My mom and I decided to
Park & Ride to the Hollywood Bowl. We had a nice charter bus. Most of the passengers bought their bus tickets for $8 as they boarded. We prepaid on Ticketmaster for $5 + $1.75 service fee, so we saved $1.25.
This was my first time at the Hollywood Bowl.
I love the view of the Hollywood sign!
There were
searchlights shining at opposite ends. I definitely had that "Hollywood" feel! I really like the atmosphere. Everyone was just kicking back, having a picnic. Courtney and Keri brought
Panera sandwiches for everyone. They were yummy. Also,
75-cent seat cushions are totally worth it! The screens are big, but I liked looking through my binoculars.
8:30 rolled around. The lights turned off. The National Anthem was played on the electric guitar. After a closer look, you see that the guitarist has his back to the audience, and
he's wearing a sleveless black tee with plaid pants. It's Roger (Aaron Tveit)! Once he finished, he took a seat, and Mark (Skylar Astin) came out to start the show.
"Rent" was really strong. I was pumped! As I was writing this blog, I learned that Benny is played by
Collins Pennie, who was in
FAME!
I fell for Aaron Tveit. He looked a lot
older than Tripp van der Bilt in Gossip Girl. I LOVE how he was about to
strangle Mimi during their argument at the beginning of
"Goodbye Love."
I have always felt that
"Out Tonight" is a difficult song to nail. Sorry, but
Vanessa Hudgens did not nail it. Her peformance was better than the video I saw on YouTube from the night before, but there were times where the notes were just off for me.
BUT her performance got better throughtout the night.
"Without You" was really good!
Telly Leung did well as Angel, just as the role demands. He kept up Angel's charm and talent.
Skylar Astin as Mark and
Tracie Thoms as Joanne brought it as well.
Wayne Brady was very good as Collins. He started off with a higher singing voice than he ended with. Is that just me who noticed?
Nicole Scherzinger was extremely good as Maureen. This version of
"Over the Moon" added some hip hop. She was
SANS COWBELL. Uh, weird! I can't remember if Joanne mentioned it during
"We're Okay." Other than that, it was really good. It makes you forget that Maureen isn't supposed to be super talented.
If you didn't love her before, you ought to now!
There were a couple of technical glitches. "Christmas Bells" wasn't as epic as I wanted.
Other changes I noticed:
- The absence of Mark's interruption/introduction at the beginning of "Life Support"
- Maureen is from Jersey, not Hicksville?
- They cut a verse from "Happy New Year"
- "Seasons of Love B" was cut =/
- They cut out the orgy part of "Contact." It went straight to Angel singing "Take me.."
- They don't admit the truth of about Evita to Benny.
- Collins doesn't rewire the ATM.
There are two giant screens on each side of the stage. They were utilized well. During
"What You Own," Mark wark was shone on one side, while Roger was on the other. Then, at the appropriate moment, the scene collided. Some actual footage was shown from Mark's film.
I love this picture during
"Seasons of Love"
This picture is from
"I'll Cover You (reprise)" without Angel.
I liked the blocking
after Mimi jumps over the moon. That final image of everyone singing on the table warms my heart. After
"Finale B" ended, the lights went out. The actors took their positions in line at the end of the stage to sing an encore of
"Seasons of Love". There wasn't a proper curtain call, and
Neil Patrick Harris did not come on stage to bow or anything!! That bummed me out a bit. He obviously is a big part of the reason people came out to these shows.
We had
20 minutes to get back to the buses. We followed the massive crowd down the hill. That was a dumb move. If we had gone down through the seats first, we would have saved 10-15 minutes. Tip for next time!
