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| Author | Topic: Any comments on Arizona concert? |
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Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 10/8/2002 at 3:53:16 PM ET
I'm curious about last Saturday's concert in Sun City. Haven't been able to find any reviews online. Anyone who saw it, care to comment?
|  moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/8/2002 at 4:01:07 PM ET
Yes, I would love to hear about it too. Jim, are you out there? Weren't you going?
| Jim
Registered User
Registered:
3/14/2002
From:
Arizona | posted: 10/8/2002 at 11:51:29 PM ET
Hi Guys......Yep I went to the concert, and sorry about not posting sooner, but my daugher is getting married next week (this plays into the story later), and I am in the middle of changing jobs, anyway here goes:
First some background. On Thursday, in the local newspaper there was a nice promotional article about the upcoming concert at the Sundome on Saturday. Well you have to know that the Sundome is smack-dab in the middle of Sun City, which is probably the biggest retirement community in the world.
In the article, which was in the form of an interview with Bernadette, she said that she had played the Sundome 11 years ago, and at that time did not realize that the vast majority of the audience was made up of senior citizens.
Anyway, back then she sang 'making love alone' and it went over like a lead balloon with that audience.....so then she goes on to say she won't be doing that number in the Sundome again. I am thinking this is pretty funny.
The concert was exactly the same as Brian's description of the Dallas concert posted somewhere below. Brian, I ended up writing down the playlist on my program because I knew I wouldn't remember it.
The Sundome is huge.......seats 7,000. However, I would say about 2,500 were in attendance. They had it draped off for the smaller audience, but it really was not the best of venues for this type of concert...........and yes 95% of the audience was 70 years ++++.
So I get my seat in about the 6th row, and the orchestra comes out for the overture conducted by Marvin Laird. It was very nice except that the lady sitting next to me starts singing along with each of the songs........Brother, I thought if she keeps this up, I will probably get arrested for perpetrating a violent act on a senior citizen. Thankfully, she stopped when Bernadette came out.
Bernadette was flawless, professional, funny, in perfect voice, gorgeous, ect., ect. She wore the beautiful blue/grey sequin dress I believe she wore in San Francisco last Thanksgiving.
The audience was very polite but somewhat sedate (probably past their bedtime).
Here's the thing, and I mean this in a positive way. She did a fantastic job working through the program, but I got the very slight feeling that she didn't really want to be there. If that is the case, it just shows once again her extraordinary professionalism by making the best of what might not have been the best of situations.
The coup de grace for the evening is that at one point in the concert, Bernadette said something like 'well, I guess you think I am going to sing THAT song'. I am probably the only one in the audience that got it. I am thinking that anyone in the audience 11 years ago, has long since moved on to a better place.
She did mention that Marvin was flying out to London the next day for the opening of his play 'Ruthless', which is very cool.
So what is the best thing about the Sundome. Well it's the fact that nobody, except a small class of high-school theatre students, bothered to wait outside for Bernadette to come out. When she did, I think she was very relieved to see some young faces. She stopped and signed autographs and talked to everyone.
As for me, prior to her coming out, Marvin came out and everybody that wanted got their picture taken with him including me!
OK here is where things get kinda dopey. Call me a hopeless romantic, but every time I go to a Bernadette performance, I send roses and/or a donation to one of her charities backstage to her dressing room. There, I've said it, the truth is out. I feel better now 
So now I get someone to take a picture of me with Bernadette. While I am standing next to her I said 'did you get the flowers?' She said something like 'oh were those from you?' Well actually they were from both me, and my wife of 30 years, Carolyn, which is what I put on the card. So then Bernadette says something like 'where's Carolyn?' Well, as it turns out Carolyn didn't go to the concert since she went to my daughter's bachlorette party instead (remember way back at the beginning of this rambling my daughter is getting married soon). So then I try to explain to Bernadette that my daugher is getting married and that is why Carolyn isn't there. At this point she says 'WHAT?', hopelessly confused by my idiotic prattle, and procedes to get in her limo and depart.
This makes about the fourth time, I have tried to speak to her and come across as a blithering idiot. The words just don't come out right when I try to talk to her. Has this happened to any of you guys? If your like me, she probably thinks all her fans are complete morons.
Oh well, I am sure I'll be back for more. When does Gypsy open again?????
|  Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 10/9/2002 at 11:20:57 AM ET
That is so cute that people were asking to have their pictures taken with Marvin.
I think it's nice that you sometimes send flowers or a donation to a charity.
<3CMH<3
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/9/2002 at 12:50:35 PM ET
Yes, Jim is secretly in love with Bernadette. A fact he tries to keep hidden from his lovely wife. LOL Just Kidding, Jim. Congratulations to your daughter on her impending nuptials.
|  Broadway_Cat_
28
Registered User
Registered:
6/29/2002 | posted: 10/9/2002 at 3:08:36 PM ET
speaking of out of the blue comments...my friend's mom bumped into kevin bacon once in NYC and she really likes him and she got so flustered that she asked if he enjoys "sounding like a food and eating lobsters".
no clue what she was trying to say, but that's kind of related to this topic, right??
then again, i am the one who, at the age of six, bumped in to bernadette on the street, and when my mum told me who she was, i asked, loudly, if she was the one who wrote all the books about Mrs. TiggyWinkle. (Beatrix Potter). Anyway....
*Meowz* <3 Kate
|  MollyEliz
Registered User
Registered:
6/13/2002
From:
Fla | posted: 10/9/2002 at 5:06:55 PM ET
okay, I promise I win the really stupid things said to Bernadette contest. While I have met and spoken to her several times, and almost always sound like an idiot, one comment sticks out.
