Majestic X2

Back in March, Carrie and I attended a Ryan Adams concert in San Antonio, courtesy of a Christmas present from Carrie's and my brother-in-law, Keith. The concert was great, and a reminder of one of the many reasons I love to see live music. The sound was horrible for the first few songs of the show. At first, I thought that maybe the distorted vocals, bleeding through the fuzzy instruments, was an "artistic decision," but obviously a bad one. No, Mr. Adams was growing quietly perturbed, and then stopped the show, apologized and asked us to wait while they fixed the problem. Setting aside the question, "Pre-show sound check anyone?" we waited. The rest of the show was terrific, with Mr. Adams in a much better mood, funny even. He thanked the audience profusely for our patience and was totally at ease. Seeing how musicians deal with things that go wrong during a show is one of the "anything can happen" aspects that I enjoy about live music.

That show was our first visit to The Majetic Theater in San Antonio. The venue is breath-taking. The historical marker says it was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, but that, nor I, can do it justice with mere words. It is a venue that is value-added to any show that can be seen there, and I hate to say it, is so much cooler than The Paramount Theater in Austin.

While at that concert, we took note that the musical "Wicked" would be playing there in June. We decided that we would invite my Dad and his wife, Brenda, to come down to San Antonio to see the show with us. I like musicals, and I say that with an unblemished record of heterosexuality. There was a period when I saw several musicals that I did not enjoy, and I thought I might have soured on the experience. Then I realized the problem: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Maybe you liked "Cats" or "Phantom" but I would rather have a root canal than see another of his shows. He is to musicals, what "We Built This City" and "Say You, Say Me" are to 80's music.

"Wicked" was great. Carrie had seen it before, and I figured if she wanted to see it again, it must be good. I won't go into too much detail, because I know that some regular readers of this blog are planning to see it. The staging, sets, costumes, and performances were all first-rate, and made even better in the intimate setting of The Majestic. There were quite a few groups of women in the audience, who obviously were big fans of the show, with their matching, custom "Wicked" tee-shirts. Goofy, but no harm in them getting their Wicked on at the Saturday matinee. And who knew that a wicked witch could be such a sympathetic character?

Peace,

JS4