Cabaret

On Saturday, Merrill, Rachel and I met at the theatre to see "Cabaret." (Nothing Michael-related there, you say!) There was another group of four from Bremerton who took the ferry with us and met us at the theatre as well. We had already heard that the usual "cabaret type seating" was not going to be used, which (with 6th row seats) was not the best news we had gotten last week!

Then, Andy noted that Joely Fisher's role of Sally Bowles would be performed by an understudy for that day! (This happens more often than any of us are happy about.) Now I know understudies deserve their chance, and I have NO problem with that most of the time - but we REALLY wanted to see Joely!

Joely Fisher is ...well, my absolute favorite potential Sally Bowles! I even carted along my last two years S.T.A.G.E. programs for her autograph, having never managed to get it at those performances. Joely is ALWAYS surrounded by huge crowds of friends, fans, and family at that event, as my fellow attendees well know!

Anyway, back to the Paramount Theatre lobby...those of you who know me can imagine my reaction at spotting a familiar name in the program cast list. :-)

The show was absolutely spectacular - or at least our little crowd of 7 thought so. The understudy was great...not Joely - but great. And Jon? INDESCRIBABLE! AWESOME! FANTASTIC!

So...of course, we all set out like greased lightening to the Stage door the instant the curtain came down!

And ...being the *extremely well-mannered and polite group* we really are, we pretended NOT to notice Joely when she drove up to the stage entrance in a NOT unnoticeable car, wearing a wig, cap, and dark glasses...(we later were told that her hubby had flown in to surprise her earlier in the week and she had been taking him back to the airport, which was why she had missed the matinee performance.)

My first words to him were "Hi Jon, Does the name Michael Ball ring a bell for you?" (See I told you that it was strange how Ballfests just seem to happen!)

No, I guess they don't...HOWEVER, Jon is from the UK, was a backup singer for Michael for a concert tour a few years ago, and, like Michael, has appeared in several West End shows...and I gotta tell you, his eyes lit up when Michael's name was mentioned.

But wait...there's more...We went to Rachel's favorite spot for dinner, but having forgotten to make reservations, the only space we could get was at the little kitchen bar...(sushi restaurant you know) Having so recently learned (again) that disappointment might just be joy in disguise, and a happy surprise waiting to happen...we took 3 of the last 4 available seats at the counter.

Rachel was already busily checking out the place for Ryan - he is the world's best, most informed, charming and fun waiter, now that Douglas Sills has changed professions :-) or we think he is anyway! To our happy surprise, while Rachel was surveying the packed room, Ryan tapped me on the back, and had already moved to our section to wait on us. We do sometimes leave a good impression apparently!

Now, as it turns out the three ladies seated next to us were going to the evening performance of Cabaret. One had never seen any show on stage before...one had seen Les Miz, (the one starring Seattle's own Gregory Calvin Stone - another Ballfesting adventure story) and within minutes the six of us were sharing our dinner selections, laughing, chatting, explaining about Ballfesting, mailing lists, future trips, future Ballfests, and ended up exchanging email addies...and adding three more people to our Seattle theatre group...

Soooooo, Ballfesting does happen in mysterious and wondrous ways sometimes, and often when and where you least expect it to.

Oh yes, and we did have a few more minutes with Jon, introduced him to our new friends from Kent, Washington, who were pretty happy to have met the star even before seeing the show.

If Cabaret has yet to come to your city, I can only say that it was playing to sold-out houses here, and IMHO is a real winner and Jon is a delight.

It was a wonderful day, the show was really great, the weather was glorious, the food delicious, and the company terrific (as always) and the impromptu Ballfest a huge success.

Love, hugs, God bless...and have a Michaelful day, Jackie :-)