The End...for 3 Days

Yes, my theater orgy ended tonight and I have three whole days off (four, if you count all day before the 8 p.m. performance on Saturday).

I shouldn't have taken yesterday off.   I should have found a play so I didn't get out of the swing of things.   Believe me, what with the allergies (which are much better, but not gone), almost no sleep last night because my brain didn't want to shut off, and a whole day free yesteray, the very last  thing I wanted to do tonight was go to see Blue Man Group.  Especially since I've seen it before and I have a "meh" reaction to it.  They're good, they're popular, but they aren't my cup of tea.

I did have the distinct notion, watching them tonight that if he were younger, Ned would make a perfect Blue Man.

On the drive in, I was not happy.  I don't like to dwell on my aches and pains, but it's important to understand the night.  Most of my allergy symptoms are gone.  No runny nose, no sneezing, no fluid in the ear, but what I am left with is kind of a sore face.  It's like all the nerve endings, both ears, across the top of my nose, up through my eyes and into my scalp just ache.  I want one of those cooling gel masks that you can put on your face and just let it make your face feel better.  I kept my eyes closed most of the way into Sacramento and then Walt, bless him, let me off at the door of the theater and went to park the car, instead of leaving me off a block away.

We got into our seats and that pre-show vibe that you get from audiences started.  They closed the doors to the theater.  And we sat.  And sat.  And sat.  Fifteen minutes past start time, the audience started an impatient clapping.  Five minutes later, it was announced they were having technical difficulties and they hoped to have it fixed soon.  (It should be mentioned that the entire show is technical effects and you'd think someone would have checked it out ahead of time!)

At this point about 1/3 of the audience left their seats and went into the audience.  Walt said there were half again as many people standing at the bar as at the bathroom.  A woman in our row came back with a stack of five candy bars...I guess that extra half hour was going to be too difficult to get through without sugar loading. (I should point out that, fat as I am, and compulsive eater that I am, I am actually able to make it through a play and a movie without having a snack.   Some people figure that the astronomical cost of theater snacks is part of the experience of the evening...I don't.)

While everyone was out, I got a message from my friend and former co-worker Crilly asking me if I was in the theater.  He and his wife were sitting in row W (we were in G).  He asked if I was wearing green, which was and he said he could see me.  I looked over my shoulder to the back of the theater and could see him waving.

People finally came back into the theater, they closed the door again and we waited another 5-10 minutes, but finally the show started.

It's going to be interesting to review because you can't really review it.  It's one of those "hadda been there" kinds of things.  You can explain what happens, but (a) that spoils the surprise and (b) you can't write it as entertainingly as they can do it.  But that's a task for tomorrow.

The problem with the show, for me, is that it uses a lot of strobe lights.  A lot.  bright lights shining, blinking twirling, and then spotlights shining out into the audience for the audience participation segments (thank god Row L is too far back for that).  But every time those lights started up, the pain level in my face went up.  I spent a lot of time covering my eyes.  I should have brought sunglasses, but who brings sunglasses to a show?  We were just very lucky that Matt Hessburg, the publicity guy for this theater, gave all the critics (and their spouses) ear plugs. I suspect I would not have liked the show nearly as much without the ear plugs.  I took them out briefly and put them right back in again quickly, grateful to have them.

But I got through it and now I'm going to climb onto my couch and will myself to sleep to make up for what I didn't get last night.  Tomorrow I'm off to buy more hay fever meds, since I have run out of the Allerest, whose expiration date, I just read, is 1991.  Both David and Paul were alive when I bought that box!