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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

Kishi Bashi (The Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, April 24, 2015 ) [GUSTER]

Posted in Guster, Kishi Bashi, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts on April 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED, April 24, 2015] Kishi Bashi

2015-04-24 20.11.02This is our second time seeing Kishi Bashi in about a year.  As Sarah said, I’m really glad we saw him in the State Theater first because in that venue, you could really see what he was doing with his feet and his other gear (well, and the sound was better).  But it was so much fun seeing him in this venue because the show was very different.

But still it was just him and his violin (and a bunch of looping pedals) and, man, is his good.

Whether it was the lack of seats or just more confidence on stage, K. was a more wild performer.  At this venue we stood one the floor (and marveled at how we are apparently very short).  We could see his head and torso (bow tie and leather vest) but not his feet.

He opened the show with “Atticus, in the Desert,” my favorite song of his.  He did some really fun beatboxing and sound manipulation (even commenting that one of the beats was “sick” and that he had to try to remember what he did) he improvises a lot of beats and is really good at it. (more…)

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Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre (RVCC Arts, Branchburg, NJ, April 18, 2015)

Posted in Acrobats, Animals, Branchburg, NJ, C., Cats, Dogs, Funny (ha ha), Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on April 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 18, 2015] Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre

popvichThis show was playing at McCarter Theater and at RVCC. It was at least $10/ticket cheaper at RVCC, so good for us!  The RVCC show was a general admission seating situation, so we got there much earlier than we normally do for shows.  Of course, so did everyone else and we wound up sitting pretty far back (I was glad that people were actually coming to an RVCC show!).

But that was okay, because we could still see all of the action and all of the pets perfectly.

Some fascinating things to note about Popovich before I even get to the show.  Despite the name, the show is not only pets.  In fact there are a lot of human clowns and acrobats and performers on stage as well.  Evidently Popovich is quite well-known and has appeared on many TV shows.  And the whole show is told as a vague kind of story.

pop tvWhen we arrived, one of the troupe was standing in the aisle with a cat on his shoulder.  T. got to pet the cat, which was sweet.  Then a man in a cool green outfit (a big flared jumpsuit) with some white face on came down the aisle eating popcorn.  He played some jokes on people in the audience and then climbed on stage.  He was a kind of warm up, doing cheesy jokes (the fingers transferring from one hand to the other joke), and then doing a bit with a balloon that he could not move.  He was a really convincing mime and that bit was great, especially when the other guy came out and tried to pull the balloon away and couldn’t.  It was all simple but when it’s done well, it’s really magical. (more…)

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The Decemberists (Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA, April 7, 2015)

Posted in Alvvays, Fleetwood Mac, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, The Academy of Music, The Decemberists on April 9, 2015| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 7, 2015] The Decemberists

2015-04-07 22.33.06I’ve liked The Decemberists for a pretty long time but never saw them live.  I’m not really sure why I never had.   Sarah has become a fan over the years as well, and they had moved to the top of her must see list.  So when I saw they were playing at the beautiful and acoustically pristine Academy of Music (and it was so close to her birthday), I jumped on the chance to get tickets.

Somehow, the pre-order tickets from the band didn’t pan out, but I was able to get some pre-order tickets from the Kimmel Center and the seats were awesome.  In a box just above floor level about fifteen or sixteen rows out.  The box was very cool, as there were wooden chairs to sit on and there were all of six of us in this box.  Probably one of the best views I’ve ever had a at a show.

2015-04-07 21.01.43The show started with Colin Meloy and his guitar.  He played the opening song from their newest album, “The Singer Addresses His Audience,” a meta- song that seems even more meta when he is actually addressing you.  The song started slowly and then the two backing vocalists came on and sang along with him.  Then some “statues” were lowered behind the stage.  And as the rest of the band came out, the “quilted” cover of the album was lowered into place

I was sure they would play a set heavy with new songs, so I was surprised when they launched right into “The Infanta,” a rollicking song that really got the crowd going.  And then Colin spoke and proved why he is such a good frontman. He was very funny, suggesting that we could sit or stand, it was up to us–the seats did look comfortable, after all.  He advised the people in the way top (where we were seated for Neil Young) to not stand, because he was worried about their safety.  And then he looked over to the side and saw the front box seats–set off from the rest and seemingly very VIP and informed us all that the Duke and Duchess of Pennsylvania were in the house tonight.   On the other side of the stage in those same seats, he told us that the royalty from Pittsburgh could not make it. (more…)

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Alvvays (The Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA, April 7, 2015) [THE DECEMBERISTS]

Posted in Alvvays, Canadian Music, Letters to Cleo, Lush, Philadelphia, PA, The Academy of Music, The Decemberists on April 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 7, 2015] Alvvays

2015-04-07 20.23.26Canadian band Alvvays opened for The Decemberists last night.  I really like their debut album and I was pretty excited to see them.  Alvvays play a perfect update of female -fronted-90s-alt-rock that I really like (and which few bands do anymore).  There are plenty of touchstones for the kind of music they play (Letters to Cleo, Lush), and they do it perfectly–super catchy choruses, nice harmonies and simple ringing guitars.

