This past Friday, the 6th, Jerbs and I went down to Phoenix to see the musical The Book of Mormon, and it was absolutely fanfreakingtastic. We've wanted to see it pretty much since it hit Broadway, and Jerbs bought tickets like the second the tour dates were announced, so we'd been looking forward to it for awhile. (There was a little SNAFU a few days ago--we'd decided to go to the show on a Friday so I didn't have to take a day off work (going to 2 out of state weddings pretty much killed my PTO), and last Monday, Jerbs looked at the tickets and realized she'd bought them for Thursday, the 5th. Fortunately she was able to exchange them without much trouble, thank goodness, and we got to go as planned).
The drive to Phoenix wasn't bad, and we made good time (like I've said before, the drive to SLC makes 3 hours in the car feel like nothing). We got down there and had dinner with Betsy (at this Mexican place that I really would like to go to again, BTW); after dinner we wandered around the mall where the restaurant was for a little while. Then we headed over to Gammage and oh my gosh the traffic right around the theatre was a nightmare. I got cut off and almost hit a few times, and by the time we parked I was beyond irritated. Thankfully we made it inside in time, but just barely--we literally sat down at 7:29 (I saw that while I was turning off my phone) and curtain was at 7:30.
It was well worth the stress, though, because the show was amazing. It was hysterically funny (laughed so hard I cried more than once) and perfectly over the top offensive. Not as in I was offended in by it, more in a how did they get away with that kind of way. (Side note--I know the tour was heading to SLC sometime after AZ, because Jenna and Theresa tried to get tickets and the whole run had sold out--I enjoy imagining the Mormons leaving early because they didn't do their research). And the cast was really good as well, the female lead apparently went to ASU for her undergrad, which I thought was cool. It was pretty much a full house, I've never seen Gammage that packed. The bathroom line at intermission was INSANE. (Another side note--Gammage actually has donation envelopes in the bathrooms so you can give money to the "Golden Gammage Initiative," which is an initiative to build more bathrooms at Gammage. Seriously, Golden Gammage. I was so entertained by that). We found out after the show that Gammage has already booked the second national tour for their 2017 season, and while I hope I won't still be in AZ by then, if I am I'll totally see it again.
After the show I spent way too much money at the merch table, as I always do at shows, but oh well. I got good stuff so it was worth it! And I also, as always, donated to Broadway Cares, because that's something that's really important to me.
Anyway, it was definitely a fun and memorable trip, and it kind of reminded me how much I like going to live music things. I need to do more stuff like that in the future, for sure!
