I've never seen the musical live before, but that was just the icing on the cake. The real new thing this week was going the Muny, the nation's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre. It calls Forest Park it's home, and in the nine and a half years I've lived in St. Louis, I've never made it to a show. I have no idea why. I've talked about it nearly every summer I've lived here, even made tentative plans with friends, but I just never quite pulled the trigger to actually go and see a show.
I thought for a long time that it was expensive, and in the beginning, I didn't really have the money to spare. Then someone told me there were free seats way back in the nose bleed section, and you just had to get there early to snag one. Okay, that sounded perfect. Except for one teeny-tiny obstacle to overcome. It's an outdoor theatre. In the Midwest. In the summer. Did I really want to sit out in the suffocating Missouri heat to watch a musical, when I could just as easily sit in the air conditioned Fox Theatre downtown? Granted, the Muny is cheaper, but it's open to all the perilous weather we get in the summers.
So, needless to say, I've been lax in my Muny attention, but this year, I vowed to go. Brenda agreed to be my date, shocked that I hadn't graced the Muny seats yet. When I saw that 7Bfor7B was coming to the prestigious stage, I nearly peed myself with pure excitement. I'm not sure it was Brenda's first choice for what to see, but she was a good sport and allowed me this guilty pleasure. We also opted to purchase tickets to fully engulf ourselves in the Muny experience.
We started off the night with another first for both of us. Dinner at Fitz's Restaurant. A St. Louis staple in the Delmar Loop since 1947, it's a restaurant, and a bottling plant for their famous sodas, or as they call them "pop". We didn't really have time to truly soak in all the history, nor were we able to catch a glimpse of the bottling in action, but we did dig into their food, and found it pretty tasty. Instead of a famous burger, I went with their fish tacos, and they were pretty damn good. Considering the sweatbox we were about to endure, I didn't want a half pound of masticated cow expanding my pants. Of course, dinner wouldn't be complete without a drink. My favorite flavor of soda has always been orange, and their Orange Pop rivals my Sunkist favorite. Brenda's drink of choice was a frosty mug of cream soda. Tasty, but in my opinion, a little too sweet to pair with a full dinner.
We headed back to Brenda's condo after dinner for a quick cool off in the A/C before we hauled ourselves off to the show. Brenda fortunately lives within walking distance of the Muny, but in 100+ degree heat, it wasn't a pleasant walk. I wore a sundress, but short of a bubble wrap jumpsuit filled with ice, nothing was really going to ease the discomfort. Luck did happen to be on our side since there was a slight breeze cropping up now and again.
It's through the trees.
The gazebo in front.
It doesn't look that big from this angle, but it's what's behind that's the real masterpiece.
Lovely view of the sunset through the gazebo.
Essentially the "front porch" of the Muny where you could congregate to escape the rain.
Big damn chandelier.
Show flags advertising the dates.
Little Shop of Horrors was another show I wanted to see.
Unfortunately, cameras of any kind are prohibited inside for the shows, so I didn't really get any additional photos. I snuck a couple of the stage before showtime, but I was paranoid an usher would take my camera from me.
We arrived with less than a half hour to spare, so we moseyed over to our seats to try to siphon off some of the fan breeze. It didn't really work. They have giant fans towering over the seats that they turn on before, after and during intermission. We were dead center, so we didn't get the full effect of the fans in the wings. We did however, get to be totally creeped out by the girl sitting next to Brenda who stared at us during our entire conversation. The ENTIRE thing. Was she really so enthralled with stories about Brenda's dance team, and plans for my mom's birthday? She was also getting impatient when the clock struck 8:15 and the show's orchestra dared, DARED, not to start promptly playing music.
Why is it I always have crazy people sitting around me?
I guess that means that I'm not the crazy one, right?
Don't answer that.
A view of the stage from our seats. The aisle seats were great, and no one sat directly in front of us!
The painted backdrop was only there at the beginning and a couple of scenes. They did have full sets they moved on and off stage.
The free seats are wayyyy in the back.
The show started about 30 seconds after Miss Hissy Fit simmered down. If you've never seen the musical, I highly suggest you watch it. True, it's cheesy and over the top, but it's incredibly good fun. And it's funny. It's not just singing and dancing, but it's a knee-slapping good time. The program discouraged singing along with the music, and I giggled to myself that people would actually do that. But damn if I didn't want to break out into song during the very first number. I do at home! It was actually harder than I thought not to sing along. Great, now I AM the crazy person. I did dance though. The program said nothing about not dancing in the seats.
Dancing also helped get a small breeze going, and fortunately when the sun went down it cooled off slightly. To help combat the heat, Brenda and I packed a small cooler full of water bottles, an ice pack and a wet washcloth. Wet icy washcloth = pure genius.
The show itself was phenomenal. I won't give you all the plot points, but essentially the oldest of 7 brothers marries a girl in town and takes her back to the woods to live with him and his 6 brothers. During their 60 second courtship, he failed to mention the 6 brothers and the fact that she'd be doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, wood chopping, etc. when he married her. Needless to say she was a bit pissed. Well, as pissed as you can be in a musical. The 6 brothers decided they wanted wives of their own, so they kidnapped 6 girls from town and forced them to live in the woods until the end of the winter when the snow melted and the pass was open. (Uh, that sounds way worse than it is.) The girls ended up falling in love with the brothers, and shotgun weddings were had by all.
The dance sequences in the movie were pretty impressive, and the cast of this show were just as spectacular. I was pretty impressed with the athleticism each of them displayed. I had a smile on my face the entire time, even when I wasn't dancing around in my chair. I was, however, ready to go by the end of the show, mainly because my thighs kept sliding off the chair.
Despite the heat, it was a fabulous night, and thanks to Brenda for being my date!
Side note: my cousin went two days after we did and had a blissfully lovely evening minus the depressing heat. Guess we should have gone two days later!
