Chicago!!!
Well, I just got back (along with Becky, my seven year old sister) from our Chicago trip. Wow--what a weekend! We got on the train at 8:00am on Saturday, which was fun. Our first train ride! A lot like a plane, only more room--and not as fast. :) Becky had fun for about 10 minutes and then kept asking how many more minutes or when the next stop was or could she pleeeeeeease eat some snacks?! But we made it to Chicago only 10 minutes late, which was nice, since I had heard some horror stories about late trains and was immediately thinking worst case scenario that we'd get there hours and hours late and miss the curtain for "Mary Poppins" at 2 pm! But we made it right on time, so we went to the hotel to check in and leave all our stuff. It was a nice hotel too! 27 stories, and a huge room. :) I was even gladder that Dad had used his rewards points to pay for the room, 'cause I'm sure it would have been at least $200. Thank you to Dad. :) Anyways, after we checked in, Becky and I grabbed lunch at McDonalds and walked over to the theater. And guess what we passed! The "Chicago Sun-Times" building that was in the opening credits of every Early Edition episode! Yes, I'm such a nerd--I totally took a picture. :) Hey, Early Edition was a great show!
Anyways, "Mary Poppins" was wonderful! I was very excited to see that there were NO understudies on at all, so I got to see Gavin Lee for the second time and Ashley Brown as Mary for the first time. And now I like Ashley Brown--I think she's one of the performers I have to see in person to like, 'cause I didn't much care for her either way when I've heard her on cast recordings, but I really liked her interpretation of Mary, and her voice completely fit the character. :) And Gavin Lee was wonderful as always. Actually, the whole cast was pretty good--the boy playing Michael talked a bit too fast once in a while, and Mr. Banks was a bit over the top (he didn't humanize the character, played Mr. Banks more like a caricature, which doesn't really work--for the show to work, Mr and Mrs Banks need to be extremely human...), but Mrs. Banks was fantastic! Actually, the actress playing her on the tour was the actress I saw as the Mary Poppins understudy when I saw it on Broadway. I loved her as Mary, and she was wonderful as Mrs. Banks. :)
The new song was good, but I don't think it works as well as "Temper Temper" (but I'm biased, since I *really* liked "Temper Temper"). It has a couple similar melody lines, and similar lyrics, but the big change is that Mary sings it and remains in the nursery through the whole thing. It's a bit confusing--less clear--about what's going on than "Temper Temper"--it keeps talking about "Playing the Game" and you're left wondering what game they're talking about. It's nice, but nothing special overall.
And the house is great! You still get a lot of the special effects that were on Broadway (Mary slides up the staircase still, the magical carpetbag), it's just more portable. the two sides of the house fold out and are just backdrops, but the stairs/middle part are an actual set. The nursery beds slide in from the side, but the roof still drops in from the ceiling (just without people on it as it drops).
Anyways, I really liked it. Becky liked parts but thought "some parts were boring"--"the bank part", for one, although she sang "Precision and Order" all the next day. :) She did like it when Bert walked on the ceiling and when they danced with Neleus in "Jolly Holiday" though. We did go to the Stage Door afterwards, and got pictures taken with Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee (Becky said Ashley was "really pretty!"), and I had them both sign the big/expensive "Making-of" book for me It was great fun; I'm so glad I went!
After that, Becky was VERY EXCITED to go to the American Girl store. I think that was the highlight of the trip for her, even if it was a loooooong walk (her term--she did not like all the walking). But it was fun for me too; I used to love those dolls! And they're very shrewd; the store is very well-desgned to appeal to both the parents and the children, so that you end up spending lots of money! Poor Becky, she only had $13 to spend, and nothing there is cheap. She ended up getting a souvenir "American Girl Place Chicago" shirt and pants for her Bitty Baby ($18--crazy!). But she had fun looking around. I "dragged" her to the Disney store afterwards; didn't get anything, but had fun looking, even if Becky kept trying to get us to go. :)
After our little shopping expedition we went back to the hotel; I went out and got dinner for us, and then we went swimming. Becky was having fun, but it was really crowded, and even when it got less crowded, the other two couples there were college age and there were a couple of empty beer bottles around, so I figured it was time to go. :) We only swam for about 20 minutes but it was still fun.
