Mamma Mia

Excerpt from an IM conversation last month:

DA: So, do we have the Ren Faire this weekend, or can we put it off until later?

LPF: We've got Giggles' Girl Scout trip on the 16th, but so far open the rest of the weekends, we can do Ren Faire whenever. Why?

DA: Oh, nothing.

(time passes)

DA: You have plans on Saturday night.

LPF: Oh, ok. Given that Sunday is Mother's Day, I'm guessing I should keep my big nose out of it and leave it at that?

DA: Probably.

LPF: Gotcha.


Have you ever tried to plan an evening out, set up your oldest kid to babysit the younger kids, while having no idea where you are going? "Mommy, where are you going?" "I don't know. Out." "But where?" "I don't know. Out." "Daddy, where are you going?" "Out." "But where?" "Out." "But where?" "Kids listen! It's Mother's Day tomorrow - I Don't Know, and I Don't Want To Know until I get there!!!!"

DA told me to dress semi-nice. Slacks fine, but jeans probably ok too. I erred on the side of dressy and wore slacks with a plain dark turtleneck sweater. I did my hair and even wore make-up. (pause here to let you all recover from the shock.) I didn't poke around too much as I enjoy a good surprise, but I did skim the paper and didn't see anyone I recognized playing in the area that weekend. The only thing I could think of was a comedy club. Given that most clubs have a 2 drink minimum and DA can not drink at all, I grimly anticipated having to get sloshed.

Thankfully for us all, that was not the case. :)

We went out to eat (Tostado Nachos at TGIFridays - yum!), then headed to downtown Tulsa. All the way into downtown, parking the car, and even all the way into the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, I had no idea what we were doing. I saw many signs at the PAC for the upcoming Wicked tour. But that's not until July, I thought to myself, so we can't be seeing that. (Note to DA - I wouldn't mind seeing that if we can swing it.) We were in the theater, walking down the aisle to our seats before the big sign on the back of the stage finally told me what I was in for. "The Ten Tenors".

Once I got past the fact that the name of their tour is not a real word - Nostalgica? - I had a wonderful time. They do a mix of Opera, Broadway and Rock music, and the show was fantastic. I truly enjoyed every moment. It was probably about a 2 hour show, with a 20 minute intermission between. My opinion? I could have stayed another 2 or 3 hours if they would have continued singing for us.

Two interesting notes from the show:

1. How fun is it that out of all million or so songs to come out in the 1980's, they chose our song ¹ as one of the 5 - 7 for their 80's medley? (Yeah, I just saw the show and I already forgot how many. So sue me.)

2. Okay, who in their right minds throws an ABBA song into the middle of a Queen song? ² Sure, the lyrics fit perfectly and it was only 2 lines, but it was definitely the most unexpected moment of the entire night.

If you have a chance, go see the Ten Tenors. If you are a music fan and are even a little bit open to opera, you will thoroughly enjoy yourself. I'm sure the DVDs will not be quite as good as the real thing, but I do intend to add all their DVDs and CDs to my christmas wish list.

¹ Eternal Flame by the Bangles
² "Mamma Mia, here I go again" from Mamma Mia inserted into Bohemian Rhapsody. No, seriously. I'm not kidding. They really did.