Another night only...

I seem to always decide to do these things very last minute. I knew that there was to be a "One Night Only" cabaret featuring the cast of Mamma Mia but I hadn't really thought I'd go before - I like Mamma Mia but not like I like Avenue Q & Jersey Boys. But once again, day of, I found myself spontaneously deciding to go, this time with my sister.

Hmm blogspot outage in 15 minutes.

Briefly then, the show wasn't nearly as funny as the Jersey Boys/Avenue Q one, it didn't have any kind of attempt at a plot, and it didn't have nearly as much recognizable music to me. That being said, it was still a very entertaining show, and the cast did an amazing job putting it together. We certainly got our money's worth - the show was almost 2.5 hours, without an intermission. There were practically no in-betweens, it was just song after song after song. There were solos, many of which were written by the singers, some of which were from musicals or otherwise, and the singers were all fantastic. A couple of these were really funny, like "Misfit's Lament" about the gay man singing about how out of place he felt, trying sports, etc, until he got to San Francisco and found guys who made *him* look masculine, or a hilarious Bernadette Peters impression. But the great stuff, IMO, were the group numbers. There were soloists with backup singers who almost made group numbers, like a very sexy version of Sway, or the powerful "Midnight Radio", and the fantastic fun scatting in "The Ability to Swing" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head". There was a great performance of "Son of a Preacher Man," and a very funny "A Taste of Chocolate." There was a funny trio of guys singing to "Buff" about how all they did was work out. But the very best number of the night, IMO, was "Mamma's Boyz", with five of the guys dressed up as a boy band, with choreographed moves, breakout solo bits, hilarious poses, and an awesomely excellent medley of Mamma Mia songs, arranged into almost unrecognizable but amazingly sung boy band harmonies. Totally frickin' awesome and what made the night completely worth it.

The show definitely picked up in the second half, and it was a great, fun night of music.

Oh, almost forgot, special guests were Sharon McNight, who was very funny, and Deborah Gibson, who I was amused to see lists Skating with Celebrities among her accomplishments (along with her musical theater credits). She came out saying her outfit (a shimmering gold shirt) was from the skating show, accompanied by a sort-of waltz jump on stage. She is quite the performer, totally playing to the audience singing "Greatest Star" and then performing a lovely version of her old hit "Lost in Your Eyes" while accompanying herself on the keyboard. Sort of shows why she is still out there performing after her 80's heyday ended - actual musical talent and a tremendous voice.

Dinner was at Cafe Divine (1600 Stockton St between Filbert and Union). Despite being almost empty and us saying we were in a hurry, they weren't that fast to take our orders or to bring us our food, but they were nice. My quiche was quite good. Water was odd - came out of a wine bottle and it tasted like they didn't wash the wine bottle before putting the water in. We were in too much of a hurry to really assess this place. Just eat and run...