Then on Sunday, Becky and I went to the park. Well, first we had fun at the swanky continental breakfast (do it yourself egg mcmuffins; waffles; etc), and then we went to Millenium Park, where they have the giant reflective bean (no other way to describe it) and these great fountain/waterfalls. Two slabs going about 30 feet high, and projected onto each slab is a face. Water falls over all 4 sides of the slab, and every couple of minutes, water shoots out of the projection's mouth. Becky really loved it; she kept begging to go and play in the water, so finally I let her go walk around in it (she couldn't get as wet as she wanted; we didn't have another change of clothes!). Then we walked around the park a bit more; saw Lake Michigan (as in, we saw it from across the freeway, Becky noticed it didn't have any sand, and promptly lost interest. :D); and walked down to this HUGE fountain. It was really big, and really pretty, and much cooler since there was so much water. :) There was supposed to be a water/fountain show, but we waited at the right time and nothing happened, so we're not sure what went on. By then we were so tired we walked to the Sears Tower, looked up at it, said "huh, that's tall" (well, Becky said, "nuhuh--that red building is taller!" It was about 1/3 the height of the Sears Tower, but you try explaining forced perspective to a 7 year old!), and went to the train station. :) Our train ride home was very smooth, except for Becky's constant bugging "how many more minutes?". Overall, it was a great trip--I think Becky thought so too. :)
Anyways, "Mary Poppins" was wonderful! I was very excited to see that there were NO understudies on at all, so I got to see Gavin Lee for the second time and Ashley Brown as Mary for the first time. And now I like Ashley Brown--I think she's one of the performers I have to see in person to like, 'cause I didn't much care for her either way when I've heard her on cast recordings, but I really liked her interpretation of Mary, and her voice completely fit the character. :) And Gavin Lee was wonderful as always. Actually, the whole cast was pretty good--the boy playing Michael talked a bit too fast once in a while, and Mr. Banks was a bit over the top (he didn't humanize the character, played Mr. Banks more like a caricature, which doesn't really work--for the show to work, Mr and Mrs Banks need to be extremely human...), but Mrs. Banks was fantastic! Actually, the actress playing her on the tour was the actress I saw as the Mary Poppins understudy when I saw it on Broadway. I loved her as Mary, and she was wonderful as Mrs. Banks. :)
The new song was good, but I don't think it works as well as "Temper Temper" (but I'm biased, since I *really* liked "Temper Temper"). It has a couple similar melody lines, and similar lyrics, but the big change is that Mary sings it and remains in the nursery through the whole thing. It's a bit confusing--less clear--about what's going on than "Temper Temper"--it keeps talking about "Playing the Game" and you're left wondering what game they're talking about. It's nice, but nothing special overall.
And the house is great! You still get a lot of the special effects that were on Broadway (Mary slides up the staircase still, the magical carpetbag), it's just more portable. the two sides of the house fold out and are just backdrops, but the stairs/middle part are an actual set. The nursery beds slide in from the side, but the roof still drops in from the ceiling (just without people on it as it drops).
Anyways, I really liked it. Becky liked parts but thought "some parts were boring"--"the bank part", for one, although she sang "Precision and Order" all the next day. :) She did like it when Bert walked on the ceiling and when they danced with Neleus in "Jolly Holiday" though. We did go to the Stage Door afterwards, and got pictures taken with Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee (Becky said Ashley was "really pretty!"), and I had them both sign the big/expensive "Making-of" book for me It was great fun; I'm so glad I went!
After that, Becky was VERY EXCITED to go to the American Girl store. I think that was the highlight of the trip for her, even if it was a loooooong walk (her term--she did not like all the walking). But it was fun for me too; I used to love those dolls! And they're very shrewd; the store is very well-desgned to appeal to both the parents and the children, so that you end up spending lots of money! Poor Becky, she only had $13 to spend, and nothing there is cheap. She ended up getting a souvenir "American Girl Place Chicago" shirt and pants for her Bitty Baby ($18--crazy!). But she had fun looking around. I "dragged" her to the Disney store afterwards; didn't get anything, but had fun looking, even if Becky kept trying to get us to go. :)
After our little shopping expedition we went back to the hotel; I went out and got dinner for us, and then we went swimming. Becky was having fun, but it was really crowded, and even when it got less crowded, the other two couples there were college age and there were a couple of empty beer bottles around, so I figured it was time to go. :) We only swam for about 20 minutes but it was still fun.
Then on Sunday, Becky and I went to the park. Well, first we had fun at the swanky continental breakfast (do it yourself egg mcmuffins; waffles; etc), and then we went to Millenium Park, where they have the giant reflective bean (no other way to describe it) and these great fountain/waterfalls. Two slabs going about 30 feet high, and projected onto each slab is a face. Water falls over all 4 sides of the slab, and every couple of minutes, water shoots out of the projection's mouth. Becky really loved it; she kept begging to go and play in the water, so finally I let her go walk around in it (she couldn't get as wet as she wanted; we didn't have another change of clothes!). Then we walked around the park a bit more; saw Lake Michigan (as in, we saw it from across the freeway, Becky noticed it didn't have any sand, and promptly lost interest. :D); and walked down to this HUGE fountain. It was really big, and really pretty, and much cooler since there was so much water. :) There was supposed to be a water/fountain show, but we waited at the right time and nothing happened, so we're not sure what went on. By then we were so tired we walked to the Sears Tower, looked up at it, said "huh, that's tall" (well, Becky said, "nuhuh--that red building is taller!" It was about 1/3 the height of the Sears Tower, but you try explaining forced perspective to a 7 year old!), and went to the train station. :) Our train ride home was very smooth, except for Becky's constant bugging "how many more minutes?". Overall, it was a great trip--I think Becky thought so too. :)