Best Frozen Fury Weekend
This weekend was Frozen Fury X at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Frozen Fury is a pre-season game the Kings host in Vegas, almost always against the Colorado Avalanche. It's a lot of fun to hang out with hockey friends and have an excuse to go to Vegas. (Of course, since Melissa & Tom moved to Vegas, I always have a reason to go there...)

I haven't been to all ten of the Frozen Fury games (I haven't been a Kings fan that long), but this was definitely the most exciting game I can remember seeing in Vegas. It was really interesting and a lot of fun. I'm glad that this was the game I was able to convince my dad and his girlfriend to attend. They got to see a great game that ended in a shootout. Normally, I think shootouts in general are silly and that pre-season shootouts are really ridiculous, but for Frozen Fury, I think it's important for the fans to have a clear winner and it was a great way to end the game.

I got to see the most adorable baby ever (see Melissa's page for a picture, though I swear TC is even cuter now) and hang out with him two days in a row. Holding TC and playing with him really took the sting out of watching Penn State lose with TC, his daddy Tom, my dad, & my dad's girlfriend, Corinne. Somehow, when you're playing with a cute baby everything is okay with the world.

The Kings also did their part by winning the Frozen Fury game. I didn't run into as many people I know who are Kings fans as I normally do during the course of the weekend, but I wonder if some of them might have missed it, since they're going to London for the start of the season and couldn't be away two weekends in a row, or are already enjoying Europe.

The poor Kings were actually leaving around 4:30 the morning after Frozen Fury. I hope they just stayed up, which is easy to do in Vegas. I don't know about them, but there's no way I could get up that early. Staying up that late in Vegas is easy, though. I was up until about that time Friday night and a little after 3 Saturday night. :-)

It was great to see everyone and enjoy exciting hockey in Vegas. Lots of fun! I wish it didn't have to end so soon. I definitely didn't want to leave today.

Labels: friends, hockey, Kings, Las Vegas, life, Penn State, sports, travel

Posted by Kat @ 10:25 PM | 0 meows

Spring Awakening
I just got back from New York Sunday . I had a wonderful trip to PA (Pittsburgh, State College, Philly area, etc.) and New York. It was great to see family and friends on the east coast, but I have to say that the highlight of the trip was finally getting to see Spring Awakening. WOW! What a show! It didn't start previews until after my trip last year and I couldn't get good enough seats when I was there last month, but I'm so glad I got to see it this time!
If you haven't seen Spring Awakening yet, definitely check it out when you're in New York. It deserved all 8 Tony Awards it won (Musical, Book of a Musical, Original Score, Featured Actor in a Musical, Choreography, Direction, Orchestrations, & Lighting) and a few it didn't (Actor, Featured Actress, Scenic Design, etc.). Having seen both David Hyde Pierce's performance and Jonathan Groff's, I'd say Jonathan was robbed, not Raul Esparaza, who was expected to win. I also think that Lea Michele and Lauren Pritchard both deserved nominations for Featured Actress, if not the award itself.

The lighting of Spring Awakening is truly amazing. It's something you have to see to believe. The music is wonderful. The choreography/direction and movement is so well done. The young cast is fabulous. I think the only reason Jonathan Groff didn't win the Tony for Best Actor is that Spring Awakening is such an ensemble piece, where everyone in the cast is amazing and most of the cast is on stage for almost all of the show (even if they're sitting with the audience on stage in parts). I would love to sit on stage sometime and enjoy it from a completely different point of view. Perhaps next year...

I saw Spring Awakening three times in one week, which I've never done with any show, but surprisingly it was at TKTS with all of the original cast (except for Gideon Glick, who plays Ernst and is out for health reasons at the moment). That truly shocked me, considering how wonderful this show is and that it won 8 Tony Awards, but I didn't complain. I took advantage of the chance to see it again with this wonderful cast before they move on to other things. Since I normally only get back to New York once a year, I have to squeeze everything in to the short time I get in the city.

If you have a chance to see Spring Awakening before the original cast leaves, do it! Previews started last November, so you should have a bit of time, but don't delay. Of course, if you miss them, I'm sure the new cast will be wonderful, too. I just can't recommend this cast more.

The only bad thing about the show is that it's playing at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, which has almost no slope to the orchestra section and isn't staggered well row to row, making it very difficult to see portions of the show. I spent the first time I saw Spring Awakening constantly moving and trying to see around the heads in front of me. I was close to the stage, which was very good for the first time I saw it, but there was a lot I missed. I caught a lot more the second time, but honestly, the best seat I had for Spring Awakening was the third time I saw it - in the next to last row, in the far corner of the orchestra section. The last two rows are elevated, so I could actually see the whole show. It was wonderful! In a couple places (where the cast is seated on the stage), I would have to watch a portion of the stage at a time, but I could actually see everything on stage with little adjustment on my part. It was great to see some of the portions I had missed the first two times I saw the show.

I don't want to say too much about the show, since I think you should see it for yourself. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has problems with brief (very tasteful) nudity or sexual content. However, I think everyone else will love Spring Awakening. It's an amazing show! The audiences I enjoyed the show with ranged in ages from teenagers to fairly old and (unlike the audience of Rent, which has been there for over 11 years, you'd think people would know what it's about by now), I didn't see anyone not return for the second act of Spring Awakening. I'm not sure if that says something about the show or the audiences, but I was happy to see that everyone stayed each night. I couldn't believe that I saw people leave Rent all these years after it opened on Broadway. The fact that there are still people in this world who can't handle the simple subject matter of love (no matter who is involved) bothers me, but at least everyone could handle Spring Awakening, which is definitely a good thing.

Labels: life, musicals, New York, Spring Awakening, theatre, travel

Posted by Kat @ 10:57 AM | 0 meows