In hindsight (after watching the headliners) it must be tough for a small band to play when the headliners have so much going on.  So the five members of Alvvays looked a little cramped on stage in their small area.  They didn’t say a lot and they barely moved around.  But they brought their A-game and ripped through their entire album (I think).

I remember thinking that their album is only about 35 minutes, so their set couldn’t be much longer than that.  It was about 30 minutes.  And, since I like the album but don’t really know song names yet, I’m not sure what they played or didn’t play (and setlist.com is no help at all).  I certainly recognized a few songs, but have no idea what order they were in.

I also had to wonder…if you are an up and coming band with a single that’s getting airplay (“Marry Me, Archie”), do you play it first and get the audience psyched to hear more, or do you save it for the end when more people have arrived.   Which they did.  And it was nice to see the crowd (who was responsive but not exactly rocking) nodding along to the song. (more…)

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Spencers: Theatre of Illusion (RVCC Arts, Branchburg, NJ, March 28, 2015)

Posted in Branchburg, NJ, C., Illusion, Muse, RVCC Arts, Spencers: Theatre of Illusion, T., The Lost Boys on March 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 28, 2015] Spencers: Theatre of Illusion

Back in October of 2012 we saw Spencers: Theatre of Illusion.  I saw that they were coming around again, and even though we had seen the show, I remember enjoying it and thought it would be fun to see them again since the kids were a little older now.

I also assumed that the show would be different.  I mean, it had been nearly 2 and a half years.  Sadly, many of the magic acts were exactly the same.  But on the positive side, they were still pretty awesome, and there was a bunch of new material as well.

In my previous write up I said that the pacing was too slow.  I’m sure it wasn’t faster but it didn’t feel slow this time.  That may have been the audience–the room was full of super excited kids and there was plenty of laughter and applause–it worked very well with his leisurely storytelling style (I may have also been anxious last time since our kids were younger and I wanted them to be excited all the way though).

He started off , like last time, by doing a seemingly easy but very cool illusion of tearing today’s newspaper in half. He made some jokes about the paper and then proceeded to rip it up and then reunite the whole page.   It’s pretty cool. (more…)

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Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (McCarter Theatre, Princeton NJ, March 13, 2015)

Posted in Baskerville, Funny (ha ha), Gregory Wooddell, Jane Pfitsch, Ken Ludwig, Lucas Hall, McCarter Theatre, Meta, Michael Glenn, Princeton, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sherlock Holmes, Stanley Bahorek on March 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

bask[ATTENDED: March 13, 2015] Baskerville

We saw ads for this show some time last year during a Princeton street festival.  The folks at the McCarter booth really talked up the show and said our kids would love it.  In recent days the play has been getting rave reviews.  Needless to say we were pretty excited to go.

Well, the play was awesome.  I’m not sure that the kids loved it. Clark said he liked parts of it but found the mystery a bit hard to follow. And Tabby was kind of scared by the dark scenes and loud noises.  But everyone seemed to have a good time–even if it did end at 10PM.

And the play it self was really fantastic.  Going in we knew literally nothing about the play except that it had something to do with Sherlock Holmes.  I assumed it was the Hound of the Baskervilles story but I wasn’t sure if there was a twist on it at all.

And I certainly didn’t know anything about the way the play was structured.  In the brief write up in the booklet it seemed like the story might have a meta- component. And it did, but not in the way I expected.  For the meta component was that they really played up the constraints of the theater and wound up making jokes about the stage and how actors often play multiple roles.  For example, they said things like “that rabbit” and then a stuffed and mounted rabbit would wheel across the stage.  Or that he needed his hat and a trap door would open and a hat would be thrown to him.  And the hilarious way the flowers arrived was outstanding–I’m still not exactly sure how they did it. (more…)

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Cirque Alfonse: Timber! (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, March 6, 2015)

Posted in Acrobats, Branchburg, NJ, C., Cirque Alfonse, Peking Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on March 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

cirque_alfonse_timber_2[ATTENDED: March 6, 2015] Timber!

Anyone who reads this blog knows that we love our cirques.   From China, from Montreal, from wherever.  So if  you tell me that you’ve invited circus performers who are doing lumberjack skills, you know I’m there.

One thing I loved about this show was just how different it was from most of the shows we’ve seen.  Unlike the Chinese acrobats who are dainty or sleek and strong, or some of the other Montreal cirques which are polished, these acrobats, the troupe of Cirque Alfonse, were big burly bearded men in flannel shirts and long johns and a couple of women (one very strong and the other a lithe dancer). They spoke and sang only in French and created a set that was very much reminiscent of a Québécois logging camp.

timber4One of the best things about the show was the live music.  Most of the acrobats also played instruments–guitars, banjos, a saw, and various percussion.  There was something about the performers being up there that made the show more exciting–especially later in the show when the guy busted out an electric guitar which seemed to update the danger level somewhat.  I do admit that since I don’t know French at all, I have no idea what the songs (some had words) were about.

