313 - The Foreigner

Another night; another show.  That's what it's been this week!  This time, it was the Alhambra to see The Foreigner.  Now, I haven't been to the Alhambra since they re-opened over 6 months ago, and I was so very pleased to see the changes.  There is a doorman who opens the front door for everyone.  The lobby is nice and clean.  The box office is gone; replaced with a center podium/desk where you get your tickets.  The room where they had the food in recent years is now a waiting area with a full bar.  Wonderful atmosphere.

One of the changes I was so excited to see ....  the buffet is back on the stage and is presented and withdrawn to a musical fanfare and applause!  Yea!!!  I really missed that when the former establishment moved the buffet to the room off the lobby.  And the food???  It's no longer nursing home food.  It was very enjoyable.

Tod Booth is still directing the shows, so we're still seeing the same actors, but then again, this is our only Equity theatre and there's only so many Equity actors in town.  Oh my - this show was HILARIOUS!!!  My theatre life couldn't have hit more opposite ends of the spectrum these last two nights - Death of a Salesman on Tuesday and then The Foreigner on Wednesday.  Alhambra could have made some extra money selling Depends, we were laughing that hard.

There really wasn't a weak actor in the cast.  They were all great; their timing and delivery was right on.  Brooks Anne was so freaking funny.  Her character did the typical ... if you don't think a person understands you, you speak louder.  Well, Charlie wasn't deaf, he just supposedly didn't speak English; she cracked us up with her yelling!  Michael Stauss was equally good as Charlie.  Since he didn't do much talking (expecially in Act I), everything was communicated through his body and facial expressions.  Really though, the entire cast was awesome.

This was also my 2nd night attending shows with Holly and Redgie.  I'll tell you, you go somewhere with them, and it's like walking around with theatre royalty.  I was introduced to so many new people!  Poor Redgie, though.  He probably wished he had an ear plug tonight as I kept busting out laughing, right in his ear!  Lee was with our party, which is always fun, and I got to know Josh and Zeek as well.

I'm really glad the Alhambra is back on track.  It was really nice, also, that Craig Smith made himself so available to the audience.  He asked that we email him if there was something we would like to see changed .... time to write an email.

TTFN!