The Festival! (redux)

When I won the free tickets to see The Glass Menagerie at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, I had to laugh. I already had a trip to the festival planned... and that play wasn't on my itinerary. So, I ended up attending the festival twice in consecutive weeks!

Jamie, Nichole and I drove down to Cedar City last Friday afternoon, and arrived time to check into the hotel, change, grab dinner at Cafe Rio, and only arrive about 3 minutes late for the Greenshow that night.

We then saw a truly fantastic production of The Music Man, starring one of my personal faves at the festival, Brian Vaughn. The entire cast was wonderful, but my favorites were by far the quartet and the pick-a-little ladies. The change in the quartet from loathing each other to delight at sounding so good in harmony together was a complete joy to watch, and very believable. "From now on, you'll not see one without the other three" indeed! I think the "Pick-a-little/Good Night Ladies" song was my favorite of the night. Well, that and "Marian the Librarian", when they did a ballet of Romeo and Juliet during the dance break. So good! Makes me want to do the show again (I did it in high school) even more than I did before!

Nichole, Jamie and I cozy up to the Bard. 

We spent the evening watching episodes of Kid History, introducing Nichole to the Friday song, and talking about boys. The next morning, we got up for breakfast, and then went back to bed and slept as long as we liked. It was glorious!!

Ann joined us just before the matinee of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We all agreed it was our favorite of the three plays we saw! It was such a neat interpretation, the actors were hilarious, and we could understand everything going on. The scene where the four lovers have their huge fight was brilliantly done and everyone else made such fun choices. I was excited afterward when we ran into the Bria Suda (who played Helena, and also Ethel Toffelmeier in The Music Man) and I could tell her how much I enjoyed both performances. Once again, I wanted to do a Shakespeare play!! Someday I will get to and it will be awesome. Soon, I hope!

Jamie took off for a few hours to spend time with her sister, and Nichole, Ann and I had dinner at Chili's. We had so much fun chatting that we were shocked when Jamie called and told us the final performance of the Greenshow was going to start in ten minutes! Needless to say, we were a bit late. We WERE in time to buy some tarts (cream cheese and blackberry for me -- yum!).

Nichole, Ann and I at Chili's

We also managed to catch Queen Elizabeth just before she retired for the evening. She was gracious enough to pose for a photo, even though she seemed to be in a hurry to leave. We thanked her profusely. Doesn't she look great?

 The last play that we saw was Noises Off! and it was also very funny! We particularly enjoyed Quinn Mattfield's Garry. That guy is a terrific physical comedian. He fell down the stairs so elegantly, and anytime his legs flailed about crazily I laughed almost until I cried. It was also fun to compare the exaggerated characters in the play to actors I've worked with in real life. Freddy -- the guy who needs his motivations explained to him -- was particularly easy to identify as one or two people I know. The third act wasn't as crazy-hilarious as I had expected, but still very entertaining. I've long felt that the movie is better written than the play. Even so, I am glad I chose to see it, even if  I did miss out on Richard III that night, which everyone told me was the must-see play this year.

Can't help but love that we all look somewhat ridiculous in
 this photo:
Nichole turned around, my eyes closed, etc.
Ann looks pretty, though!

We went to bed fairly early, and were up early the next morning so we could drive home in time for church. I was a little sad that we had to split up, but I was glad that Ann had Nichole for company (and to keep her awake), and that Jamie and I had a little bit longer to hang out before the trip officially came to an end.

All in all, a satisfying weekend. I love my girls and am so glad they all got along, since Nichole and Ann didn't know Jamie beforehand. Next time, we'll have to take a longer trip together -- two days just wasn't enough!

I AM determined to go for several days and see all six plays one year, and then maybe the all of the Fall season plays, too, later in the year.

It's good to have something to look forward to :) And lovely memories to think back on!