Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

I saw the Beck Center for the Arts' production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson tonight.  It's an amazing historical punk rock musical detailing the life and presidency of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States.

Now, you might think to yourself, "How the heck do you put punk rock and a Victorian era presidential story together in a musical?"  The answer: a large dose of anachronism.  Jackson's rise to the presidency is portrayed as a celebrity's ascent to stardom.  We see Jackson's orphaning as a young child, driving him to become a ruthless military leader, eventual President of the United States, and originator of the Democratic Party.  You have to see it to believe it.

The production makes it work.  I love the period costumes mixed with modern day punk clothing.  The language is mostly modern day English, with a heavy peppering of current day swear words.  Also, Jackson appears to be a blood fetishist who has a penchant for cutting himself when distressed.  However, the show emphasizes that it's just a metaphor.  Aside from translating the events into a vernacular type of situation, the play is historically accurate.  Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is funny, dramatic, and it seriously rocks.

Main Street Cupcakes

I've gone to Main Street Cupcakes a lot.  In fact, I got into the habit of posting pictures of their treats on my Facebook page.   The large response I received to the pictures was one of the things that inspired me to create this blog.

Main Street Cupcakes has three locations in Northeast Ohio.   They have a massive variety of flavors on a rotating menu of about a dozen flavors per day.   Special requests can be ordered by the dozen, including alcoholic drink flavors.

Left to right:
Top row: 
Mojito - White rum cake with hints of mint and lime covered in vanilla buttercream with a Mojito buttercream garnish
Chocolate Cookies and Cream - Crushed Oreo chocolate cake covered in crushed Oreo buttercream frosting, garnished with an oreo cookie or seasonal treat.

Bottom row: 
Half Baked - Vanilla cake mixed with chocolate chips filled with chocolate chip cookie dough topped with buttercream frosting
Carrot Top - Classic Carrot cake smothered in cream cheese frosting and covered in chopped walnuts
Salted Watermelon - Flavor of the Month for June 2012


I suggest buying a variety of flavors and splitting them with friends.  Note that the icing is so heavy that the cupcake just falls over when cut in half.

Melt Bar and Grilled

I love grilled cheese sandwiches!   There is just something so special and comforting about the simple combination of buttered bread and melted cheese.   Melt Bar and Grilled specializes in many varieties of gourmet grilled cheese and a large selection of beers.

This was my pick tonight, the Parmageddon.  2 potato & cheese pierogi, fresh napa vodka kraut, grilled onions, cheddar. 

My husband had the Turtle Pizza Roll Melt tonight.  Authentic pizza rolls, homemade marinara, basil pesto cream cheese, provolone, romano.  Notice that the pesto sauce resembles the mutagen slime featured in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series!   This was originally a limited time only sandwich of the month and I believed that we had missed it.  However, to our surprise, it is now a permanent addition to the menu!

We split the Wookie's Revenge bread pudding for dessert.  The website describes it as:
"Order 66 got you down? Tired of having your palatial treehouse paradise shot up by battle droids? Forget all your cares with Rich chocolate and banana bread pudding chock full of hickory smoked bacon and chunks of Reese’s peanut butter cups. Topped with a chocolate peanut butter glaze and toasted coconut and garnished with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, coconut flakes and crumbled bacon."

We were actually warned that it contained bacon and were assumed to be vegetarian tonight!   We just both happened to order vegetarian sandwiches tonight, so it was very nice of the server to make sure of our diet choices.

The bread pudding was very rich, but I think the most prominent flavor after the chocolate was the coconut.   I couldn't seem to locate as many peanut butter cups or bacon bits.  Still, it was very tasty.

My husband and I both boxed up one half of our sandwiches to go home along with a heaping portion of fries.   One order at Melt definitely yields two meals.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

Today we went out to Jeni's for ice cream!   I love this place.  They have expanded their scoop shops beyond their original Columbus area.   Supermarkets such as Whole Foods and Heinen's now carry their pints, and you can order their products online.   However, there is nothing like ordering a triple at the ice cream parlor and trying new flavors.

Clockwise from the left:
Brown Butter Almond Brittle
Riesling Poached Pear Sorbet
Bangkok Peanut

These are all flavors from Jeni's Signature collection, and three of my personal favorites.   I realize my ice cream choices were all basically beige in color, but they are so delicious and flavorful!

