Some friends and I went to see Shrek: The Musical tonight, and before you judge me, let me just say that it was so fun. Yes, the songs were fairly forgettable, and if you've never seen the movie you'd probably not like it, but the message is really good: not judging people based on their appearance and knowing that being different is ok, and people will still love you. If you're in your mid-20s or younger, you probably grew up knowing about Shrek. It's never been one of my favorite movies, but it does have its moments. The audience was a mix of parents with young kids and college kids--we were next to a couple frat-y looking guys who had a great time.
And the special effects! The dragon was a 25 foot long PUPPET, there were strobe lights and awesome make-up and suits of armor and all sorts of fun things. There were quite a few "adult" jokes, and some sneaky broadway references--I caught ones to Gypsy, West Side Story and Wicked, and the BEST one: Donkey and Shrek are walking along and the background is moving behind them, and suddenly the Lion King music started and a giraffe and some birds popped out for a bit and then ran off. Awesome.
For 2 hours, I didn't think about all my reading, lesson planning, or non-written statements of purpose, and just enjoyed feeling like a kid and looking at really amazing set designs. I love art history, but without occasional bouts of music (musicals, symphonies, operas) I really do think I would lose my sanity.
As one of my friends summed it up during intermission: "today is a great day. You got a giant fake check [sidenote: I did. It's not that giant, but it is bigger than a notebook. I do not know what to do with this, it's laminated and has the museum as the background. The suggestions so far are: frame it, stick a bunch of magnets on the back to make a big magnet, or turn it into the world's largest coaster.] L brought Nerds for us to eat, and A is texting a boy. And we just saw a giant singing dragon." And that pretty much sums it up!
La Boheme tomorrow night! Maybe I will remain sane after all...
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