Mynee's Musings

2011 Muny Season Recap

I normally post my recap right after the season ends but we were out of town last weekend (post to follow) and I've also been a little distracted by a mouse in our house.  Yuck!  We set out several traps and haven't caught him but I haven't seen him or any evidence since Tuesday so I'm hoping he left.   

Anyway, here's my recap of the Muny season.  The shows in order of most favorite to least favorite are:

1. Singin' in the Rain
2. Legally Blonde
3. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
4. Bye, Bye Birdie
5. Little Mermaid
6. Kiss Me Kate 

We gave up our "Little Shop of Horrors" tickets so that is why I only listed 6 shows.  Honestly the shows that I listed as 2 through 5 were all great and I liked them equally so it was hard to rank them.    

Here's the shows for which I voted for next year:

• Hello Dolly
• The Buddy Holly Story
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• Smokey Joe's Cafe
• Dream Girls
• Stomp
• Aida

Here are the shows Bill voted for:  

• Sunset Boulevard
• Smokey Joe's Cafe
• Gypsy
• Unsinkable Molly Brown
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• Hello Dolly (I twisted his arm on this one_
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

It will be interested to see how many, if any, of these shows are chosen for next year.  This was Paul Blake's last season as Executive Producer, a position he held for 22 seasons.  I wonder how different the productions will be.

So, there you have it.  Another Muny season has come to an end.  Until next year...   

Bye, Bye Birdie

We saw our last show of The Muny season Monday night.  As I had mentioned, we switched our tickets since we have plans on Friday.  Turns out, the weather was perfect although we didn't have a picnic in the park because they were predicing rain.  It didn't rain and it was only 88 degrees.  We decided to eat dinner at Bottleworks before the show and we were able to eat outside on their covered patio.  So nice!

The show was Bye, Bye Birdie.  We had seen it once before but that was way back in 1998.  Wow.  I didn't think it was that long ago.  Anyway, it was a cute show and I especially loved the tap dance number (y'all know how much I love tap dancing) during "Put on a Happy Face."  Another dance number that was really cute was "Kids".  

Somewhat sad that the season is over but there is always next year.  I'll post my annual Muny recap here within the next few days or so.  Until then...

 

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

We saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at The Muny Friday night.  The weather was perfect since it had rained earlier in the day which really helped cool everything off.  We had hoped to have a picnic in the park but the ground was wet from all of the rain so we ate at Blueberry Hill instead.  Yum. 

We have seen this musical twice before and I had remembered that there was lots of dancing which I love.  The story is cute too; boy gets girl, 7 times...hee hee hee. 

We switched our tickets this week for tonight since we have plans on Friday.  It's the final show of the season; Bye, Bye Birdie.  

Singin' in the Rain

We saw Singin' in the Rain at the Muny on Friday.  Oh my goodness, this is one of my favorite shows; great music and dancing and a very cute story line.  This is the third time we've seen it at The Muny.  I love the scene were Don Lockwood is singing in the rain.  They actually make it rain on stage and he jumps in the puddles and swings on the lamp post just like in the movie.

Since it was so hot on Friday (100 degrees with a heat index of 110), we decided to skip a picnic in the park and we ate at Six Row instead.  When Six Row first opened, they didn't serve food.  I think they started serving food about six months ago or so but this is the first time we have eaten there.  We had the hot pretzels for an appetizer, Bill had the roasted turkey and artichoke panini and I had the bacon mac and cheese and a salad.  It was super yummy.  I actually ate the whole thing and was stuffed afterwards but it was really good.  We each had a Whale with dinner.

This weeks' show is Little Shop of Horrors but we gave our tickets away.  The next show will be on August 5; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

I actually have a few cards that I will post this week.  :)  Until then...

 

The Little Mermaid

We saw The Little Mermaid last night at The Muny.  Believe it or not, I have never seen the movie.  Gasp!  All I knew was that it was about a red-headed mermaid named Ariel.  Anyway, it was a very cute show and we both really enjoyed it. 

Since this was the "kid show", needless to say there were quite a few little ones in the audience.  Here were some conversations I overhead:

• Mom - OK, let's go potty
• Kid - But I don't have to go
• Mom - Well, we're going to go anyway 
• Kid - Why?
• Mom - Because that's the rule

This was just a few of the things that the little boy sitting next to me said

• I'm thirsty, I want a soda
• Hey, I dropped my soda
• I'm hungry, I want a hot dog
• Is it half-time yet?

Oh my.  I think the little boy was more interested in eating, drinking and talking than he was in seeing the show.  They left at intermission.  :)

We decided to eat dinner at Bottleworks even though the weather was perfect for a picnic.  It had rained heavily on Thursday evening though so we figured that the ground would still be too wet.  Anyway, we each had a Citrus Wit and then Bill had a Kolsch and I had a Dry Hopped IPA.  For dinner, we started with the hummus and then I had the chipotle black bean burger (yummo) and Bill had the brat burger.

There is no Muny next Friday since The Little Meraid is an extended run show.  The next show will be Singing in the Rain, one of my favorites! 

Happy Saturday!

Kiss Me, Kate

We saw Kiss Me Kate at The Muny on Friday.  This was the first time we had seen it and the only thing we knew about it was that it is a play within a play.  It's about a group of actors and actresses who are performing Taming of the Shrew.  It was cute and we enjoyed it although Bill made the comment about not liking shows with "men in tites"...hee hee hee.  He first made this comment in 2009 regarding Camelot.

