Wednesday night I saw Fiddler on the Roof at the Orpheum as Shelly Ross' guest. That was the sixth play I've attended this year, and the fourth musical from the Best of Broadway series. I started the year with Mamma Mia in January, caught a performance of Cirque du Soleil's O in Las Vegas in March, saw both Rent and Contact in June, and was taken to Aida in July. I used to love the theater, ballet, symphonies, any kind of formal classical performing art, and positively haunted Seattle's concert halls and theaters. Gradually I gave up the habit. During my eight years in Nashville I saw only one play, one choir concert, and one ballet performance.
I seem to have come back to my love of live entertainment, though. Next month I'm going to Seattle specifically to attend a performance of Mozart's Requiem, and John and I have tickets to see Copenhagen in February (on 02/02/02, a wonderful date). I think I can safely say I've overcome whatever odd psychological quirk was keeping me from enjoying watching people perform. I think this is a wonderful development.
I owe a lot of it to Shelly. She loves shows so she frequently asks if I want to go see something, and I usually do. We're going back to Las Vegas in a couple of months to see some more shows, probably Blue Man Group and something even more experimental. I'm not wild about the rest of the Best of Broadway season for 2002 so I'm thinking of trying to see more plays and fewer musicals at some of the smaller San Francisco and peninsula theaters. I've also been going to more movies. I saw three movies in two months, an amazing number considering I rarely see three movies a year.
It's like I'm getting back to the person I used to be. The person who was crazy about the history of cinema, and wanted to be an actress, and loved performing, and majored in music. The person who went to movies by herself, the one who auditioned for every choir in town and always got a part. The person who went to see all the major bands that came to town and quite a few of the smaller ones, who was always in a club or a hall on a Saturday night listening to live music and dancing. Boy, I haven't been dancing in a long time. I should try that next.
Film at 11.
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