You're going to think all I do is go to the theater. Hardly. For some reason I managed to go to two stage shows within two weekends. Funny, huh? I can't tell you the last time I attended a live show prior to this month. (Except the yearly Nutcracker performance at Christmas.)Last weekend, I attended Shout! Which was presented at The Retro Dome with several writers from the SV Moms website. The location of the Retro Dome is great for a Mom's Night Out (MNO) which is what this turned in to for us. There are several restaurants within walking distance of the theater for dinner or drinks, so if you're considering repeating our evening be sure to plan for dinner before the performance. We met an hour before at Chevy's (mmm... Can you say, Margaritas?)
The show itself is described as:
The first production in our 2010 "Off-Broadway San Jose" Series is a non-stop journey through the infectious and soulful pop anthems and ballads that made household names of stars like Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield and Lulu with such chart-topping hits as "To Sir With Love," "Downtown," "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," "Son of A Preacher Man," and "Goldfinger." With its irresistible blend of hip-swiveling hits, eye-popping fashions and psychedelic dances from the 60's, this fun-filled musical will make you want to throw your head back and SHOUT!
We had great seats (2nd row) and the show was really fun. Several of friends I attended with had been to previous shows at the Retro Dome and claimed to prefer those (School House Rock & Santastic) to this one, "because they knew those songs." Yeah, um I knew all the songs. I guess I was the old one in the group. Ahem, but they all seemed to enjoy it very much. The show had lots of energy, the costumes were really fun and the talent was amazing. No, it's not a Broadway show, but I'm impressed to see we have such talented artists here in San Jose. At the end they announced that we saw a "preview" so they were working out the kinks. Really? Couldn't tell at all! Apparently we were not alone. They received a standing ovation at the end of the night.
My only comments about the show were basically limitations related to the theater. The first would be that the energy level on stage was great, but we were in the second row of the theater. I wondered how well it translated to the back. In the era of surround sound, it was notable that the speakers seemed to be mostly on-stage pointing out. (Very authentic though!) And two, a couple times, I heard the feedback associated with mics being switched. I mentioned it to a friend at the end and she didn't notice it at all. What can I say, I worked in theater & multimedia, I notice that kind of stuff. The microphone stuff might be "kinks" that are worked out by now anyway. Neither of these items detracted from the show at all.
I enjoyed this enough that I will be purchasing tickets as gifts and maybe a little gift for myself as well.
We saw a couple younger kids (around 12ish) at the show, but I would say there are quite a few innuendo related topics in the show. If you think your child is old enough and/or don't mind explaining it, then I guess it's OK. But, you know, it IS the age of free love we're talking about here.
I think that Baby-Boomers will enjoy the show the most because the songs are from their generation. Since my parents were baby boomers, I grew up listening to this music (No, I'm not THAT old! I was born in the 60s though.)
Shout:
March 5-April 11
Adults $36
Student (Valid ID) $30
Seniors (62+) $30
Children 12 and under $24
Fridays 8pm
Saturdays 8pm
Sundays 2pm
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