Anything Can Happen If You Let It

As some (or most) of you know, Joanna and I are really into musicals. Sometimes the music from Broadway musicals is much more intricate than some of the drivel that is in the music world today. That's not to say that today's music is terrible. There are plenty of new artists out there that I really enjoy. But this blog post is not about Pop and Rock music, it's about Broadway.

Mary Poppins, The Musical, opened last night in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre. Joanna had already seen the show in New York last year, but I wanted to see it and she was more than willing to see it again. However, when tickets were first announced, we were never able to get tickets on a day that we could go - or even in a section that would be somewhat decent - so we sort of gave up hope that we would be able to go.

Lucikly, Joanna has figured out the whole system of ticket lots. It seems that most theatres will open up the "good" seats just before opening night. Joanna - on an unknown whim - decided to check the tickets for opening night and found two (next to each other, even) and purchased them. I got a call at work after lunch from Joanna asking if I wanted to go, of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

We drove out after work, filled with excitement to see a show that I already knew the music from (Joanna had gotten the CD last Christmas and I have listenened to it constantly). Our excitement quickly faded as we ran into traffic. And not just a little bit of traffic, but a TON of traffic. This traffic was being forced from four lanes into two. Ridiculous. It took us an hour to get from the 57 Freeway to West Covina (a trip that would normally take about ten minutes or less).

Eventually, we made our way to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and went inside. I can tell you that the music is only one half of the experience. when we got there we discovered just how good the seats were. Can we say, second row? Yes, the seats were on the right hand side, but we didn't miss out on much. We got to see everything from their facial expressions to their heavy breathing after a physically demanding number.

The visuals that are created by the designers and production staff make up another part and the performers make up the rest. It was nice to have the original Mary Poppins and Bert from the Broadway version because it seemed like they were giving it their best all night.

And now, a note on the title of this blog. There is a song toward the end of the musical that mentions, "Anything can happen if you let it". I decided to think more on that song in regards to the story that I am hoping to have published (see previous blog entry). I'm going to keep querying agents (I have found two more) and if it works out great, but I'm not going to let the NEED to publish outweigh the DESIRE to just keep enjoying writing. I'm not going to let the BUSINESS of writing get in the way of actually writing.

So, to use another phrase from Mary Poppins:

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!