Saturday, June 19, 2010

Post Patti Lupone Post

I'm posting early on a Saturday morning because we got home a little late from seeing Patti Lupone in concert at Orchestra Hall last night. And not only did Christopher and I see Patti Lupone, but we took along a couple of friends who are in town from Dallas this weekend.

But, first, about the concert. It was incredible. When she started the concert, she explained to the audience that this "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda" tour was all about songs she could have, should have, or would have done throughout her life. And she also explained that she would be doing anything she wanted all evening.

With that in mind, we got to listen to her perform a bunch of songs you wouldn't expect. Over the course of two hours, she did "Never Never Land" from "Peter Pan." She did "You Got Trouble" from "The Music Man." And, yes, she sang a lot of the songs you expect, like "Don't Cry for me Argentina" and "Being Alive" and "Send in the Clowns."

She also did some of her lesser-known songs, like "Meadowlark" from a show called "The Baker's Wife" - which she explained closed before making it to Broadway after it apparently once played one performance to only 25 people in the 2,700-seat Kennedy Center.

Her first encore included "Ladies Who Lunch" (from "Company"), but when she came back out for a second encore, she left her pianist offstage, walked to the front of the stage, and did an a cappella song I had never heard before. It was a beautiful ending to the evening.

But... About the rest of the evening.

Friends of mine are in town from Dallas for the Bingham Cup International Gay Rugby Tournament. They stopped by my work for a quick hello on Thursday, and spent last evening with us. We picked them up at their hotel before 7, and honestly didn't stop talking (except for during the concert, of course) until we dropped them off around 11.

It was pretty amazing - especially since we knew each other out in Baltimore, and both moved (me to Minnesota, him to Dallas) on the same weekend in April seven years ago. We hadn't seen each other, since, but the conversations were still good. We laughed. We made fun. We talked about serious stuff. Basically, it was just a good evening.

OH. And I almost forgot to mention that, as we were walking along Nicollet Mall, we saw people we knew - both before and after the concert. Nothing like running into good people on a good night!

Today I'm heading up to Blaine (north of the Cities) to watch some rugby. I don't know a ton about rugby, but I'm sure I'll have a fun time, even so. If not, maybe I'll just start singing some Patti Lupone.

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