"Oh, What a Night!"

This blog first appeared on February 19, 2011, on my personal Multiply site.

I have not watched a play in, oh maybe, two years now. The last one was in New York, and it was even an off-Broadway show called "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change". So when I heard the "Jersey Boys" was playing at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore, I couldn't resist the chance of watching it.

How do I know it's worth watching? This is not one of the more classical musicals like "My Fair Lady" or "Sound of Music". When I first bought my Rav-4, it came with 3 months of free XM Radio. I stuck to the Broadway channel for the most part and was able to get caught up on the more recent releases. The song "Big Girls Don't Cry" came up, and since it was already a popular song, I was intrigued as to which musical featured it. True enough, the commentator said it was "Jersey Boys". So I hop on over to the public library and borrow the CD. 

It's a pretty sweet deal.  We come to the show prepared because the songs are familiar and we pretty much get the storyline. So now, it's a matter of how they execute the story on stage.

So we headed over to another part of Baltimore. Me, in a nice little black dress, and a purple shawl. It was a beautiful night out on the town. For once, none of us had to wear a winter coat!!! As we got out of the parking lot, we were greeted by the lights of the Hippodrome. Outside, it looked elegant, classical yet modern. The big picture windows let you see the theatergoers mingling inside, just as the people inside can see the gawkers outside. 

The inside did not disappoint. The inside of the theater had paintings (frescoes, maybe), and it was huge. Typical of most theaters though, the seats were small and close together. I had the misfortune of sitting next to this lady (who came by herself), probably in her 40's, whose elbow kept bumping into me and she didn't even say sorry. During the show, which is based on the group the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli, she started singing along (OFF-KEY!) to "Walk Like a Man", "Sherry", and "Oh, What A Night". At one scene, she yelled "OMG!" when she was surprised by a gunshot sound effect. No, she did not say "Oh, my God!". She said "O-M-G!" Yeah, and trust me when I say she looks way older than me... Not only did she break all the rules of play-watching etiquette, but she also started acting like a groupie and would raise an arm in the air and move it with the music. I'm like, "OMG! She's at the wrong show." Of course, I thought about this in my head, because I'm not gonna start LOLling and acting like a teenager. Fortunately for me, and the other person on her other side, she didn't come back after the intermission. We didn't have to put up with her singing off-key to "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". She may be passed out in the bathroom or something (because she sure acted like she may have had a little too much to drink).

All in all, it was an amazing show. The actor who played Frankie Valli had an amazing falsetto and the harmony was just great. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring another part of Baltimore. We don't do this very often (go out on a work night) and we were exhausted when we got back home. But as the French would say, "Ces soiree-la!".