The Phantom Experience

Cost: $32.00

Remaining Budget: $527.31

So, the golf thing was screwed up. I was so bummed about that, and it has really been bugging me all week. Of course, things always seem to work out.

On Tuesday night I got a text from Katie. Remember Katie? She was with me for the Tallest Sling Shot in the World Experience.

This is what absolute terror looks like

 

Yeah, that Katie.

Anyway, Katie shot me a text on Tuesday asking if my brother and I were interested in going with her to see Phantom of the Opera in the NEW Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in Orlando. The answer was an immediate YES!

Since college, we have been to countless shows at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center, but this new venue is a lot nicer. The people at the ticket window actually knew us. We were the three that brought our student IDs a couple hours before each show and bought whatever was left over for as cheap as possible. We have always been very economic theater aficionados.  We normally saw shows in jeans, or in our work clothes because we all raced to the ticket window as soon as we could get away from work. We wanted to be first in line so that we could get the best tickets possible. You see, the trick is, if you get to a ticket window 2 hours before a show with a student ID you can get your choice of whatever seats are left over for about $20. In fact, I am pretty sure that I saw the Wicked tour in my running clothes after a 5k race in Orlando. Don’t judge, I unexpectedly won the Wicked ticket lottery 2 hours before the show and about 30 minutes before the race. Yeah, I shouldn’t have done it…But I did, so deal with it!

Aside from us dressing like crap because we were in a heated competition with the rest of the cheap theater fans in Orlando, our city has just never been a place where people dress up for the theater. I have always wanted to get really dressed up and have that New York City fancy pants Broadway experience, but it never worked out. Also, it just didn’t seem appropriate. I guess we could have done it, but no one else really did….so we might have looked a bit out of place.

THIS was the opportunity. New fancy theater; new fancy clothes!

The dilemma here was that I had to work all day, and I would be getting out of work with just enough time to get to the theater before the show. Can you guess what I did? Yup, I wore my fancy dress to work all day. Not even joking. I wore the dress I was planning to wear to the theater to work. I put on a sweatshirt over it so that as people looked into my office they would see a top half very casual. As long as they didn’t step into my office they would never know!  I had a clutch in my car with jewelry, and I reapplied heavier evening makeup in the parking lot. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! I think that my brother did the same thing (not the makeup and the clutch obviously). It was easier for him though. He just had to leave his jacket in the car to keep his outfit more casual.

Ok, so do you ever have that feeling when you KNOW that you are about to make a lifetime memory? Like, you are about to do something that you are pretty sure you will always look back on and smile about? That was me driving to the theater after work.

The parking situation at the new theater SUCKS so we all decided to meet off in an old abandoned parking lot in Paramore. Honestly, we just wanted to only have to pay to put one car in the garage (saving money!). I stopped by Publix on my way to the parking lot so that I could buy some premade hors d’oevres for us to all enjoy during our Phantom of the Opera tailgate party. Yup, I said tailgate party. Keeping it classy! We sat there for a while, enjoying light finger foods in our formal wear before heading on down to the theater. I know that in the future, when I look back on these years, I will always remember eating hors d’oevres in a Paramore parking lot with my friends before seeing Phantom. I can already see my future self laughing at my 29 year old cheap self.

We eventually make it to the parking lot and walked a couple blocks to the new theater! This is the sight that greeted us.

Beautiful right? Sorry it is blurry, I took it while running across the street. In 3 inch heels BTW.

We made our grand entrance, a story that I will save for a later time when I have a lot of room to write, and found our seats.

The cheap seats never had such a great view! Man, they designed this theater so that you had a great view regardless of where you were sitting. We ordered our drinks, which cost more than the tickets themselves, and sat back to enjoy a great show that we all love.

If I could go back in time, I would have got a better picture of us all dressed. Oh well, I was caught up in the experience. Actually taking pictures is one of the hardest aspects of this project for me.

—SPOILER ALERT—

Man, when those lights went down and the show started I think my heart stopped. It was just overwhelming. During the actual song Phantom of the Opera the stagecraft was unlike anything I have ever seen. They made some changes to the show, so it was a completely different experience. You could see that they modernized a lot of the technology. Oh, and the chandelier crashing. I knew it was going to happen and I knew exactly when it would happen, but I was still terrified. I was 100% sure that thing was about to fly into the audience and kill everyone in the orchestra seats (one of many perks to sitting in the mezzanine is that death by chandelier is highly unlikely). We were just blown away by it all.

—SPOILERS OVER—-

One more in the books. All in all, this was an Amazing night with Amazing friends. The show was fantastic. The new theater was fantastic. The drinks were (overpriced) fantastic.

 

 

 

The Rocky Horror Experience

Cost of Event:  $14.00 ($10 for a military discount ticket to the theater, and $4 for an official RHPS prop bag)

Remaining Budget: $983.55

 LET THERE BE LIPS!

LET THERE BE LIPS!

Just when I thought that it couldn’t possibly get better than an hour and a half of the fabulous Tim Curry strutting his stuff in a corset and heals…bring on audience interaction!

My friend Amy and I have been wanting to attend a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show since High School. I understand that this is not everyone’s cup of tea. Frankly, I can’t blame you.  If you have ever seen even five minutes of Rocky Horror then you know that it is pretty much just a gender-bending mess of all things weird and offensive. I have probably seen it a dozen times and I still don’t understand what the hell is going on half of the time. It’s bizarre; It’s grotesque; It’s just plain strange. So how has this film become the longest running theatrical release in history? Why is there a cult following of Rocky “veterans” that have displayed a nothing less than religious like devotion to midnight showings of this film since 1975? Why was I waiting in a long line of fellow costumed “freaks” to buy a ticket, and shivering with antici…………pation?