Clockwise from the left:
Bangkok Peanut
Grapefruit Frozen Yogurt
Plum Sake Sorbet

My husband picked out these.  He was adventurous and tried some new sorbets, but I found them a bit more tart than I'd like. 

56 West

We had dinner the last with some friends at 56 West.  It's a lovely casual restaurant with reasonable prices.  Most of the items on the menu end either on even dollar values or fifty-six cents.  Mostly I go to this place on Sunday mornings for their Pajama Brunch.  For $8.56, you get an all you can eat breakfast food including pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, chorizo, fresh fruits, eggs Benedict, and omelets made to order.  Also, the servers are in their pajamas and encourage patrons to do the same!

For lunch and dinner, 56 West specializes in burgers and sandwiches.   The menu items are named after romantic concepts.  For example, cheese fries are named Instant Gratification.

SPINACH AND ARTICHOKE DIP
Fresh spinach and artichoke hearts whipped in a blend of sour cream and
cream cheese-served with fresh sliced baguette.  There were originally 4 more pieces of baguette with the appetizer, but I forgot to take the picture before we started.   Yummy!

BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE
Chargrilled burger with crisp Pancetta, fried egg, American cheese, lettuce,
and tomato.

FRIEND WITH BENEFITS
Burger topped with our chipotle sauce, applesmoked bacon, Vermont cheddar
cheese, fried onion straws.

 For each of the burgers, you could choose between a wheat or white bun or having a baguette.  The burger was large enough for me to enjoy again today at lunch!

Sondheim on Sondheim

Tonight, I had the pleasure of seeing Sondheim on Sondheim, the first collaboration betweenthe KeyBank Broadway Series and Great Lakes Theater.  There wasn't a Broadway Buzz pre-show talk today, but there was one available to view online before the performance.

I loved this show!   I have been a fan of Stephan Sondheim's work for about 15 years.  You don't have to a be familiar with his work to enjoy the show, but it certainly helps.  My favorite Sondheim musicals are Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

The show stars a small cast of 8 versatile actors, and Stephan Sondheim himself as video clips projected on a massive picture frame on the stage.  The small orchestra is located behind this picture frame.   Each actor slips into and out of roles from the various Sondheim productions, performing defining musical numbers.  

This show feels like a massive DVD special features and commentary of Stephan Sondheim's body of work (and I adore DVD special features).  You learn a lot about his creative process, and see the various revisions that the shows underwent.  For example, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum had two previous opening numbers before Comedy Tonight made the show famous.  The show actually had bombed with the previous songs as lead ins to the show.  Both of these numbers are performed before you get to see Comedy Tonight.

Stephan Sondheim plays a sort of peanut gallery to his own work.  He makes comments to the actors on stage, and they react to him and vice versa.  The opening number is a surprising medley of various songs, that are strung together in unexpected ways.  You'd have to see it to believe it.   I definitely recommend seeing this show.

Come Fly Away

Today we went to see Come Fly Away. It was amazing!  There are no words.  Literally!  It is a dance musical featuring the best vocals of Frank Sinatra, a live band, and the dances of Twyla Tharp.  Even without a stitch of dialogue, every emotion from every character on stage is expressed through dance!

It feels like Frank Sinatra is right there on the stage.  Speakers are placed throughout the orchestra, so it feels as though he is right there!   Joe Garry, in the pre-show talk described it as a sort of reversed karaoke.   The best vocals of Sinatra have been selected and put with a fantastic live big band.
Twyla Tharp's choreography combines the best features of ballroom, modern dance, and classical ballet.  Each of the dancers on stage is extremely agile, and their every move conveys their intentions.  They mime drinking and dancing at a club so perfectly, you wonder how there isn't broken glass upon the stage!   They dance elegantly, with feigned clumsiness, and under the influence of imaginary alcohol.   But mostly, the dancing is graceful and beautiful.

My favorite couple on the stage was the bartender and the waitress (pictured above).   Their initial introduction provides a lot of comedy.

This musical is a must see if you enjoy Sinatra (like myself) or love great dancing/ballet (like my husband).   It's a smart, funny, and at times sexy show, running 80 minutes without an intermission.