Friday, August 15, 2008

A Weekend with Sis

This past weekend my sister Jaimie came to visit, and we were able to do a good amount of stuff and have a lot of fun. Here's the report.

I borrowed Garrett's car to drive to LAX to pick up Jaimie on thursday night. While we were waiting for her luggage, we saw a celebrity, but neither of us knew what he was from. He did, however, get in a limo so it was legit. He looked like he could've played a vampire on tv or in a movie, or I thought he looked like he could've been on Laguna Beach or something. Well, he wasn't. I think probably I'll be watching tv in a few weeks and I'll see him and it'll click.

Anyway, Friday afternoon, Jaimie and I went up to Hollywood for our trip to the Hollywood Bowl to see the star-studded Les Miserables in Concert. Our concert wasn't until 8:30, but we went to Hollywood to walk around so Jaimie could check out the place. She actually was very impressed by the stores in Hollywood and Highland. This Ed Hardy or whoever stuff is apparently pretty popular, so the kids tell me. Who knows.

Anyway, here we are up on the overlook above Hollywood Blvd. with downtown in the background. Good times!


Jaimie and I had a nice dinner at a Crepes place (where we both had paninis), and after some more exploring we walked over to the shuttle bus stop to take the bus up to the Hollywood Bowl.

Everybody had been telling me how awesome the Hollywood Bowl was, so I knew we were in for a treat. As we got off of the bus, we looked around and everybody had picnics baskets full of dinners and wine and whatnot. Jaimie and I were obviously newbies eating before we got there. Ohh well, there's always next time.

Jaimie and I found our seats about an hour and a half before the show and sat down in them. I was absolutely amazed how cool the bowl was. I didn't actually expect to be able to see the Hollywood sign from inside the place, but we actually could!

Aparently the Hollywood Bowl is the largest outdoor amphitheater in the United States or something, holding almost 17,000 people. Can you believe that? 17,000 people on the side of a hill? That's about the capacity of Mellon Arena. Crazy.

So Jaimie and I sat and chatted, skimmed the $1 program, and watched an episode of the Office (Gay Witch Hunt - what a classic!) and the sun began to set as the Hollywood sign faded into darkness in the distance and Hollywood magic filled the air.



So how was Les Miserables in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl? I'm not sure words can describe it. First of all, I had just been expecting the cast to be wearing costumes and standing at microphones or something, and maybe they'd act out a few action scenes or something. But no! Although they slimmed the show down a bit, it was fully acted and performed! The cast acted out every scene out in front of the orchestra. They even used some set pieces, tables and chairs, a gate outside the mansion, and piles of junk on the barricade. The atmosphere and talent more than made up for the lack of a turntable (as much as I love that in the full production).

The performers were absolutely top notch. J. Mark McVey, a Les Miz alum, was an absolutely fabulous Jean Valjean, sounding very much like Colm Wilkinson at times. He poured plenty of emotion into the performance, nailing Valjean's high notes, one of my favorite parts of the music.

Brian Stokes Mitchell, one of Broadway's top leading men, did a great job playing the villainous Javert. I've listened to plenty of Brian Stokes Mitchell on the Ragtime soundtrack, where he played Coalhouse Walker Jr, but you might be able to remember him as having played Hillary's boyfriend Trevor on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Remember the bungy-jumping? Yeah, ouch. I didn't quite love him as much as I enjoy Terrence Mann's Javert on the original soundtrack, but that might just be because I love hearing Terrence Mann's Beast sing "If I Can't Love Her" from Beauty and the Beast.

Wow, this post is definitely shining more light than I'd like on my love for musical theater.

Anyway, Melora Hardin, aka Jan from the Office was actually pretty good as the tragic Fantine. Although she definitely had the weakest voice of anyone in the cast, she worked hard to sell the performance, and did a great job.

Finally, the last major standout in the show was the one and only Lea Michele as Eponine, probably the best character. I saw Lea last summer in New York in the original cast of Spring Awakening, and she was definitely great in it, but her character didn't really have any opportunities to really let out and sing. However, when Eponine sang her first lines, I got chills and knew we were in for something special.

