My Dossier: Very dangerous. Do not handle at all.

I have RENT TICKETS! I WILL SEE ADAM PASCAL AND ANTHONY RAPP IN A LIVE PERFORMANCE!

Yes, I, a Canadian, who has never, sadly, been to NYC, will be seeing two of the original cast of Rent in a live performance next Saturday.  I firmly plan on screaming and fangirling like a 60s teen at a Beatles concert.  They are seats in aisle AA, just beside the area set aside for the cheap tickets.    As this is only a 12 day engagement in Toronto, both AP and AR are expected to perform in every show. 

This will be my 10th time seeing the show. 

My Mom arranged the tickets for me, and is coming along as my companion, as I do get so tired so quickly as of late.  I wanted to go, but knew I couldn't without company because of all my still-continuing health issues.  This makes me a little sad (that I couldn't just do it on my own, as I've seen the show 6 times without a companion) but at least the person I'm going with understands my undying love of this musical.

For those of you who didn't read the saga of who I thought should've won How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? you may do so here.  Actually, I whine about it a few times last July an August, so seeing the play today was a bit of a problem for me.

You see, I think Janna got royally shafted.  Sure, Elicia's had a tonne of good press about the role, and good for her for rising to the challenge that I never thought she could meet, but secretly, no matter how many times I told myself seeing Elicia would be fine, my heart has always been set on seeing Janna.  Unfortunately, as the alternate, she only plays 2 of the 8 shows a week.  I wasn't holding out too much hope.  

When I got to the Princess of Wales theatre, I spent the entire time being antsy to get to my seat.  They didn't have a board up for "In This Performance" so until I got a hold of the program, I wasn't going to know who my Maria should be.

I mus say, the people sitting around me must've thought I was way too enthusiastic about seeing the alternate.  Yes, I did get to see Janna.  I even let out a big squee when I saw her name on the printed list for the performance. 

Just so everyone is clear on where I fall on the Janna versus Elicia debate: Janna was spectacularly awesome, just as I expected her to be!

So, I was at the Princess of Wales Theatre today for Lord of the Rings. 

It was as amazingly good as Wicked was amazingly bad.

When I arrived, there was already a pantomime going on onstage with all the Hobbits catching fireflies.  IT went on for the full twenty minutes prior to the show starting.  As I tried to make my way to the seat, I got tapped on the shoulder and asked if I'd mind waiting a second before sitting.  The person who tapped me then tells me that he wants to use my seat as a firefly is floating above it.  Yup, I got asked to wait by a hobbit.  My response, "Oh, you're a hobbit!"

His response, "What'd you expect in Hobbiton?  It's not like we get many humans like you 'round these parts."

So, he stands on my seat, misses the firefly but kindly thanks me for waiting and asks if I'm coming to Bilbo's 111 birthday party.  I said yes.  He said he'd see me there, particularly for the dancing. 

How cute is that?  I think I got hit on by a hobbit.

Personally, I'm glad my mother was loitering in the lobby at that point, she would have said something to ruin that.

Anyway, the costumes and staging are spectacular.  Everything is so imaginative, I had to work hard to try and see everything.  How they deal with the required height differences and characters like treebeard (and particularly the ring wraiths which were artistically stunning) was also extrememly unique and fairly subtle.  Unless you were looking specifically at the feet, which were mostly hidden by a variety of robes, no on would notice on the main characters at all. 

The music itself is unique, not as much singing as one would expect.  Lots of orchestral moments throughout and it's very celtic sounding.  It was different than the standard pop ballads that have become popular in modern musical theatre.  It sounded as I think Lord of the Rings should have sounded.

The hobbits are perfectly casst.  The four main hobbits are wonderful, as is Gollum and Gandalf (Brent Carver, a Canadian theatre god).  The Aragorn I could take or leave, as well as the Legolas, but Gimli was good, and Galadriel is also excellent.

I was far more impressed than I thought I would have been.  I was completely wrapped up in the second and third acts (the first is a bit slow for the first 20 mintues, but it's worth the wait for the rest).  I felt the standing ovation it was given was totally worth it.