A Very Fun Time!

Erdbeere likes to be in plays now and then so every so often she will hook up with a local players theater and get herself in a play.  And, of course, when she does we like to go see the play.  So she did that recently and this weekend we went to attend the opening night of their play, Singing in the Rain. I've long been a fan of the old Gene Kelly / Debbie Reynolds movie so I was particularly interested to see how they would adapt it to the stage.  I'm sure that's been done before but I've never seen it so I was curious.  Particularly the title number where the star dances on the street while its raining.  This was going to be good.  But more about that in a minute.

Schwarzbeere and his wife went with us. That was a happy thing.  Because Erdbeere was going to be way busy with the play and all we decided to stay in a motel this time.  And we also decided to take the day off work and go down early to see if we could do something else while we were there.  And that worked out to be fun, too.  Erdbeere did have a little time so we all went to the zoo for a short visit.  That was fun.  Her little boy, Townsend, likes the zoo, they take him pretty often.  So we did see a few animals, even though his favorite thing to do at the zoo is to play at the playground there.  Funny boy.  There wasn't time to see a lot of the exhibits but what we saw was good, it was a fun trip.

After the zoo Erdbeere had to take off to start getting ready for the play so headed over to a nearby mall for some lunch and then decided to go check into our motel, grab some dinner and get some flowers to give to Erdbeere at the play.  Unfortunately, the afternoon didn't play out like we had planned. I had got reservations at a motel that was only about 10 miles or so from the theater but Friday traffic turned those few miles into a very long car trip.  Then, when we got to the motel it turned out to be less than advertised and was unacceptable. We won't get into the details of that.  Suffice it to say that we opted to find some place else.  And because the afternoon was wearing away we decided to be safe and find one closer to the theater.  Well, the drive back was even worse than the drive out, including sitting for fifteen or twenty minutes at a train crossing.  There was a train sitting at it, thoroughly blocking the crossing and during the whole time we were there it never moved an inch.  Having had the GPS let us down once already on this trip we were a little reluctant to trust it to lead us on a good route out of there but we took the chance and this time it came through.  So we beat it back through heavy traffic, back to the new motel and got checked in. But by now there was no time for the short nap we had hoped for, or for the stop at the store for flowers we had wanted - there wasn't even time to go get something to eat for dinner.  So we headed straight to the theater.

The GPS came through again for us and took us straight to the theater and we got there just a few minutes after when we had originally planned on arriving anyway.  That was good.  Plus, they had a snack bar so we held off starvation with some junk food to carry us over until after the play, when we hoped to be able to get something better.  We'll come back to that in a few minutes.  Erdbeere was able to come out and say "hi" before the play started.  That was fun, she was all in costume and looked so good.  For a small donation we could have gotten into the play for a small, simple appearance if we'd wanted but nobody in our group wanted to so we skipped that opportunity.  And then it was time for the play to start.

Erdbeere's role in the play was versatile, she actually played several roles during the play - an opportunity afforded by it being a small, local theater group.  They were all fun.  The costume we saw her in before the play started was just for her first appearance. She had a few others and had some quick changing to do behind the scenes as the play went on.  Most of the actors did.  That's part of the fun of local theater.

The play turned out to be real good, everyone did a good job, the pace was steady, the talent was good, singing and dancing and acting all around, everyone knew their lines, or if there were any flubs they covered them so well it wasn't noticeable at all. We had good seats (actually, when I bought them I was the first so I had my choice of anywhere in the whole theater).  We were close enough to be able to see and hear very well but, as it turned out, not so close that we got wet at all when the title number came and the rain was falling as the lead splashed and played around in it.  The had rigged some plumbing above the front of the stage so that when they needed the rain they had rain, real water, and true to the warning they gave before the play began, the people on the front couple of rows did get splashed on a little.  But we were far enough back that we didn't get in on any of that.  I was impressed with the actor that played the role of Cosmo.  That's a high energy part that takes a lot of talent and he pulled it off very well.  His bio said he was grateful to the other actors for giving him room to play with his role and he certainly did.  He did a good job. The whole show moved at a good pace so that you didn't notice the time at all.  It was a two hour play with one fifteen minute intermission.  It was a good play, done well, and a good time.  Worth all the hassle we'd had to wade through during the afternoon.

When the play ended we got to talk to Erdbeere again for a few minutes before she took off to the cast party and we took off to see if we could find a place still open so we could get some dinner.  It was almost 10:30 by the time we left the theater. And what was even very appropriate, it was raining outside as we left.  Erdbeere had mentioned a place that was near by that might still be open so we headed back there.  Unfortunately, we ended up stuck at another train crossing, waiting on another train.  But this one didn't sit there longer than just a few minutes before it began moving and it was a short train so that delayed us only five or 10 minutes.  But then, a little farther down the road we came upon an accident that had just happened.  The whole road was blocked, no traffic moving in our direction at all.  We sat there a few minutes, the police arrived and we decided to go around the block.  But when we got to the restaurant a few minutes later they said their kitchen had already closed.  Fortunately, we had passed another place, a fast-food place on the way that was still open so we went back there and got some dinner and took it back to the motel to eat.  By the time we finished and were all ready for bed it was a little after midnight. It had been a long day.


The plan for Saturday was to meet Erdbeere and her family and all go for a late lunch and then head for home, and check out was pretty late as most motels go so we were not in a hurry at all to get up the next morning.  So that's what we did.  We checked out and left the motel around 10:30 and went over to Erdbeere's place and hung out for a few minutes.  Then we drove a few miles to a place to get some good deep dish pizza.  I'd never had it before and it turned out really good.  But what I thought was the best was the salad we got to go with it.  That was really yummy!

All too soon the pizza and salad were gone and Erdbeere needed to take off to get ready for the evenings performance.  So we said our good-byes and we took off for home.  It had been a real good visit - good company, good entertainment, good food, just an all around good time.  Erdbeere was saying that her plan was do see about getting into a play each spring. I like that idea.  These trips to her plays have always been a lot of fun.  I'm looking forward to the next one already.