Just when I thought it couldn't get any better...

The album I played over and over

...the new season for Broadway Across America began in September. The season began with Mary Poppins and I was very impressed with the talent involved in that production. I kept picturing Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. I listened to my album of Mary Poppins so much when I was a little girl. I think I wore that album out. Chim Chim Cheree‎ was done amazingly well and the dancers were incredible. I also loved it when they sang Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! The audience was thrilled with it and many children were in the audience. They were singing along and mesmerized by some of the effects used in the show. It was cute to see the kids enjoying the songs and being riveted to the action on the stage. They were fun to watch. I only went to one of the shows for Mary Poppins but I wished I had gone to more.

After Mary Poppins came a really great show; Stomp  and it was very impressive.  There was so much talent in that show. And it was non-stop action from beginning to end. They have to be in GREAT shape in order to be able to do this. They are moving everywhere making music with things like trash cans, banana peels, boxes of matches and kitchen sinks. I loved the sinks. They put some water in it and they made different sounds. They also climbed walls and hung from them as they performed too.

The beginning of December brought Fiddler on the Roof  and another group of great performers. I always loved this show too from my younger days and loved the music. The story is a great one and I enjoyed seeing it again.  It did not disappoint. I enjoyed watching it. I got tickets for my mother and father-in-law to see and they loved it too. It was another sold out show and I heard many people talking about how much they loved the production. I didn't pay really close attention to the whole thing because it was very busy and I was helping the patrons. But, what I did see was great.

 

After a wild and crazy month of December at my home (my daughter got married, our exchange student from Russia who was with us in 1999, came to visit with her husband and cute little son, and  my husband had surgery),   Les Miserables came to the Majestic at the beginning of January. I was never privileged to see this show before so I was going in as a new observer. Well, let me tell you this,  I fell in love! I fell in love hard! I mean that in every way! I was lucky to see it 4 times while it was here and wished I could have seen it a hundred more times. The actor who played Jean Valjean was AMAZING!! His name is J. Mark McVey  and his version of Bring Him Home gave me goosebumps. His daughter played young Cosette in some of the performances and that was fun to see. Jeremy Hays played Enjolras and he had the audience on the edge of their seats.  But, most of all, I was blown away by one actor named Max Quinlan. He played Marius and his voice was so pure and so fresh. I can't explain it here, but seeing him on the stage kept me captivated and unable to look away even for a second. His portrayal of  Marius was spot on and I loved the way he was so tender with Cosette and Eponine and brash and gritty at the Barricade and with  Enjolras and the other students. I loved it when he sang Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. You could hear the anguish in his voice. He is someone who has a long great career ahead of him. I will keep looking for him in other shows in the future.
The storyline was great by itself but the more I saw it the more I wanted to see. I wanted to see it over and over again. I wanted to get lost in the talents of all the great performers and the great story unfolding on the stage. It was beyond anything I had ever seen. I am now going through my obsession phase with this show. I am listening to the music over and over again. It compelled me to research the history of France. Then I was anxious to find out more about the characters so I decided to read the book by Victor Hugo (it has 1432 pages and I am on page 641). It has only made me appreciate the Les Miserables stage production and feel more compassion for the characters.

That is something else I have realized from seeing the shows at the Majestic. It gives me the desire to learn more about these shows and research them. I have done that with quite a few of the shows I have seen over the past couple of years. I have read more books and take an interest in the history associated with the shows. It truly has become my form of entertainment and I love being there. I can't wait for each show to come. This week, Cats comes and I can't wait for that one either. I saw that many times in the past when living in Philadelphia so it will be fun to see it again. After Cats will be a couple more shows before the end of the Broadway Across America for the season. It does seem to go by very fast, but I enjoy every minute of it.