I had the amazing privilege of watching my first Broadway play a while ago. It was something I’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t actually gotten around to doing for a few reasons. One being that these plays tend to be a bit pricey. For good reason, though!

Here is what I saw:

If you can’t tell by this blurry picture (sorry about that), it was Dirty Dancing! It may not look like it, but the seat I had was actually a very good one. I was able to enjoy the whole play without having a hard time because of people in front of me. I’m not very tall, so it wouldn’t surprise me if taller people in front of me blocked my view. So glad no one did!

Anyway, as I went through the experience, there were 7 things I learned. Some of them will show just how sheltered I must be, but oh well:

  1. People will sing along to the music. And who can blame them?! Dirty Dancing is full of great 80s (and earlier) music! When Hungry Eyes came on, I had to bite my own tongue because I wanted to belt it out! I even wanted to dance! Trust me, though, no one would want to see or hear that!! If there isn’t a lot of music, I have found that people will even talk along to certain phrases that make up the movie! With Dirty Dancing, “No one puts Baby in a corner,” is pretty iconic, so it only made sense that when that part came up in the play, everyone said it!
  2. People dress up! I, myself, wanted to look special for the evening so I made sure I was in my Sunday best, but that’s just who I am. I like to dress up for a lot of things. I didn’t expect others to be so formal. And they were! Some were even overdoing it I felt. There were still some that came in casual attire, but most of the guests were very well dressed. In a way that was nice to see, too!
  3. Actors/Actresses in the play actually swore. You can go ahead and laugh at me on this one. I’ve even laughed at myself! I’m not sure what I was really thinking. I mean, in the movie there is swearing. Why wouldn’t the play have it?! I guess a part of me thought Broadway plays were cleaner, but that just shows how sheltered I am. Anyway, it didn’t bother me. Just really surprised me.
  4. There is a mad dash during the intermission. The first half is only just over an hour. But the moment the play is on intermission, everyone high tails it out of there to use the restrooms or to do whatever it is they do. I just sat in my seat, enjoying the extra breathing room. After all, I made sure to use the restroom before the play even started.
  5. Late comers get in the way. This is true with any event. You’re just going to have people that are late. For the most part, everyone made it on time before the play started. However, it was after the intermission that I really noticed this. People would walk in quite a bit after the play was underway again. And the problem with this is that they now get in the way of the viewing. I know it doesn’t help I had an end seat so of course people have to file in by walking in front of me, but it was slightly annoying. Then again, that might be better than feeling claustrophobic when sitting in the smack dab middle of the row.
  6. Broadway does the best with what they’ve got. What I mean by this is that some scenes are hard to do in reality on the stage. Movies can make certain things easy to portray, but on stage you’ve got just the actors/actresses and props. I think that with Dirty Dancing they did a fantastic job on the scenes that were tougher to show. One scene was when they were practicing moves in the water. Of course there’s not beach on that stage, but they used screens and sound effects to really pull it off.
  7. Sexy scenes were hilarious! There was one brief moment where you could tell two of the characters were supposed to be having sex. Of course they didn’t show anything so I do appreciate that. But what made it funny was that it was a little overdone by the actor/actress. There was another scene where an elderly man ripped open part of his shirt. And the crowd got all into by oohing and ah’ing. That was funny!

Overall, it was a great experience. One that I’d like to repeat in the future sometime. Of course I wouldn’t just go see anything, because as stated before, ticket prices are not cheap. But if there was a play coming near me that I know a lot about, I might be tempted to go.

My favorite part was the music. My next favorite part was all the dancing. Everyone did a great job. It was truly phenomenal!

Before I go, here’s one last pic:

That’s me holding the brochure with all the details inside. Great stuff, folks!

For my husband’s birthday not too long ago, I decided to surprise him with a date night. He had to work all day so a night of fun and relaxation would be good for him. I didn’t want him having to wear his work clothes as we went out so I took it upon myself to pick out an outfit for him! (It didn’t work out because I failed to see the shirt I wanted him to wear had a stain on it.) Oh, well! Regardless, I picked something out and left this note on it:

It may be hard to read so this is what I wrote: Dear Jeremy, Put these on as well as your thinking cap…we’re going on a date, but you have to figure out what to do and where to go! You have 1 1/2 hours should you accept my challenge! Love, Frances

Do you think he accepted? ABSOLUTELY!

So what did we do that night? My husband LOVES going to watch movies so it came to no surprise when he said he wanted to do that, as well as get some Chinese food to eat. (Another no surprise – he loves Chinese food!) I definitely had no complaints since these also top my list of night out activities!

Anyway, we went to this fabulous, authentic, sit-down Chinese restaurant where we ordered a dinner for two. I swear that dinner could be for more, though. It comes with egg drop soup (the best, in my opinion), two egg rolls, four crab rangoons (my favorite), and then fried rice with two meat dishes. We were stuffed, but it was oh, so good!

When dinner was done, we went to watch “Beauty and the Beast.” We were hesitant at first because of a few things, but being one of the better options, why not?!??! I want to say that we were not disappointed. I think the acting was great. The singing was overwhelming at times, but you would get that with any musical. I actually had to laugh because my husband apparently didn’t remember that the original cartoon had singing. After a couple songs he asked if I knew it was a musical, and I just had to flat out tell him it’s all in the original, too!

One of the things we watched for was based on some news that had been going on around this movie. Some people were making a fuss about there being a part in the movie that would make gay people proud. I have to admit when I read that article that it turned me off from the movie a bit. NOT because I have anything against homosexuals, but because I didn’t think that would be true to the original movie, and who here likes it when things change!?!? Not me anyway! I also don’t like it when people use certain entertainment just to get their own views across. It happens a lot, though, I know.

So anyway, after watching the movie in its entirety (and I mean until the last of the credits scrolled past the top of the screen), we both came to the same conclusion: there was nothing that would have made me believe it was a moment for gay pride! In fact, had I never heard about this in the first place, I would never have once thought any of it promoted or supported homosexuals.

I share this because some of you may have heard the same thing and will not watch it now. I think it’s still worth watching! The movie was extremely well made, and I’m looking forward to when it’s on DVD so I can show the kids!

As a bonus, Ewan McGregor was in there! I had NO idea! He’ll always be Obi-Wan Kenobi to me, though!

Overall, great night. It’s fun doing surprises!