graham at the fantastically inexpensive bulk food bins



That evening, we drove to Sacrament to see a performance of "Rent". The tour closed this past Sunday (3 days after we saw it) and it was the last production of the show after nearly 20 years. Two of the original stars from the Broadway production were on this tour (Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, playing Mark and Roger). It was pretty amazing to have the opportunity to see them, and hear the voices that I've listened to on the Broadway soundtrack for so long.



And finally, a cute photo of Noe giving her Daddy some kitten love while he was working on his laptop. :)

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Tuesday, January 05, 2010

"American Idiot" is Broadway Bound!! 

American Idiot Will Rock Broadway's St. James Starting March 24

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Friday, September 18, 2009

"American Idiot" Theater Reviews 

Opening night for "American Idiot" was Wednesday.

Here's what some local critics had to say:

SF Chronicle

San Jose Mercury News

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

"American Idiot" 



Last night, I went with my sister, her boyfriend, Graham, and Dick to see American Idiot at Berkeley Rep. (Great venue, by the way.)

If you're a regular reader of my blog (and it's okay if you're not) then you already know that I'm a huge Green Day fan.

The production of American Idiot that we saw last night is a stage musical adaptation of the album by the same name. It was directed by Michael Mayer, who was the director of the Tony-Award Winning Spring Awakening (which I loved).

Here's a great article about the show that was recently in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

..and another one from the SF Chronicle.



So, yes, it's the World Premiere of the show, and actually, it's still in Preview mode. The show actually opens next week, and is playing through the end of October. My sister and I have tickets to see it again at the end of the month - because we are just that geeky. :) As a bonus, that show will also have a "Post-show discussion" with cast/crew. I'm feeling like a bonafide groupie now.

So, my review:

Let's start by stating the obvious: I knew going in that I was going to love the music. Not only was I going to love it, but I already *knew* the music, which I think is also a plus when seeing a new show. I also had a semblance of an idea of the storyline - a very broad idea, but the over-all story, which also helps.

Really, the most important factor to me was that they played/sang/performed the music well, and they did. The cast was really spectacular - loads and loads of talent. Especially noteworthy to me were the leads of Johnny (the actor had won a Tony award for Spring Awakening) and St. Jimmy (loved him!).

The set was fantastic - minimal, and affective. I also liked the way they incorporated the band into the set (like the violinist who was perched way up high on the scaffolding).

The story - like I said, I had an idea of the very broad plot, which granted, isn't very deep. (and I'm okay with that). One thing that I appreciated was that they separated the main character in the album to be three main characters in the play, which I thought worked quite well. Gave the story more dimension.

The others that I went with felt the story was lacking, but more importantly, that they didn't feel a connection with the characters. I don't disagree with them, but it didn't bother me nearly as much. Whereas Hair was targeted at the Hippie Generation (and I'll admit I haven't seen it), Rent was targeted at Gen X (hello! Raises hand!), this story is centered around Gen Y. I'm not sure if it's that we, of an older generation, can't relate to them, or if it's just too hard to care for these characters.

As I said earlier, they're still in Previews, and may still be ironing out some kinks. I'll be curious to see how and if the show evolves much when I see it again at the end of the month.

My general feeling after seeing the whole production is that it was a cool mix of Rent and Spring Awakening, both of which I loved. Plus, it's Green Day music! What's not to love? If you liked either (or both) of those shows, I'd recommend this one. Or, if you're a Green Day fan... Or, BOTH!

Here's a short video of Green Day talking about American Idiot
on Access Hollywood.




This image was projected on the side of the wall outside the theater


The Idiot Cocktail sign cracked me up

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Monday, July 14, 2008

One. Singular Sensation.... 

... Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch.... Again!!

Yesterday afternoon, Dick and I saw the matinée performance of the revival of "A Chorus Line" at the Curran Theater.

I had never seen a professional performance of this show - I'd only seen the movie (albeit, many, many times) and a local high school performance back in the 80s.

Dick was lucky enough to see it in London's West End over 30 years ago when he was an early teen. He has great stories about the first time he saw the show, and how much of an impact it had on him. He absolutely loved it. (...and yes, he knows all the words to all of the songs, and he even knows all of the names of the steps in the dance choreography! (see above!) )

I had high expectations of this production, and it did not disappoint. We both thought the cast was very strong, and that the show holds up incredible well. You can't beat the music - so many great songs. The thing I love about this show is how "raw" it is compared to all of popular Broadway shows. It's stripped down to the basics - minimal set, minimal costumes... and let's you really focus on the story lines of the individual characters.

This is the revival that started out in San Francisco two years ago before going to Broadway. This touring production has some of the same cast members.

Dick and I had planned to see the show two years ago. We had planned to go for weeks, and my sister had arranged amazing seats for us. Unfortunately, I got really sick the night before the show, and although I was still hoping to make the show on the day of, I just wasn't well enough to see it. We were really bummed. As it turned out, the symptoms that I had that weekend were the same as I had about a year afterwards, and was the precursor to my appendicitis. How about that?

The show runs through July 27th.

Here's a review of the show from sfgate.com.

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Sunday, March 04, 2007

One Man Star Wars Trilogy 

The name says it all...



Friday morning I got a call from my friend, Cynde. She was in the car, listening to the radio as she was driving to the gallery. She had just heard about a Star Wars theater show, and had to let me know about it.

"Cool!" I said, "I'll have to look into it."

I met my friend Andrew for lunch that day. During our conversation, I mentioned that my Mom had recently digitized my "Story of Star Wars" LP for me.

Andrew said, "Speaking of Star Wars, have you heard about the new show in town?"

I said I had just heard something about it from Cynde, but I didn't know much about it yet, because I hadn't had a chance to look it up yet.

Dick came home from work later that evening. He told me someone on Caltrain had told him about this One Man Star Wars show which was showing at the Post Street Theater.

Clearly, the universe wanted to make sure that I saw this show!

So, we looked it up that night. We found it was showing at the Post Street Theater for just over a week, and decided that we should try to see it this weekend! I didn't read much about it. I figured, the name pretty much says it all, right?

We saw today's matinée performance at 3:00pm.

The theater was pretty full, and what surprised me the most were how many kids were in the audience.

The show did not disappoint. It was exactly what I had expected: one man, reciting lines, and doing sound effects for all three of the first three original Star Wars films. It was an hour long in total. I checked my watch at the end of Star Wars: Episode IV, and it was about 20 minutes in length. Barley taking a few seconds to take a sip of water, he launched straight into The Empire Strikes Back.

I was amazed at the amount of energy and enthusiasm this guy had! He put in just as much energy into "Return of the Jedi" as he did into Episode IV. It's clear that this guy was/is one heck of a Star Wars geek. He nailed the lines, and even nailed the special effects sounds.

If you are a Star Wars fan of any level, you really must see this show.

Here's a clip I found on You Tube showing some highlights of the show.

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The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in anyway --- oh right, I *am* my own employer! ;)

© Copyright 2003-2007, Trina Chow