dinner and a show

I told you that there would be more to come this week, and here we are!  A report out on a nice evening.  Ready?  Let's go!

A while back I saw an ad pop up on my Instagram feed for a production of La Cage aux Folles at the Pasadena Playhouse.  Now, I should explain:  I'm not much for live theatre.  Never gotten into it.  Oh, we saw Ron earlier this year.  And I have been to the Playhouse before.  Twice.  Twice only in a dozen years, and the first time was a musical production of Sleepless in Seattle that was pretty terrible.  I did enjoy seeing Fun Home a handful of years ago at the Ahmanson, but we're still at fewer than one time a year going to see a play or musical.  It's just the way we're wired, perhaps.

Anyway, I suggested to Conrad and Van that we go to the play for a change of pace, and the response was ambivalent at best.  So I set it aside and didn't think about it again.  And then Van and I went to Bar Chelou one night last month, and that visit coincided with the opening of La Cage, and boy, was it a big hoopla.  Actual celebrities there.  A big, gay crowd.  That set me to thinking maybe we should reconsider, and the guys were amenable.  I bought us tickets.

A show at the playhouse meant a dinner opportunity for the three of us at the restaurant that shares the complex:  Bar Chelou.  Conrad had not been there before, so it was a great opportunity to bring him there.  Van booked us early seats at the bar,

and we were able to have a leisurely meal.  Cocktails to start

- a Gibson for me that I vacillated between enjoying and finding too sweet. 

And then on to an array of food that we all shared:

• Crispy potatoes - so soft inside, they were like fried gnocchi
  
  
  
• Breakfast radishes with fromage blanc - these came with some toasted bread and made a nice, light bite
  
  
  
• Carrots - a dish they have become known for, a little peanut-y, the best carrot salad I have had because it goes savoury rather than embrace the sweet
  
  
  
• Sprouting cauliflower - served with a sauce that I still want atop a nice steak
  
  
  
• Pork chop with cabbage - simple and good, but perhaps my least favourite of the night, which sounds critical but isn't meant to be
  
  
  

Conrad was still a bit hungry, and we agreed, so we ordered a bit more

• Burrata toast with ham - the pickled peppers were piquant, he says, alliteratively
  
  
  
• Duck leg with couscous - so glad we tried this, and one I want to have again
  
  
  

And, of course, we had to have dessert!  We shared the caramelized banana bar and enjoyed it a great deal.

From there it was across the courtyard to the theatre

and our seats. 

No, no photos of the performance, of course not.  Not allowed.  And that's fine!  It's good to enjoy something.  We did enjoy it, for sure.  It's funny, I've been reading the reviews of La Cage aux Folles this morning, and they are decidedly mixed.  The LA Times gave it a generally good review, including praise for Cheyenne Jackson, one of the leads.  Another online publication said that Jackson (who is 49) is too young to play a papa and too beefcake-y.  Jeff Kahoon, who played the other lead, comes in for some praise but more criticism for not nailing the roll and the singing as previous actors have.  The young couple whose engagement sets off the conflict are praised for their performances.  And the drag queen troupe gets mixed reviews.

Not our experience.  We loved Jackson and Kahoon, we thought that the young couple were the weak spot in the production, and we delighted in the drag queens.  But I will concede a point a read, that the production is more fun than emotionally relatable.  And that's fine!  Conrad asked me this morning how much tickets were ($44 each), and we agreed that we very much got a lot for that.  A show we all enjoyed, one we left the theatre feeling great about.

A Wednesday night dinner and show, not our usual midweek night.  And a long night, too!  Totally worth it.

Unbroken Blossoms

I can actually count on one hand the number of times I have seen live theatre in our eleven years in SoCal.  It's not like we ever really went in Chicago, either.  If we remove improv and comedy sports style shows, then I'm probably at no more than a dozen stage productions of plays and musicals in my adult life.  It's never been my thing.

But there are exceptions to be made.  Our friend Ron had a leading role in a production in DTLA at East West Players,

and by gosh, we were going to show up and enjoy seeing him perform.  And so we did.  Sunday, late afternoon, we had second row seats for Unbroken Blossoms.

I encourage you to read more about the play at that link.  It was illuminating to see what I took to be as a speculative history that centered Asian-American contributions to early Hollywood and the toll it took on some.  It was also a little uncomfortable - and that's fine.  I don't need to be coddled as I am confronted with actors who are inhabiting characters whose racism, micro and macro, was particular to the era and probably not too far off even today.

After the show, there was a Q&A with the cast of Jury Duty, who had shown up to support their friend and castmate, Ron.  We got some pictures outside and chatted with Carrie

and Carrie's mom, and then we scooted off to dinner at Redbird,

not too far a walk away.  A blueberry-themed cocktail for me,

and then we all shared their cheese gougeres (I think that's what they were),

rolls with date butter,

green salad with avocado and bacon, burrata with plums,

and a trio of pastas. 

A lovely meal at a place we don't think to get to enough.

All in all, an excellent outing to DTLA.  Above all, we're really proud of Ron for what he is accomplishing.