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Camelot + Orpheum = Me All Aflutter

(HEADS UP! I’m being compensated by Omaha Performing Arts with two complimentary tickets to Camelot, as well as two tickets to give away to you awesome dudes. All words and references to fainting couches are my own.)

I thought about writing a nice flowery intro for this one, but I changed my mind… I’m just diving right in.

I have a full-on THING for King Arthur. Not just Arthur himself, but also pretty much everything associated with him. Arthurian Lit was my 2nd favorite class of my entire undergrad experience, and, let me tell you, the King Arthur portion of Victorian Lit (my #1 favorite class) practically gave me the vapours.

I recently watched the entire series of Merlin on Netflix, and when it was over I was practically devastated.

Have you noticed the hyperbole? The italics? The use of the term “vapours?” I tend to get a little ridiculous when it comes to the Once and Future King.

SO, you can imagine my exclamation point usage when Omaha Performing Arts contacted me to go see and blog about the upcoming performance of Camelot at the Orpheum. It’s a newer version of the show everyone’s familiar with, and it looks a little dark and broody. I’m always up for dark and broody. So, let’s get down to business, shall we? Here’s the info about showtimes:

There will be 8 performances of Camelot at the Orpheum: Tuesday, January 27th, Wednesday, January 28th, Thursday, January 29th at 7:30 pm… Friday, January 30th at 8:00 pm… Saturday, January 31st at 2:00 pm AND 8:00 pm… Sunday, February 1st at 1:30 pm AND 7:00 pm. Tickets, which start at $35, are available online at TicketOmaha.com, by phone at 402-345-0606, or at the Ticket Omaha Box Office in the Holland Center (click here for a map!).

(You guys, I don’t know why my font does that to numbers with a “th” on them. Ugh.)

Now that the official stuff is out of the way, we can get to the fun part… the part where I give away two free tickets to Camelot and you get the chance at seeing me fan my giddy self with a program a few rows away.  All you have to do is keep an eye on my Facebook page and answer the trivia questions that I will be posting this week and next. Each time you answer (whether it’s wrong or right) will count as an entry in the contest… so, you know… keep checking! I’ll keep the contest open until 10 pm CST on Thursday the 22nd, to give the winner enough time to find a babysitter/dogsitter/whatever-they-don’t-even-need-a-sitter.

If you want an extra entry, I’ve got a question for you: If you were in charge of casting a Camelot movie, who would be in your dream Arthurian Love Triangle? Let me know in the comments! Here are my choices:

King Arthur: Cary Elwes

Guinevere: Amy Yasbeck

Lancelot: Michael Vartan

camelotlovetriangle

 

(Psssst. If you want to enter EVEN MORE times, check out the other local bloggers who are participating in the giveaway: Kitty and Kevin, Her Heartland Soul)

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A Quick War Horse Review

Let me start out by saying that I haven’t written a “theatrical review” piece since … well, since I was getting a grade for it.  I have almost NO experience with Broadway shows, and I don’t remember anything about specific acting styles or anything like that.  I do like to think, however, that I can tell when a play has been done well, and when it’s been filled with life.  War Horse is exactly that: brimming over with life.  The show was practically breathing.

I was so concerned that I was going bawl my eyes out throughout the entire show.  I’m (most of the time) pretty good at giving myself in to the spirit of the production and fully suspending my disbelief when it comes to seeing a play, so if there’s going to be some emotional stuff happening . . . yeah, that crying lady is probably me.

Really, though, I spent most of the time feeling breathless.  Sure, I cried a few times because of the plot, but watching the puppeteers bring those horses (and birds) to life was an emotional experience in itself.  I loved that the puppeteers were very simply there.  No extra attention was called to them, and there was no attempt made to hide them, either.  When Joey was a young horse, one of the puppeteers was moving the entire time, gently heaving the horse’s chest as he breathed.  Honestly, they were all moving the entire time.  Joey’s ears would flick every once in a while, his tail would swish randomly . . . I don’t know if I can say much more without getting annoyingly gushy about it.  The puppets were absolutely mesmerizing.

The show as a whole was . . . formidable.  An emotional force.  The only static part of the set was a giant scrap of torn sketchbook paper, which was used as a projection screen throughout the show.  I’ve seen plenty of shows that use projections terribly, and this was not the case for War Horse.  For the most part, the projections were subtle and did a good job of providing a little bit of constant setting to such a sparse stage.