At the end of the first act, all I could think about was how amazing "On My Own" was going to be in Act II, and it did not let me down. Lea Michele was absolutely amazing. She walked out into the audience on the wall between the orchestra pit and the main seating area, and with a single spotlight totally owned what is easily one of my favorite songs ever, period. She held out the last big note much longer than would ever be possible in the real show, but in concert at the Hollywood Bowl, it was completely natural. As she belted out the note, the entire crowd burst into applause. The orchestra paused for a moment, then continued as Lea finished the song to 16,000 people worth of applause.

Oh look, here's a bootleg video of her performance. How did we live before youtube? This may or may not have been the night we went. Either way, it's awesome. Lea Michele, you rock.


It's funny how much going to Hollywood Bowl actually feels like the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater, where you watch Fantasmic at Disney World. Unfortunately there was no historic wave like many of us in the North Allegheny Tiger Marching Band took part in back on that amazing night of January 1st, 2002 (I think that was the date) but it was still impressive how much the Imagineers got the feel and atmosphere of their amphitheater right. Nobody but me would probably ever think or recognize that. In keeping with what I've experienced at Fantasmic, when Les Miz ended, we joined into a huge mass of slow-moving people as we all made our way between the trees to the exit.

Saturday, Jaimie and I went to the Santa Monica to spend the day at the beach. It was beautiful, and we spent the afternoon getting tans, reading and relaxing. At last, my farmer's tan is disappearing, probably right when I leave LA it will be gone. Jaimie and I had a nice dinner outside at an English Restaurant at the beach, then came home, ate some ice cream sandwiches from Diddy Riese, and enjoyed the Olympics.

Sunday, sis and I took a explored UCLA's campus a bit. In the sculpture garden was a lot of art Jaimie didn't understand, and I didn't really understand it either. It's a cool campus, for sure, but I really do miss my home base in Clifton.

After our mini-tour, we went back to the apartment and met Garrett to head up to the Getty Center. After sitting in plenty of traffic, we had a great time exploring the museum grounds and the art inside. There was a super cool exhibit on Bernini sculpture. That work must've taken so much patience.


After visiting the museum for a few hours, we all headed home, and Jaimie and I went downtown to the Mayan for Church. I was really excited to take her there, and it was an awesome service. The dancers performed an AMAZING dance, there was a sweet video about my friend Ben, also the subject of the basketball story in Erwin McManus's book Soul Cravings. Erwin's message was about determination, and making decisions about what kind of a person you want to be. I definitely recommend checking out the podcast.

Leaving Mosaic is going to be one of the hardest parts about leaving Los Angeles. It has just been so awesome and helped me to focus on what's important out here. Luckily I'll have Erwin's books and Mosaic podcasts back in the 'Nati, and who knows, maybe I'll be back here someday, whether its soon or not so soon.

Jaimie really liked church and was surprised to find out how cool the people there were. We drove back home and watched some more Olympics, including the U.S. swimming relay that absolutely rocked.

Phil and I took Jaimie back to LAX on monday morning as the weekend of my visit with sister ended. It was definitely great for Jaimie and I to have some time just the two of us, which we definitely hadn't had very much of. She and I are definitely very different, but we have a lot in common, too. I'm looking forward to how much fun it will be when my sister and I (and hopefully my brother) have families and kids and we all hang out together. I think it will be a lot of fun.

Tuesday night I went with Garrett and Amy to a bar in Hollywood to see Garrett's friend from Oklahoma, Samantha Crain, perform. It was great and we stayed for a while watching the other performers, including this very cool girl Jackie Tohn. That wasn't really the exciting part, though, the highlight was that at the bar we saw Dominic Monaghan, aka a hobbit and Charlie on Lost! He was just hanging out. Then, when Jackie Tohn performed at the end of the night, Seth Green showed up! Both of them were much shorter than I imagined, but Seth Green was tiny!

They were my first non-movie premiere celebrity sightings of the quarter, and they were fairly solid. Garrett and I wanted to walk up to Dominic and talk to him about the ways that he really didn't need to die at the end of the third season, but we didn't.

Well, it's now friday afternoon and tonight I'm going to see Idina Menzel in concert with one of my co-workers. I'm super excited. After all, she's Idina Menzel. Then Saturday is a return to Universal Studios. Should be quite a weekend.

I hope everybody has a great weekend, too!

I miss you and love you all.

Rock on.




1 comment:

Linds said...

ah! the getty! so sweet.
hope you have a great day.