Carrie the Musical

Let me start by saying that this is the best musical about a telekinetic revenge rampage that I have ever seen!  Actually, it's the only musical of that type that I've ever seen.   The Beck Center for the Arts does an amazing amount of edgy theater, and Carrie the Musical is not to be missed!

I've never seen the movie, but the image of Sissy Spacek as Carrie at the prom, is one of the most remembered images in Hollywood history.  This show gets down to the true emotion of how the events happened. 

Carrie is a school outcast, raised by a fanatically religious mother.  After she gets her first period in the gym shower, the other girls mock her and throw tampons at her.  One girl, Sue, feels bad afterwards, and tries to make things right by apologizing and having her boyfriend take Carrie to the prom.  Chris, the lead female bully, gets cut out of prom because she doesn't apologize for her actions.   She decides to arrange the pigs blood incident at prom in order to get her revenge.  We all know how that ultimately works out.

I really loved this show!   I am curious how long it takes to get all that stage blood out of the dress for 3 shows a week.  You can appreciate the show without having read the book or seen the movie (or movies as I've now learned).  Go see it!

Valentine's Day at Georgetown

Yesterday, Steve and I went to Georgetown to celebrate Valentine's Day.  This is the restaurant that we went to a couple of years ago that inspired me to start this blog.  We even got the same waitress and she remembered us.

We started the evening with an amuse-bouche of broccoli cheddar soup.  Very delicious and pleasantly warm.  Just enough for a taste to get the appetite whetted.

The bread was nice.  I think the butter had a sort of tomato-esque flavor to it.  The bread was sourdough, soft in the middle with a pleasantly crisp crust.

We resolved that tonight we would order dessert, so we skipped the appetizers to make sure we had room.  Steve got filet Mignon.  The some of the potatoes were blue in color.   It was nicely tender.

I decided to have the roast duck.  That was delicious!   It was ever so savory, with walnuts, apples, foise gras, and water chestnuts. 

Steve and I have different tastes when it comes to dessert.   He ordered the flour-less chocolate cake with coffee ice cream.   He enjoyed it.

However, it was dwarfed by the impressive plating of my vanilla mousse with mixed berries and chocolate dipped honeycomb.  The mouse had a nice mouth feel and perfectly complimented by the strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

This is a closeup of the honeycomb.

The portions were generous enough for each of us to have lunch today.  Let's call it four meals!  We'll definitely be coming back.

87 West

Last night a friend and I went out to 87 West.  The food was tasty and not too expensive.  The restaurant is a wine bar, and they have a nice selection of drinks.   Pictured above is their chicken breast sandwich with gouda, roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, arugula, and balsamic aioli.  It was a good portion for splitting.

Each of had a bowl of french onion soup.  I wasn't able to finish mine and brought it home for later.  I would like to order their dessert next time.  They have a bananas Foster that I would like to try.

Porgy and Bess

Yesterday we saw the national tour of George and Ira Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.  That was awesome!  Ever since it was released early in the century, there has been debate over whether the show is a musical or an opera.   Gershwin did sub title it as a folk opera, but the show is well accepted by musical theater venues as well as opera houses. 

I wen into the show not knowing much about the story.   It takes place in the deep south, where the Gullah communities face racism as they keep their traditions alive.  

Bess is a woman with a past of drinking and dope using.  She witnesses her man at the time, Crown, murder a man, so she hides in the community of Catfish row.  No one will take her in while Crown is laying low, except for Porgy, a man with a congenital limp.   They eventually get together and bring themselves happiness.  This unlikely couple goes through some trials that I can't go into here without completely spoiling the entire show.

The vocal work is excellent, more operatic in style.  This complements well with the more traditional Broadway style musical dancing.   It'll touch your heart.  Go see it!