Conrad John Schuck (aka John Schuck) played Gunman 1.  We saw him at the Muny in Annie in 2009.  I remember him not only from McMillan and Wife but also from St. Elsewhere when he played the part of a neighbor of Jack Morrison.  I love that show and really wish they would release all 5 seasons on DVD but I digress!  

It was too hot for a picnic so we ate dinner at Blueberry Hill instead.  We then checked out a few of the shops in The Loop and I found the cutest pair of earrings at Phoenix Rising.  Here's a picture...

 

I mentioned that it was hot but I mean it was really hot.  It was 98 degrees with a heat index of 105 with very little breeze.  One of the ushers actually almost passed out.  We survived though.  :)

This Friday is Little Mermaid.  If the weatherman is right, it's only supposed to be about 87 degrees so we're planning to enjoy a picnic before the show.

I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend.

Legally Blonde

The 93rd Muny season opened this week with the production of Legally Blonde.  We had seen it at The Fox back in 2009 but this was the first time at The Muny.  It's a very cute show and it's always so fun seeing shows at The Muny.  The stage is huge and the sets are always so cool.  Speaking of cool, the weather was perfect.  It was only 84 degrees yesterday with a great breeze.  Perfect Muny weather.

We had a picnic in the park before the show.  We stopped by St. Louis Bread Company for sandwiches and we took cookies and a bottle of wine.  We used to eat at the Culver Pavillion before every show but we have found that the food isn't as good as it was in years past when it was catered by LoRusso's so, weather permitting, a picnic is much more fun and relaxing.

Next week is Kiss Me Kate.  Stay tuned...

  

 

2010 Muny Season Recap

I still can't believe the Muny season is over.  As I do each season, I've ranked the shows in order from most to least favorite.  Of course, I liked them all but I liked some more than others.  That being said, here's my list:

1. Cats
2. Show Boat
3. Damn Yankees
4. Footloose
5. Beauty and the Beast
6. Titanic

Cats being my favorite show of the season is a given.  I love Cats.  We've seen it 4 previous times and I never get tired of it.  I love the songs and I love all of the cats, especially Rum Tum Tugger and Magical Mister Mistoffelees.  As for my least favorite, Titanic, it's not that I didn't like it but it wasn't exactly a "feel good" show if you know what I mean.  People drowning in ice cold water isn't exactly a happy thing.  Now certainly there are other musicals that I love that aren't exactly "happy" (Evita, Aida and Miss Saigon come to mind), but I think the thing with Titanic is that I didn't feel a connection to any of the characters.  Anyway, I also want to say that yes, I've only listed six shows but there were actually the usual seven shows this season.  We missed "Sound of Music" because we were in Florida. 

We missed the first round of voting since it was during Sound of Music week.  The final round was last week and, wouldn't you know it, I forgot to bring a pen.  We didn't officially vote but maybe that's ok given the fact that only one show I voted for last season was performed this season and that was Show Boat.  Anyway, here are the 7 shows I would have voted for:

1. Cinderella
2. Jesus Christ Superstar
3. Evita
4. Singin' in the Rain
5. Unsinkable Molly Brown
6. Buddy:  The Buddy Holly Story
7. Dreamgirls

Here are the 7 shows Bill would have voted for:

1. Jesus Christ Superstar
2. Evita
3. Dreamgirls
4. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
5. Annie Get Your Gun
6. Unsinkable Molly Brown
7. Thoroughly Modern Millie 

There were 3 "kids" show on the voting form; Wizard of Oz, Cinderella and Oliver.  I absolutely love Wizard of Oz and would have probably voted for it but we're seeing it at the Fox in November so I opted for Cinderella which is my second favorite "kids" show.  As for the next three, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita are two of my all-time favorites.  I love Singin' in the Rain too and haven't seen it since 2005 so I would love to see it next year.  Finally, the last three on my list are all shows that I've never seen before and I always enjoy seeing new shows.

After I chose the above 7 shows, I looked back at last years post to see which shows I voted for.  Would you believe that the first 5 on the list above were the same first 5 on last years list and in the exact same order?  Well, at least I'm consistent...hee hee hee.

Another great Muny season.  Can't wait until next year.

Show Boat

I can't believe the Muny season has come to an end.  We saw the last show of the 2010 Muny season, Show Boat, on Friday.  It is the most-performed show at the Muny and, in fact, we saw it when it was last performed in 2003.  This year, Georgia Engle played the part of  Parthy.  We've seen her in 4 previous Muny shows as well as one show at the Fox.  She cracks me up. 

It was super hot on Friday; 99 degrees with a heat index of 114.  Gotta love that humidity! (wink).  We decided to eat dinner at Bottleworks instead of having a picnic in the park.  We just didn't feel like sweating to death any longer than we had to...hee hee hee.    

Stay tuned for a recap of the 2010 Muny season.

Footloose

We saw Footloose at The Muny last night.  The temperatures had been extremely high this week (102 on Tuesday and Wednesday) but luckily, it was only 88 degrees yesterday and the humidity was low.  The show was very cute and was true to the movie.  I loved the dancing!

We decided to eat dinner at Square One before the show.  We had the beer pretzels and then Bill had the chicken salad and I had the crab cakes.  We split the smoke tomato and green bean salad.  Bill had the seasonal Agave wheat and a maple stout and I had the cask IPA and the maple stout.   

I'm still working on the post on our Florida trip.  I should have it completed and posted by tomorrow.  Be sure to check back then.