I appreciated the cast, as I don’t imagine that it could be easy to share the stage with such amazing puppetry.  The accents were pleasant, the leads were strong, and the rest of the cast made for a very satisfying ensemble.  For the most part, I found there to be a quiet symbiosis between the actors and the horses, and I think that they definitely rose to the challenge of interacting with these massive creatures.  I became emotionally attached to many, and fell in love with a few of the characters, which is, for me, a sign of a job very well done.

The show is marketed as a family show, and is recommended for kids aged 9 and up.  For the most part, I agree.  Courage, faith, and love are all prevalent themes, and the ending leaves you with hope.  I will say, however, that, oh my goodness you guys, this show is physically powerful.  There are moments of music and lighting and rumbling and war that are overwhelming even for me, an almost 30-year old woman.  There are deaths, there is darkness, there are ghostly soldiers, and a little mild profanity.  You know your kids’ ability to handle mature content; use your expert judgment!

I’m so grateful to Omaha Performing Arts and the people behind War Horse for allowing me to see this show.  I don’t think I would have gone to see it without a little nudge, and I’m incredibly glad I did.

Time for a little chat…

In return for this and a previous post, I received two complimentary tickets to War Horse from Omaha Performing Arts and the touring show.  All of the thoughts in this post, however, are my own.  I also paid for my own sippee cup of wine.  I also missed 4 or 5 minutes of the show due to a false-alarm involving suspicions of a Norovirus Attack . . . as long as we’re being honest.

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War Horse at the Orpheum! (Plus me probably crying a lot.)

Something I don’t excel in (at this point of my life) is pushing myself out of my “entertainment comfort zone.”  Anything that can threaten my delicate crazy-lady emotions has been fairly off-limits since I had the children.  I can’t even look at the zombie’s face featured on the sign of the local “water pipe” shop without feeling a little bit like running and screaming.  Blackfish? Are you kidding me?  Er, no.   House?  You realize (SPOILER) a newborn baby dies right in the nursery like 3 episodes in, right?

Needless to say, I really like to watch things about unicorns and rainbows right now… or very far-fetched sci-fi and spy stuff.

Which is why I was surprised to find out that I had requested to see War Horse at the beginning of the Omaha Performing Arts season last year.  War + horses?  I can handle seeing harm come to adults on-screen better than I can animals.  I almost said “Ah, yeah, um, so busy, man what a bummer, can’t make it, gosh, sorry!”  Then I watched this video and almost made a blubbering fool of myself in one of the trendier coffee joints in town:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_UDVeU7iT0

Barely two minutes of video had me filled with the good tears.  They were almost spilling into my coffee.  You guys I have just got to see this show.  First of all, I have a bit of a British Obsession, and anything set in England tends to be extra-appealing to me.  Secondly, anything that can summon that kind of an emotional reaction from me in a public and hipster-filled location is something that I owe it to myself to see.

So I’m going.  And I will definitely report back afterward.  I haven’t even talked about the obviously amazing puppetry and acting that is going to be happening.  I’m sure you’ll hear me gushing about it for weeks.  I think you should try and see it, too, though.  Interested?  The Omaha Performing Arts has some pretty awesome promotions going on right now for the show.  Here’s all the fine print (I’ll make it regular-sized so you don’t have to squint):

Family Night:

A limited number of tickets will be available at one-half price for the opening night performance of WAR HORSE, Tuesday, April 8. Tickets will be available to one adult and one child, age 9 to 18 years of age.  The half-price tickets can be purchased at $32.25 each from Ticket Omaha by using the promotion code – FAMILY14. There’s a limit of one ticket per adult and one ticket per child. No more than two tickets per adult or per family. Seating will be available in the Grand Tier and balcony areas of Omaha’s Orpheum Theater. This show is recommended for children ages 9 and up. Additional tickets may be purchased at the regular ticket prices.

Other Promotions:

Promo Code: KIDSNIGHT. Buy one adult’s ticket and get the child’s ticket for free, up to age 18. Good for Tuesday evening only on Price Level 2 (loge and the front of the grand tier balcony for the locations). Subject to availability.

Promo Code: VETS 14. Offer of the 25% off tickets and $5 of each ticket would go to the Disable American Veterans. All price levels. Offer good for shows on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. only. Subject to availability.

Promo Code: HORSE14. Offer of 10% off tickets with $1 of ticket price going to Nebraska Humane Society’s Equine Program. Good for Price Levels 1, 2 and 3. Offer good for shows on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. only. Subject to availability.

 

If any of you end up going, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!  Hope to see you there!

 

Time to get real:

Omaha Performing Arts is compensating me for this blog post with two tickets to see the show.  All content (except for the promotional fine print) is from my own brain and is my property.  It feels good to be honest with each other, right?