Rent? I'd rather own.

Hi all!
Well after a busy weekend, I thought I better post some reviews. John and I celebrated Valentine's Day by having dinner and going to see Chris Rock at the Rosemont Theatre. On the ticket it did not state that there would be an opening act, so we rushed through dinner to make it over for a 7:30 show. Unfortunately there was an opening act, a 25 year old hip hop band- not very good. So Chris did not come on until 9:15, which is pretty close to my bedtime. He was good, I was not offended by any of his jokes, and I felt that he had a nice mix of topics. He was not side splitting hilarious, but he was funny. I would recommend seeing him if the ticket cost is less than $50.

Saturday night we ventured into the city for dinner and a play. I have been wanting to see the musical Rent for a few years now. John was nice enough to get tickets back in December when they went on sale, even though it was something he wasn't looking forward to seeing. We started the evening by having dinner at Rosebud, which is an excellent Italian restaurant. The prices are reasonable, it has nice atmosphere, and the food is good. After dinner we went over to the Cadillac Palace Theatre, which is very nice, and unlike LaSalle Theatre you can actually see the stage from your seats. I was very excited to see the show, unfortunately after the first act I had to lean over to John and apologize.
I knew going into the play that it would not be a feel good; it's about homelessness, AIDS, and drug addicts. However, does that mean that the music and lyrics have to suck? I really felt like each song was painfull to listen to. There was no feeling or emotion in the songs. Here are some characters in a REALLY emotional setting with REALLY emotional topics (death, love, societal struggle) and they can't even sing a song that makes me feel anything toward them.
I have seen quite a few musicals, (Les Miss, Miss Saigon, Sunset Blvd, Phantom, and more) with each musical the songs are what draw you into the story. I have always felt very emotional listening to them, most of the time close to tears. With Rent, I felt nothing. They did a very poor job of helping you to feel what the characters were feeling.
I am sure that many people feel like it is a wonderful play because it addressed many of the issues of the 80s and 90s that were not being talked about. However, that does not make it a good play. That is like saying that Hillary Clinton is a good candidate just because she is a woman. Given all of the good reviews I heard about Rent, I expected a lot more.

After Rent we joined some friends who were celebrating Reed's birthday. We had a good time.
Sunday I went to my parents to have dinner and celebrate Stephanie's birthday. We had a nice visit although it was short, at least I got some of Mom's cooking.

It was a good weekend overall. It went by too fast, but don't they always. Not too much on the agenda for this week. Still working on my training for the Shuffle. It is slow going, and I have to admit I slacked for a few days this weekend. Running is just not fun for me yet, so it's hard to get motivated. I'll get there. Have a good week everyone!