Last January, about two weeks after I saw her at two Florida concerts (where there were a LOT of people over the age of 70...), I saw her on Lincoln Road and was talking to her for a couple minutes. I had shopping bags in my hand, and she asked me what I was doing and I explained that we had the day off from school and I was going shopping. Then, I said: "I love Lincoln Road- its like a little taste of New York." For those of you who have been to Lincoln Road, you probably know that it is really nothing like New York. I think I just meant the diversity of the people and the trendy stores and stuff, but she must have thought I was a moron.
Anyway, this was almost a year ago, and the two friends I was shopping with still make fun of me for that comment.
| Jim
Registered User
Registered:
3/14/2002
From:
Arizona | posted: 10/9/2002 at 8:58:01 PM ET
Thanks you guys. Now I don't feel quite as bad about sounding like an idiot. Those were very funny Bernadette encounters. Maybe it's some kind of undiscovered malady. Perhaps we could name it celebritytalkaphobia.
OK, it sounds like you guys might be able to help me with the upcoming wedding. First of all, I am currently living the movie 'Father of the Bride', and this thing is costing a King's Ransom, but........it's my only daughter so I am very happy to be able to do it.
The thing is that we need a song for Carolyn and I to dance to (BTW I have two left feet). What I am thinking about is Bernadette's 'If You Were the Only Boy', followed by 'Some Enchanted Evening' where we ask everyone to join us. Do you think that would work?
Then sometime in the night I want to work in 'You'll Never Know' which was one of my Father's favorite songs.
Any suggestions gladly accepted.
Jim.
| Jim
Registered User
Registered:
3/14/2002
From:
Arizona | posted: 10/10/2002 at 11:27:31 AM ET
Cindy........That is a great idea. Thank you I love that song. It is probably the most poignant moment in Sweeny Todd.
I remember Barbara Streisand did it for her son on her big television special a couple of years ago, and I thought that was a very moving moment.
I would like to work Johanna into the evening too, but I am probably pushing my limits just trying to get a couple of Bernadette tunes in there. After all, I am only the Father of the bride.
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/10/2002 at 12:23:53 PM ET
Well you are footing the bill so you should be able to push a little. :-)
| Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 10/10/2002 at 1:57:45 PM ET
Sorry Molly, but I think I have you beat for saying stupid things to Bernadette.....Cindy knows exactly what I'm talking about.
I won't go into detail, it's too confusing. Short Version: Bernadette (at one point during a conversation) was under the assumption that Cindy and I walked from New York to Rhode Island to see her concert...it was a miscommunication between Bernadette and myself, and I cleared it up....but still! I think she and I confuse each other too much during conversations.
<3CMH<3
| Jim
Registered User
Registered:
3/14/2002
From:
Arizona | posted: 10/11/2002 at 12:52:19 AM ET
Thanks Cindy.......but my daughter has this thing well in hand. I will just be happy to get a couple of Bernadette tunes on the program. That won't be a problem because she is a big Bernadette fan too.
I took her to see AGYG twice. When she hit the streets of NYC for the first time, within 5 seconds, she was like OK this is it, I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!
The second time we went she wore a Song and Dance T-shirt I had gotten off eBay in one of the charity auctions.
That T-shirt is teeny-tiny and she is about the only one besides BP that I know that could fit in it. She is about 98 pounds soaking wet.
We waited outside the stage door and Jamie got Bernadette's autograph. Bernadette said to her 'oh so you got the T-shirt'. That was very cool. Here's the link to the Official Site with a picture from that night:
http://www.bernadettepeters.com/newpage73.htm
She and her new husband are going to Boston, and NYC for their honeymoon. It's totally low budget, but they are springing for a couple of nights at the Plaza Hotel. Anyway her new husband has never been back East so with the color change and all it should be a great trip.
As an aside, every woman that I have talked to about AGYG that had seats close to the stage insists that Tom Wopat was making eye contact with them the whole time.
My wife and Jamie both said that too, and they were sitting on either side of me. I argued vainly that he never looked at them even once, but they are convinced to this day that he did. It is totally funny to me, but then I am always convinced that Bernadette is looking at me when I see her........I guess that's what makes live theatre so great, it takes us to another place for a short period of time where our imaginations' can run free.
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 10/11/2002 at 10:43:21 AM ET
Jim, that was so well put! Thanks for your very thoughtful comments, I always enjoy reading them.
| Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 10/11/2002 at 3:25:21 PM ET
I love that song, "My One True Friend." Every time I hear it I cry.
I know what you mean about they way the performers look into the audience when they are on stage. Everyone always thinks, "Oh, they looked right at me." LOL I could have sworn Carol Burnett looked at me and waved (which she did), but it was probably just becasue I was in the seat that she always waves to. LOL Maybe they do sometimes; but for the most part, they look in the same direction every night. I think Rosie O'Donnell is the only person who has ever actually looked directly at people in an audience.....she use to say how she would start talking to her friends in the front rows at Seussical and Grease. LOL
<3CMH<3
| Anonymous
Anonymous Poster
From Internet Network:
216.138.124.x | posted: 11/26/2002 at 11:59:06 AM ET
I know it's a little bit too late since the concert was like a month ago... But I thought I'd put my 2 cents in... I too went to the concert and it was a blast! I was one of the 8 "high-school theatre training" people who were at the concert.... Actually, to correct whoever posted that, half of us are in college majoring in performance theatre... Moving on... Bernadette, I think, was obviously glad to see some young people at her concert and she was very gracious and spent a lot of time outside with her fans... She was incredible but I didn't really enjoy the Sundome. I think she deserved to be at Gammage or Symphony Hall but clearly it didn't work out. But she was incredible and I can't wait to see what else she does in the future!
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