There was much humor (an outhouse as part of the set) and of course, plenty of visual humor–usually surrounding how they set up their tricks. (more…)

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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, December 27, 2014)

Posted in Bible, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, New Brunswick, NJ, Religion, Set in New Jersey!, State Theatre, Theater on December 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 27, 2014] Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

josephSarah and her mom love Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  So when I saw that it was playing at the State Theatre for $7/ticket (as part of the Plays in the Park program) I decided to get tickets for all five of us (why not subject the kids to musicals as well?).

I knew the music a little from Sarah playing it, but I didn’t know it that well.  I always thought it was very funny that someone made a huge production out of what is a rather short Bible story.  But it’s a good story and one that I remember from my religion classes, so it seemed like a good afternoon of fun.

And it was.  This was the company’s 20th production of the show (who knew?).  And many of the people had been with the show for many many years.  So it was like a well-oiled machine.

The only thing that we all agreed we didn’t like so much was Joseph (Michael Ferlita). Not that he was bad, but that he was a bass.  And Joseph isn’t a bass.  It was weird, and at times hard to understand–it came across as more operatic than musical-y.  The rest of the performers were very good (as was the orchestra).  I was also delighted that the many of the men were kind of chunky–something you don’t often see on stage. (more…)

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Aparna Nacherla (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, December 14, 2014) [JOHN OLIVER]

Posted in Aparna Nancherla, Funny (ha ha), John Oliver, NASA, New Brunswick, NJ, Pets, Set in New Jersey!, Space Force, State Theatre, Travel on December 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2014] Aparna Nacherla

nanI’m updating this post in July of 2020, because Aparna Nancherla deserves her own post.  When we saw her, she was hilarious.  Since then she has gained some noterirty and I am always pleased to see her on TV shows (most recently in the Steve Carell-created Space Force).

This is what I wrote about her in my post for John Oliver, but I wanted her to have her own heading.

S. and I were excited to see John Oliver.

The show opened with an Indian woman stand up.  Nothing is more thankless than being an opening act for a comedian.  For starters, we didn’t know there would be an opening act.  Then we didn’t find out until we saw in tiny letters on the tiny marquee in the foyer that there would be an opening act.  And we pushed through the doors so quickly that I never saw her name.  And of course they announced it, but I don’t remember what they said her name was.  And even worse I can’t seem to find it online anywhere (searching for “Indian female comedian” did not help).  And we never got a program (if it was indeed listed in there). (more…)

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John Oliver (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, December 14, 2014)

Posted in Aparna Nancherla, Community, Funny (ha ha), John Oliver, Jon Stewart, NASA, New Brunswick, NJ, Pets, Set in New Jersey!, State Theatre, The Daily Show, Travel on December 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2014] John Oliver

oliverI have loved John Oliver for a long time.  I have been delighted to see him go from the British guy on the Daily Show (when he replaced Jon Stewart, he was really fantastic) to the British guy on Community and now the British guy with his own HBO show (which I have never seen since I don’t get HBO).  When I saw that he was doing standup in New Brunswick I had to go.  Our friends Eleanor and Liz went with us and we had a lovely night in good ol’ New Brunswick (strangely enough there was literally no one in the parking garage where we parked yet every restaurant was packed).

Sarah and I were worried that the stand up would reference his show, but it didn’t.  It was topical and funny and weird and funny and political and funny and very very funny.

The show opened with an Indian woman stand up.  Nothing is more thankless than being an opening act for a comedian.  For starters, we didn’t know there would be an opening act.  Then we didn’t find out until we saw in tiny letters on the tiny marquee in the foyer that there would be an opening act.  And we pushed through the doors so quickly that I never saw her name.  And of course they announced it, but I don’t remember what they said her name was.  And even worse I can’t seem to find it online anywhere (searching for “Indian female comedian” did not help believe it or not).  And we never got a program (if it was indeed listed in there).

[UPDATE: April 9, 2015] So I wrote to The State Theater and learned that our mystery comedian’s name is Aparna Nancherla.  You can see a clip of her on Conan where she tells the dog poop joke (and yes it is still funny).  But stay for the end to see the insane size difference between the two.

But she was very funny.  Her jokes were observational with some delightful nearly whispered punchlines that undermined her set ups.  She did an amusing but about drug store receipts.  There was a funny bit about going to customs in Australia and having to explain her occupation of “comedian.”  But a lot of her jokes were about making it in New York City.  There was a rather amusing dog poop joke and a very funny human poop joke.  The human poop joke was more about apartment hunting with a hilarious and disgusting premise that she claimed was a requirement for living in a new apartment (it was hilarious whether true or not). (more…)

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