It all started a couple months ago when I first called Amy to tell her about my 52 things project. I said that I was thinking about trying out a Rocky Horror midnight showing and wanted to invite her along. She agreed without any hesitation what so ever. I was so excited because it looked like she was as enthusiastic about Rocky Horror as I was! I have no idea what it is specifically about Rocky Horror that I am so attracted to. I guess I just have an appreciation for…unusual things. I really don’t want to delve into why that is….my brother would probably say something like, “weird things attract weirdos!” Anyway, THIS experience was quickly becoming one of the events that I was MOST excited about trying this year. Somehow, Amy convinced her poor husband Marc to come with us, and we immediately started planning our costumes.

 

 

We decided to dress as attendees of the“Annual Transylvanian Convention” aka. the background people that dance the Time Warp with funky outfits and sunglasses.

 

 

I parked the car and we all stared at each other for a few seconds before any of us got up the courage to get out. It actually takes balls of steel to walk into a packed parking lot when you are dressed like a Transylvanian. Who knew? I was hiding my panic pretty well. From the moment that we stepped out of the car we were getting crazy looks from EVERYONE. I was definitely starting to get uncomfortable with the situation. Looking at Amy, I could tell that she was feeling the same. We were a bit stiff in our awkwardly fitting costumes, and Amy kinda chuckled to herself as she asked me, “It is tonight right…?” I am still not sure if she was serious or not, but I started to feel the panic bubbling up as I realized that I didn’t see anyone else around us dressed as if they were going to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is when my strength broke a bit. A cowardly question slipped out before I could stop it, “What if we are the ONLY people in costumes?”

Thankfully we didn’t have to stay scared for too long. Though the anxiety made it feel like hours, we probably hadn’t had been outside of my Jeep for five minutes before someone walked up to us and said, “nice costumes!” Amy looked at me and asked if I thought he was actually complimenting us, or if he was being condescending. Mr. Compliment was walking a bit faster than us, so as he passed us we were able to see that he had a Magenta wig sticking out of the butt pocket of his jeans. WIN! He was one of us, and he had a costume too! We were feeling a bit more confident now, we totally were going to fit right in with this bizarre crowd.

We got up to the theater window and the guy behind the glass goes, “Let me guess, Rocky Horror?” Amy looked him square in the eye and said, “No, tickets for The Fault in Our Stars please.” We all got a good laugh and picked up those prized Rocky Horror tickets. By the time we made our way to that ticket counter we were surrounded by french maid costumes, fish net stockings, and dangerously high heals. It was getting pretty easy to make ourselves comfortable. It was especially easy to start joking around again. While our costumes may have been extremely modest compared to most, but we were still fitting right in with the crowd. By the way, I was super excited to find out that there is a military discount. Woo Hoo! I ❤ Military Discounts!

I bought a prop bag for $4. Inside there were all the props that I would need to get through the event. The theater door was closed and all the Rocky fans were eagerly waiting out in the hallway together. I can’t remember the last time that I was this hyped up. The excitement was flooding through my body so that I couldn’t even stand still. I was kinda bopping up and down anxiously waiting for the door to open. The doors finally did open. The theater was lit by disco balls, and music was blaring. Every seat was filled. It was packed full of people that were almost as excited as I was; I was euphoric.

The “Rich Weirdoes” run the Orlando Rocky Horror midnight showing group. The atmosphere is electric. On their website the cast boasts that, “If you’re not offended, we didn’t do our job.” I assure you, they do their job. Every person in that cast lives up to the films mantra, “don’t dream it, be it.” They tell you to, “let your freak flag fly,” and they do the same. Together, the cast and audience engage in a fully interactive show, and every single person has an opportunity to participate.  The audience is filled with people dressed up in their favorite Rocky Horror attire. People were dancing in the aisles and having an absolute ball. Ugh, I got such a rush from it all.

The only thing that I really regret is that when the audience throws their rice during the wedding scene, they all throw it backwards. I was not prepared for this and ended up with a mouth full of dry rice. Just some friendly advice, if you go to Rocky Horror make sure to shut your mouth whenever there is confetti or rice being thrown…

“Give yourself over to absolute pleasure,” and go see a midnight showing of this AMAZING show. It can be intimidating, but I promise you that it is more fun than you could ever even begin to imagine. Just remember, if you have never thrown the rice, worn the party hat, danced the Time Warp and participated in the general shenanigans of a live Rocky Horror midnight showing then you are a VIRGIN! You are going to have to prove your loyalty by standing up in front of the audience and giving the “Rocky Horror Virgin Pledge.”

Ok Virgins, take your right hand and place it over your most red, delicate throbbing organ; your heart. Repeat after me.

We Swear, often and loudly

To strike a blow for glamour and frivolity

For 6 inch heals, for rock and roll

For interplanetary intercourse

And for the Transylvanian Way

 In all seriousness, I am having a hard time seeing how any evening out could possibly be more fun than the night I had last night. I spent the entire night dreaming of Rocky Horror music and all day today dancing the Time Warp. So far, this is the greatest experience I have had since I started the 52 Things Project. Who wants to come next time? I just CAN’T wait to go again!