that's hot.

I must say, my very dear readers, that I do hope wherever you were this weekend, it was as amazing as it was in San Francisco.  The effect of the warm weather on San Franciscans was almost immediately apparent, visible in the smiling faces and uncharacteristically relaxed attitude of everyone strolling the SF streets.

This weekend, I was lucky enough to enjoy two incredible events:  the San Francisco stop of In the Heights at the Curran Theater and the Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay exhibit at the de Young Museum.  I would highly recommend both events to anyone that is even slightly interested in attending.

First off, a mini review of the musical.  I would only embarrass myself if I pretended to be well-versed in theater criticism, but I do go to enough shows to know what I like (Wicked, amongst many others) and what I don't (Lestat...how do you mess up a musical about a VAMPIRE ROCK STAR?!).  Also, I can share with you things from a layperson's perspective, like the fact that my sister, who I attended the show with, was absolutely exhausted the night we went, but the show kept her awake and engaged the entire time.

In the Heights is a musical about a New York City neighborhood, and it won the 2008 Tony award for Best Musical.  Please pardon the absolutely awful quality of the video below, which doesn't even come close to doing the production justice (and is by a totally different cast, I think), but I really wanted to at least give you a taste of the rich, lively music that made up the entire program, from start to finish.

Better audio samples (sans video) are available on the show's official website here.

The plot of the show was simple -- residents from an economically impoverish, but culturally rich, neighborhood share with us their goals and dreams.  It's pretty predictable overall, but seriously, if you want a twist, watch an M. Night Shyamalan movie, not a Broadway musical.  The story takes place during one of NYC's notoriously hot summers, and while the weather seems pretty unbearable for the characters, it's a perfect accompaniment to the hot, sexy, downright smoldering music and choreography.  The heavily Latin-inspired production draws from salsa, jazz, and hip-hop and is a refreshing departure from the usually homogeneous offerings of Broadway.  How often do you get to see break dancing and salsa on a theater stage?

Unfortunately, the show's run in SF ended this weekend (at least for now), but according to the tour's calendar (can you tell I just learned how to create links?), it's making a stop in Tempe, Arizona before coming back to a few SoCal stops and then leaving for Japan, so I hope some of you will be able to catch it.  Oh, and please look for deals on tickets!  We got our tickets for 50% off through Goldstar.

Well, it's bed time for me now, so I will follow up with a review on the museum exhibit, hopefully tomorrow.  I would love to hear what you all did on your weekends, so please do share :)

Goodnight, lovelies.
V